Delhi

Delhi is a breeeeeeze compared to Chennai. Holy cow, so to speak. I never thought i'd say it but
Delhi is calmer and more organized and CLEANER, so much more so that it makes me laugh so hard that Chennai was my introduction to India. Wow, what a difference. This is the city i thought i was landing in. I mean... i could have adjusted to this much easier than what was before my eyes in chennai.. wow. i can't stop saying wow. i can't believe that two parts of india could be more different. I tried not to have my judgements there, i tried not to measure that world against my western developed world values and expectations, but i think i failed at it, honestly, bigtime. The upside to all of this is that i am delighted with my decision to come to Delhi, and also... after where i have been... it makes delhi seem like a cake-walk in comparison. Services, infrastructure.... abounds. and when i say this, i mean... compared to where i was in chennai, and it seems like the whole city of chennai was this way....i was a bit of a freak. i knew a single woman travelling alone looks conspicuous and people don't understand you, why you are there, why you would want to come there, and alone no less. its hard to explain but...it is a bit unnerving. Here there are other tourists, people are accustomed to dealing with them, and you don't feel like some pink flamingo in the zoo that some might be considering for lunch. anyhow. i feel better.

So on the malaria front..... good news.... still no fever. so it is possible, from the research and talking to the doctor and stuff, that a person just gets a kind of a flu type thing, coming into this climate and in monsoon season to boot. so without the fever, i can't even begin to think it is malaria or dengue or anything else mozzie born. so that's good. i hope i didn't make any of you too worried. I am noticing a tendency to want to hold back on all the gory details because i don't want any one to worry about me. So you all just have to know that i am playing everything really safe and i know how to do that and you just have to trust that i do and all will be fine. fine.
So after delhi, i head to Haridwar, which is on the way to Rishikesh. i have to look in to the train availability next.
Today was day five and it was time for a pizza and coke. so i had one, a pizza and a coke. the coke was so yummy cause it was in a glass bottle, so of course it tasted better, and the pizza was possibly the worst i've ever had.... didn't even taste like pizza. So now that i have that out of my system, i can go back to eating yummy indian food.
I'm really sorry i haven't been putting many pictures of the place on here. It is considered rude to take pictures of people, especially women, and i am finding that that is exactly who i want to take pictures of most... they are so beautiful in their saris. Chennai was very traditional too, so all the women wore a sari or....the other more modern tunic and pants and scarf. still pretty. So i see people frown whenever i take out my camera and i just figure... its not worth it, and i put the camera away. but i sneak a picture here or there of innocuous things like streets and trains and the window out of the airplane.
Oh, that was fun. flying domestic with Indigo Air from Chennai to Delhi .. very efficient and professional. no major problems to report. a bit of turbulence, which makes you alot more nervous than turbulence on a big airline on a big plane, cause you are on a smaller plane on an Indian airline.... so you can imagine.
Anyways. that's all for now kids. I miss everyone very much, and i have dreams about Canada and friends and family all the time, so i don't really feel like i am that far away.
oh, and marie, the ring is working like a charm... literally.