Delhi - it really is a dustbin!

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Wow!! Delhi is absolutely mental! There is so many touts everywhere and the traffic is like nothing I have ever seen..The cars and rickshaws, motorbikes and horses just go where they want and its all gridlocked and car horns. The cars are all old morris minor types, its like stepping back 50 years! There is essentially no water or sanitation for 2/3rds of the city with lots of people living in shanty towns. It really is the poorest place I have ever seen, its what I imagine large parts of Africa to look like during a famine but with gridlokced traffic!! People openly go to the toilet anywhere they like and the smell is terrible from the rubbish eveywhere...I can't imagine what it will look like in 50 years time, a big dustbin!!

But, once you get past all of that nightmare, there are some amazing things to see, despite the taxi drivers telling you there is nothing to see in this area and that its all burnt down when you can see Indias two main sights right in front of your eyes!!

We stayed in the thick of the poverty in Old Delhi right near the Red Fort. The Red Fort is a massive construction that was an army base. They keep trying to tell you that its no longer an army base despite the soldiers with guns lying behind sand bags all around you! The building is beautiful and a welcome escape from all the noise!! In the afternoon we went to Indias largest mosque (no dressing up this time, boo hoo!!). It was actually really nice and because of all the pidgeons it reminded us of Venice. You got to climb one of the towers in the mosque which was fun as people were squashing up and down a narrow spiral staircase in the dark, I broke my sunglasses!! You really can see how people get crushed to death here, everyone pushes and barges and cannot queue or wait 2 seconds for anything! Once we reached the top of the stairs we couldnt get of the staircase onto the narrow ledge as it was too crowded. This was a shame as the view of the red fort would have been amazing!!

Not feeling adventurous, we ate in the hotel, if you had seen the streets you wouldnt have eaten street food either!! Once Steve bought an 'illegal' beer the hotel guy was ringing us and knocking on the door every 10 minutes asking if he wanted another, and if you forget to lock the door they just walk in, its all fun!!

The next day we braved Delhi train station to try and book our tickets to Amritsar. It took us about 30 minutes to find the correct ticket office despite some 'help' from the touts and we actually managed to get the ticket we wanted!! We then headed into a quiter part of the city to see the place where Gandhi was shot. This was a really peaceful garden and then a hectic museum and art gallery full of Indains!! An art gallery in india is an experience as the staff stand right next to you telling you to hurry up and staring at you looking so it all feels weird. There really were some cool modern art stuff though!!

We found a canteen in a community centre to eat lunch and ending up sitting with the minister for science and technology for lunch. How random, however we read later in the paper his secretary had killed themselves the following day, it was nothing that we said though, honestly!! In the afternoon we went to a tomb which was a prototype for the taj mahal and it was really amazing to see, cant wait for the real taj now!!

The following day we went in search of a real shop so I could get new sungalsses. We needed a break from the hectic streets and so had a really long lunch in a nice restaurant on Connaught place, a quick stroll round the shops and then back to the hotel to pack for Amritsar!!

Thankgod we survived Delhi!!!!

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Photos

Big Mosque
It kind of reminds me of Venice here, it was actually really nice!