Entry Level

A fun two days in Delhi, meeting entry level folks from around South and Central Asia. a lot of "war stories," or at least people trying to claim their city is the hardest of them all. our argument was NOT helped when people learned that we have a Hard Rock Cafe in town. the real award, though, goes to our colleagues who made it in from Kabul, less than three days after they had been attacked at the embassy. their presentation really hit home. fun to talk to both A-100 classmates and wisconsin colleagues, and great to see that whole other side of diplomacy we don't see in HYD: parties with elephants, befriending int'l diplomats at sufi-sung receptions, listening to successful SCA specialists.

Delightful Delhi

Flight from Hyderabad to Delhi – 2 hours, costs ~$200 roundtrip

First impression: “Wow, this place is civilized.”

Purpose: Two days of training and consultations at the embassy, both made much more useful with a few weeks on the job under my belt. Pretty amazing to see the differences in lifestyle between a work-in-progress micro-consulate versus one of America’s largest embassies, home to a thousand American staffers and a sprawling compound complete with baseball diamond, well-stocked commissary, clinic and...yes...hamburgers.

Sightseeing:

Marvelous. Andrew and I stayed until Sunday to enjoy the capital. After our time in the diplomatic enclave, we stayed in Connaught Circus. It’s a nice centrally located commercial hub. A place, unlike Hyderabad, where it’s easy to enjoy Mexican food and share a dinner table with a gaggle of Germans working here in the publishing industry. Even the bars were better, thanks in part to Asian lady karaoke, even if Andrew was drinking illegally thanks to Delhi’s 25 year old drinking age!

We chose to travel mostly by Delhi’s moder metro, which borders pretty close to phenomenal! Most often it’s ridiculously crowded, but that’s half the fun. Trains come very often, fare is cheap. The first car of each train is reserved for women only. We were a bit jealous of the much more comfortable-looking “lady trains.”

India Gate
Rajpath
Rastrapati Bhavan
New Delhi train station *
Connaught Place
Chadni Chowk
Red Fort
Old City of Shahjahanabad
Jama Masjid
Qut’b Minar
Archeological Area

* Not actually a tourist destination. Avoid.

We didn’t get to see everything we wanted to see in one day, but two days would be plenty to add Humayan’s Tomb and a few other noteables to your list before moving on to the rest of the Golden Triangle.

DO NOT stay at Jukaso Hotel. Nice location, but a little pricey for what you get and they arrange sketchy taxi cabs.

DO NOT walk from the Qut’b Minar metro stop to the Qut’b Minar. It’s asking for confusion. Take an autorickshaw, it should be 40 rupees or less. But if you feel like stroll on the way back and have a map, take the time to walk through the Mehrauli Archeological Park. It’s not as compact as the Qut’b Minar Complex, but has just as many lesser-visited treasures.