This morning we woke up at 9:00 AM and ate breakfast. Our hostel provides breakfast for the travelers: cold cereal, oatmeal, fruit, and bread (+ toaster, if needed) (peanut butter, jelly, and Nutella available too). I FaceTimed my dad, and my friend Kaylin; told them about our crazy first day. They both thought it sounded so cool. I miss them both already, haha.
A guy sleeping on the couch. Breakfast in the background
The busy street, from our room
Exploring the roof of Joey's Hostel
Rooftop
A hut
Lookin' at the birds
On top of the hostel
Ben is trying to scare some birds over the fence
Zac on a ladder
At 11:00 AM, Ben and I walked around on the street for a bit to kind of get a feel of what things are like around here.
Lots of wires
Walking on the street
Sleeping dogs, everywhere
Old buildings
Tourist 1
Tourist 2
Bikes taxis and tuk-tuks
Food carts on the street: chapati edition! They're kind of like tortillas, but more dense and better?
Walking past the Lovely Playway School
A bike taxi
Ben saw this a few days before I arrived– he couldn't wait to show me
A man on the phone, at a park
marigolds & trash
Zac on a bench
A mother carrying a little girl to school
We went into a park (Madhuban Park) and watched people feed the birds and when we tried to pet the dogs, some local kids laughed at us. We talked to them for a bit and they asked for pictures with us for their Facebooks! I wrote down their names, but couldn't find them
Entering Madhuban Park
Birds
Ben trying to pet a dog
Yes, the birds are over there, homeboy
Snoozin' in the sun
Snoozin' in the sun: Ben's perspective
all about bird feed
As we started our walk to our hostel, we saw this cool looking temple-like building called Shree Santan Dharm Mandir. We went inside and up some stairs to the roof. Not sure if we "allowed", but we smiled at a few people we saw while up there and no one told us other wise.
Statues on the top
The busy street, from the top
Ben: "climb that ladder!" Zac: "no, I don't want to draw more attention to us and get us in trouble"
A lady walking into the temple– I waved at her but she just kept walking
Ben takin' a picture
Ben: "Just climb it! If we get in trouble, we can just say this is normal in America"
Zac walking back downstairs
A super long cross walk sign! I figured it's because there's so many people here:
I saw long cross walk signs in Honolulu, Hawaii too, because there are lots of tourists there.
We got back to our hostel at 1:30 PM. We researched how to get to the New Delhi skatepark, grabbed Ben's skateboard, and some snacks. At 3:00 PM, we hopped on the blue line at Laxmi Nagar for 5 minutes, to Yamuna Bank. Then on a different blue line for 10 minutes to Rajiv Chowk. Switched to the yellow line and rode 24 minutes to Saket (Rs. 40 / $0.62). Then we tuk-tuked to the Free Motion indoor skatepark!
On the metro
Snake!
You are given a coin when you buy a metro ticket,
that you insert in these machines to get through
Our driver didn't really speak English..
After realizing we wouldn't really be able to communicate, our driver put on some music for us!
I was sending a video to my family and Ben was trying to freestyle-rap to the music
When you see a sign for the Free Motion Skatepark
We took a wrong turn to the skatepark, and went up onto a roof?
Rooftop
On top of the roof
Building a house
Rooftop
Saw this sign taped next to a door on the way back down, hahaha
We arrived at 4:30 PM, and met some kids who had just gotten out of school. They said they would come watch us skate, but wouldn't skate because they had no money. Apparently you have to pay Rs.200 ($3.09) to skate! No wonder kids don't skate down here. Not that skating isn't important, but there are other things that are more important that kids could spend their money on. We went in and introduced ourselves to the owner and told him how we'd seen pictures and videos online, but was so awesome to actually be here in person. We asked why people had to pay to skate and have fun, and he explained that it isn't funded by anyone and is too expensive to run out of pocket. Understandable, but still lame..
Graffiti wall
Ben talking with the owner, Aashiq
Benny and Aashiq and the park
Skating
Some halfpipe action!
It was pretty steep on one side, so it's difficult to get back up once you drop in..
#StillCounts
Halfpipe Zoomin'
I watched Ben skate for a bit, then walked around outside and took pictures. I keep catching myself thinking about how crazy it is to even be out here. Everyone's eyes are constantly on me, which I don't think I really mind– but it gives me a new perspective on other's? I think I would describe India as devastatingly beautiful: it's noisy, dirty, and very busy– but I'm always smiling and having a great time!
Literally just a wall with a sign.. that I can't read
Alleyway
Everything has great color down here I love it
Buildings
Alleyway
On the street
saw these playing cricket in an alley
Alleyway
So colorful!
The ruins of a house?
Houses
Buildings
A normal street scene: cows, women in beautiful saris (drape/dress), and dogs
Street
A big bike for 2 kids
I forgot that the swastika was a religious symbol; so I was very confused when I first started seeing it drawn everywhere.
Busy street
Little shops
I love seeing cows in the streets!
pigs eating in the trash, yum
When I came back to the skatepark, 5 of the Free Motion skaters were there! We all watched Ben skate and I gave them some blank stickers and paper to have them draw us pictures, that we may put onto skateboards in the future.
Ben taking a picture of the Free Motion skaters
Left to right: Amar Kumar, Amit Sharma, Durgesh Kumar, Ankush Kumar, and Amar unknown
Drawing: Free Motion SK8 / Amar / Benny it is a skateboarder / person with backwards hat + sk8 shirt doing an ollie / Barro(?)
Name: Amit Sharma
Sticker: Amit Sharma Skateboarder Free Motion Sk8
Drawing: Free MOTION SK8 / person grinding down stairs
Name: Durgesh Kumar
Sticker: Cloud + Durgesh Kumar
Drawing: I love my SK8 / I love my India / Thrasher, Skateboard, King of the Road / SK8 of India / My name Durgesh
Name: Ankush Kumar
Sticker: Ankush Kumar I am skate Border
Drawing: Guy skateboarding / Ankush Kumar
The Free Motion Skaters! Left to right: Unknown, Durgesh Kumar, Amar Kumar, Amit Sharma, Ankush Kumar, Amar unknown, and Aashiq unknown
A sticker that I left on the door of the skatepark
At 6:15 PM, we rode a tuk-tuk back to the Saket station, then Rajiv Chowk, then Yamuna Bank, and finally home to Laxmi Nagar! Our hostel is only a 3 minute walk from the station, which is nice. We bought a pineapple on the way home, too! We both showered, ate our delicious pineapple, and Ben fell asleep. I wasn't very tired, which was a bit odd? I stayed up, chatted with some other travelers in the living room, and edited some photos that I've taken so far. Honestly, I think that some have turned out great!
An crazy average tuk-tuk ride
In a tuk-tuk
The map on one side of the metro car was in Hindi and we didn't even notice the other side was in English until now
At the Yamuna Bank train station for our transfer to the line to Laxmi Nagar
2 sweet treats!
At around 12:00 AM, I got kind of hungry so I went out find a food cart or something. I walked to the end of the street but nothing was open. I walked up onto a bridge and watched the busy street for a few minutes, before I started walking back.
on top of the bridge
On the way down the street I walked past 2 guys sitting down and they waved and said hello. On the way back, one of them came up and started talking to me. I can't remember his name, but he was really nice guy, spoke pretty okay English, and we talked for a few minutes before he invited me to come sit and talk with him and his brother. We talked for about 30 minutes: what I do back home, politics, what I was doing there, what I thought of India so far, etc. They eventually asked me if I was hungry, and I said very, that's why I had come out this late. Then they invited me into their house and offered to feed me! [I know this all probably sounds very unsafe: going out late at night, in an unfamiliar city, alone, without telling anyone where you're going, talking to strangers, going into a stranger's house?!! But I felt this situation was different: he didn't appear weird, messed up, or aggressive at all. He was just a friendly guy who wanted to help a foreigner out!] We walked to his house, which was just around the corner, and we went in. We removed our shoes outside (you always remove your shoes when entering houses or temples, as a sign of respect), went up a 2 flights of stairs, and into a bedroom where 4 gentlemen were hanging out. He introduced me to his “brothers” (they weren't actually brothers. Cousins or friends, probably?): Nitin Chaudhary, Gaurav Singh(?), and Srikant Narauni. I'm sure they were surprised to see some white kid in shorts and a short sleeve shirt come into their bedroom at 12:30 AM. They invited me to sit on the blankets (makeshift bed) on the ground and gave me coffee, lentil soup, rice, and chapati. They told me that chapati is a staple food, meaning they eat it with most meals and that most people in India eat only with their hands/fingers. They taught me how to properly fold the chapati to use it as a utensil, to scoop up the rice and soup (was very helpful throughout the rest of my trip). We talked for about 2 hours: about music, what my hobbies are, what Utah is like, etc. I connected to their Wi-Fi and showed them where Utah was on a map of the USA, and pulled up photos showing the geographical diversity in Utah: from the dry, red rocks in Arches National Park to the purple, lush Wasatch Mountains to open, suburban Northern Utah. They thought it looked so awesome, I assured them it was! [I didn't feel in danger at all but just in case anything were to happen to me, I sent Ben my location and explained that I met some guys on the street and am safely hanging out with them at their house. If I wasn't back in the morning to come looking for me] When it came time to leave, I thanked my new friends and they invited Ben and I to have dinner with them tomorrow night! The guy I talked with originally offered to walk me back to my hostel because he said it was unsafe for me to travel alone at night.
Srikant Narauni and I
Left to right: original homeboy, Srikant, Zac, and Gaurav(?)
I had pulled my hair back into a bun when I was eating, and they asked if I would let it down for a picture, hahaha
Left to right: original homeboy, Srikant, Zac, and Unknown (he showed up like 10 minutes before I left)
Left to right: original homeboy, Srikant, Zac, Gaurav(?), and Unknown
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