One Month Recap

I'm in New Delhi at the moment, staying with a a lovely family in Vasant Vihar (if you're familiar with Delhi... otherwise, it's a nice suburb about 6km from the city center). Delhi is a completely different kind of city from Mumbai. The roads are better, there is lots of green space and other nice features that come along with a nation's capital. They even have a large road that runs from the Prime Minister's office to the India Gate that reminds me of the Mall in Washington, D.C. That said, there is still amazing amounts of poverty that just breaks your heart. And at the most basic level, you can have improved infrastructure, but the chaos takes a lot longer to dissipate. As my host said, if there was just a little bit more order, people would be terribly confused because they are so accustomed to what I view as chaos.

I'm getting quite tired so I'll make this a short post, but I just wanted to recap a few highlights of the trip thus far.

High Point: Probably sunrise over Budapest, but the felucca cruise on the Nile was amazing also.

Low Point: The first night alone in Prague... when it hit me that I was really by myself. Listening to "Hey There Delilah" while eating dinner alone in an empty restaurant was rough.

Best meal: Toss up between dinner with Will in Egypt and the meal I had tonight here in Delhi. Both were authentic food that you just can't get anywhere else. We'll see if eating Indian fish comes back to haunt me...

Worst meal: The food on Egypt Air from Budapest to Cairo... disgusting.

Clothes I've lost: A pair of shorts and two pairs of underwear... don't ask me how because there is no exciting back story.

Clothes I've gained: Two pairs of Egyptian underwear, a second hand linen shirt which I tinted green by washing with my sheet, a blue polo shirt from the Hungarian answer to H&M, and a polo shirt from Leopolds, the bar in Mumbai.

Worst rip off: Definitely the infamous cologne

Best deal: 5 hours in a taxi (1 1/2 hours each way plus a two hour wait) for 16USD. That included a nice tip.

Most valuable lesson: Always carry small bills... best accomplished by spending your large bills at restaurants and getting change.

Unnecessary item thus far: My inflatable clothes hanger.

Number of days since I've drunk tap water: 18... and that means 18 days since crisp salad.

Thing I took most for granted at home: The ability to exercise whenever I wanted.

Biggest reminder of home: The smell of a Bounce sheet on my last shirt that I washed at Will's embassy apartment.

That's all I can think of for now... if you have suggestions for other things to recap... leave a comment.