India first impression - a different kind of waow factor

We are in India the view from the plane was different to what we have seen in our previous landings.

Space seem to have a different meaning at least from up here, the land seems dry there is a haze, we are excited and scared of this new country we're setting foot on. We have been warned so many times about this countries different negative aspects we on our end being scared have warned the kids and as a result we are expecting well I'm not sure what we're expecting but it isn't positive.
As we landed we got a pre-paid taxi and got assigned taxi thirty three. A guard or what looked like a guard came up to us and said this man was not trust worthy and that we should take another taxi. I went on gut feeling and took the one assigned to us. The driver explained to us about how the other taxi had probably paid a commission to the guard in order to have him direct people to him.

People in India stare, it is a stare that is not averted when you look back, it is like a kid stare that looks at something he hasn't seen before it is a curious inquisitive stare, not a glance and like we are accustomed to it last too long we consider it impolite and tell our kids they shouldn't, yet here it is normal. Our noses are tickled by smells we don't know and can't yet quite define.
This car trip is different, lots of traffic people drive at one centimeter from bumper to bumper they honk all the time break only if really necessary, the rule seems to be, if you honk louder drive more aggressive and elbow yourself in front you'll be the first to get there, I wonder if there actually are rules on traffic. The HM Ambassador we were in seemed to have breaks that took ten times the distance it needed to bring the car to a stop. My experience is don't look through the front window, look around and the trip will be a relaxed one.
We have been eased into New Delhi by being hosted at the Ambassador of Portugal's residence in Channakyapuri. I hadn't seen Jorge and Maria many a year and we were welcomed like family. Jorge is still the same person busy and all absorbed by what he is doing, and Maria is as warm a person as my memory recalls. I say eased in because this is the diplomatic compound. it is not quite India yet, as a matter of fact you could say this is our first time in Portugal, technically speaking.

We took a cab to Lodi Gardens a beautiful park orderly filled with trees and plants a few old mosques in the middle of it. People are exercising, walking, runnig, visiting.
A great meal at our hosts residence and a good sleep brought us across our first night in India.
Humayun's Tomb was the first Indian monument we visited before hitting Old Delhi, an impressive palace looking place used as a mausoleum surrounded by gardens, it is said to be used as a prototype for the Taj Mahal.

On to Old Delhi.


The drive to here was different, more cars, more motor bikes, more people, rickshaws, and people and cars and motorbikes and...and more...and more... .

We passed a few 'repair shops' let me describe, thousands of scooter pieces on the floor just thrown there while motorcycles stopped to have something broken fixed. And more people and more cars and bikes and honking and more...and more.
We went to eat at Karim's apparently a must do, for our first Indian meal and although spicy we all had a feast. We decided to loose ourselves in the narrow streets of the old city The kids are not at ease to much noise, people, bikes, cars, honking and more...and more.

We took the smaller streets because the kids got overwhelmed by 'the more' and walked around for at least three hours. Shops and shops of beads, fruits, spices, bits of this and that, printers, carton cutters, iron casters, you can find just about anything here if you know where to look which, take my word for it is not an easy task.
We past a goat attached to a fence, two shops before passing the butcher displaying  a couple of similar goats heads, and more...and more, smells, colors stares.
We all fell in love with Old Delhi and are eager for more India.