Senses Go: 10 - 16 November 2008

A rather belated Senses Go for last week: as you can imagine, there's so much to see and do here in India who has time for internet cafes?

You will not believe the crazy things that went down last week as I began my two-week trip around North India.

Talk about a sensory knockout: I've often been told India's not for the faint-hearted traveller yet here I am, much to the surprise of everyone I know.

Upon arrival on Friday from my shop-a-holic haven of Kuala Lumpur to dusty, eccentric New Delhi - I knew I was in for a treat. The beau and I managed to stay at a decent hotel in the scummiest, ghetto-est part of Delhi: Pahaganj.

It was a hazy, dusty day (more so than any other according to the news)... I was speechless at the sight of lawless traffic, kids begging and squating to poop on the footpaths, men pissing on public walls and gaunt cattle roaming about.

Yet the off-putting above mentioned details aren't necessarily things I wasn't warned before by travellers and naysayers alike. What I didn't struggle too hard to find was the beauty behind it all: the friendly people (even though, I was often mistaken for a Japanese woman)and the historical architecture influenced by Muslim and British history.

Here's what went down...

SIGHT:

(Move over Posh, Vogue India has a new face)

I'm currently blogging from the peaceful Tibetan populated town of McLeod Ganj (in the Himachal region, I believe) - and upon arrival it is amazing to see the Western travellers strolling about town in various hippy chic fishermen's pants and pantaloons.

I've often said, I'd never be the Ishka fashion victim with the dreads, beads and loud pants: not to diss of course... but it's just not my style. Naturally, I spoke too soon and here I am thinking I could make this work: davidlim style.


SOUND:


(A strange cure for insomnia on a bumpy bus ride)

When it comes to new music, I live under a big rock now. Don't be referencing I Am... Sasha Fierce leaked album tracks to me cause all I hear is Bollywood tunes around here. Having said that, the easy listening pop ballads were on high rotation on that goddamned bus trip on Saturday. My shameful collection of Atomic Kitten mid-tempos became indispensable.


TASTE:


(No beef, no problems)

You're in India, one would assume you'd be lavishing on amazingly flavoursome curries and vegetarian dahls.

Perhaps, they haven't met me. How is it that I ended up having three meals at McDonalds already in just two days? In a holy cow nation, you can expect beef to be off the menu. It's chicken and veggie patties, kids.

While I've made it my fatty ambition to try Maccas in every country visited: India's McMenu proved most innovative yet most predictable. Their equivalent of the Big Mac is a pancake-flat, chicken fillet Maharaja Mac: with lettuce and spicy red sauce.

Bearing in mind thuogh, McDonalds is a semi-luxury restaurant here. It's got a security guard opening doors into his plasma screen filled, air-conditioned restaurants... the prize comparatively isn't as affordable for the average Indian here as Maccas is for us back home.


SMELL:


(Holy cow! davidlim and meets the mascot for his new perfume, Eau De Bovine)

Forget the eau de parfums of the previous weeks! New Delhi swoons with an exotic scent of construction and cattle. I find it amazing that for majorly busy roads, one could easy spot cows wandering chomping on garbage. I personally can't have my God trawl the dusty streets and masticate on scraps.


FEELINGS:

(Nick spotting a head torch for a game of Scrabble on a dimly lit bus trip)

I seriously endured the bus ride from hell on Saturday night. 12 hours stuck on an old bus speeding through bumpy, narrow roads uphill was a nauseating experience, to say the least.

I don't know how the Tibetan elders slept so soundly while I struggled to catch more than 30 mins worth of 'zzz's. Despite the constant jerking around and disturbingly loud grinding brake sounds, we survived with a game of Scrabble and a head torch!

As much as McLeod Ganj prooved to be worthwhile: I still wake up in cold sweat dreaming of that wretched trip uphill!


THOUGHTS:


(Former Miss World and Bollywood screen siren, Priyanka Chopra)

India is unique for its elaborate billion dollar film and music empire: Bollywood. The local stars are worshipped to Brangelina proportions in this country - from charmingly suave hunks to irresistable Indian screen goddesses alike, their adoration and support for their homegrown talent is exemplary to consumers in Australia.