After a longer than scheduled flight via China that included
our plane being struck by lighting and 4 hours of sitting on the tarmac in
Shanghai, we finally arrived in Delhi around 8:30am. We had already reunited
with Kait and J.J back in Sydney and the 4 of us were booked in the same hotel,
the Ivory Palace, here in Delhi so after making it through customs and
immigration without incident we met our pre-arranged hotel driver in front of
the terminal and headed off for our first experience on the streets of Delhi. In
one word the streets of Delhi are CHAOTIC . I know people had warned us that
drivers in India are crazy and that there are really no rules on the road but I
can now say with full certainty that it is absolutely true. Lanes pretty much
mean nothing and neither does the direction of the road. People really just drive wherever they want.
Plus any who wants to use the road just does, car, trucks, auto rickshaws, bike
rickshaws, motorcycles, cows, pedestrians …… you name it they are on the road.
After about 40mins we finally reached our hotel and it was
pretty much as I expected – decent room with AC and wifi and a bathroom that
looks like it has pretty much never been cleaned but overall liveable enough
for a few nights. Once we were settled in to our room, we reunited with Kait’s
sister and her friend who had already been in India for a few weeks. Determined
not to go to sleep and give in to jet-lag we all decided to take some showers
and then hit the streets of Delhi to explore and get ourselves set up for a day
trip to Agra the following day. We had our hotel owner call us a cab to take us
to the city centre to the government run travel centre located at 99 Janpath
rd. – highly recommended by all guide books to be the first stop since they can
recommend legit travel agencies in a city that is fill with many unscrupulous
ones.
Our cab arrived and
we jammed all six of us in (safety standards are much lower here in India) and
gave our driver Lahl directions on where to take us. Little did we know that
when we hopped in that cab, after a mere 3 hours in Delhi, we would already encounter
our first scam. The ride started off nice, Lahl was a quite friendly dude with
decent enough English and was chatting us up the entire ride. When the cab
finally stopped we were not at 99 Janpath rd, not at the agency we directed to
him too….”oh no, this is my office” he said, and what a coincidence his office
also happened to be a travel agency. We had been warned that this stuff often happens
with cab drivers, you ask them to take you somewhere and they either tell you
it’s closed, it burnt down, or they just take you somewhere else because they
are getting a commission. We gave him
the benefit of the doubt that maybe it was a mis-understanding and hopped back
in the cab with him when we said he could take us there. This time we also told
him we were meeting people there so that he wouldn’t try and convince us to go
elsewhere. About 10 more mins of driving and we pull up to another travel
agency….. still not Janpath rd, stilllllll not the government agency. At this
point he started pulling all the tricks out; it was really like he was reading
from a script out of the lonely planet’s warning on this scam. First he starts
by telling us that this is the gov’t agency and that it just moved, we resist,
then we tells us that actually it’s just another branch of the same agency, we
continue to resist, then the gov’t agency is closed down and this place is
better. By this point we are all starting to get frustrated and continue to
tell him where to take us and that we are meeting people there. After about
10mins of sitting in front this place arguing and him getting on the phone to someone
he finally starts to drive again and this time takes us to the right place, but
not before yelling out “stupid Americans” and driving off in a huff without
taking any money. We didn’t correct him.
After all this we finally found any amazing agency to work
with (Jonny already mentioned this place in his previous blog) and we got
sorted for our trip to Agra the following day and we even had our first chai!
We spent the rest of the day wandering around the area of
Connaught place, checking out the markets, strolling through the park, enjoying
our first India meal, checking out India Gate, and getting ogled at by many
India men and women alike. Many even asked to take our picture…… I really don’t
know what they do with all these photos of westerners that they collect, but we
happily obliged a few.
After heading back to Karol Bagh to our hotel, we headed out
to grab some dinner at Spicy Bar, a local restaurant. India meal number 2 was
also fantastic. Once we settled up we headed back to our hotel’s “roof top
patio bar”, I use that term loosely because it is really just a rundown rooftop
with one patio table on it and some chairs. None the less they served beer, so
we all cheers’d to day one in India and then hit the sack.
 |
| Looking out on the city from our rooftop |
I really can’t believe the number of times I have said “wow”
to myself already since we have been in India, both good and bad. For the most
part it’s always at something good, but already it’s pretty hard to see the
amount of poverty that is just in your face. It is heartbreaking to see a women
walking around begging for money or food carrying a filthy baby without even a
diaper on. But overall it’s been a wild
and amazing time so far and I can’t wait for more!!
Here is just a sample
of the first crazy sights I have ALREADY seen since being in India
- Cows, cows and more cows just roaming around the main streets
- An elephant walking down the highway pulling cargo
- A monkey on a leash doing back flips
- A monkey wearing a dress and makeup
- A trolley stacked as high as a transport truck being pulled by a cow….down the main road of course
- Entire families riding on 1 motorcycle, Dad, mom, son and daughter…. No helmets
In terms of sounds, there is really just one distinct one…… HONKING
OOO_Talia
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