Last year I visited India in January and February with my girlfriend. We traveled from Delhi to Chennai on the West coast and a bit of the east coast. In the next days/weeks I will post a couple of photo threads of cities rarely seen here on SSP.
DELHI is the capital of India, a sprawling mess of bustling neighbourhoods full of life, smells, noise and chaos, at least from my westerner point of view. I visited Delhi in 2013 and 2016 on previous trips and it never ceases to amaze me. I usually stay in the Pahar Ganj area, a densely packed neighbourhood with it's main commercial street going west from the main railway station. Most backpackers stay in that area giving it a traveler-friendly vibe, complete with burger joints and souvenir shops. It is not far from the Old Delhi area, the original city before the British took over. That part is my favourite of all, with it's sprawling markets and narrow alleys. Delhi, as the rest of India, is PACKED with people. Everybody is pretty friendly towards westerners. One feels pretty safe there (men, at least) but also completely out of place. I had already explored newer, more modern parts of New Delhi on previous trips, including a typical booming suburb called Gurgaon (
my photos from 2017 here) but this time we stayed in older, more traditional parts. Most photos are taken in Pahar Ganj, Old Delhi and a few in the tibetan enclave of Majnu-ka-Tilla.
We arrived at night under a thick pollution cloud, pretty usual in winter due to the burning of crops in the plains. The smell was strong before the plane even touched the ground, I had never experienced it before. With a growing middle class buying cars and rapidly expanding suburbs, the pollution is set to become worse in the coming years.
Bulk and spices market in old Delhi
Thanks for watching!