Arrival

Admittedly, I was rather nervous about my arrival. I'd heard dozens of stories on the utter craziness that is New Delhi and had been questioning my ability to handle it. Touchdown came as it must always and I suddenly found myself in the New Delhi Airport, the last fragment of calm I'd see for some time. As it turns out, the stories I'd heard were as close to truth as one could expect. The evening taxi ride to my neighbourhood kept my heart pounding and the 200m walk to the hotel was no less exciting. I decided to save the thrill of Delhi until Mike arrived.

On my first morning, I boarded a flight to Srinagar in Kashmir to spend a few days in the far north. The town, 900,000 strong, was comprised of 95% Muslims and was largely built on the surface of Dal Lake. It was an interesting treat to wake up each morning at 5:30 to the call to prayer echoing eerily around the lake to the houseboat at which I slept.

I traveled 15 hours by jeep along the 400km single lane mountain road to the remote town of Leh, Ladakh. On the cusp of the Himalayas, I found myself surrounded by Tibetan Buddhists and adventurous trekkers, drawn by the incredible scenery and provincial atmosphere. I toured a number of palaces and temples over two days before returning by jeep to Srinagar.

A 7-hour jeep ride and an overnight train from Jammu brought me back to New Delhi and an extra 15° centrigrade along with it. I met Mike the following morning, sweating in anticipatio nof the 38° daily high. We toured some of the big attractions in the city, but we mostly just embraced the unfathomable numbers of people who could mob with remarkable density just about everwhere we went.