This is a conversational travel vlog by Kara and Nate Buchanan documenting day two of their trip to India (Delhi). They explore the backpacker neighborhood of Paharganj: try popular street food (including chole bhatura and a syrupy fried dessert), walk a large local market to buy inexpensive Holi clothing (silk pants, white shirt, leggings — spending under $10), and finish with an evening meal of butter naan and lentil curries. The hosts emphasize the chaotic but friendly local atmosphere, low prices, and practical tips (e.g., how to cross roads).
Questions this video answers
Day two in India.
Less than $4.
They say they spent under $10; one quote: "I just bought some holy pants for a dollar."
Chapters
This is dangerous.
Good morning.
Good morning. We haven't done this in a while.
Today is day two in India and we are heading back out into the chaos.
We are staying in a part of Delhi called Panangan and we don't have a ton of plans today. We just of plan on hanging around here and showing you what it's like in this area.
This is like the backpacker area of Delhi. So it has a lot of cheap hotels, it has a cheap market, it's supposed to have really good food and it's just known for being chaotic.
As you can see, we are starting today's vlog with lunch. So tomorrow we're going on a food tour and we've actually been in contact with the owner of the company and he gave us a restaurant that we had to try in this neighborhood. So that's where we're going now. So excited.
Not the street that we're looking for. The entire thing is full of different street vendors.
Found it. It's obviously a good recommendation because this has more people than any other stall on the street.
And they're all looking at us.
Here. We.
There are so many people in here. We had to squeeze with this little stand up eating area. They only serve one thing. It's called chole b.
Chola batura.
It's some kind of fried bread with some kind of. What is it? Chickpea chili. Yeah. Indian food never looks super photogenic and we know that. But it tastes so much better than it was.
I'm not really sure what all this in this. I'm gonna have to take a few more bites. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. The bread is hot. They just pulled it out. It's like burning my fingers.
So for dessert we've ordered these balls. They kind of look like donut holes that are just like floating in sugar water. I'm sorry, I have no clue what they're called, but they look so good. That is like soaked all the way through in golden brown. Sugary good.
As soon as you bite into it, it's like sugary concoction just explodes in your mouth. Is there some kind of parade going on behind me in the street? Wow.
We are 2 for 2 on local Indian meal.
Lunch was so good. But that place wasn't exactly conducive to filming because we were literally standing shoulder to shoulder with everybody else. That restaurant was so packed because the food was so good and the people.
There were so nice. Like they like wanted us to take pictures of them and stuff. That was great. That was A perfect recommendation from our future food tour guide.
Okay, so I think we are somewhere near the market. That's in.
I already forgot. Hold on.
So we're gonna go try to find the market, walk around. Who knows?
I never thought I'd be dancing at the streets menu. We just happened upon this band and then they asked me to join them in the dance, so I did it.
That was crazy. So many people are watching.
We have arrived on the market and it is huge and exciting like everything else in India. If you saw yesterday's video, you saw that we could not find any clothes to buy for Holi. We need something that we can, like, wear and then throw away. So that is going to be the goal as we explore this market. How many people are flying me right now.
I love that one.
As chaotic as this market is since we started with the chandy choke market yesterday. Hello. This feels like weirdly calm.
It really is. And there's so many cute things. I want all of the skirts and all of the pants and all of the dresses.
We can feel we're gonna find something for Oli here.
These 2 rupees is $1. So I just bought some holy pants for a dollar. Thank you.
I got these beautiful silk pants, but they're so wide.
It'S gonna look like a skirt. At least that's the plan. I love them. And then for Holi, we think you're supposed to wear white because there's so much colored. It like, colors your clothes. So I got this white shirt. All of the ladies here, these really long shirts with this slit in the side with leggings. So at least from what I've seen in deli so far, I got these blue leggings to match my shirt. We almost have everything that we need and we haven't even spent $10.
We have spent the entire afternoon at the market and we are both pooped. Just being out in public is so tiring. You just have to be so aware all the time. Don't get me wrong, we really enjoy it, but we have have worked up an appetite.
Thank you very much.
So we come back for naan tonight. I went with the sada butter naan. Thali had no clue what I was ordering, but it looks delicious. Naan with more butter than I've ever seen slathered on a piece of bread. And then it looks like it came with two types of, like, lentil curries.
To dip it in.
I really have no clue what I'm eating.
Whoa.
Yours looks good.
Thank you.
We ordered way too much Food. It was really good. This first one almost tastes like. Like a spicy refried bean. A little bit wier.
I'll show this. I think he wants me to show you where we're eating. Right. We read good things about it on the Internet. It was only a few steps from the hotel. It is really good.
I'm pretty sure I ordered the exact same thing, except for mine. On is all chopped up and stuffed with paneer, which is cheese, which is my favorite. It looks amazing. I think I got the same spicy mushed up black beans.
I don't know if I can handle it spicy.
It is a sweet chili. Sweet, sweet chili.
Yes.
In green chili.
Thank you. They're so nice here. We've had nothing but great experiences with all of our food so far. I've definitely not eaten that chili.
Some of the places that we've been so far have a little faucet that you can use and rinse your hands after you get done eating. Also, that entire meal costs less than $4. Basically all I've done today is just walk around and eat. But day two in India was absolutely fantast.
If you saw yesterday's vlog, you know that we you're about to step on the dog. Sorry. I was scared you didn't see it, and I was scared it was not biking. So the trick to crossing the road in India is you wait for somebody else to do it and then you just piggyback them.
