Blogs from Delhi, National Capital Territory, India, Asia
April 29th 2012
url=https://plus.google.com/photos/115609549730102758242/albums/5736694495209872193?authkey=CIO5z7bT2vShnQEhttps://plus.google.com/photos/115609549730102758242/albums/5736694495209872193?authkey=CIO5z7bT2vShnQE... read more
April 27th 2012
I am sitting in a train to Agra, chai vendor has already walked by three times, people are eating a late breakfast and the train is heading towards the South. So Delhi is done for us, at least for this time. Delhi started for Vanya about 7 hours earlier compared to myself, when I still was in a hotel in Bangkok and he was already in Delhi airport. So he is now an expert in all colours and shades of the Indian military and security forces, where to buy food at the airport and where to take a nap. Driving from the airport to the hotel in an overpaid but still cheap taxi was fun, surely noone sticks to the lanes on the road and cars go in 7 rows instead of 5, honking whenever they ... read more
Delhi, India and Return to UK
Published: April 18th 2012Asia » India » National Capital Territory » Delhi
April 10th 2012
Tuesday 10 April 2012. This morning we met the Quo Vardis agent, Ashicur, for breakfast. He very kindly let us have a car and driver for the day and negotiated an extension on the hotel room until 3.00pm. We spent the morning packing and at 2.30 we were collected by the driver. After stowing our luggage in the boot he took us to the National Museum in Delhi. This is one of the top 35 things to do in India. We paid our entrance fee and collected our headsets for the self guided tour which takes about 2 hours. This worked out perfectly as the museum closes at 5 pm. We followed the tour around. Some of the exhibits were closed but we saw the Indus Valley Civilization exhibition with artefacts from Harappa and Mohenja Daro, ... read more
Delhi, India
Published: April 13th 2012Asia » India » National Capital Territory » Delhi » Qutub Minar
April 5th 2012
Thursday 5 April 2012. Our guide, Shaitevda, was waiting for us in the hotel reception and the trusty Mr Barun was in the car. We drove through the amazingly clean and completely Holy Cow free streets of, mainly residential, south Delhi, into New Delhi and out to Old Delhi which was the first stop of our tour. Mr Barun dropped us just outside the famous Red Fort. We did not visit this, Delhi's most famous monument, as it is exactly the same as the Red Fort in Agra which we had already seen. However, this was a great place for us hire a rickshaw for a tour of Old Delhi with its narrow streets. M and D had one rickshaw and Shaitevda had another. Though it is not in fact the oldest part of Delhi, the ... read more
March 17th 2012
Well I am here! As soon as I stepped off the plane I could smell the city. It has a pungent, burning tyres kind of smell, caused by the petrol of the thousands of reckless drivers! I have NOT been the good lonely planet traveller. Our flight got in early and I hadn't booked somewhere for that night, thinking that by the time I had got baggage and things time will have passed, places would have opened up and I could get to the original place I had booked after going round the main tourist areas, my bag is weighty but i could carry it around alright for a while. Anyway flight gets in about 03.30! End up catching metro into the centre- New Delhi st at half 5 with this russian couple i met. They ... read more
March 1st 2012
Delhi is overwhelming. 17 million people and six million vehicles. Getting around is crazy. Our hotel was only 12 miles from the airport, but it took well over an hour to travel that distance. They said that they drive on the left-hand side, but that doesn't seem to matter. They drive straight into each other and somehow everyone squeezes through. A waiter told me that if you can drive in Delhi, you can drive anywhere. Delhi has the longest transit system in the world. The addition of a subway system has helped somewhat. To encourage public transit, they keep the price low--10 cents for a bus ride, 20 cents for an air conditioned bus. Here's a fact: the Indian railway employs over a million people, making it the largest employer in the world. Delhi's native son ... read more
Delhi: "Heeelloooo Miss, Autorikscha?"
Published: February 27th 2012Asia » India » National Capital Territory » Delhi » Karol Bagh
February 27th 2012
Nachdem wir um 1 Uhr morgens in Delhi gelandet waren und sowohl bei der Einwanderungsbehörde, als auch am Gepäckschalter und an der Geldwechselbude unerwartet schnell abgefertigt wurden, kamen wir heute morgen gegen 03 Uhr in unserem Hotel, dem Amax Inn, mitten im Bazarviertel Pahar Ganj an. Um diese Uhrzeit war das Viertel allerdings wie ausgestorben und wir damit relativ schnell im Bett. Nicht ohne vorher festzstellen, dass unsere Schlafsackinlets mit "Anti-Bettwanzen-Shield" eine wundervolle Errungenschaft waren. Leider waren die Hunde um unser Hotel herum auch um 03.00 Uhr noch so aktiv, dass ohne Oropax nicht an Schlaf zu denken war. Und schweinekalt war es weil das Fenster nicht richtig zu schließen war, Kälte war definitiv das, was wir am wenigsten erwartet hatten. Trotzdem waren wir um 10 Uhr wieder halbwegs fit um unser erstes Frühstück in Indien ... read more
2 - Busfahren für Einsteiger
Published: February 23rd 2012Asia » India » National Capital Territory » Delhi
February 18th 2012
5:15 Uhr, ich habe kaum geschlafen, höchstens zwei Stunden, und mir zur Sicherheit den Wecker gestellt. Meine Sachen sind schnell gepackt und ich warte auf den Weckruf. Ich will nach Vrindavan, in eine heilige Stadt, in der sich alles um den Gott Krishna, eine Inkarnation Shivas dreht. Ich wohne ein paar Tage im Ashram und werde in einem Tempel meinen Geist ein bisschen mit gutem Zeug füllen. Dort soll das religiöse Indien sein, das in meinem Kopf ist: Tanz, Gesang, Devotees, Götter, Blumengirlanden, Duft von Räucherstäbchen..... Doch davor hat das Schicksal eine kleine Odyssee gesetzt. Los geht's Den wakeupcall hat das Guest House vergessen, oder vielmehr verpennt. Als ich um viertel vor sechs zur Rezeption gehe, ist da niemand. Eine Tür steht halb offen, innen läuft der Fernseher. Der Hotelboy liegt davor. Als ich klopfe, wacht ... read more
Dilli finally!
Published: January 23rd 2012Asia » India » National Capital Territory » Delhi » Karol BaghJanuary 23rd 2012
Delhi or “dilli” as most residents would say is a great and a vibrant city. It’s got so much culture that you would be surprised - all bustling together with the shiny and modern buildings. Water and coke are pretty cheap and easily available. But if you really want to quench your thirst then there is nothing like beer and give rest to those sore muscles after all the walking that you have done. There are plenty of beers available and believe me when I tell you that I have tasted quite a few. In Delhi, I tried out the local Indian beer called Godfather Strong and boy; this is one of the best that I have tasted in a long time. I was told that it’s available all over India and quite popular. This was ... read more
A nervous start
Published: February 10th 2012Asia » India » National Capital Territory » Delhi » Karol Bagh
January 18th 2012
The enormity of what I was about to undertake hit me for the first time after an emotional farewell with the parents at Heathrow. For the next 48hrs my emotions seesawed between ecstatic excitement and anxiety, bordering at times on panic and dread. The flight was fine, although I certainly wouldn't get excited about flying Air India in the future. I have noticed over the years the size of people’s hand luggage has got increasingly large and silly, are you seriously going to need all that stuff over the space of 8 hours??? Apparently not, as I have also observed that no one and I mean NO ONE takes their hand luggage out of the overhead luggage compartment until the plane lands. I dared to break this unspoken faux pax by retrieving a book from my ... read more
