07 May 07 -- Return of Jet Lag

Ha! I was wrong. I slept most of this day.

After the hawks, I set out at 8 am to look for a new hotel. Since it’s so hot here, I expected to find things in full gear at 8 because the sun rises about 5:45, but I was wrong about that, too. There was really very little traffic and nothing at all open. I even beat most of the touts.

My first hotel was in Connaught Place, two truly gigantic concentric circles of buildings that look Regency but are 19th century, I think; these two circles are also cut into blocks by radial roads coming from the interior circle, so Connaught is like a wheel within a wheel, all linking by spokes. It’s part of New Delhi, the Delhi built by the Brits as the center of their government, so there’s a stolid, classical look to the whole thing.

Except, of course, that it’s all decaying. This is something I love about India…things just seem to be able to decay and decay and decay but never really get lost. There is garbage here and there; tropical fruit that falls from the trees heavy, sweet-smelling; jumbled, messy shops; and more patina in one block here than in the whole USA. But there’s a wonderful vibrancy about Connaught Pl, too. I want to stay here because it’s so central and because there’s so much travel infrastructure here (and shopping).

So I set out naively at 8 am and had most of the place to myself. It was quiet, the day just warming. A few people were sitting around having tea and even the rickshaw drivers weren’t looking for a kill yet. I wandered through the dirty, crumbling colonnades, visited a couple of hotels, chose one, and sat out on its veranda overlooking one of the wheels of Connaught. Like in lots of tropical places, the balcony was full of mouldy pots with plants, and as I sipped my bitter lemonade, a red-vented bulbul hopped in and out of the plants, five times as big as a wren but with a similar behavior. Saw flocks of parrots, the occasional grey-backed crow, magpies and some elegant bird with a giant, long tail. Enjoyed my lemonade and felt the temperature rise.

Back in the hotel, I got a couple of porters and went to the first hotel to get my bags. Told them off and checked in at the new place. Love the interior of this place….lots of old wood, heavy fabrics and marble; so clean you don’t want to walk in it. Got my room, opting for one on the veranda despite the street noise, and went in search of a travel agent that was open. No luck there…nothing happens on the street level until 10:30, I was told.

Then I made my worst mistake of the day. Fully knowing what to expect, I laid down for a few minutes. It was 10 am. Next thing I knew, it was 7 pm. How can one human being sleep so much?

Yawn… Got up and found a restaurant. Had a great Indian dinner with Kingfisher, walked around a little bit, and headed back to the room. Hope tomorrow goes better than this! Need to get some travel plans together.