Since I pay money for this damned domain, and Gord was good enough to set it up and maintain it, I should probably use the damned thing. So I’m India at the moment, New Delhi to be exact, to do some training, but I had a few days to settle in beforehand and see the sights. It’s hard to imagine a more different city to Vancouver that isn’t populated by lions, or situated on the moon. Some would say the city is vibrant, others would say everybody here is bat-shit-crazy. I believe it falls somewhere in the middle. Even the Nigerians that are at the same school as me think India is crazy, and if the Nigerians are saying that … well … you know you’re someplace special.

And of course I love it. It’s a pretty wild place. On Sunday I managed to get to three UNESCO world heritage sites, and get heat exhaustion even though it was raining. The traffic is everything you expect from a third world country, with cars, motorbikes and tuk tuks packed 5 abreast on a 2 lane road. But with cows! Asleep in the fast lane on the highway! And with some scooters and rickshaws going the wrong way cause it’s too busy on the other side. I have seen the famous overladen truck that looks like it’s about to fall over, but not yet the bus with 900 people packed on it. So not all the stereotypes have been fulfilled, but I’m hopeful.

The food has been amazing, but since one of the symptoms of (my admittedly self diagnosed) heat exhaustion is nausea, I haven’t eaten as much as I would like to. That said, I’m pretty happy that we haven’t had any ‘Roman incidents’ or other significant gastrointestinal problems as yet. Delhi Belly I believe is the local term for it, and it’s to be avoided at all costs. So no ice in your drink, no fresh fruit or vegetables unless you washed them yourself (or can peel them), and no food from a street vendor that’s been sitting for (probably) days.

So far the people seem to be a bit shy, but I think some of them are warming up to me. I’m going to try bribing them soon. Also, the accents are surprisingly difficult to understand. That said, with one notable exception I’ve always managed to get my point across.

I have a good story about getting home from the Red Fort (the one exception mentioned above), and I’ve also had two days of classes so far, but I’ll hold off on jabbering away about them for now. Gotta have some content for future posts. “Always leave em wanting more” was Axl Rose’s motto. No wait, maybe that was “I may always get drunk and stoned and won’t show up for concerts, but I’m still richer than you.”

I may have been confused there…