Delhi, a melting pot of noise, traffic, heat, electricity pylons, dust, pollution and an unbelievable amount of people who, if not on the road, are in the process of doing their business at the side of the road. One sign in particular caught my attention while I was in my taxi heading to my hotel: ‘Mortuary Available’ was posted outside of a hotel. My five star hotel India only took a 40 minute drive and is was very luxurious.
I headed to the center of Delhi and to my western surprise, my first few experiences of being approached were recommendations to a great restaurant, which I happily took up. I had my first curry dish and it was scrumptious. I’m worried about eating the food here, I’ve heard all kinds of stories about Delhi Belly, but so far so good. After my nice meal, I headed to the tourist office in search of some free maps. An hour later, I was booked for two weeks in Rajasthan with my own driver and 3 train journeys. It was great to have someone else arrange my trip, it really did relieve much stress about how to get about India. When I left the center, I got this feeling that I was being ripped off, but I put that in the back of my mind.
After the tourist center, I headed into Old Delhi where things were more like what I imagined India to be, more authentic (as if being in Delhi wasn’t authentic). The streets are narrower and very uneven. There was advertising signs everywhere, there virtually was no open wall space. Honking horns, bike bells ringing as the bikes inched past speeding off when they had room, people rushing about and me largely tootling about with no one harassing me.
I picked up my train tickets from the tourist office and went to scope out the train station for tomorrow’s ride up north. The entrance was crowded and this very stern station official asked to check my tickets and check their validity. He asked where I bought them and how much I paid for the trip and what the trip included. After I heard myself tell him the what and the how, I felt ridiculous and prepared myself for the worst. The official paused and then said ‘Wow, this is a good deal…you went to a government approved office.’ Whew! I wasn’t ripped off! That was such a relief. Later, I found out that the government have placed unmarked helpers to try and change the city’s reputation for harassing and scamming the tourist.
Travelling for an hour a day in one of those tuk-tuks, in and out of the city was extremely fun. Squeezing through the four lanes of manic traffic, narrowly missing other tuk-tuks, rickshaws, buses, lorries, taxis, cars and coached that where all vying for space and everyone trying to get ahead of the next. I came to the conclusion that all this chaos was somehow organized. These Indians are the best drivers in the world.
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