The first time I passed through Delhi, I was here less than 24 hours, and didn't have much of an opinion about it since I saw very little of the city, and most of it after dark. Since then, almost everyone I've talked to has had few good things to say about the city, so I wasn't really looking forward to coming back, but I also thought it would be a good place to do some last-minute shopping before I leave. So I planned to spend my last two days here, not knowing exactly what I'd do with myself, especially I'm not feeling very motivated for any more sightseeing here.

At least getting here was a treat. I had met a really nice Swedish-British woman in Rishikesh, and we were both tired of bus rides in India, and were headed back to Delhi the same day, so we decided to treat ourselves and hired a car and driver for a more civilized ride to Delhi. The 6-hour drive cost us about $50, and was worth every penny. Quite a different way to get around, although I was paying more attention to the traffic and the drivers' passing at crazy times than I did on the bus, which wasn't very relaxing! But compared to a lot of them, our driver was quite good and didn't go too fast, at least. So we arrived in Delhi around 9 pm, and they dropped me off at my hotel, where they didn't have a room but were going to take me to another place across the street (which I knew ahead of time). So the driver whisked Anna off to the airport for her early morning flight back to London, and I walked the dark streets of Connaught Place to the other guesthouse. I'd been hoping to find a nice place in Delhi to treat myself, but had had a hard time--every place I'd called from Rishikesh was full, except for this one! So I ended up in a clean but dark little room with a TV but a shared bathroom, for more money than I think I should be paying. I was frustrated when I saw it, so haggled a bit and said I'd stay for one night. Then I went out to look at the two other (nicer) hotels on the block, and they were both booked too, so I decided to just stay in the dark room all three nights--better than being out on the street at least! So I had dinner at the fancy hotel last night, and watched two movies on TV before I fell asleep.

This morning I was feeling none too happy about having two whole days here, and not even a nice room to hang out in (it has pretty much no natural light), so I found a good Internet place--finally!!!!--and I spent about 3 hours online, uploading some pictures. At least something good came of the morning. Luckily, this afternoon I was able to do some pretty hassle-free shopping nearby, so that was satisfying (and I did some hard bargaining that I'm very proud of), and then I talked to two friends (one lives here, another's an American that I met in Rishikesh) that I'll be seeing tomorrow, so I'm feeling much better now. I'm going to a restaurant called Rodeo for dinner, with Mexican and Continental cuisine--we'll see if it's any good!