There were some things I expressed concern about before leaving for India. For the most part, as expected, those concerns were completely unjustified:
1. The toilet paper/toilet issue: Yes, the toilets here are very different. Yes, it can suck. But: you can get toilet paper pretty much anywhere, most of the restaurants have Western toilets, and the squatting isn't even so bad (most of the time). My only bad experiences have been the squat toilet on the moving train (yeah, picture it), and my 90 minutes of solid diarrhea with only a squat toilet available (I finally had to clutch on to the wall to keep from falling in, and Scott confessed finally having to sit down on one during his bout of Delhi Belly).
2. The cold: Yes, it was butt-ass-cold for all of my first four weeks here, but it's over now. I sometimes had to sleep in my clothes with wool socks on, rolled up in airline blankets inside my sleeping bag with my rug on top of me, but I survived. Now, I need only worry about the heat, which I'm sure will be worse.
3. The crowds: Yes, Delhi is crazy. There are 1000 people on every corner, but that just makes it more fun. If you can manage to stop for three minutes and not get run over, you will see so many wonderful things happening. It just take patience.
That's all I can think of now, but feel free to remind me of other crazy things I was worried about.
Flown by mariposa at 10:24 PM on February 18, 2005
