Beware the Delhi touts!

The 6 hour flight to Delhi from Hong Kong felt long and tiring and I was grumbling from my badly chosen flight meal (a chicken sausage!) so we were pleased to touch down in Indria Ghandi International at about 1pm. We had been reading our travel guides and 'culture shock' books to prepare us for the craziness that we heard Delhi would be. Guy was especially on scam alert and we experienced our first just a few minutes into our taxi ride to the city. It's common for taxi drivers to try and take you to hotels where they receive commission. To foil thier plan we had pre-booked our hotel and had the address ready, but the driver claimed not to know where it was and instead took us his mate's travel agents and tried to convince us we had to get out of the car to check the details online - no doubt for a fee! We sat tight and instead called the hotel in front of him to confirm the details. Suddenly and miraculaously he remebered where the road was and took us there with no more problems. This was the first of many slightly dodgy dealings we were to experience in the capital - but all part of the experience!

Our hotel was in Pahar Ganj, the backpacker district near New Delhi station, so left a little to be desired - a bit like staying near King's Cross in London! The porter was very helpful though - especially after we tipped him generously to get him on side during our stay. He was desperate to buy us some 'under the counter' beers but it still felt a little too early in the day! Rather than take refuge in our hotel rooms, we braved the streets and wandered around the Main Bazaar. The roads were busy and bustling and I was very aware of the attention a white western woman gets, even in very conservative dress. We stopped off in a little cafe and shared a daal and rice before heading back to the hotel. We were catching up with Jo and Rob for dinner in South Delhi so Guy sorted out a taxi (again with much overpricing by the hotel and hard haggling from Guy!). We met at a smart restaurant called Punjab by Nature where Jo and Rob expertly ordered dinner for us. It was so lovely to see them - our first familiar faces for nearly 5 months! Unfortunately the travelling and time zones kicked in and we probably weren't the most alert company - so with promises to meet up again on Monday, we got our taxi back and crashed at the hotel.

Since we'd arrived, the hotel reception had been calling us pretty much every 3 hours to find out if we wanted to book a tour with them ('no thank you' each time) so the next morning they kindly roused us with their own special kind of wake up call! As it was Sunday, we had already planned a packed sightseeing schedule of Old Delhi, after finding out that pretty much everything is closed on a Monday! Our first journey in a tuk tuk proved interesting. We set off to the Red Fort only to find ourselves heading towards Connaught Place (CP) in the opposite direction, with the young lad beside the driver telling us that first we needed to first the Tourist Information centre only for an extra 20 rupees! A quick check of our guide book told us it was closed so we firmly but nicely asked him to take us to the Red Fort as planned! Then his tuk tuk ran out of pertrol so they had to hail another one for us. The new driver seemed pretty angry about something (we weren't sure what) and cursed all the way!

When we did finally make it, the Red Fort is such an incredible sight. It's vast and sits towering over the busy streets below. The walk up to the entrance is really atmospheric with hawks circling the towers above. We hapilliy joined the queue of locals to get our ticket only to be directed by a friendly policeman to the foreigners-only ticket desk where there was no queue. Because of all the troubles in Mumbai, the security was understandably tight and we had to split into male/female lines to be searched before we were allowed in. Once inside it's almost like a wave of calm falls over you. The buildings and pavillions inside are really ornate to look at but what's even more lovely is that it's full of Delhi families enjoying a Sunday outing or modest courting couples sitting and chatting on the grass. It seems a far cry from the chaos of the streets outside and for the tourist, it provides a momentary reprieve from the touts and hawkers. We spent a peaceful few hours just wandering around the lawns and mooching around the museums. The military museum seemed just to be a large collection of knives and axes (!) while the archeological musem had some beautiful paintings and rugs. Amusingly, some young Indian girls asked to take our picture. We think they had mistaken Guy for a Bollywood star, thank to his new flowing locks!We also got to admire the various Delhi fashions - from high fashion trendsetters to psuedo-Seventies flares and flourescent Terry Toweling tank tops!

Back outside, we walked towards Chandi Chowk for lunch and found a great cafe that served 'fast food' curries. We each had a Thali Special which is basically a selection of 2 or 3 curries with chapatis, rice, pickles and a dessert. It was massive when it came and we were worried we looked a bit greedy until we noticed lots of other diners eating it. We were still working on our right hand only eating technique. The hardest part is trying to tear naan bread! After lunch we took a tuk tuk down to CP to walk around and grab a coffee, before heading back to the hotel weary but happy with ourselves for seeing so much and getting a little bit more under the skin of this frantic city.

On Monday we were in the calm and capable hands of Jo who had offered to take us round the sights of South Delhi with her driver. It was lovely to be looked after by someone who knows the ropes! We had decided to visit the Tomb of Hanuman first which was another beautiful haven in the city. The buildings were really stunning with intricate architecture and carvings. The grounds too were delicately landscaped and we walked around enjoying the warm day. Guy was aware that Jo and I were itching to catch on our girly gossip so kept a distance and entertained himself with the black and white function on the camera! The results unfortunately look like he was stalking Jo and I in some bad Seventies spy thriller! He did get some great action shots of hawks though - soon to be loaded up on the gallery. From there we tried to find a shrine that I'd read about in our guide book, but instead it took us up some lesser known dark alley. We back tracked quickly, and Jo suggested lunch at Khan Market. After sampling some food at the equivalent of a Delhi greasy spoon full of men, we had coffee at a smarter cafe round the corner, before heading to the Lodhi Gardens for a civilised stroll. These oasis of calm were the perfect antidote to the more hectic streets near where we were staying. At 4pm we went our separate ways as Jo had to check out their new flat. We went off to plan what our next steps were going to be. We had originally planned to head east via Varanasi and Kolkata but the busy-ness of Delhi was making us yearn for the great outdoors, so instead we turned our attention to Darjeeling and considered some trekking in the foothills of the Himalayas. Later that night we met up with Jo and Rob for dinner at The Embassy in CP. Poor Rob had come straight from work, unlike us tourists who had been hanging out in gardens all day! We had a delicious dinner and, with their advice, finally agreed on our plan to head to West Bengal.

The next day - our last (for the time being) in Delhi - we made use of the internet cafes and booked our flights to Bagdogra with a view to travelling North by jeep. We also moved hotels for our last night and ended up paying the same price for a much smarter, friendlier place just around the corner! Delhi had been a fascinating experience for the last 4 days - made so much more enjoyable thanks to Rob and Jo - but after so many weeks of cities and towns we needed to go somewhere where the air was clearer and there were mountains to climb. We were off to Darjeeling!