Delhi and Beach Bumbing it

So After Agra, I hoped a train to Delhi. Paharganj, located just outside the New Delhi Train Station, is a major hub for backpackers in India. In addition to tons of cheap lodging and markets it's a center for travel within Delhi and India as a whole. It has many dark alleyways and has an unsettling feel at night but I felt quite at home among the legions of world travelers.

I spent the first day exploring New Delhi and the Capital. New Delhi is probably the cleanest city I've visited so far and looks a lot like many modern American cities (except the traffic). The Capital grounds were beautiful and were filled with media and news reporters as a result of the recent elections and "changing of the guard" to take place in the coming days. (I even got interviewed by a number of local news stations)

Just south of the capital building is Humayun's Tomb, one of the highlights of my Delhi trip. The tomb grounds are well maintained and filled with native birds and monkeys (including a family of Peacocks which I took particular interest in). The tomb itself is a massive structure in the center of a central garden, again something that I and many tourists have never heard of but not to be missed. I did have some technical problems with my Digital camera and lost all my pictures after the Taj... I was pissed. So please forgive the use of a stock photo.

After a night of drinking and socializing with friends, I joined a number of German travelers and went to Old Delhi. The shops and markets were fun, but the major land marks in Old Delhi pale in comparison to their neighboring attractions. The Red Fort looks very impressive from the exterior, but the interior is filled with a mix of small temples and generic buildings from the early 1900's. You may want to save the $5 and just walk the exterior walls.

After the Red Fort, we toured a number of temples and Mosques including Jama Masjid, the largest Mosques in India. A word of warning to all travelers. Mosques and many temples require you to remove your shoes prior to entry. It's completely safe to leave them outside, but under no circumstances should you pay for this service. Often locals will stand outside the gates and demand a "fee" for guarding your shoes or an entrance fee (rare at temples). Some will go so far as to hide them under blankets and other nearby objects (as happened to us). It's a scam, simply demand them back and refuse payment and they will comply.

The next day I took a plane to Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala and one of the southern most cities in India. Kingfisher Airlines is one of the nicest airlines I've ever been on, servicing only local and select international routes, Kingfisher Airlines is one of the newest, cheapest and nicest Airlines in India. I highly recommend them.

Kerala itself is beautiful. It is one of the more tropical places in India, but one of my favorite so far. The people are very friendly, very few people are trying to scam and cheat you, there are few beggars, and they have the highest English literacy rate in India making it a breeze for American tourists to get around.

I was going to meet some friends so I wasn't able to spend as much time in Thiruvananthapuram as I would have liked. I hopped the first train to Varkala and couldn't have been happier. Varkala is a paradise, I want to retire here. The resorts and restaurants are on a cliff overlooking a great beach. The city is a tourist hot spot in the fall, winter and spring but with the monsoon approaching, the place is nearly empty. This leaves only a couple dozen European tourists and the local populations. We spend our days on the beach, surfing, swimming and tanning. In the evening we eat dinner at some fantastic restaurants and drink and dance the night away at Funky Art Cafe on the northern Edge of the coast. For a night of great food, heavy drinking and dancing I pay 10-15 dollars US.

I love it here, but the Monsoon is coming and there is still so much to see and do. Tomorrow my friend Rachel and I head to Alleppey tomorrow to take a house boat up the backwaters. I can't believe it's already been three weeks...

Cultural Shockers:
Latent Homosexuality: Indian men do many things that would be considered inappropriate for straight men to do in Western culture. You will regularly see them holding hands, hugging, and even what we would considered cuddling on trains and park benches. Most interesting is the dancing; often times men will grind on each other and do dance moves that would be considered to sexual even in the states (again, man on man)... but yet they have such fear of homosexuality and repression of woman and sexuality... I just don't get it.
Change: It's impossible to find change around here... even for small bills people expect you to have exact change or close to it. Further complications arise from ATMs; they pay you in 1000 and 500 Rupee notes, but vendors rarely accept them... How do people conduct business?