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Published: February 4th 2008
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Red Fort
Imposing Red Fort - Delhi Hey Everyone! After a long journey last night and a slightly late connection from Dubai we have arrived in Delhi! It has to be the most hectic place under the sun. After our driver picked us up at the airport it was a complete blur, sounds, smells and sights just bombard you from all angles and this was at 5am! I thought New York was the city that never sleeps! The driver and other drives since then on both auto and cycle rickshaws have been a rollercoaster ride, its chaos. Traffic lights mean nothing, Lanes mean nothing, no one ever gives way at a roundabout and I've never seen people so trigger happy with the horns! However the odd cow here and there gets far more respect and space than any pedestrian or any other vehice!! The hotel is... well accetable. We are paying 2.50 each a night to be fair. The paint is pink and peeling and the toilet pretty grimey but the bed is ok and the sheets clean so thats what matters!
We havent been hassled too much yet but maybe thats because a firm NO seems to do the trick. However our haggling skills could do
with some practice as maybe we're paying a bit much to be carted around! Finally got to sleep at about 6am this morning, the noise outside is very loud, stray dogs barking their heads off all night and constant horns so ear plugs were needed! We woke at around 2pm ish (we're 5 1/2 hours ahead of UK) and thought we'd ease ourselves in with a visit to the red fort. A very impressive place to say the least, have a look at the pics! You really get the sense that the Mughals that ruled india had a real knack for arcitecture and extravagance! When we bought a ticket a lady came up and pinned an indian flag to my arm before trying to convince me to pay for it and that everyone does.. when i refused the smile disappeared and the flag hastily removed - hilarious!
We got a cyclerickshaw from the fort to New Delhi station where we intended to get our tickets to Agra and the Taj Mahal! Felt pretty bad for the guy slaving away although he took us a strange route through the madness of old Delhi where we certainly got some attention. He
also tried to take us to certain 'cheaper' places to buy train tickets but we kept refusing and he seemed to back off when we told him it was our third time in India - that seems to do the trick mostly! Anyway the station was an interesting experience, see pictures, and we'll be back here on the morning of the 6th at 6am our time to catch the Shatabi Express to Agra. On the bridge over the tracks, a young man came up and shook my hand smiling, the problem with being hassled all the time was that I thought he was probably after something and trying to scam me but he simply smiled said welcome to India and off he went to his train with big smiles and more thumbs up - a nice change 😊 Although we couldnt get the tickets today as the office is closed sundays! So 3 hours on the streets of Delhi had left us pretty exhausted and overwhelmed, (although its so interesting the mix of rich and poor. Such a contrast) and so we went back and crashed out for an hour or so before coming down to this tiny little internet
cafe - its nice to be in touch with home!
The last thing I ate was a 'McArabia mean' from a mcdonalds in Dubai airport so we're off to get some food for the first time now - hopefully I'll survive it although I sense the Delhi Belly is pretty unavoidable. Poor katie has already been sick! Anyway enjoy the pics, hopefully there will be more at later dates but its pretty tedious getting them all up on this slow connection. Keep me updated with Footy and whatnot and I'll be in touch with everyone a bit more my phone once I sort myself out with an Indian number, the roaming charges are HUGE!
Speak soon!
Luke
Update - I wrote this yesterday but obviously didnt figure out how to post it properly! The meal we had was spectacular! You've never had a curry until you've been to India! We had a butter chicken curry and apricot and cottage cheese balls in a curry (felt adventurous!). SO GOOD! With garlic naan and poppadums (which are not how we have them at home, taste the same but look like prawn crackers!). It was on this roof top of
Old Delhi
Chaos from a cycle rickshaw! a hotel in paharganj, really peaceful away from the chaos below! Enjoyed a nice cold kingfisher beer too. How much did it all set us back? Fiver.
So today we're off to do some more sight seeing and book some trains, including our goa ones, we think if we can get them we're going to go to Agra tommorow as we're itching to get to the Taj! Only problem is we wouldnt be able to go to the Ghandi museum (the place where he died) as its closed mondays, so we'll see!
Anyway thanks for your texts, shame about the footy but hey! x
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Gaz
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Your not there! photoshop! photoshop!