Incredible !ndia: Delhi in the day

After a long sleep went out around lunch time.
Welcome to the Delhi heat! Temperature: 34 C, slight wind.
The sleepy streets from yesterday were gone. The honking cars, rickshaws, bicycles and the crowds had replaced them. We headed towards the center, taking the Metro from Karol Bagh station.  The metro in Delhi is mostly overground. We climbed up and we saw a big line waiting to pass the security, similar to airport one, but separate for men and women. We bought the metro tokens and went in pretty fast.
Lesson learned: no matter how hot it is in Delhi, you are better off with long pants and closed shoes. Reason 1: all kinds of waters flow around the streets with suspicious origin and smell. Reason 2: It is highly probable that in the Metro (or any other place) you will be stepped on - a number of times.
We got off in the center, heading towards the Red Fort. It took about 30min walk to reach the Fort due to the many people and narrow streets on the way. It was about lunch time and many people were sitting on the road eating from a tiny plate. All the Indian smells were around. Everybody seemed so comfortable sitting on the floor, just like at home. I somehow liked the business in the city, because people were roaming everywhere, honking their cars, but seemed totally relaxed in the face, totally used to their daily activities.
On the way we saw a McD, advertised in India as the Family Restaurant. The first McD i see, which does not offer Big Mac.
We reached the Red Fort - right in the middle of Delhi, but the noise was far away. We realized it is actually a very nice park. We sat on the grass and observed the people for 1-2 hrs. Then two guys approached me and one of them said:
''Madam, picture?'' I thought I should take of two of them, but then the first one sat near me and the other one took a picture of two of us. I was surprised, but quickly realized that this is very common requests to tourists. ''Thank you, madam! Where are you from?'', ''Bulgaria" - I said. ''Which is the capital of Bulgaria?'', ''Sofia". "Sofia? OK, madam. Thank you!'' - we shook hands and they left.
Then we went for a crazy rickshaw ride to the central circle of Delhi. This is something that everybody should try in Delhi! These green-yellow little turtles are so fast and contribute greatly to the busy-ness of this city. 15 min of this roller coaster and you feel so happy to step on real road again.
We were dropped near the Palika bazaar - underground series of small shops, similar to the Bulgarian Ilientsi. Again you pass security to enter. We had a quick 10min look and i was totally amusing myself with the way the Indian typical salesmen were attracting customers: ''Excuse me-e-e! Jeans!!'', ''Excuse me, madam! I have exactly same pattern like your jeans, please come check if you don't believe!''
Then we went upstairs to Cannart Place, where you could see all the famous world brands in separate shops. It was interesting to see the contradiction between these shops and the world outside. There were 3-4 guards at the door of each. They were so proudly opening and closing, greeting the people.
We had a dinner at a restaurant in this area and headed to Noida City Center. This is a relatively new part of Delhi with new vibe. Then we had a drink at Radisson and i saw they offer Zumba 3 times a week. The receptionist saw me reading it and told me ''It's a type of dance, madam!'' That was one thing i did not expect to see in this part of Asia.
Then we had a nice metro ride back to the hotel and prepared ourselves for the big upcoming adventure: Taj Mahal!

Incredible !ndia: Delhi in the evening

Our first view of Delhi was a bit after midnight from the plane. It looked super bright and lots of lights were blinking. Indira Ghandi airport was big, carpeted, clean and fully packed at 1am. When we got out the hot Delhi air hit us in the face. We had to get squeezed into a taxi to reach the hotel. The taxi driver threw 2 of our suitcases on top of the car and for the whole trip i was wondering how they are not falling down. The streets were quite wide and relatively empty. Usually 50% of the cars followed traffic lights, others ddin't care. There were marked lanes, but our taxi driver was driving in the middle, similar to airplane. And so were many others.

We reached Karol Bagh, the area of the hotel. While roaming around to find the exact street, we saw some people sleeping on the sidewalks. That gave me an interesting feeling. I was surprised how comfortable they looked. They were lying in the midst of such a dirt, but they looked as if they have the most blissful sleep. I noticed a father and a small daughter, hugged together. I felt somehow happy for them, in a very strange way.

We reached the hotel, Sohi residency. In Delhi the words residency and palace have much different meaning than what you would expect. It was already about 2.30am, a very pleasant evening. We went to bed and i thought for a while about those people sleeping outside, just a block away from us. I fell asleep fast after that!