I would rather be anywhere else than here today

April 11
Delhi, India

I was not looking forward to Delhi. I tried to figure out a way to visit India without ever setting foot in the city, but it was a necessary connection point for our future destinations. We got to town late – around 11 PM, and headed straight for our hotel. We were staying in the Tibetan camp, which sounded like the best possible place to be. Kurt is heavily involved with Students For a Free Tibet, and one of the SFT folks in Dharamshala recommended a hotel and set up special rate rooms for us. Well, upon arrival, all of these advance plans fell apart. The hotel had somehow lost our reservations and was very confused. The guys running the lobby were asleep, having to unbolt the door to let us in.. It was too late and Delhi too much of a maze to go anywhere else. So, we got one fan room and one a/c room (all they had available even though we'd requested 2 a/c rooms). Up the dark creepy staircase we walked to our room, which was all the stuff travel nightmares are made of. The room had bare bulbs and live wires (concentration camp style) hanging from the ceilings and walls. The floors were abhorrently filthy with big black stains on them. The bathroom did have a toilet seat, though it was sitting on the floor next to the bowl. The lead paint peeling from the ceiling was surely toxic. There was also a surprise guest: a piece of watermelon sitting on the bathroom sink. Dimly lit and loud and filled with about 200 mosquitoes, we sprayed down with Deet, laid or travel sheets on the beds and stacy and resigned to get the hell out of there first thing in the morning. I still woke up with several mosquito bites on my face, the only uncovered part of my body. Unfortunately Kurt and Mio, who had taken the fan-olny room, fared far worse. They were kept up all night by hungry mosquitoes and bedbugs.

The next morning, we met the owner and had tea with him and resolved any problems from the night before.. He helped to arrange a ride to the Kumbh Mela for us, and ended up giving us a room discount in the end. He also recommended another hotel in the area, since his was (thankfully and questionably booked). Nice guy, not sure why his hotel is such a shithole. The problem was that by now it was 1 in the afternoon, and a trip to a nice hotel across town would kill the rest of the day. So we checked into a hotel a block away, which while a little bit cleaner, was no real step up quality-wise. I'm just too old to stay in places like this. I like to shower in the light, and not have to worry if rats are going to be crawling over my suitcase when I sleep. The whole area of the Tibetan camp was also very dimly lit, with narrow streets. Maybe this is what Tibet looks like, I don't know (though probably; I'm sure China keeps the electricity flow as low as possible). I suppose it was better than being outside in Delhi proper, which is a filthy maze of construction sites and constant hawkers, “come inside, you just looking, no buy” or men accidentally on purpose bumping into you to cop a feel. I'd much rather be surrounded by monks and photos of the Dalai Lama. But I did not get the greatest vibe from the place. When you're in a dirty, grimey, dark hotel, you feel dirty, dark and grimey, or at least I did. I had hoped to relax in a clean and well appointed hotel room for the night, because the next day, we were n heading to what I was sure would be the ultimate in dirt and grime...the largest gathering of people anywhere on earth, the Kumbh Mela. My anxiety was starting to rise.