New Delhi Delights

It seems “extra people” want to travel with us, first in the trailer from Bilbao, then on a BA flight from Heathrow, when an “extra” passenger was discovered! Turns out it was an inconsiderate woman who had moved seats and was counted twice!! Surprised she could move seats as the plane was full to bursting. We departed an hour late but still arrived at New Delhi airport on time, to an hour long immigration queue and very hot swollen feet!

It seems “extra people” want to travel with us, first in the trailer from Bilbao, then on a BA flight from Heathrow, when an “extra” passenger was discovered! Turns out it was an inconsiderate woman who had moved seats and was counted twice!! Surprised she could move seats as the plane was full to bursting. We departed an hour late but still arrived at New Delhi airport on time, to an hour long immigration queue and very hot swollen feet!

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We took a taxi from the Airport to our hotel and found we needed to sleep for a few hours, our body clock was saying “you should be asleep, its 5am” but local time was nearly midday! We slept well despite the noise outside and ventured down to Reception late afternoon.

“Where are you going” the Manager asked us, “oh, just outside to explore and get some fresh air”. “I will send a boy with you, he will help you cross the roads, and help you do whatever you need”. We thought this was a bit over protective until we stepped outside into the dusty, chaotic, nose to tail traffic where cars, lorries, busses, rickshaws, tuk tuks, scooters, bikes, ox carts, pedestrians and cows all vie for space and an extra few feet trying to move forward whilst honking their horns at every movement! Wow, were we pleased we had a “boy” with us, despite the boy being over 65 and shuffling with old age!! He guided us over the pot holes, avoiding the bikes and scooters that were travelling against the traffic, on the so called pavement, to a zebra crossing, that was totally ignored by drivers until you stepped in front of them. Even then rickshaws and tuk tuks didn’t necessarily stop, they just drove round us!!

Welcome to India, thrown into the deep end of New Delhi!!!

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30 hours in and we have had 2 Indian meals and one Italian. A thali is very common, its a selection of small dishes, rice and bread, one meat dish, usually chicken, one vegetable curry, one salad or raita dish and one dish of lentils or dumplings in a sauce. You have the choice of vegetable or non vegetable! All the dishes are served together for the princely sum of £3.00. That was dinner last night and lunch today, so dinner tonight was in a very British area called Connaught Place (named after George V’s uncle and built to resemble Bath), an Italian restaurant, chicken lasagne and salad, and lamb stew and grilled veg for David, no curry spices! A shared meze starter, mains, dessert, water, coffee and service charge came to £25, our tuk tuk from the hotel to the restaurant and back was another £2, so a very cheap night out!

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We won’t include the larger amount spent in a bazaar – David practised the art of haggling whilst I bought the odd silk scarf and cashmere sweater!!!

For our first day exploring, we hired a driver for the day (Peter cost £12), who took us on a tour of some of the monuments and sights in Delhi, mainly India Gate (an Arc de Triomphe style memorial building carved with names of 90,000 Indian soldiers who died in WW1), the Prime Minister’s houses (huge and impressive), government buildings (you can tell they were built by the British), the Lotus temple (modern and ugly) and the Qutb Minar (mosque remains dating back to 1190) as well as a temple built by a very rich city man, back in the 1800s.

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We spent some time at Mahatma Ghandi’s house and saw the spot where he was assassinated, now a shrine. We visited the family home of Indira Ghandi, ex Prime Minister, where the gardens have a crystal path showing her final walk before she was also assassinated, the spot is marked by a glass area. Both properties were spotlessly calm and well preserved and artefacts and belongings were on display as they used to be when in use, quite spooky.

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So far, apart from the noise and general run down feel, everywhere is bustling with activity, garages repairing vehicles on the side of the pavement, street vendors cooking food, vendors selling tourist paraphernalia and people just going about their daily lives, calmly, slowly and happily. People stop and talk, offer advice or some, offer to take us on a “special ride”, those we have steered clear of!!!

It’s been a very hectic day 1 but very enjoyable and amusing.

Day 2 started with us trying to book train tickets to Agra, not a simple task as it is in the UK or Europe. We had to visit the Foreign Visitors Travel Request Office, fill out a form, produce our passport and Visa, sit for an hour waiting to be served, then supply our documents again before confirming our request verbally, paying the £11 for tickets and eventually exiting another hour later! Hope all train ticket purchases are not as lengthy!!

We then took life into our own hands and ventured out on a tuktuk to Humayuns Tomb, a 16th century group of tombs built for the Emperor Humayun, surrounded by very ornate gardens. Lunch was even more adventurous, chicken kebab wraps and tandoori chicken cooked on a fire in a street market, where we were the main attraction! Two meals and a bottle of sprite came to £3.

Another tuktuk ride took us to the Red Fort, a huge red sandstone building with impressive marble pavilions and colonial buildings inside the walls.

Delhi is cleaning up its act, public toilets are everywhere, rubbish is limited to rough areas of town, monuments and palaces are neat and clean, western toilets are common and tourism is embraced and encouraged with only the major tourist attractions charging nominal amounts. Yesterday we spent nothing, today’s two attractions cost approx £6 each. Bizarrely if you pay cash it costs £6.50, card payments are cheaper!!
We have felt very safe here, not seen any accidents despite the manic driving and busy roads. There are military police everywhere but it is the capital and it will be election day tomorrow.

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Tomorrow (Saturday) we get the train to Agra, where we will visit the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, as well as an national park that’s famous for its tigers!