January 12 Delhi

Tjollahopp

Today was absolutely amazing! We started off by going to something called the Salaam Balaak Trust which is a place where kids live upto 6 months while an organization called Planeterra look for their parents or a safe, more pemanent home. The kids were welcoming and happy to keep a conversation with the few English words they knew. Our guide, Ejaz, told us his story about living on the street for 6 months when he first came alone to Delhi. He was escaping from his father who forced him to become a priest. Now, he is on good terms with his family and finishing high school while working as a guide. The visit was touching, but in a good way. He told us about the many sad destinies though, especially for young girls who get married at the age of 14 and prostitution where they get about 500 rupies a day ($8). Our everyday guide told us that India is good on paper, the money is just in the wrong hands. It is weird and hard to see all the homeless people begging for money, but we are trying to accept that this is their reality, and it is better helping through an organization than handing out money.

We have asked quite a few people to take their picture, because of the amazing colours and patterns they wear as their everyday clothing.

After the shelter, we went to see the greatest Mosque in India, Jama Masjid, and it was funny how suddenly Hanna, Nanna and I became the attraction. People were gathering around us to get a picture with us because of our skin and hair. The same happened in front of the Red Fort. One guy even tried to figure out whom would be a good match with his son. I didn't get any of the pictures because they all used their cells. It was probably one of the weirdest experienses of my life, I swear I was in more pics than on graduation.

We also went to a Sikh temple and I couldn't stop thinking "I am loveSikh" haha. It was pretty sick (ha). Anyways, we had to walk barefooted and wash our feet in this holy water that some (eww) people drank from... There were not that many people there so we were able to help the ladies make rooti in a stone oven. The Sikh temple is open for everyone, and there is free food for whomever's hungry. 

Here's just some random people in beautiful clothing

I had Pao Bhaji and Rajkachori for lunch which was delicious, then Hanna, Nanna and I went shopping. The three of us and our everyday guide, Aura, went for dinner where I had Aloo Jeera (?). I'm scared I'm going to get "Delhi Belly", food poisoning in other words, but I think I'll be fine as long as I stay away from meat, eggs, raw veggies and street food. And tap water of course. Luckily most Indians are vegetarians and specialists on spicy dishes which I love.

Please ignore any bad spelling, I don't feel like reading through it right now.

Nighty night world, Talk2YaL8er

P.S. If you ever go to India, travelling with G Adventures is a great experiense, especially with our amazing guide who's stuck with us for two weeks. I absolutely recommend this.

January 11 Delhi

Yohoo peeps

India is crazy! The traffic is insane, but everyone knows exactly what they're doing. We had to cross the street earlier, and that involved walking with my shoulders raised through a roundabout with three lanes and everyone honking. Our guide said "to get your license in India you need three things; good horn, good breaks and good luck". We walked around the area today with our new friend David from Austria, who was really helpful and calming in this madness. There are many families living on the streets and the kids come running after us, touching and begging for money. We try to ignore it, because they're already getting help from local organizations, but it is weird and creepy and sad. We met our group today for dinner (I had Dal Tadka, which was spicy lentils with veggies), and we were honestly pretty shocked. We thought we would travel with people our own age, but we are the youngest ones and then there's someone around 30, and some around 60. But everyone are nice and easy to talk to so we are excited to travel with them for two weeks! It's cold here and we only brought summer clothing (whuupsi), but the ladies we're travelling with let us use their jackets, they're very kind :)

So here we are from Norway, Austria, Australia, Spain, Canada and South-Korea.

I didn't take many pictures today because I just had to feel how things were, but tomorrow we're going to Old Delhi and I'll bring my camera.

Stay tuned! xx

Why I am doing this

Hey,

I'll be blogging now that I'm going away for a while to keep y'all updated on my awesome 3 months in India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia. Plus I'm doing this because I always forget stuff so it'll be like a public diary I guess. I'm leaving this Saturday with my two friends, Nanna and Hanna, and it's gonna be legendary and you will be jealous. You're welcome. There's gonna be a whole bunch of pictures, so prepare dear readers :)

Catch you on the flippety flop

Jeg skriver på engelsk for mine internasjonale bekjente. Google translate er jo fint hvis du ikke skjønner.