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Having flown from Kathmandu, arriving in Delhi (with Lawrence) was a bit confusing; we were told on the plane that it was 45 degrees celcius, yet it didn't feel too hot (a dry, non-humid climate makes all the difference). We were told that arriving in India can be a shocking and overwhelming experience, but the airport was huge, pristine, air-conditioned, efficient and easy (with the exception of Lawrence scrawling his arrival info onto his Indian passport-visa, rather than his landing card, which created some consternation for the immigration staff!!!). Even the journey into the City Centre (Paharganj, where we had decided to stay) was impressive, with well-moving traffic, some beautiful colonnial architecture, clean and tidy roads... the shock that I had expected from India was completely eluding me!
But then you get to Paherganj, a run-down, crowded, yet tourist-area of Central Delhi north of Connaught Place. It didn't help our impressions that Paherganj (like the rest of the city) is being dug up and rebuilt for the Commonwealth Games in September (one of the plans is a brand-new overground/underground metro system to the airport... looking at its current status, I think there's NO WAY it'll be ready in time, but as they say here... this is India!). So Paherganj consisted of narrow side-streets running off the main bazaar, which was literally heaped a metre high along its length with rubble, but everybody just carried on as normal, walking on top of, around and through it!
As we stood outside the hotel getting our bearings, though, Delhi (almost) hit me... standing outside a dingy street-side cafe, I heard a loud splat on the ground not six inches away from me, and looked down to see the biggest, blackest rat I've ever seen, struggling back onto all fours having fallen right beside me, from some height and then, after what I swear was a grin up at me, proceeded to make his escape through my legs. Welcome to Delhi!
Our first night in Delhi was quite uneventful... for a backbacker or tourist, Delhi is not a place where you will meet tourists everywhere, nor find tourist oriented cafes or bars. In fact, it pretty much shuts up by midnight, and as we would later discover, finding somewhere to drink after that is something you do at your own peril!
The next day (Wednesday), we got up and walked down to Connaught Place from the hotel, which like I mentioned, is essentially a building site in preparation for the CWG in September. Then, having negotiated our trip to Agra the following day with the "official (government-run)" tourist office (ha!), we got hailed a tuk-tuk and the tuk-tuk driver got his business for the day... First we went to the Gateway of India, which is very big and pretty spectacular, and then went from there south to the Humanayan Tomb (essentially, a red-brick Taj Mahal!). Anyone going to Delhi should set aside at least two hours to visit it though. After that, we moved southwards to the Loghi Gardens, which our driver seemed to think we needed to visit (he wasn't quite clear, but there was something about peace and quiet, and lots of girls!). Anyway, there weren't lots of girls, but it was the most peaceful place I found in Delhi, and we literally spent an hour just walking around, looking at the gardens and birds (weird, in India, all the ravens and crows walk around with their peaks wide open all the time! Must be a dehydration thing!).
That evening, after eating in the same place in Paherganj we had found the first night (and where we would eat the following night too!), we decided to head to a fairly exclusive club about 6 or 7 miles out of the City. We got a tuk-tuk there, only to discover that they didn't like the look of our flip-flops! So back in a taxi, back to Paherganj (getting lost along the way, with me having to tell the driver how to negotiate Connaught Place to where we were staying), on with the shoes, and back to our waiting cab. Which didn't start. We tried pushing it, but to no avail (God bless us, the young fella driving, genuinely, didn't have a clue!). At that point, it all got too much for Lawrence, who blew it , suggested the driver get out, and hopped in, started it for him and revved it sohard I was waiting for it to blow up!!! After that, the driver had a new sense of urgency about him and drove like a demon back to the club, ignoring each and every speed-ramp, almost decapitating me in the process, and propelling a fast-asleep Lawrence clean off the back seat onto the floor in the back, twice.
The club wasn't worth it. It was terrible. Well, that's probably not fair, but it was definitely not our scene. We were the only Westerners in there, it was 90% blingy men over 40, and a sprinkling of suspiciously young-looking girls. I'm not sure what the mob-scene is in India, but this certainly would have been the place to find out! We only satyed because our "cover" cahrge covered about 40 euro worth of beer, which there was no way I was leaving behind me!
We left there after a few beers, and decided to call it a night in Paherganj, with me sitting on the rat-infested footpath in Paharganj, drinking a beer in a brown paper-bag and eating Pringles, while Lawrence convinced the JCB driver working on the street that he should drive, and the road-works foreman carried on as normal, directing Lawrence in his new-found duty as JCB driver in clearing up the rubble from Paherganj at 3am, while me, a shop keeper, three street kids and about ten mangey street dogs looked on, somewhat bemused... Lawre is keen to get his CV updated to say that he worked on the reconstruction of Delhi for the CWG.
The following morning was an early start... pick up from the hotel to drive some 250km to Agra. I slept for the bulk of the journey, only to be woken by sporadic screeches from Lawrence in the front, the most dramatic of which came as we sped down a dual carriageway in the fast lane, only to be met by a water-buffalo-drawn carriage, bumbling along towards us in the very same lane. A few other minor events, notably due to the fact that roads cross dual-carriageways with very little indication or regard for right-of-way...
Agra itself is a fairly run-down, bustling place, but obviously the main point of our getting there was to see the Taj Mahal. We've all seen the pictures and read to descriptions, but after 5 hours in a car, I felt a bit sceptical. But for hat it's worth, the Taj Mahal, when you see it for real, is the most incredible thing. It's more beautiful, whiter, more magnificant, and certainly smaller, than you can ever expect. Having taken pretty mich exactly the same photograph of it 56 times, we moved onto the Agra fort. Too tired by then though... big fort, lots of bits too it, loads of Indians... let's go home!
We made really good progress coming back to Delhi until we were about 5 miles from our hotel. Then it took us about an hour and a half to get the rest of the way.
That night, after dinner, we went for a beer in a rooftop cafe/bar in Paherganj called Club India, and just watched the happenings in the steet below us. Lawrence was dead right in saying that everywhere, something is happening, even at 11 in the evening. Groups of men sitting, smoking and chatting; young guys doing dealings of some sort or other; rows of homeless in vests and shorts sleeping down for the night; herds of cows sitting amongst chaotically-parked cars, buses, tuk-tuks and carts... every square inch has some activity in Delhi.
The following morning, we had to leave to get our flight to Goa, but even in the taxi, I think I kind of missed Delhi.
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Eric
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I enjoyed your India post. It sounds like you are having a good time there. My blog is looking for travel photos. If you have time, email us some at dirtyhippiesblog@gmail.com and check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Eric