Mon arrivee a Delhi a ete un sacre choc. Tout d'abord je n'etais pas prepare au climat hivernal du nord de l'Inde. Je m'etais accoutume aux temperatures tropicales, je ne portais que des shorts et t-shirts depuis le debut de mon voyage. Mais Delhi en hiver est froid, il faisait moins de 10 degres la journee et la nuit proche de zero. Ce fut le premier choc.
Le deuxieme choc a ete a mon arrivee dans la ville. J'avais discute avec beaucoup de gens qui avaient vu l'Inde et meme si aucuns d'entre eux n'a reussi a me decrire la chose precisemment je savais que je devais m'attendre a beaucoup plus de rusticite que je n'avais vu auparavant. Et apres tout j'avais deja vu le Cambodge rural, je me disais donc que rien ne pouvait plus me surprendre...
Le taxi m'a depose dans un endroit qui n'avait rien a voir avec l'idee que je me faisais du centre ville d'une grande metropole comme Delhi. Les batiments etaient vieux, souvent avec une architecture tres simple, certains ne semblaient pas termines, d'autres donnaient l'impression d'avoir ete abandonnes il y a des annees, aucun n'etait entretenu... Il y avait un nombre incroyable de gens dans la rue, malgre le froid, et la plupart d'entre eux ne semblaient rien faire de special. Ils ne mendiaent pas et ils ne semblaient pas sans abris. Ils semblaient juste passer le temps dehors en essayant de se rechauffer autour de quelques braseros improvises, un peu comme si ils attendaient Godot.
Les rues etaient loin d'etre en etat, et pourtant il y a enormement de traffic sur les routes. Et pas seulement des voitures, mais aussi beaucoup de auto-rickshaws (tricycle motorisees), cyclo-rickshaws (taxi a velo avec une remorque a l'arriere pour les passagers), des deux roues, des chevaux et forcement des vaches. Aucuns de ces vehicules ne semblent respecter le code de la route. Ils essayent de se faufiler en evitant pietons, cyclistes, animaux, en klaxonnant en permanence. La rue est parsemee d'ordures et a certains endroits des petits tas de dechets (non tries au prealable) brulent. Une facon de se rechauffer tout en se debarassant du probleme des ordures.
Le chaos general qui regnait ici me donnait l'impression d'avoir atteri apres une guerre nucleaire, enfin s'imaginer ca rendait les choses plus amusantes. C'etait difficile de decrire ce que ca fait de se balader dans cette ville et d'etre interpeller a chaque pas par un detail de cet atmosphere etrange qui regne la bas . La partie que j'ai de loin prefere etait me promener dans les bazars, des quartiers entiers de magasins. J'y ai passer des heures m'emerveillant devant chaque magasins...
Il y a aussi enormement d'impressionants monuments a visiter. J'ai vu le fort rouge et le Qutb Minar mais il y a aussi des tombeaux royaux, des temples de toutes les religions. A Delhi on peut trouver enormement de vestiges des civilisations passees.
Apres deux jours a Delhi je ne savais pas quelle suite donner a mon sejour en Inde. Apparement la plupart des voyageurs visitent le Rajasthan, Agra, Varanasi, mais je n'etais pas vraiment enchante a l'idee de suivre un circuit touristique tout trace. Surtout que j'ai decouvert l'existence d'une station de ski dans l'Himalaya au Cachemire: Gulmarg. Un endroit qui est apparement le paradis des freeeriders. Les vols etaient tres bon marche et j'ai donc decide d'aller voir Gulmarg 5 jours avant d'aller visite le reste de l'Inde.
Landing in Delhi was quite a shock. Firstly, I was not prepared to the winter climate of northern India. I was very used to tropical climates, where I only wore shorts and t-shirts. But winter in Delhi is cold, by day around 10 degrees Celsius and around 0 at night. Quite a shock.
The second shock was arriving in the city. I had talked with a lot of people who had seen India and even if none of them managed to describe precisely how it was, I knew I had to expect some more roughness. And after all I spent some time in rural Cambodia, so I thought that I could not be surprised anymore...
The taxi dropped me off in the center of the city. I was definitely not expecting that the center of a big capital would look like this. The buildings were old with a very simple architecture. Some of them seemed unfinished, others seemed abandoned years before, none of them were properly taken care of... Despite the cold, there was always a huge crowd in the streets, and most of them did not seem to be doing anything special. They were not begging nor did they seem homeless. They just seemed to be hanging out outside trying to heat themselves up around some makeshift brazier, a bit as if they were waiting for Godot.
Streets were in bad condition, but there was still a lot of traffic. Everything rides the streets of Delhi. Cars and buses obviously, but also a lot of auto-rickshaws (tricycle taxis) and cycle-rickshaws (bicycle carrying passengers), a lot of two-wheelers, horses dragging carriages and cows, obviously. None of these vehicle even tried to obey traffic rules. Everyone makes his own way trying to avoid each other and using the klaxon as often as possible. The streets are scattered with trash and you can see some small heaps of garbage burning here and there. A good way for people to heat themselves up while getting rid of rubbish.
The impression of chaos that I witnessed made me think for a bit that I had landed after a nuclear war, even if it was not true it made things funnier to imagine that. It was quite an indescribable feeling to walk in that city and have my attention caught at every step by a detail of this odd atmosphere. The part I preferred was walking in the bazars, entire neighborhoods of shops of all kinds. I spent hours there being amazed by every store...
There are also a lot of very wonderful monuments. I visited the Red Fort and the Qutb Minar but there are other royal tombs or many temples for all the religions. In Delhi we can find a lot of remnants of past civilizations.
After two days in Delhi I did not know what would be the next move. Most of the tourists go to Rajasthan, Agra, Varanasi, but I was not to keen on following the tourist track for the rest of my stay in India. I did not have a lot of idea to make my trip there fun. I had heard of skiing in India though but I was not expecting much. I still checked on the internet to have an idea and the resort seemed great actually. In the Himalayas in the Indian Kashmir, apparently the paradise for powder hunters. Flights were cheap which made the trip there even more tempting. I decided to go to Gulmarg for 5 days before visiting "real" India.
Un magasin d'epices dans un bazar de Delhi:
A spice store in a Delhi bazar:
Oh la vache!
Holy cow!
Main bazar in Delhi:
Le deuxieme choc a ete a mon arrivee dans la ville. J'avais discute avec beaucoup de gens qui avaient vu l'Inde et meme si aucuns d'entre eux n'a reussi a me decrire la chose precisemment je savais que je devais m'attendre a beaucoup plus de rusticite que je n'avais vu auparavant. Et apres tout j'avais deja vu le Cambodge rural, je me disais donc que rien ne pouvait plus me surprendre...
Le taxi m'a depose dans un endroit qui n'avait rien a voir avec l'idee que je me faisais du centre ville d'une grande metropole comme Delhi. Les batiments etaient vieux, souvent avec une architecture tres simple, certains ne semblaient pas termines, d'autres donnaient l'impression d'avoir ete abandonnes il y a des annees, aucun n'etait entretenu... Il y avait un nombre incroyable de gens dans la rue, malgre le froid, et la plupart d'entre eux ne semblaient rien faire de special. Ils ne mendiaent pas et ils ne semblaient pas sans abris. Ils semblaient juste passer le temps dehors en essayant de se rechauffer autour de quelques braseros improvises, un peu comme si ils attendaient Godot.
Les rues etaient loin d'etre en etat, et pourtant il y a enormement de traffic sur les routes. Et pas seulement des voitures, mais aussi beaucoup de auto-rickshaws (tricycle motorisees), cyclo-rickshaws (taxi a velo avec une remorque a l'arriere pour les passagers), des deux roues, des chevaux et forcement des vaches. Aucuns de ces vehicules ne semblent respecter le code de la route. Ils essayent de se faufiler en evitant pietons, cyclistes, animaux, en klaxonnant en permanence. La rue est parsemee d'ordures et a certains endroits des petits tas de dechets (non tries au prealable) brulent. Une facon de se rechauffer tout en se debarassant du probleme des ordures.
Le chaos general qui regnait ici me donnait l'impression d'avoir atteri apres une guerre nucleaire, enfin s'imaginer ca rendait les choses plus amusantes. C'etait difficile de decrire ce que ca fait de se balader dans cette ville et d'etre interpeller a chaque pas par un detail de cet atmosphere etrange qui regne la bas . La partie que j'ai de loin prefere etait me promener dans les bazars, des quartiers entiers de magasins. J'y ai passer des heures m'emerveillant devant chaque magasins...
Il y a aussi enormement d'impressionants monuments a visiter. J'ai vu le fort rouge et le Qutb Minar mais il y a aussi des tombeaux royaux, des temples de toutes les religions. A Delhi on peut trouver enormement de vestiges des civilisations passees.
Apres deux jours a Delhi je ne savais pas quelle suite donner a mon sejour en Inde. Apparement la plupart des voyageurs visitent le Rajasthan, Agra, Varanasi, mais je n'etais pas vraiment enchante a l'idee de suivre un circuit touristique tout trace. Surtout que j'ai decouvert l'existence d'une station de ski dans l'Himalaya au Cachemire: Gulmarg. Un endroit qui est apparement le paradis des freeeriders. Les vols etaient tres bon marche et j'ai donc decide d'aller voir Gulmarg 5 jours avant d'aller visite le reste de l'Inde.
Landing in Delhi was quite a shock. Firstly, I was not prepared to the winter climate of northern India. I was very used to tropical climates, where I only wore shorts and t-shirts. But winter in Delhi is cold, by day around 10 degrees Celsius and around 0 at night. Quite a shock.
The second shock was arriving in the city. I had talked with a lot of people who had seen India and even if none of them managed to describe precisely how it was, I knew I had to expect some more roughness. And after all I spent some time in rural Cambodia, so I thought that I could not be surprised anymore...
The taxi dropped me off in the center of the city. I was definitely not expecting that the center of a big capital would look like this. The buildings were old with a very simple architecture. Some of them seemed unfinished, others seemed abandoned years before, none of them were properly taken care of... Despite the cold, there was always a huge crowd in the streets, and most of them did not seem to be doing anything special. They were not begging nor did they seem homeless. They just seemed to be hanging out outside trying to heat themselves up around some makeshift brazier, a bit as if they were waiting for Godot.
Streets were in bad condition, but there was still a lot of traffic. Everything rides the streets of Delhi. Cars and buses obviously, but also a lot of auto-rickshaws (tricycle taxis) and cycle-rickshaws (bicycle carrying passengers), a lot of two-wheelers, horses dragging carriages and cows, obviously. None of these vehicle even tried to obey traffic rules. Everyone makes his own way trying to avoid each other and using the klaxon as often as possible. The streets are scattered with trash and you can see some small heaps of garbage burning here and there. A good way for people to heat themselves up while getting rid of rubbish.
The impression of chaos that I witnessed made me think for a bit that I had landed after a nuclear war, even if it was not true it made things funnier to imagine that. It was quite an indescribable feeling to walk in that city and have my attention caught at every step by a detail of this odd atmosphere. The part I preferred was walking in the bazars, entire neighborhoods of shops of all kinds. I spent hours there being amazed by every store...
There are also a lot of very wonderful monuments. I visited the Red Fort and the Qutb Minar but there are other royal tombs or many temples for all the religions. In Delhi we can find a lot of remnants of past civilizations.
After two days in Delhi I did not know what would be the next move. Most of the tourists go to Rajasthan, Agra, Varanasi, but I was not to keen on following the tourist track for the rest of my stay in India. I did not have a lot of idea to make my trip there fun. I had heard of skiing in India though but I was not expecting much. I still checked on the internet to have an idea and the resort seemed great actually. In the Himalayas in the Indian Kashmir, apparently the paradise for powder hunters. Flights were cheap which made the trip there even more tempting. I decided to go to Gulmarg for 5 days before visiting "real" India.
Qutb Minar:
A spice store in a Delhi bazar:
Oh la vache!
Holy cow!
Des chevres qui mangent:
Goats eating:
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