Painful Turkish Embassy in New Delhi

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It was pretty darn cold when I woke up around 6am….too many noises and most of the time the train was going at snail pace and I could hear people / vendors at the stations and nearby shouting…

No toothbrush hence on finger mode…the hassles of train travel J ah well its part of the experience….

A bit of advice for people who might want to follow this trail:

The Grand Trunk Express (GT Ex) was supposed to leave Chennai at 1630 on the 10th and get to Delhi at 0500am on the 12th. The Tamil Nadu Express (TN Ex) was supposed to leave at 2200 on the 10th and get to Delhi at 0700am. Even though GT was getting there earlier since it had a 2.5 hr delay it was getting to Delhi at 0730 instead of 0500. I opted to take GT even though it was getting 30mins later than TN because it was more pleasant to hang around in a train as opposed to the Chennai Central train station. Next time I would take TN because, even though they both are Super Fast Trains TN is much faster than GT…

After a long delay GT finally got to Delhi at 10am. The tout scene in Delhi is much worse than Chennai and come to think of it, it’s probably worse than South East Asia…the Indian drivers just don’t give up, they will go on and on and on…..and finally when you quote your price and walk away you find them coming behind you agreeing to your price…they started saying pre-paid price is INR180/= from there I said no and I kept walking from the train station towards Pahar Ganj (PG) the price dropped 150….130….finally this guy said 80 and another driver said 70 and just as I was about to take the 70 the one who said 80 said ok lets go at 70 so I took that guy….I only learnt later that the actual price is 60/=

A small comparison, a striking difference between drivers in Laos and India is that in Laos they will never undercut one another. For example when I got into Laos from China and had to get transport from this small village near the border to “Luan Nam Tha” the driver quoted a particular price and I went to another driver and he quoted same amount. I asked a nearby shop and they said the price you have got will not change because drivers don’t undercut each other because after taking you to your destination today, tomorrow they still need to look at each others face hence they won’t undercut.

I guess it’s probably because Laos the community is smaller so undercutting would not be helpful while India there are too many people that undercutting is just part of the game.

I eventually got to the Turkish Embassy at 10:45am; the gentleman at the counter “Mr. George” (MG) said you have to come between 0830 - 0930 to get a token. Documents are handed between 0930-1130 when the token number is called. You don’t have to present yourself at the embassy, however if you don’t have all the paperwork and are taking a strange land route like me it would be good to go there. The visa takes 2 days…essentially you apply for it today and get it tomorrow…by the way it is cheaper for Sri Lankan’s than Indians….its INR1750/= for Indians and INR1150/= for Sri Lankan’s……

I tried to explain to Mr. George my situation as in I was not aware of this 0830 registration scenario, I am not from India, just got in from Chennai, I was doing this overland route and didn’t want to spend too much time in Delhi etc…he simply chased me away saying don’t wait come back tomorrow….hahaha so much for trying…however the other officials inside told me to wait and once everyone has handed over there documents to speak to MG…

Spoke to MG told him my situation and he said come back tomorrow; I also asked him whether he will be kind enough to give me the visa on the same day and he said well that’s up to me…”N 0 S H 1 Bar 1”

I took an auto for INR20/= to the International Youth Hostel near the SL embassy, I still had my luggage as I am yet to check-in to a hotel…all the dorm bed for INR70/= was full and the available single rooms were INR500/= I don’t hope to spend that on accommodation anywhere on this trip (at least that’s the plan).

Walked to the SL embassy to go and say hello to them and to see what’s going on; they were at lunch and took time so I told the security guy at the entrance that I will drop by later.

I took a bus from, near the SL embassy back to PG (INR5/=). Bus numbers 604 and 620 go to PG. Essentially you take a left turn when you get out of the SL Embassy and keep walking following the road. There is another left turn near the roundabout (Not the immediate left going along the embassy) take that left turn and keep walking until you hit the bus stop. See next “Route from PG to Chanakyapuri, Delhi, India” blog. The bus stop is almost opposite the Indonesian Embassy by the black solid circle marked on the map.

Went to my old faithful PG area (Opposite the train station not the Ajmeri gate side the other side), the area that I knew I can sort something out for INR75-100…..and as usual it did….Hotel Bajrong (HB) is the name it was INR100/=. I found 2 other hotels in alley ways for around the same price…I am impressed for almost 3 years pricing wise hardly anything had changed. Finding a place for INR75/= three years ago was also a difficult task but I somehow managed and the same place today was INR100/= and was full.

The people at HB were extremely helpful and nice, this I figured later on. The room was approximately 4.5’ X 8’. Obviously no attached toilet but it served the purpose. I was only going to stay there for one night as I was going to a “www.hospitalityclub.org” members place the following day. I checked into HB at about 5pm.

Went and checked email before I checked into a hotel, Internet in PG costs vary but the cheapest I found was INR15/= per hour. This is by far the cheapest internet place I have been out of all the countries I have been to in the world. “Salaka” in Sri Lanka is at LKR90/= per hour.

Called Mohit and Rekha to arrange to meet Mohit to dinner on the same day and to stay at Rekha’s from tomorrow.

Around 5:30pm I was pretty hungry considering the last time I had a proper meal was lunch at Shanthi Bhavan in Chennai on the 10th and now its 5pm on the 12th…..

I was recommended a place called “Sath Guru Dabar” to have a meal…I was told it was cheap and nice and this place lived up to its reputation worth every cent I paid.

While having the Aloo Masala, Yellow Dhal curry and Roti…..I realised how much I had missed this food….it tasted absolutely brilliant…the portions were massive I ended up eating 5 Chapathi’s. I was already full when I had my fourth but didn’t have the heart to throw away the Aloo and Dhal hence had the 5th Roti….and all this cost INR24/=

The Roti’s were INR1/= each, Dhal was 4 and Aloo was 15. The meal could have been easily eaten by two and the average cost would have been INR12/= yet again India continues to impress me on how cheap things can get…

After having dinner I went back to the hotel, Amma and Seeya called me. Afterwards I spoke to Mohit from hospitality club and we were going to meet up.

I went to the Connaught Place metro in an auto, that was the first auto ride in traffic and suddenly I realised how much I had missed this deadly auto ride J (very literally)…..If I had taken a cycle rickshaw I could have gone for INR5/= yet again how cheap this place is….I don’t have the heart to go on a cycle rickshaw and give the man 5….in Sri Lanka I would be ask to go and fly a kite…..I still fail to understand how they do things so cheap here.

I took an auto to the Rajiv Chowk (Connaught Place) metro.

WOW !!!!!! is all I have to say…..if one were to blindfold me and take me to the Delhi metro I would never guess I am in India perhaps Guangzhou, China. It is absolutely clean and looks gorgeous. No pissing and spitting so clean !!!

The reason I would have though it was Guangzhou is because the system they use is the same token system (where you buy a token instead of a card like in Singapore). In addition the token system on the floor like in Guangzhou you get the tile with the yellow trail for the blind. See pictures below.

Delhi metro became the 2nd most efficient underground system in the world. The ticket from “Connaught Place” to “Vishwavidyala” cost me INR11/= the journey took approximately 25 minutes. The time between two stations was approximately 1min and 45 seconds.

I got to “Vishwavidyala” at about 8pm sharp which is the time that I had agreed to meet Mohit and he was there sharp on time to.

Mohit is a lovely and cheerful chap. One may even get confused he is French because his accent doesn’t sound Indian at all probably the MBA education in France…he is quite a traveller himself. Interesting and easy guy to get along with. His mum and dad are equally nice people…..even though I had food before I went to Mohit’s, I was forced to eat again….

The last train from “Vishwavidyala” to “Connaught Place” was at 10:35pm so managed to catch that one. I realised without going to CP if I stop one stop before I go to the Delhi train station and there would be no need to walk or take auto from CP to PG.

In spite of PG being known for drugs and prostitution, I haven’t seen either of them. In SEA these two things are openly offered probably it’s a lot more discreet over here.

I got to the hotel at about 11:15pm and slept.

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Photos

Pahar Ganj Main Entrance
Old Pahar Ganj never lets you down for cheap accomodation.....

Streets of Pahar Ganj
Old Pahar Ganj never lets you down for cheap accomodation.....

Rickshaw Walla in Pahar Ganj
Old Pahar Ganj never lets you down for cheap accomodation, food and internet...what else do you need ?

Alleys in Pahar Ganj
Old Pahar Ganj never lets you down for cheap accomodation, food and internet...what else do you need ?

Shops in little alleys in Pahar Ganj
Old Pahar Ganj never lets you down for cheap accomodation, food and internet...what else do you need ?

Jobless people in Pahar Ganj
Old Pahar Ganj never lets you down for cheap accomodation, food and internet...what else do you need ?

My room in Pahar Ganj
Well this is my 4.5 by 8 and thats all you gonna get for a 100 bucks....

Inside Delhi Metro Train
Where am I ??? can you imagine how clean this is ???

Walkway for the blind
These are walkways for the blind....similar to the ones you get in Guangzhou in China.

Mohit and me
Picture of Mohit and me taken by his mum.....

Comments

[syed junaid]

fast visa
well I had submitted my passport under tatkal scheme so it takes about 5 days to arrive. So how long does the visa takes to process?? and what are the nessary documents?

[rakesh]

Turkish Embassy
They are equally rude on the phone and phone operator has a two hour lunch break and yet he always slams the phone equally the embassy personell also drop the phone in mid sentance not once but as a rule---crazy staff nd they are obviously Indians and not Turkish so they have no interest in the Image of the country--typically like your George!!!!

[Vaj]

Patients is key !!!
The Turkish embassy man MG in my blog who is at the counter helped me out later on once everyone left....so guess being South Asian still helps....he asked me to come the next day and I got my passport back the same day.....so it would have been the same as giving it today and getting it tomorrow....

[awaara indian]

Turkish visa on arrival for indians
indians can get visa on arrival if you have a schangen uk or us visa. http://www.awaaraindian.com/turkey-visa-for-indians found all the information here

[Tanya]

Seems like nobody has gone through High And MIGHTY FRENCH embassy in Delhi to experience what RUDENESS IS. They are the most Impolite creatures in the whole wide world. Seems like most of those working in India are underpaid, most of them are RUDE. well, the truth is, these guys are actually not as bright, rich , beautiful or great as they think of themselves.