Its 6:27 am in the morning as I am writing, and as in Thailand I can hear a mixture of traffic and morning prayers as I sit in our dimmed dorm room typing. Here are my initial thought of India, specifically some of the differences I have noticed from my own country.
1.There are no hand towels or dryers in the bathroom, so you just dry your hands by shaking them.
2. They do have hot water showers
3. They have filtered water which seems to be safe in the hostels so far.
4. In Delhi the air quality is hazardous. There is literally what looks like a thick fog over the city
5. The locals enjoy hot milk, and tea, and EVERYTHING is spicy. Like every single thing. Breakfast food, bread etc..well the drinks aren't spicy. But they are kind of weird. The juices are herby, and we had our first lassie ( a milk yogurt sweet drink) which was very good actually, but I couldn't 100% get passed the crumbles that were in it. Below is a picture of Joshua eating the lassie on our way to the red fort yesterday, in a authentic clay mud as India is trying to get away from plastic due to so much 
pollution.
A picture of our first meal in India with our German friends Alex. And paschal with above mentioned herb juice.
On day four of India, we went to old Delhi and saw the red fort built in the 1600's it was home to the prime minister, and his high ranking officials. It was a 120 something area with gardens and warred reservoirs, and beautiful marble and clay and jeweled structures. Currently is migratory season for the birds so it felt very ancient to me. The wait for the locals was very long maybe hours but for foreigners, we only had to wait a few minutes in "line 4" , although we did pay thrice the price, I was still thankful to avoid the wait! We listened to the audio tour which was awesome as it explained some of the history while we were walking through it.
Joshua and I hold hands, and usually find some locals and cross with them. We were cracking up laughing yesterday after we crossed due to the chaos of it all haha. The guys smiling with Joshua in the background bring us to 10.
6. Personal space is limited. We have quickly learned that if you have more than a inch of space, and sometimes occasionally even if you are not touching the person in front of you, the locals will literally get in front of you in line. And, on the metro you can't help but laugh sometimes, because you literally get crammed in. Yesterday, I picked up my foot to reposition, and for a short while stood on one foot like a flamingo because I had lost my foot space and there was no where else to put it! Haha
7. Staring. Ok so we may be odd looking people even in the states, but it's like no one has seen white people before. Yesterday on the metro I watched another man with pure curiosity examine Joshua's face from his forehead to his chin. Women and men stare. You can feel 30 pairs of eyes looking at you when you get on the metro. If I stare back they'll look away... For a couple moments. Joshua started saying a friendly hello and that seems to zap them out of their stare.
7. They are a genuinely friendly culture, they will smile back, help you. If a local feels like another local is harassing you they are likely to intervene. I would say in general even though we are only like on day 5 they are nicer than people in the states.
8. There is definitely more men out than women, and there is a separation in public places. On the metro women have the first car, and if men go into it "it is punishable", or so the announcement says. Women do seem to be very honored. Inside the regular metro buses women are included with elderly and handicapped for places to sit.
9. Traffic is crazy. We thought Hanoi, Vietnam was bad. Ha! Seriously. It is literally a adventure to cross the road! Here's a picture of Joshua yesterday in front of a portion of the street we needed to cross.
10. The locals want to take pictures with us, specifically selfies. Those 2 guys smiling in the background come up to us with their camera app open and their friends and say "picture". Then as they hold the camera up they say "selfie". One guy yesterday even had me holding the camera!
11. A lot of people speak English, and most of the signs,maps etc are in Hindi and then in English, which makes it very convenient and nice for us to get around.
12. Hostels seem to be the same as ever where else, minus being less prevalent.
In conclusion for this post India,more specifically Delhi is sooo different than anywhere else we have traveled. I have enjoyed this vastly different culture. It's a mixture of wealth and poverty, chaos and order. Limited personal space, especially when standing in line or inside the metro, wonderful food, warm and friendly people. We thought the traffic in Hanoi Vietnam was hectic but wow! It is 6:27am as I am writing this and today we are traveling to a less busy city in southern India called Kochi. Until next time!
P.s. Yesterday we went o a Sikh temple. Wow! What an experience. A local Sikh saw us staring at the temple an gave us directions on what to do and invited us in. We took off our shoes and socks (a scary leap of faith in old Delhi- Joshua was more nervous than me at first but then he just jumped on in, while I was still a bit Leary). There are volunteers at the temple who take your shoes and give you a token for the bin your shoes are in. There is a men's and women's side, but we didn't know that and We turned both of our shoes in the women's line. Then you wash your hands, then walk through a basin of shallow water, then someone puts a head garment over you (because we didn't have our own). Inside you sit with your feet crossed (they are not allowed to point to the stage/altar). People are mostly sitting, some are coming and going quickly as they touch their heads to the ground in front of the altar. There was 3 live musicians playing and singing up front. There were pillars of marble, the stage was colored indeed and gold and their was a man shaking a whisk around. We stayed about 5 minutes just taking it all in. Then we found the exit out. As we were leaving we noticed there was a man scooping brown goop with his hands and putting it in the hands of everyone who was leaving..and they were eating it from their hands. I was immediately struck with terror as I too knew I was getting ready to be hand served and eat a handful of brown goop. I looked over at Joshua, and said "ooohh noooo" as I do. Now that that's over it really wasn't bad and I'm glad I ate it, it was part of the cultural experience, and if I didn't eat it I would have missed out. Plus it was actually pretty good. It was sugar and rice and ghee mixture from what I could tell and after looking it up. The Sikh's believe in equality for all and everyone despite of culture and beliefs should be offered this blessing of food which was prayed over, and a they believe in a community eating together.
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