A BAD Hotel With A Great View-The New City Palace

Old Delhi near Jamma Masjuid
Click the picture above for more info. about Islamic heritage

Damn it, I just spent the last hour writing a 4 page email and my god damn stupid &*$%ing computer crashed….AHHHHH! Okay…start again…(breath in…breath out) So what did I write before? Ah…. I moved out of the CCS flats yesterday and did a real stupid thing…I got a cheap hotel room right next to the mosque in old Delhi….It is the Islamic area of Delhi and the streets are swarming with muslims. I love hearing the call to prayer (Allahu Akbar) every few times and I find Islam a fascinating religion. I have read the Quran and have a pretty good understand of Islam compaired to most. Even with my interest in Islam I feel like I am in hostile territory. I don’t go outside much. I only am there for 1 more night before I head off to Udaipur so it will be all right.

I had rather a disillusioning night last night. The one thing that seriously bugs me about the people (men) here is that they are so friendly but its usually just cuz they wanna sleep with you or get you to buy something which sucks cuz I want to have a real conversation once in a while without any expectations or pressure behind it. Last night I went to the rooftop restaurant on my hotel and the waiter struck up a conversation I thought. We talked for about an hour with no mention of sex and I thought great, finally a guy who has an honest desire to be friends and learn about American culture. He then invited me to the roof to look at the mosque which sounded kool so I went, the second we got in the lunged at me like a starving bear (a 4’11ft bear) and started shedding the layers like he was in the strip Olympics…I would have been scared if he wasn’t so ridiculously short. I removed myself from the kitchen and stayed in my hotel room till 1pm the today. Why sex? Of all the things in the world, this amazing world, why sex? A rat can do it. I don’t get it. Humanity is so amazing, the world is incredible, and the universe is full of unimaginable beauty yet half the people in this country cant get past what’s in their pants! Common, it’s really depressing. I’m hoping Udaipur will give me some time to relax. *sigh * So I better go and pick up my tickets, the travel agent should be here soon and I don’t wanna drive through old Delhi at night. You know what’s weird I absolutely love India. For all its craziness I love it. My room at the hotel has much to be desired, 10x10 with 3 beds put together (you do the math), a TV that has the worst American movies ever made (such as Breast Men…the history of silicon and Battle Monks) and sheets to whom whiteness is but a distant memory. The room does have 3 qualities however that somewhat redeem it from the never return category. First of all its about 10$ a night which isn’t half bad, secondly it has an amazing view of the mosque and thirdly, it is the perfect place to people watch. The streets in India are so full of life. In the half a block I can see from my window I can watch the daily routines of around 5 families who do almost everything on the street. They work, play, eat, shower sleep, argue, smoke, live,” enjoy”, you name it…they do it all right on the sidewalk. Its great to be able to watch without being seen (did you ever realize people almost never look up?) and to have a perfect view of what is like for India’s homeless. Shoot…travel agents probably there….ahh..better run…write again soon…..byeee