India New Delhi

India!! New Delhi

We received our Indian Visas on Friday afternoon of the 20^th Sept then immediately changed our flight tickets to that evening.  Not that we disliked Istanbul but reasoned that India would be less expensive for accommodation…

We said our fairwells to Turkey after a five week spell in the country and boarded our flight to India.  We had a short stop off at Sahara airport close to Dubai, so got to see a little of the desert.  We then boarded our flight to Delhi and arrived 12.30 in the afternoon of Saturday.  After all the customs procedures, paperwork etc. we picked up our luggage and found our pre-booked airport pickup driver.  He took us directly to the Smyle Inn which is in a street which some people would consider an open sewer but many other people call the place of work and even a place to sleep.  Fortunately the Inn was clean the room basic but with all that we needed,  WIFI and cable tv on a plasma screen! India is certainly a place of contrasts.

Nearly forgot, the traffic… so coming from Istanbul where the traffic is very heavy and people drive quite aggressively I thought Delhi would be much the same, and it is, it also is very congested, more motor bikes and smaller cars than turkey, but that is where the comparison ends.  In Delhi they seems to have no notion of what lane discipline is, they just constantly change lanes, beep their horns at each other, drive down the wrong direction on bicycles into traffic, seemingly play chicken with other drivers whilst overtaking…. Pure mayhem to foreign drivers…

Our airport driver wanted a tip, but I had no change to give him, since we had just arrived, I offered him a 2€ coin, which would be a very good tip, but he did not accept it and instead walked away in a huff!!

After having dropped our bags off we decided to find something to eat and were directed to Nirvana, imagine only 2 hours after being in India and we found Nirvana already, who said it takes a life time of self-sacrifice and dedication!!   Ok so I play on words, it was just our local restaurant where we adventured into the local cuisine and where not disappointed.  We were soon talking to a young Indian name Pelota who spoke good Spanish and wanted to speak with us in Spanish.  He worked for the local tourist office where they arrange everything from Golden triangle tours, Delhi day tours, local advice etc.  Pelota was quite gentle in his approach so we spent some time with him took his recommendations from the menu and talked about local customs, gods, railways, public buses etc.  We did buy the Delhi day trip from him, which meant we had a driver and a car for the day take us to some of the attractions, cost about 9€!

Pelotas recommendations were; train travel is good, but you normally need to book 1 week in advance, as a foreigner go for the air conditioned wagons as these have security and therefore no hassles from the mafia, “his words”.  Public buses are for 50 people but 100 people will have a ticket, so you may have a seat or you may be on the roof!  Tourist buses, which of course are more expensive, have 50 seats and 50 tickets!!

Our Delhi day tour was on a Monday when everything is shut, we went to a Hindi temple to start, which was very nice, set in a nice garden which was peaceful and the first time that Lili could run around since we had arrived, 48 hours before.  We all had a blessing of some kind and red paint daubed on our foreheads. Everybody walks around barefoot.  Next we stopped at a Sikh temple we arrived at the foreigners office and where greeted by a kind gentleman who took some time to explain a little about the temple, he asked why we thought most people went to church, mosque or temple, and I replied to pray, this he told me was the first mistake that everybody made, he said the purpose of the temple or church which applied to your religion was to instruct to learn.  We went into the temple and there was a band and a singer in the middle with everybody who wanted to sitting around listening learning. We met up with the Sikh host again and he showed us the second part which was a canteen and kitchens, apparently anybody was welcome to eat and to help in the kitchens again this was all part of an educational idea.  We then stopped for lunch in the Red Onion and had some very nice food served by some very friendly waiters who all wanted to play with Lili of which she obliged.   Part of the tour we stopped at a shop, the driver instructed that we should go in and have a look around, I did, saw plenty of carpets and friendly faces saying hello sir, and promptly left the building, our driver did not look too happy but a stiff word from me meant we were soon on our way to the next tourist attraction which turned out to be some big tower which we had to pay to go inside, not being overly happy I saw another temple just up the road, spoke to one of the tour guides and he informed me the temple was open and free… We went back to our driver and instructed him we wanted to go to the temple up the round he obliged and dropped us in front of a six lane road which was a little overwhelming to cross safely, we did in the end manage to do it with the help of red lights and hands held up to drivers, they may not follow road rules but running over foreigners is not something Indian drivers want.  Across the road we also found a Buddhist temple, which had a big Buddha and views overlooking Delhi, which gave it much better impression than the ghetto we were staying in.

We have decided to go to Leh which is one of the highest villages in the world.  Having been here 24 hours, I can tell you it’s beautiful, I can also say I had altitude sickness and Lili still does, the other girls have been fine.