Delhi: Day three and four

India: Sonia Khurana
Originally uploaded by Mosseby.

Maja got better after all, so I spent Wednesday going around the Delhi zoo with Max, and also getting to understand India a little better (more about that later). We didn't have any conference on Thursday, giving us the opportunity to go and meet with Sonia Khurana - a very exciting contemporary arts artist - in her home here in Delhi. She showed us some of her work, and we ended up buying a very beautiful piece from her.

Anyway, the zoo experience was different from what I expected, and not only pleasant. First of all, of all the people we saw at the zoo during our three-hour stay, it turned out we were the only ones that were (or appeared to be) non-Indian. And the place was crowded, so we definitely saw thousands. Secondly, quite a few people behaved rather strangely towards us. While standing in line for tickets, people from behind simply ignored us and passed ahead of us (and only us). After forcing our way up to the booth and buying our tickets (much more expensive than the ones for residents), it was as if the ticket guy was not all that happy to sell us tickets. A lot of people stared more at me and Max than at the animals, and not always with happy faces.

Since then we've had a few similar experiences, and all I'd like to say is that India sometimes can be a bit unpleasant for foreign travelers. During a two-week trip in Sri Lanka we had fewer bad experiences€ in total than we've had during some days here. And then we've stayed at a single hotel here, while we traveled and changed hotels four times (without making reservations more than a day in advance) in Sri Lanka.

Max had a blast at the zoo, though! Tigers, elephants, lions... and the giraffes that turned out to be his favorites!