The trip into Delhi was rather uneventful with little to do but look for differences in what seem to be a very exotic set of people after living in Taiwan for the last 13 years. Differences like going from “average height” to a “bit short” relative to those around me, and looking at everyone’s eyes which by Chinese standards would be considered huge and very beautiful. Flying into Delhi there were only low lights which certainly did not convey that they were lighting up the evening television time for a city of 9 million people. I was also struck by the lack of larger buildings but that may just be an illusion from the height of the airplane. I’m very curious to see what the city will look like in the daylight.

One thing that was very apparent though was the warnings of dire pollution from the guidebooks weren’t written directly enough for me to fully grasp the meaning of the term. Sure it was phrased as a “dark cloud encasing the city” and breathing is equal to smoking 20 cigarettes a day, but that still wasn’t enough for me to be expecting the palatable air – I could literally feel each breath moving a small cloud of particles of smog, and grit in and out of my lungs. Within a few minutes I become conscious of the fact that I was literally only taking in very shallow breaths and subconsciously adding to the conspiracy to remove any trace of oxygen that my body was getting, in a silly attempt to limit the dirt getting into my body. Of course these shallow breaths weren’t helping, but taking normal breaths conjures images of the self-immolating flagellants from history, walking through town beating themselves.

The hotel recommended by a friend was a hovel on the lines of a 2-star Hong Kong hotel meaning it was literally smaller then my parent’s walk-in closets from home, but that shouldn’t be anything to really be surprised about… the question really is, what will this place appear to be in the morning light….