January 25 – 9:05PM – Delhi.

Fucking intense, profane language completely necessary. I am now off the pedestrian, tuk tuk, and street hawker snarled streets of the Paharanj neighborhood of Delhi and in the calm of the rooftop cafe of our decent hotel, Hotel Vivek. The peace and cold beer is calming my nerves from the mission I just went on.

I went out while Kevin was showering because he hadn’t showered for three days because our shower in Agra was ice cold. I speak from experience. This evening I went out to find a wine shop due to the rumors that we have heard that no alcohol is sold tomorrow on Republic Day and I am an American and I like beer with my fireworks. Our taxi driver from the train station to our hotel told us that there will be a huge parade with soldiers and tanks and missiles parading down Delhi’s main road. Sounds awesome, sounds more awesome with beer and I am on vacation so I will fully partake.

So, as I said, I went out to find beer. On my way I was intercepted by a guy who wanted me to come into his shop and have a look. I said no many, many times but somehow still ended up sitting in his shop. Why? I wish I knew but it happened. I thought I was a pro at street hawker counter attacks. His shop was actually down a narrow street and then up a dark narrow staircase with a stream of water flowing down the steps. My spider sense was off the charts walking up the stairs and my fists were clenched, ready for anything. This felt like a bad situation and I thought I was going down. Thankfully the stairs actually did lead to a small dusty shop so that was a relief for the moment. Anyways, he showed me his goods and I told him that they all looked very nice but that I wasn’t interested. He then busted out a large chunk of hashish. Now I know I tried the bhang lassi in Udaipur but I try to stay away from the dope so I politely said, “No thank you.” He was very persistent and the only thing I could think of to do to get out of his shop was tell him that if he showed me where the wine shop was I would buy him a beer. He led me on a mile or so long journey that I thought would never end through the crowded and narrow backstreets of the neighborhood. The thought crossed my mind that he was leading me to a place where his buddies could jump out and rob me so I was also ready for that. I’m a pretty trusting person but this guy just had a very shady feeling about him. We eventually did make it to the wine shop and it was a total mad house inside, packed with people trying to stock up before tomorrow, shouting, pushing, and squeezing their way to get what they wanted. I had my wallet in my hand and a gentleman in the shop told me to put it away because pickpockets were rife in the area even though the wallet is attached by a chain to my belt. I got what I came for, bought my friend with the hashish a Kingfisher Strong for his troubles and then got lost on the way back trying to find our hotel. I eventually made it and am now sitting and relaxing so it’s all good. Gonna eat and then maybe walk around for a little bit. We’ll check out the parade tomorrow. Times are good.