22nd to 24th July - New Delhi
It finally hit me waking up after the 12 hour flight from Brussels to New Delhi, we were almost landing and i looked out the window seeing a bustling city at night, only an orange haze could be seen across the horizon whilst listening to the weirdly calming classical music the airline played.
Straight out from the airport we were hit by the boiling night time heat of 30c and instantly asked by several people to get into a taxi, luckily we got straight into what we believed to be the more ‘formal’ taxis and we were dragged around New Delhi for over 40 minutes with no luck, just being told that its EID and its a bad time to visit, the taxi drivers pointed out bike gangs left, right and centre that just drank and would not consider twice robbing you for what you possessed. Finally we arrived at a tourism office where we met the nicest guy so far! He helped ringing our hotel, which was originally booked online, only to find that they hadn’t kept our reservation and within 2 hours of being in New Delhi we had nowhere to stay and it was pushing on 1AM.. Thankfully our new friend took us to a local hotel, reasonably good price, just to put our head down for the night! We’re planning on heading back there tomorrow and asking for some more pointers of how we should exit New Delhi. So far.. It’s been a crazy few hours and its a far cry from safe out of the hotel at night time!
After revisiting the tourism office we were still down on our luck, they offered us package holidays travelling the route we intended but for crazy prices which are well out of our budget. We’re finally settled into a different hotel for a single night, still a very worrying looking area filled with the expected city hustle and bustle. On the bright side we finally plucked up the courage to begin an exhibition to an ATM and i’ve finally got Indian Rupees!
After revisiting the tourism office we were still down on our luck, they offered us package holidays travelling the route we intended but for crazy prices which are well out of our budget. We’re finally settled into a different hotel for a single night, still a very worrying looking area filled with the expected city hustle and bustle. On the bright side we finally plucked up the courage to begin an exhibition to an ATM and i’ve finally got Indian Rupees!
Ordered our first proper meal whilst in New Delhi, chicken chow mien.. Surprisingly great! Not quite the traditional indian cuisine but i’m still putting off the whole ‘too spicy’ situation. Been sat around in the hotel for most of the day, still trying to pull ourselves together and work out how to tackle the challenge that is this city. I’m opting that we visit the Lodi Gardens, a beautiful botanical garden which would give us some optimism for the week to follow. After this i believe we’re meeting Jess, Dan’s friend that has a house over here. Its a 40min drive out from our area of Karol Bagh which is fine, its just the fear of getting home safely when the night kicks in and the possibility of ‘bike gangs’ reappears.
Just arrived back at our hotel in Karol Bagh after a night out 30 minutes away in the ‘real’ New Delhi, the place we originally planned to experience! The people, the streets, everything was exactly how i imagined. After meeting Jess and her dad, Nigel, we realised, up to now, we have been missing out and have decided to give Delhi another try after visiting Agra tomorrow. We visited an incredibly posh looking bar on the backstreets of a small village, it looked so out of place from what you would expect but yet for the first time since we stepped foot off the plane, we felt welcomed. Free pour cocktails are typically something you only wish for when drinking but this place was handing them out, concoctions were arriving in barrels, horns and with ice lollies. Three/four drinks later and the taxi drive home was much more interesting.. When we woke the driver up that waited outside for over three hours! We have also been invited by both Jess and Nigel to visit their farm house just out of the city centre and I’m genuinely excited, this emotion has been lost for the last few days and i’ve simply wanted to leave to our next country. We’ve been told about huge outdoor BBQ’s, swimming pools and the promise of a real shower! Sounds a little ‘typical’ holiday i know, however with this we’ve the correct platform to head out and really experience New Delhi, the culture that i’ve been craving since our arrival.
Just arrived back at our hotel in Karol Bagh after a night out 30 minutes away in the ‘real’ New Delhi, the place we originally planned to experience! The people, the streets, everything was exactly how i imagined. After meeting Jess and her dad, Nigel, we realised, up to now, we have been missing out and have decided to give Delhi another try after visiting Agra tomorrow. We visited an incredibly posh looking bar on the backstreets of a small village, it looked so out of place from what you would expect but yet for the first time since we stepped foot off the plane, we felt welcomed. Free pour cocktails are typically something you only wish for when drinking but this place was handing them out, concoctions were arriving in barrels, horns and with ice lollies. Three/four drinks later and the taxi drive home was much more interesting.. When we woke the driver up that waited outside for over three hours! We have also been invited by both Jess and Nigel to visit their farm house just out of the city centre and I’m genuinely excited, this emotion has been lost for the last few days and i’ve simply wanted to leave to our next country. We’ve been told about huge outdoor BBQ’s, swimming pools and the promise of a real shower! Sounds a little ‘typical’ holiday i know, however with this we’ve the correct platform to head out and really experience New Delhi, the culture that i’ve been craving since our arrival.
We started our day with a mixture of confidence, ambition and all those other ‘feel good’ things.. After a slightly better breakfast at the terrace of our hotel we got ourselves packed and started our venture to see the real New Delhi! I’d like to think of myself as reasonably well travelled, i can typically spot a scam from a mile away, we jumped into our first ever tuk tuk and set sail for the Indian Gate, en route our driving persisted it was either closed, we had to pay to enter etc, obviously all fake! Just laugh it off and carry on moving i always think. Things began to take a turn for the worse when without even realising our tuk tuk driving arrived at the tourism office, which we later found out to be completely fraudulent and we have actually been on a two day binge of being rinsed for what ever they could! I headed inside the office to find the same guy from yesterday who offered us loads of information but inevitably tried to force us into booking a £500+ tour across North India, thank god we didn’t take it! He, out of nowhere decided that because our plan had changed over night that i was a lier, he accused me whilst walking me out telling me to leave. He then to my horror placed his hand on my shoulder and said.. “If you lie in Delhi, somebody will fuck you”, defending myself was useless as he shook his head angrily and walked off. First threat of the trip. The tuk tuk driving finally, after further persuasion took us to the Indian Gate, such an amazing piece of architecture and a for the remembrance of those lost in previous wars. A combined British and Indian flag fluttered in the mild wind whilst with our bags we walked around for a good 30 minutes in around 35c heat. This, combined with being asked by almost every person there if i want to buy random ‘tat’ led me to beginning to feel slightly sick and hazy, it was difficult and after our morning experiences we didn’t want to get any kind of transport anywhere. Another thing to add at this point was how popular we were with the Indian public when visiting the Gate, everybody wanted photographs with us, we felt like small time celebrities. This, even though feeling awful was possibly one of the first genuine smiles and laughs from today.
Be it by a stroke of luck, right place right time, i don’t know, but we happened to start speaking to a genuinely friendly guy that informed us of a real tourism office that was ran by the government, my first thoughts were its obviously the same place and i didn’t want to show my face there ever again! We reluctantly agreed to be taken down the road to an ATM, we all needed cash at this point and our options were slim, as we set off our drivers brother jumped in, within minutes we realised these two were actually god sends, couldn’t of asked for more from them! They genuinely felt for us after explaining our few days visiting their city and they took us to the real, government ran tourism office. Here, we walked in and were greeted by a guy called John, given a sugary brew and placed in an air conditioned room, this helped me come back around and i finally started to feel better! After explaining our situation and the fairly bad days we have had so far we we’re told that John is literally here to help tourists, in its most simplistic form, its his job. We debated our options for India and what we could do within budget, the weather in south India, Goa was looking awful and after over an hour of discussion we opted to head North into the Himalayas on Monday, a few days from now and firstly heading towards Agra to see the Taj Mahal which so far this day we thought it would be impossible because of the lies almost everybody fed us. John got us some food, water and gave us wifi, all for completely free! After this we took his phone number and set off in a private car to Agra. I’m writing this whilst sat in that said car, our driver is brilliant, he’s funny, relaxed and even bought an AUX cable at a set of traffic lights so we could throw some music on for the four hour drive. We’re quite literally all, including our driving, raving to live sets of Daft Punk whilst driving down Indian motorways. Within a matter of hours our Indian experience has gone from in tatters to a hugely exciting visit North for mountain hiking, lake swimming and white water rafting! We’ve had a lot a bad luck so far, i’m really hoping this pulls through and happens. Our humble abode of choice is a boat house literally in a mountainous valley, as a photographer i crumbled at this option. I’m hoping for a nice hotel where we actually have three beds, not one (yes its literally been three in a bed since we arrived) and if i’m really lucky, a friendly bar selling cheap beer!
First morning in Delhi - View from outside our window
Same thing, different window!
India Gate - Looks much bigger in person
En route to Agra
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