5 December - New Delhi, India

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Delhi

We arrived last night in New Delhi after a 4 hour flight from Bangkok, but it took another one hour and 20 minutes before we were walking out of the airport with our bags. Outside the air was misty, the ground dusty and men were walking past us with blankets wrapped around them to keep out the cold. The car park was filled with old cars, dirt ground and an even older car to take us to the hotel. The roads were filled with trucks, we even got into a traffic jam at 2am in the morning!

After reading many reviews we were expecting the worst, but day 3 is over and what we have seen of Delhi has exceeded our expectations. Plus there are new delights - you are not only sharing the streets with motorbikes, cars, trucks, pedestrians, rickshaws, bicycles and tuk tuk, but cows, camels, donkeys, horses, peacocks, elephants, dogs, bulls, goats, and of course their waste! More cars than motor bikes here and everyone seems to stop at red lights, they are also doing a campaign at the moment to get people to cross on pedestrian crossings and for traffic to stop for them - not successful so far!

Delhi is a haze of pollution, dust, dirt, misty, foggy and grey air. We visited Connaught Place which is a business area 3 circular layers of roads around a central park acting as a round about. We expected more of a CDB, but other than a few high rise buildings, it was made up of old European style 2-3 level buildings, all the same color merging together with the grey air, sky, footpaths and road. We saw modern shops behind glass doors, clean (well dusted) streets, and a nice green park. Then there is Old Delhi which is a poorer area where you will see animals pulling carts, beggars, rickshaws, stalls, markets, goats, just everything and anything including lots of rubbish. Then where we are is more middle class so not many beggars, and a mix of stalls and shops.

Sadly we passed a river where the poor live under shelter made from cloth and branches and some street people who live under the stars on the river bank.

Touts
The first day we spent in Connaught Place looking for the Lonely Planet recommended Tour company Ashok Tours, and was entertained by our introduction to the “touts”. You do not get hassled as much here as Vietnam, and they tend to do it in a more charming way. They get into a conversation with you that starts with “Where are you from” then when you look suspiciously at them, they persuade you they only want a chat to be friendly, but end up asking “what you looking for” or “you come to my shop” and they will get commission wherever they take you.

We watched as 3 exchanges went down to get us to a tour shop, one introduced himself on the street but we went upstairs to a coffee shop - he immediately got on the phone. Next minute 2 lovely young men were at the table next to us and subtlety got into a conversation with us, “just to be friendly” they said. After a long conversation we went to leave they just happened to need to leave at the same time and showed us to a tour shop we were looking for (which actually wasn’t the one we were looking for). One made a phone call as we were walking and when we got there a guy outside was looking for us and knew where we were from. But as long as you are aware of what I happening and stick to your original plan its ok.

Sights
The next day we hired a driver for a day to take us to the Delhi sights, went on rickshaw around the Old Delhi market, no large supermarkets here, everything is brought from the street stalls or vendors. This was a highlight as you can imagine being cycled through small alley ways with all the aforementioned pedestrians! We are not ones that fully appreciate historic architecture and religious symbolism as much as we should, but the highlights of the day in Delhi was the Sikhs Temple, Hindu Temple and the rickshaw ride through Old Delhi. The Red Fort and Ghandi memorial Park were not anything to rave about, or the India Gate but I thought the Government buildings and Presidential Palace next to it were impressive compared to the rest of the buildings in Delhi we had seen, and the Beehive!

The third day we met up with Bharti from work who is visiting home from Wellington and she invited us to visit Akshardham Temple (Hindu) with her family, the Arya family. The temple architecture was just so amazing, had just been built in the last few years and was still being finished. It was very impressive - everything was hand carved, the temple, sculptures, gates and fences were all sculpted by men chipping away at the stone, everyday for years, and they get about NZ$7 a day. The sculptures all representing a story/legend, were impressive, from elephants cloaked in embodied blankets, to the temple walls covered in fine figurines . Unfortunately you were not allowed to take pictures, you would have to see to believe. Carl thinks it looks like a theme park! Some say, they spent millions on this temple and yet there is so much poverty in India, the money could be better spent elsewhere.

We went on a tuk tuk there with Bharti and the new metro back which was great; we would never have ventured that far on our own, we did not even know the temple existed. Cannot thank the Arya family enough for their generosity and kindness, they are a wonderful family, and left us with a feeling of respect for the Indian people, religion and culture that we would not have grasped if we had not spent the day with them. Thank you Bharti - it was great and we loved your family!

Car and Driver
Day four and guess what, we hired our Delhi day tour driver for 24 days to take us around Rajasthan. Actually a chauffeur! We have no idea if that was a good decision or not, but financially and ease of travel it made good sense. He costs us NZ$55 per day including all of the car, petrol and his expenses. We worked out that with the luxury we have not used up until now and all the bus and train fares that were to come out of transport fund, it would not need to touch our NZ$100 per day. He takes us where we want, when we want between hours of 7-7, we do need to stick to a route, but are not restricted to where we stop on that route or for how long we stop at each place. We searched and searched on the internet and could not find any reviews, so we will ensure we include on this blog what we think as we go.

One thing we were insistent about with the tour company was we were on a tight budget, and this was very extravagant (like they care, just sign the bloody visa card) so we cannot afford hidden costs, my main concern is hidden costs. Day 1 : Driver ”by the way my tip at the end is 10%!”(MISSING) OK so that’s NZ$140 extra. Although we had expected this I did not release the word tip meant “set fee”. Then a few days later its like now 10%!m(MISSING)inimum and 25%!m(MISSING)aximum, but you know “it’s your choice, no problem, what you like”.

Plus no worries about accommodation “I have my own business, my car, my office”. He has hotel brochures, all price ranges, and he books accommodation for you under his name. He then gets a commission from the hotel (or free lodgings and food) but “it’s your choice, no problem, what you like”. Hey, aren’t we supposed to be in control here - so we took a stand on the Eporiums - “we don’t like quality, we like cheap” “this is not a shopping holiday”. (They can also get commission from Emporiums, but they are horrendously overpriced as is every other tourist site).

Tipping
You cannot move within this country as a tourist without tipping. Multiple hotel staff carry your bags into the hotels, 2 for bags, 1 for AC remote, 1 to open the door - all wanting a tip. They are constantly at your hotel room door what can I do for you, clean room, organize tea, any washing, guide around town, beer, all so they can get a tip every time they visit your room. We made a mistake of tipping US$1 the first few times, then realized we would need a bank loan to continue at this rate. In one day you can end up tipping like 15 times - no bull. So we reduced to 10 rupees which is like 30 cents, well funny, but the door stopped knocking! I understand they don’t get paid much but its way over the top.


Accommodation

We left booking in Delhi far too late, mainly due to hotel reviews being terrible unless you pay hundreds per night. So we booked Ashu Palance through wotif, no reviews, but no news is good news - maybe. It was NZ$53 and in the cheaper area Karon Bagh but not right in the backpacker’s area. It is a few feet away from the Karon Bagh night market and the metro, it’s a quiet street with not many foreign tourists or beggars around. The room is large, it has a window, a flushing western toilet. I would not say it was clean, and we had to use our silk sheets as they don’t give you a top sheet, just a blanket which I am not sure when it was last washed. Overall I will try another one next time we are in Delhi.

Abyss Travel come into the hotel breakfast room and start talking to you whilst you eating, unbelievable, you are not safe anywhere. It’s hard to get away, but once we sat down in front of the arrogant travel agent, it was easy to walk out.

Food

Well so far in Delhi it tastes just like the India at home, if not better. Lunch was Dosa (large stuffed pancake type) for NZ$6.00 for 2 and dinner is NZ$13.00 for 2 huge dishes (chicken saag and mutton curry) and naan breads. The naan here is fabulous its not dry and fluffy like NZ. You can still get toast for breakfast, and there are latte coffee shops in Delhi!

They say if you want to lose weight go to India, I am not sure how this happens yet, I think maybe that is people who do not like Indian food, as there is hardly any western food here, but Carl and I love Indian food.

India has Taste

The men stare at me (that’s Lynne not Carl) the children stare, laugh, giggle and yell hello, they even crowd me at sightseeing places. The funniest thing happened the other day I was at Ghandi Memorial Park and a man rushed up to Carl gave him his camera and pushed him out away from me, then pulled his family around me, stood next to me smiling and asked Carl to take a photo with the family, then another with just his 2 daughters. It was classic.

So a few weeks ago I decided to dye my hair a nice golden but got ginger. So after all this attention I thought I would try and mingle in with the crowd so brought a brown dye. Well apparently brown in India means black - so I now have jet black hair. I look like a cat died on my head, and it has not helped, except I get more stares - the bloody foreign tourists stare at me as well now!

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