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MY MARE
Today was quite possibly the worst day of my adult life. I have been up for 27 hours straight. At times walking the streets of New Delhi I feared for my life. This may sound melodramatic, and it potentially is, however this was a harrowing experience for a young white boy.
I caught the metro train to the city centre from the airport. I was pleasantly surprised with the cleanliness and quality of the infrastructure thus far. On my way I observed some very bizarre yet worryingly commonplace driving. There are 4 lanes going each way on the highway however it is as if they mean nothing. It is common to see 6 cars lined in a row with no regard for lanes whatsoever.
When I reached New Delhi, the centre of Delhi itself, I was shocked. Not because of the many homeless, deformed beggars but because it was festival time. I was told that meant around 5 million people squashing into an area no bigger than the university of auckland. Upon reaching our pre-booked hotel, I was informed that our deposit was no good and that I did not have a room owing to the festival, which essentially gave anyone the right to do whatever the f*** they want. This worried me. Within 2 hours I had seen 2 crashes that killed people, people not unlike myself, being driven in rickshaws. We had also crashed. I am not injured, just roughed up. I was thrown out of the vehicle, luckily onto a pile of fruit for sale. My bag was thrown out and landed near some wild dogs who were sniffing it, clearly able to smell chocolate. At this point the driver of my rickshaw began yelling at the man whose stall I had fallen upon. He later told me that the man was trying to make me pay for damage. At this point my driver was my best friend. We managed to make it to the tourism bureau, who managed to book me a "top hotel room for very competitive price". $40US, which was about 4x what I had already paid at Hotel Prince Polonia.
I turned up and immediately got flashbacks to every horror movie you see which starts in a dilapidated little hovel. My hovel still had s*** in the toilet, and that wasn't even the worst parts. I could have gone toilet on the bed and it would not have looked out of place.
I am now in bed slightly worried but happily satisfied in the knowledge that India can only get better.
Curry count = 4
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