First Time in Delhi: What to Expect
If it is your first time in Delhi, expect one thing chaos. Good chaos, but chaos! This post was written to provide you with my insight as my first time in New Delhi and what I experience. I just came back from an amazing 20 days in India and Delhi was my first taste of the incredible India. If you are looking for an authentic experience of a completely different culture, you are in the right place. In this post, I will be documenting my experience through this chaotic yet amazing place called Delhi.
Delhi, the capital of India is in the north part of India and is part of the infamous: Golden Triangle (connecting to Agra and Jaipur). Delhi is a city built in layers throughout the years. At least 8 times Delhi was destroyed and rebuilt leaving behind a huge heritage throughout the centuries and an enormous melting pot of cultures and its religions.
You need some patience to love Delhi, especially if it is your first time in Asia, and some don’t get there. Delhi can very much slap you at first. It is busy, chaotic, an explosion of senses. If you think about the 5 human senses: Hearing, Seeing, Smelling, Tasting and Touch feeling, you will get it.
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First time in Delhi: Describing it through the five senses
Hearing or audition
You should embrace yourself for the hearing sense when visiting Delhi for the first time – there is no such thing as a quitter Delhi. Quickly you will understand that everywhere you go, there are horns that sound, non-stop. Imagine someone ringing your bell but not really stopping – that is Delhi.
One of the things that I noticed on my first time in Delhi was that people horn at each other to let them know that they are in a rush, very different to what we are used to in Western culture. At least I speak from my experience as a driver, I horn at someone when I might be in danger or I want to warn them of something. Well in Delhi, that does not exist, in fact, you are in danger haha! just warn everyone that you are in a rush, so beep-beep get off the way now!
Sight or vision
Visually, a world in front of you. Everything happens quick and slow at the same time. How can this happen right? Tuk-tuk traffic is non-stop, markets trading, clothes being swap, money being grabbed, bags being given, kids eating fruit, and then suddenly you have a group of people relaxing in the curve of a busy street simply drinking chai, like they are sipping a mojito in Malibu beach.
Across the street, cows roam free from tree to tree just like their humans. Trying to find better food to eat and park up. Just as if this wasn’t enough you look up, and monkeys are crossing the street too, but this time through the jungle of telephone cables. You see the whole family: a mum and its baby, the older sibling itching its back, and one more who just burst a water pipe that now is overflowing the streets. Madness!
Smell or olfaction
In Delhi you will have an all-in-one sense of smell. This quite literally means that you will have a stinky smell on your left nostril and jasmin on your right nostril – not even joking. You will smell flowers, and around the corner foods (curry’s to fruit) and within 5 seconds everything that animals, including humans, reject – I let you imagine!
Delhi, it is not for everyone, you kind of need to remove yourself from everything that you know and think it is wrong, and accept that life can be lived differently in other parts of the world and there is absolutely no problem with it.
I am going to be honest here, the smell put me off, more than the rest of the senses. When I arrived to Delhi, I was prepared to cover my face with my scarf and breath my perfume as much as possible. It was evident that this was necessary in some back streets but it didn’t take me much time to understand when I need to breathe from my mouth.
Overall I was very surprised, I did watch YouTube videos to prepare myself to the experience, which by the way was the first time I ever done something like that. But I genuinely worried about the smell and it was very manageable.
Taste or gustation
Your tasting buds will go nuts – quite literally actually! I wrote a personal post about my planning to India and how apprehensive I was about eating Indian food. 6 months prior to my trip to India I was not even eating mild curry, nevertheless spicy food! Delhi, hit me hard with the foods but to the point that after 10 days travelling through the country only once I had Western dish and even then I had Pizza with Indian infused (I added Paneer cheese yummy)!
I was not the most adventurous in Delhi, in terms of cuisine. The saying “Delhi Belly” played in my head every time my curiosity had me considering trying something from the back alleys. What made me try everything was this restaurant that we went to just before leaving the city.
Haveli Dharampura restaurant (also a stunning hotel!) was recommended by a friend from Delhi that I met in Thailand 8 years ago. I could not be more happy with my food and the place was spectacular! To think that I wasn’t eating Indian food for 29 years is insane, but Delhi was the stepping stone for my adventure across India with its food. Perhaps because I was in India and the food is cooked differently, who knows? What I know is that Pani-puri, Panner Massala, Malai Kofta are now part of my new food dictionary, and I am pleased about it!
If you want to try authentic food including street food in Delhi, I 100% suggest taking a food tour. Guides will know where to take you, and will make sure you will have food that is hygienic and prepared with fresh ingredients.
Here are some of the best food tours in Delhi:
Touch or tactation
Touch feeling is the last of the 5th senses of the human being and in India, this will be evident. There are always people trying to sell you things, maybe because in the city there are markets everywhere you go, or because we were westerns and had written on our foreheads “we are on holiday and have money” haha!
Regardless of the why, everything that people tried to sell us had a completely different feel and this includes the food that we ate and grabbed. I am talking about the clothing that I came across. The soft cotton. The detailed buildings. Made of sandstone. The tuktuks. With cold metal. All new touches that I didn’t know existed all together.
My overview of Delhi in 5 senses
- Delhi in one sight: Old Delhi traffic jam
- Delhi in one sound: Beep-Beep (tuk-tuk)
- Delhi in one Smell: Dusty Old Massala mixed with tuktuk fumes
- Delhi in one Taste: Sweet and spicy
- Delhi in touch: Metal handles of the tuk-tuks
First time in Delhi what to Expect
To tell you what to expect from the capital of India, I will be giving you an opinion that is also formed based in previous experiences. I am glad that I visited India, and that my first time in Delhi was now and not when I was 22 years like when I went to Vietnam. I was able to take in information in a deeper way and made my own judgement. I wrote about the safety in India, and I felt during my time travelling from Delhi to Kochin in the south of India.
The first time in Delhi, I found it chaotic. Some say horrible, others have great stories to tell. I personally really liked Delhi. I found magic in the chaos, like that there is a sweet spot within so much mess. I also really enjoyed seeing nature and humans co-existing. Not only this but how major religions live in the same land, work side to side with respect and build communities.
The adventure just began, so I will be continuing to share with you more about this incredible country in the next posts!
Safe travels!
Miri xx
