Lalunura in Dehli

I'm finally here! I landed at a reasonable hour in Dehli and made my way to the airport exit where I was to meet my pre arranged hotel pick up. It was mayhem! Loads of people shouting and holding placards all promising me a good price at their hotel, all a bit confusing after the 9 hour flight - finally I stumble across a placard reading Miss Lalunura Peirei..... Hmm think this most be me so follow the guy back to the waiting taxi. "You are from London?" He enquires, "No, Edinburgh" I reply (hoping he'll know the capital) - Blank expression. "Scotland?" - Look of sheer confusion, "Yeah, London.", "Ah, London" He says, "Very nice place" Happy that I've agreed. So i've been in India 5 minutes and found my true identity - a Londoner called Lalunura.
Anyway after checking into my hotel I was summond by the hotel manager who was very insistent that I should not take trains, instead hire a private driver to take me round the Golden Triangle for the bargain price of 310 Pounds. Trains, he informed me would be very expensive and dangerous - also it was vital I booked 3 days in advance so train was impossible for me. I had been warned numerous times about such scams in India so decided to head down to the train station myself to investigate. After being told by at least 3 people on the way the tourist office was closed, lone behold, I found it open and was able to book a ticket to Agra to see the Taj Mahal no problem. At the train station I a met a couple from Amsterdam who had been travelling around India for 5 weeks and were now heading to Nepal. I ate with them and they shared a lot of their experiences and advice with me. I was happy to meet such warm, friendly people on my first night as Dehli can be very intimidating at first.
After leaving them I found I had relaxed and started to really appreciate my surrondings- I was in India. Woohoo! All my saving finally paid off. I wandered around the main bazaar fascinated by all sights, sounds and smells. Everywhere you look there are stalls, people, rickshaws, people, motor rickshaws, cows, dogs, more rickshaws, more people, more dogs.... you get the picture!
The next day after a mammoth 13hr sleep I decided to see some sights of Dehli - first I took a Motor Rickshaw to The Red Fort, former home of the Emperor Shah Jahan (also of Taj Mahal fame) then a cycle rickshaw to Jama Masjid, India's largest Mosque. The rickshaw was quite an experience, India is famous for it's drivers but nothing can prepare you for balancing on a rickshaw as it competes with buses, cars and motorbikes whilst dodging people, cows and dogs (on Indian roads the rule is "the might is right" so basically if your on a bus your fine - dogs have no chance! - I wonder if they have theory test in India? Question one of one: What is only rule of the road?) So on my rickity rickshaw we weaved in and out of the tiny allyways of the Kinari Bazaar, before finally - after around 35 minutes - arriving at our destination, straight across the road from the Red Fort!

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