First impressions from India

Hi everybody!

today I had the first rain giving me the first real break on my journey through India so far. After 4 days in the capital Dehli I passed two days in Chandigarh, being 240km north of Dehli.

I hope my german folks and friends don't mind me continuing in English, but it's just easier writing in one language and goes way faster.

I just picked the pictures to load up and there are already tons of impressions and experiences to tell about. Landing in Dehli the first things you get confronted with are the crowded roads and the neverending honking of the cars and autorikschas.




The first day in Dehli I spent with an excursion group from my former university in Stuttgart. Some students will plan a new residence for the German embassador and so we got to see the german embassy in New Dehli.


where everybody was busy with the preparations for the german national holiday on october 3rd ... well maybe not everybody was that busy giving you a first impression who work is done here.


and you don't often meet the german president face to face



The next days I spent with seeing the tourist sites of the indian capital. Some of them built in the last century like the India Gate, being a war memorial for the Indians serving the British Army in WWI


or the Lotus Tempel, a tempel built by the Bahai Religion to offer a place for all religions to come together and pray.


Other "buidlings" date back to earlier dates as the fantastic Jantar Mantar, a place the used in the 17th century to observe the the sun, moon and stars.


or the Qutb Minar Complex with its 70m high tower built in the 11 century,

and being the grave of the early islamic sovereigners in India. The red fort in the center of Old Dehli was built by the moguls in the 16th century being the residence of the Mogul.


and the Humayun's Tomb the tomb one of their great Moguls.


besides all that, Dehli is also been an important domain to Mahatma Gandhi. Footprints mark the way he walked on the 30. January 1948 to the place he was shot.



During these days in Dehli I got also in touch with the indian culture today. Everywhere you meet people being happy to talk to you in English and who want a picture taken with you.

And also the markets are a great place to get in touch with the people. Being in Old Dehli a mainly muslem part of town after sunset during Ramadan was quite a sensation.


Besides Ramadan, there was also a hindu festival taken place in the beginning of october, showing all different types of food (and my stomack still works pretty well ;-)





As you see, there are many things to enjoy and so far I just went through very good experiences. Even though it is a very chaotic country, I really like it and look foward to all there is to come!

With lovely greetings from Chandigarh,
Boris