Incredible India

Finally, we managed to sleep through the whole night without interruptions from our stomachs or loud Indians debating right outside our room. :) Jan went down to ask at the reception how much the room actually cost. We had been told by the tourist office that the room normally costs 3000 rs, but we would get it for 2200 rs. However, the receptionist was very willing to negotiate outside of the tourist office, so we ended up getting the room for 1800 rs per day for our last few days! :) The begging here never ceases to surprise us. We’ve started buying fruit to give to the people who beg, but not everyone is happy about it. Some even seem offended when they receive fruit instead of money. Others, of course, are very grateful. It turns out that commissions aren’t just for tuk-tuk drivers. We met a young disabled boy who was begging and followed us, almost shouting that he wanted chapati from a specific place. We quickly saw through that trick, and an Indian confirmed that this boy would get money if he could get someone to buy chapati from that particular spot—of course, at tourist prices. :) We also encountered a begging boy who wanted to go to the movies. It’s incredible how quickly they learn that begging can pay off. Not everyone who begs is a poor soul!!! You really have to be careful not to give to just anyone, as begging becomes a lazy way of living for many instead of working. Since we’re heading home tomorrow, we decided to go on a shopping spree. :) So, we headed to the underground market, Palika, which turned out to be really good. People were incredibly willing to negotiate, and after several hours of shopping, we came away with a green leather jacket for women for 24 USD, an Indian embroidered top for 100 rs, 2 T-shirts for 200 rs, a belt for 50 rs, 19 DVDs for 90 rs each, 5 DVD games for 400 rs, 25 computer games on CD for 35-40 rs each, a headset for my mobile phone, and a new cover for my old phone. It was also time to get our hair cut, so we went to a salon that had been recommended by several people. The place was supposed to be really good. It only cost 85 rs for a men’s haircut, so we were a bit skeptical about how good it could actually be at such low prices...but thankfully, the result was great. We went out to eat early since we wanted to catch a movie later in the evening. We chose to dine at the rotating restaurant, Parikrama, so we could enjoy a nice view of the city. It takes 90 minutes to make a full rotation. After that, we took a tuk-tuk to Plaza Cinema, which was showing an Indian love film, Bewafuu, that’s supposed to be a big hit here. We picked the best seats in the cinema, which cost 150 rs each. The movie didn’t start until 9:30 PM, so we had a little hour to kill. Delhi isn’t a city that stays open all night like some other Asian metropolises. Shops don’t open until around 10 AM and close again around 7 PM. Still, we managed to find a store that was open. A small Levi's store had a sale, and we ended up leaving with a pair of women’s Levi's jeans for 800 rs and a pinstriped men’s Giovani suit for 4700 rs. Everywhere, there are people trying their luck at begging. This time, they actually got something out of it, as we didn’t feel like going to the movies, so we gave our tickets away. We did wonder a bit if one of the beggars would even be able to get into the cinema, as he looked quite peculiar and was missing a leg.