28-Delhi

After getting my 3 month tourist Visa from the Chiang Mai India Consulate & a roundtrip Bangkok-Delhi airticket from Air India it was hello INDIA!!...I took the Bus from the Delhi airport to the Paharganj section near the New Delhi Train Station....Paharganj is the 'backpacker' section of Delhi & I stayed in the Vivek Hotel on the Main Bazaar for 250 rupees(45 rupee's=$1)....the dusty street of the Main Bazaar is intense with many hawkers('Friend!, Sir! over here!,etc.)...many bike rickshaws but the constantly 'BEEP! horns of the motorcycles or taxis is worse...also many beggars...crippled or deformed folks, women with babies, elderly....my first night I met a new 'friend', Raj from Kashmir who was hungry so I bought him a meal(he ordered the most expensive thing on the menu)....my first day after arriving I went to the N.D. Train Station to get my ticket north...I went first where the locals go...after finally told to go to 'counter #9'(my 4th counter) & being 12th in line & watching the first guy take 20 minutes I gave up...then I remembered the L.P. guidebook mentioned the 'foreigners' advance ticket office on the upper floor of the Station....much easier....
My last morning I took a cycle rickshaw across Old Delhi to the magnificent Red Fort..the guy earned his 75 rupees for petaling across town in traffic...I took some good photos,chatted with some local guys, & did some yoga in the lawn...that afternoon I took the Jan Shatabi Express to Chandigarth...sat next to Anuj, a very friendly guy who used to work as a waiter in Dubai(rich country in the Middle East)....got a 3-wheel moter-taxi & spent the night in the dorm at the Bus station...