A rough night in town
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60 km outside Delhi, we became embroiled in the first of many traffic jams to come. I almost clipped a bus with the trailer, only to snap my head forward in time to swerve around another bus turning straight into me. Traffic piled up behind slow bullock and pony carts. Cycle rickshaws, motor scooters and cyclists dodged in and out of of the slower vehicles. Buses relentlessly blasted everyone with their horns. Vehicles always charged up behind me when I tried to get around bullock carts.
After a day of hard biking and constant direction-asking, we arrived where we wanted to at 6:00pm. It had been a long day, but little did we know it was only 2/3 done.
We couldn’t find a decent place to stay. According to our custom, we left one person with the bikes and sent two out to look for places. Several times they came back empty handed.
I argued for going to the train station. Pete was against, but Drew sided with me. We mounted the bikes and headed towards the train station, which was only a couple kilometers away.
One hour later, we had gone 1 kilometer. Traffic leading to the train station was hopelessly backed up. It moved at a snail’s pace. Cars, buses, carts, cycle rickshaws and motor bikes all moved in spurts and stops. Tempers shortened and drivers smashed into each other’s bumpers rather than leave space for anyone to get ahead.
“This is hell,” said the usually indefatigable optimist Pete. We put our cycles onto the sidewalk and rolled past the honking mass of jumbled traffic, but to cross the road we had to jump back in.
Finally we made it past the train station and our lane opened up. We proceeded to race to the international youth hostel, so eager to be out of the area we didn’t even stop at the grungy hotels that finally emerged by the side of the road.
We couldn’t race for long, though. We didn’t know where we were going. We stopped again and again to ask for directions. The Delhi Police force became our god-sent guides. One officer spit on the ground and shoved his machine gun underneath his arm. “Straight,” he said pointing, “then right at round about, then you ask again, ok?”
Half an hour to midnight, we finally arrived at the hostel. The silence of the embassy area of New Delhi made for an eerie but welcome change. There was no food. We registered and had our emergency food cold and dry: ramen noodles meant to be consumed when we were stuck in the wilderness with no restaurants. Wilderness or not, we were happy to be finally arrived. We all slept well.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:39 am
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Jim, not knowing where you will sleep each night brings back memories of trips with my husband who likes to “fly by the seat of his pants” when it comes to lodging for the night. Because he says we do not know where we will be at the end of the day, we surely can’t make reservations in advance! On a recent trip when there was no room at the inn, we were guided to a beautiful bed and breakfast not once, but two nights in a row, to be followed by the worst accomodations in “caravans” in a trailer park the third night with electricity but no water. But it’s all part of the trip and gives great appreciation for a “good” nights stay. To be able to go with the flow is a blessing. May the group continue to encounter people with open hearts and goodness to share with you as you search for a place to rest and recharge each night.
Sandy
May 30th, 2008 at 8:30 am
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Jim, is your plan to travel to Istanbul in the near future? Because it’s possible that I’ll be there in July, and it’d be amazing if we could meet up. Email or facebook or otherwise contact me if you have a date planned for that business.
April 20th, 2010 at 3:26 am
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September 5th, 2014 at 2:42 pm
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Please post more photos of your wednidg, it’s so lovely to see it all come to fruition after all your careful planning and it looks like such a wonderful day, so please indulge us with as many pictures as you can post!
December 15th, 2014 at 9:40 am
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Clear, informative, simple. Could I send you some e-hugs?
December 19th, 2014 at 10:44 am
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Enlightening the world, one helpful article at a time.
March 5th, 2015 at 3:25 pm
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It sounds and looks like psdraiae. These images are beautiful. Love the bicycling ones!Thank you for sharing them and I look forward to seeing more.