Old Delhi

Yesterday was a day of adventure and new experience. The morning was restful and relaxing, and after we found out that the equipment was not being delivered that afternoon but monday instead, we had the day to travel down to Old Delhi. But first we needed to stop by the bakery. Some things had progressed, but not a huge lot. Not a big surprise.

This is one of the woodworkers. Note that he has no shoes on, he is sitting on the door he is cutting a hole through, and that he is using a small pull-saw. I watched him for what was probably half an hour, and by the time we had to leave he had made it through the veneer on one side, and maybe half way through the core. Painful I tell you. This could be done in minutes with anything with power. A skill saw, jigsaw, scrollsaw, ANYTHING! But they do everything by hand. Why? Because labour is cheap, and they are not paid by the hour, so it doesn't matter to them how long it takes. So backward I tell you.


After hangin' at the bakery for a little bit, we make our way to the metro station. Unfortunately thus far the closest one is a half hour away, but eventually there will be a station just minutes away from the bakery. Going into and out of the metro was strange because it felt like it was in another country. When underground or in one of the stations, everything is neat and tidy, floors are swept, advertisment signs are backlit and the glass is clean, there are signs with directions on them and maps. None of these things will you ever see outside the station. There are a few road signs telling you which direction a road is in, but no roads are marked, and if you miss your turn you are screwed. Walking out of this high-tech station was like walking back in time. You step out into the filtered sunlight and into a whole nother world. There are bodies everywhere, mixed with traffic and bicyles, cow carts and horse-drawn buggys. Crossing the street is reminiscent of that old video game frogger. You can only cross one lane of traffic at once and that's if you can even determine what a lane is. If you make eye contact and put your hand up vehicles will usually stop to let you pass, but this in itself is an art yet to be mastered... I mostly just hold Anna's hand and trust her excelent judgement, close my eyes and run when told. Looking up I see masses of tangled wires going from derelict building to derelict building, and signs plastered over every inch of available space on the fronts of these buildings, holding them together as well I swear. People live above these shops, and each shop must be an average of about 10 feet wide at most. I have no clue how you get to the residences above, because I can't ever see a staircase... must be in the backs of the stores.


We grab a couple bicycle rickshaws and make our way to the busiest place on earth. It's the industrial market, where everyone goes to buy things for their businesses. There is absolutely NO do it-yourself, simply because there is always someone to do it for you. And it's nearly imposible to find the tools to do it yourself. Evey shop is highly specialised, and so you'd have to go to about 100 shops to find everything to simply fill a basic tool kit. I wasn't able to take any pictures within this market because I was constantly fighting to keep up with everyone without getting trampled underfoot the masses. Basically picture an alleyway between 3 and 4 storey buildings about 15-20 feet wide, and completely jammed with bodies all walking quickly in various directions. If you want to go anywhere, you'd better get in the flow, keep left and don't stop walking unless you deak into a shop. Thankfully Dave and Marc are head and shoulders above everyone so I could almost always find them. They could never find me though. For once, I'm exactly the same height as EVERYONE. We found the crate place we were looking for and got the information necessary. From there we managed to find the steel and aluminum market, and got some tart tins and loaf pans.

What a day.

But it's not finished yet. By some sort of miracle we find the main road and walk along it for ten minutes till we find two free bicycle rickshaws. We take these to a bus stop. Wait... bus? Dave has never been on the local transit yet. he has avoided it at all cost for over four years. Why? you ask? Well, let's just say it's an entire adventure in itself. We got on the bus, and it was nearly empty. We found a couple of seats, and settled in for the two minute ride. People jump on and off the bus as it drives, no joke, it only stops at major stops, so you have to jump off if you want off before that. Next stop about a hundred people pile on. It is sardines to the max. But wait... I hear Daves voice a few seats behind me saying we have to get off in a minute. This means we have to get through these bodies? You've got to be kidding me. We manage to get standing, and our seats are filled before we have even left them. We too are now sardines. But we're in the center of the bus and we have to get to the front in about 10 secconds because the bus is slowing down. I have no clue how we did it, but we sqeezed our way through the masses and got out the door just as the bus started to roll away. I think it helps that we're white. People were a bit more concerned that we got off. Apperently foreigners never ride the transit. I don't blame them. It is pure insanity.

We have been bouncing between home, shops and the Bakery for a few days now, and I've been able to acctually leave the house (and subsequently the washroom) for the last couple days too! Every time we go to Red Moon, (the Bakery) Something is either going wrong or going dreadfully slow. Slightly dicourraging. Yesterday we got a call in the morning from our manager Rakesh that the neighbour next to the bakery had come over the evening before and threatened to beat the workers if they kept drilling holes in the wall. Apperently they were trying to have some classes or something (at 10:00 at night??) and the drilling they were doing was disturbing them. So, as it turned out, he scared the crap out of the guys, and they refused to come to work all day yesterday. This means further delay. So yesterday was spent mediating, and attempting to find some sort of middle ground with this neighbour. As it turns out, they have classes from 7:30 in the morning till 10:30 at night. That's crazyness!!!! Oh, but they stop for lunch from 1:00 to 4:00, so you guys can work then. Right. Ok, so we can tell our guys that they have three hours durring the day that they can acctually get stuff done. Right. Our other option is they do everything in the middle of the night. So I believe they will be working all night tonight, and there were a couple carpenters there today, basically just putting in a door. Which believe it or not, takes an entire day. Work here confuses me. Anyway, on the bright side, the walk in fridge was assembled the other day, and the frezzer was also delivered. They look good, and despite a few things that wont fit in it, all is well with those. The walls are painted, the floors have been ground and buffed, and the toilet and sink are in and plumbed up. So as it stands, I think we're about a week away! Hooray!!! But there are still a few hurdles to jump over before we can even bake in there. For instance, there is no power. This is a big one. We have a little bit, enough for lights and fans, but they are waiting for the power people to come and hook up the phase 3 so the ovens and fridge and freezer can acctually be turned on. Anyway, I gotta run and watch a movie, but I'll give ya another update in a few days.

Ciao!

The house, streets, bakery ect...

Alrighy, I now have some pics to offer you of the appartment, the bakery storefront, Our street and the stret the Bakery is on. I'll obviously tell you which is which though. I appologise for not doing this yesterday as I said I would, I was rather ill with a common thing called Delhi Belly that one is bound to get within their wirst week apperently. Marc seems to be fine thus far though. Ok, here we go. This is the view of our street from the balcony. Standing at the front door looking to the right toward the dining area. Standing just to the right of the front door, looking to the left at the office space. David and Anna's room. Our room.
Bathroom. Kitchen.
Living room. Hangin' out, enjoying the AC :) Ok, this is the street the Bakery is on. It is on the ground floor of the grey building you see on the right. The fella in the foreground is Rakesh, he is their Opperations manager type guy. He oversees he construction workers, and a bunch of other stuff. He also kinda acts as a translator when Anna (who's Hindi is very good) can't seem to get the point accross, mostly due to the other person not stopping talking. Rakesh, although softspoken, is also a very good nagotiator. Here is the Bakery's storefront. Quite cute I think! I have no pictures of the inside as of yet, I did a walk through video, but I'm still having issues posting them. I'll take a few next time we go in. This is a Vehicle we went to check out. It would be the delivery vehicle of baked goods to a grocery store in another state. Sounds far away, but it's about a half hour to 45 minute drive form the bakery. Could be worse! :P
This was rather amusing. The one guy on the motorcycle was giving the guy on the scooter a push. We followed them for quite some time, passing cows, goats, dogs and the like.

So there you go! We'll see what happens today. I'll probably stay home cuz I'm still running to the washroom every half hour :S Ok, too much information... See ya!

Humayans Tomb.

We decided today to go do something touristy that none of us had seen. This was easy for us because, well, we haven't really seen anything, but Dave and Anna hadn't seen this Humayan's tomb place yet either, so we went there. This is within the grounds, but is not the tomb itself. It is beside a monument for someone else I beleive. This is a Mosque beside the other tomb.








Dave and Anna on top of the other tomb with the mosque in the background...












Marc found a precarious precipice to sit on, and so did I so I took a pic of him.














This is the real thing. They make very large buldings to mark these famous peoples tombs. There are older ones elsewhere around the city, but they are smaller and no where near as kept-up. We even had to pay 250 rupees each to get in! (equivalent of $5.50 CAN)










This is inside, under the large dome in the massive building, the marker of the tomb which is in the ground far below.













This is the view from the top, looking toward the gate we came through. The grounds were really big, and quite nice! Green grass, trees, little canals, Bollywood stars.... yes, you heard me right.




We walked around the side because we could hear music coming from there. Right after we rounded the corner and started walking toward the other set of stairs, we heard "CUT!!" And a guy all in black (who must have been absolutely roasting,) shooed us off to the side. The music then commensed again, and they shot the clip again. So obviously ammused by this, we went down to the grass set up our little blanket and played frizbie (which the locals loved) and watched the filming of a Bollywood movie called "Sunday" appropriately being filmed on a Sunday.




We went straight from there to Church, which starts at 4:30. My kinda Church. And all young prople too! Lets just say that Dave and Anna were among the oldest there aside fromt the pastors parents. So I think it'll be easy to make friends there quick.

I'll post a few more pics tomorrow of the house and general life in the streets of Delhi.

Some pictured for your hungry eyes!

So we've been here for three and a half days already, but it doesn't seem like it at all. We went shopping the other day, mostly because we didn't really bring any clothes, and got a bunch of cool stuff. The market is called Laj Path Nagar, and there are hundreds of shops. Here's a shot of it. Yes, that fella on the rolling cart is a beggar. Most likely a birth defect. I think he was parapolegic, cuz his legs didn't work. It was wall to wall people, like the mall at 6:00 on Christmas eve, but way worse. I went to a shoe store where I had to fight to even be able to see the shoes on the shelves. It was pure insanity.

I shall post more in a bit, we're going out sightseeing and to church. Lots more pictures to come! I just have run out of time for this morning.

Holy Cow! Litterally!!

Alright, so first off, the very best time to fly is at night. Both of our flights ended up being over nighters, and therefore we were able to sleep for most of them. Gravol realy helps with that too! :P After two 8 1/2 hour flights, one from Vancouver to London, England, and the other from the latter to New Delhi, we hooked up with Dave and Anna, who were convinced they had totally missed us in the airport and lost us already. Thanks to their patience we found them after waiting nearly half an hour for our luggage to come around. Apperently the secerity is pretty tight and they scan everything before putting it on the moving round about thingy... I know it has a proper name, but forgive me my brain feels like jello at the moment. We made our way to the car, fending off the porter guys who take the liberty to just take your bags right out of your hands and expect you to yeild to let them carry them for you. Then they of course want money. But really, I'm pretty sure we had it under control, there were four of us and only two large suitcases. yikes. Anyhow, Jumping in the car was our first introduction, and subsequent culture shock to life in India. Since they were once a Brittish Colony, the cars are right hand drive, and one drives on the left hand side of the road, when one feels like it. Seriously. Unless there is a barrier in the center of the road dividing it, anywhere is pretty much fair game. Let's just say the rules are loose. There are lane lines, kinda like home, but not quite so even... Mostly everyone sticks to the left, but definately mot always. You'll inevitably have a couple motorcycles, rickshaws or cars driving straight at you in a five minute period. But hey, given that there are over 15 000 000 people living in this city alone, and that a lot of them are walking, all over the place, or riding a motorcycle, or rickshaw, or bike, and that mixed up with all of the above are a bunch of cars, your top speed on a smaller street, if you are lucky will reach 30km/hr. Oh yeah, and there are cows, goats and dogs, EVERYWHERE. On the larger roads, there are less people randomly driving the wrong way, but the mayhem is pretty much the same. No one, and I shall emphasise NO ONE staqys within the lanes. It is unheard of, and simply stupid to do because you will get nowhere. You have to squeese in wherever you possibly can, and unlike home, where the horn is used as something for admonishing bad drivers, it is used in series of short bursts just to let other drivers know where you are on the road. However if you really lay on it for a good few seconds, that is the equivalent to swearing your head off at the idiot driver who nearly just took off your mirror. Shockingly, though we drove around to various places nearly all day, we saw no accidents. Partially because they don't stop for the small ones. if nobody is injured, and nothing is falling of the car and it still runs, meh, good to go. Almost al cars have some sort of dent somewhere on them. It's a wonder really, that there are not more bad ones. I guess that although for our standards they are all positively atrotious drivers, they are keenly aware of what's going on around them, and they look out for eachothers back halfs. your job as a driver apperently is to make sure the front half of your car doesn't hit anything, and the back half is other drivers around you's responsability. It's madness I tell you, pure madness. Thank Heaven that Dave does it well, and that Marc and I are laid back. Otherwise I think my nberves would be shot completely.

Anyway, enough about the driving. We went to see the Bakery thus far, to check on the Project manager dude, and see how things were progressing.... or in the case we found, digressing. SOme shelves had been made wrong, so they were re-doing them. For no real apparent reason the air conditioners had been moved up and over a few inches exposing nasty holes in the drywall. Why? no clue. Whatever, could be worse. Still don't have power, so they are working with whay light the widows bring, and there are no such things as power tools. It's all hand saws and chissles boy and girls, but that's probably for the best, cuz I'm not convinces I'd let any of those fellas opperate power tools... I could be mistaken, but probably not. Heck, they wear flipflops doing construction. There are no safety codes anywhere to speak of, and that's just normal. This place is going to take some getting used to.

Before we went to the Bakery we dropped our stuff off at home here, (very nice little place, quaint i dare say :) then grabbed some bread and eggs from the local grocer. (a 10 x 12 foot room with shelves lining all walls, and a large window where you tell the fella inside what you want. Kinda cute, I like it, and it's right around the corner. Has nearly everyhting too! Not fresh vegies or meat though. you buy that from venders on the side of the road. Breakfast was toast and eggs, cheers to Anna and her cooking skills for that! We then proceeded to their friends house for their usual thursday morning prayer meeting. We sang a bunch of songs, almost all familliar, and met some wonderful people. We'll see them around a bunch while wer're here.

After the Bakery, we went to another city in another state, called Noida (the city, don't know the name of the state) to inspect a bunch of stainless steel stuff they had fabricated. Counters, work surfaces, sinks and such. They were all up to specs, so we went from there to the local gigantic, no, freakin' HUGE mall. Still under construction too. I dare say it's as big as metrotown or bigger. And there is another just as big being built accross the street, and another beside that one. It's crazy I tell you. They've caught the consumerism bug almost worse than North Americans. After Dinner at a noodleish type place that had good food, but the hotness scale was higher than even Dave and Anna are used to. Oy.

Now we're back home. I passed out on the couch for an hour or more, and now want to go back to dreamland. I'm exhausted. So over and out for now, I may write tomorrow, but it looks as though it will mostly be spent getting me some clothes. :D So I may just wait till Saturday.

See ya!

Count down

So we're nearly down to the last two weeks already. I hope we remember to pack everything! If any of you readers happen to think of anything we may have not thought of, then feel free to let us know! Just a short post for today, mainly because I'm tired, and my brain is on vacation. Hey, it's a long weekend, I'm allowed to not think for bit right? Not much has happened since I wrote last, Marc has gotten our paperwork to the consolate general to India, and we should have our visa's within a week. I think that's all the news for now!

Happy Thanksgiving!