Delhi

The diverse bicycle rickshaw
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It is hard to describe Delhi without sounding slightly jaded, a couple of D words spring to mind - dirty, deceitful and difficult. From reading my "Love Delhi" book, there are lots of treasures to find but, (and not from want of trying) you would need a lot of time and patience. It is a sprawling city choked by population, pollution and traffic. The construction of a long awaited metro system is underway and will take another couple of years. For the moment they have 2 metro rail lines which is the best for getting into the central areas of Chandi Chowk and Connaught Place. The metro is heavily policed, probably after the recent bombings, and everyone is scanned as they go through, so I didn't mind the queuing. The Indians however are not as orderly in the art of queuing; it's one great surge onto the train and off again. A pickpockets dream and the warnings are announced over the loudspeakers "pickpockets have been identified in the area, so please take care". Hopefully when they identify said pickpockets they get penalised, rather than washing away their sins in a holy lake or temple. Forgive my cynicism but I think some people truly believe this - along with the various fantasy gods who are half elephants and monkeys.

The formiddable Red Fort - don't mess with the guards
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Each traveller that we met had a similar story of being cheated by someone in Delhi. Fortunately ours were minor. We arrived late at night to our hotel only to find that they had double booked so they escorted us to a sister hotel down the road, ensuring us that this was actually better, especially as it was called Ashu Palace (another fantasy). Can't complain really for city standards but it was very noisy but this should be expected in any Indian city.

We thought 3 nights ample time to visit the areas of interest such as bazaars, markets, shrines, forts and restaurants etc. Unfortunately we only managed 2 out of the 10 or so. Everything takes a lot of time in India as we have found. We were on our way to the riches of Khan market which we had heard so much about from other travellers. The first hurdle is to negotiate an honest rickshaw driver. Most fares should range from 20 - 50R for urban commuting, however the starting price can be up to 150R so getting to the fair price takes a little haggling and perseverance. Sometimes you will have a group of them all bidding for your fare. The winner of this fare was a real charmer. Chatting and smiling from ear to ear, reminding me of the character Prabu in the book Shantaram. He, as most rickshaw drivers are so adept at, dodged and honked his way through the traffic giving us commentary and asking us questions about ourselves along the way. He dropped us off at the said Khan market, of which I looked at dubiously as there were supposed to be many levels and I read that it being quite salubrious. He told us that this was the beginning of the market and once upstairs there were other entrances. He said he would wait for us anyway so we gave him a tip for his hospitable and informative ride. Once inside the said market, we asked the shopkeeper where the restaurants were and she was bemused as there was only two levels, comprising of pashmina's, silver and leather goods. We then asked if this was Khan market and she told us this was 20 minutes away as we were in Gole market, a very different and unattractive area. We were very disappointed as we had trusted this charming fellow and thus is how he makes his money.

Street corner rubbish tip - phew
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The smog is so heavy that your eyes start watering by the end of the day and your clothes are caked with grime. I mistakenly wore white, turning grey at the end of the day. Mostly we do our small washing in the bucket provided in the hotel bathroom and in the cities you need to wash it twice, as in the first soak the water turns black.

Our hotel was away from the touristy area of Par Ghanj, as learning from our Mumbai experience these areas are heavily trafficked by beggars and unsavoury characters. However, this was not necessarily the case in Delhi. In actual fact, Delhi was cleaner than Mumbai in some respects. We liked the area as it had a lot of little stalls with interesting goodies and restaurants. As Stu went on a mission for a leather satchel, I perused the henna tattoo artist’s photo album. There were 5 guys all offering henna tattoos, so I found one I liked and took a seat in the open market. Once I took my eye off the tattooist's handiwork I really started to notice my surrounds at ground level - there were rats scurrying around only 50 metres away amongst the rubbish which is strewn everywhere. The tattoo was a work of art though.

Fresh marigolds everyday for good luck and puja
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After travelling through the vegetarian north of India we were hankering for some red meat and not mutton which is generally the only option available. The bible recommended The Metropolis which was a rooftop restaurant and a little Delhi haven. We both ordered the steak with Diane sauce and steamed vegetables washed down with a Kingfisher beer. It was the best steak I've had in ages, superbly cooked to medium perfection. I was surprised to see that they even had wine on the menu. There was a selection of about 3 Aussie wines by the glass, 2 French at the price of a bottle of Chateau Neuf de Pape and an appearance of an Indian red called Grover. Well, I'm adventurous and a fan of Sesame St, so I persevered through the first couple of sips and even ordered another glass.

Bakers of Chappati
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We ventured into the old city of Delhi by Metro which is by far the easiest way to travel if you can. There was a heavy police presence which gave me an uneasy feeling - should we know about something? Crossing the road is quite a scene as the traffic is constant but the Indians do it with ease and no fear. Unlike us, we don't trust the traffic to stop, whereas an Indian will just walk out into mid traffic and remain calm whilst being honked at, taking their time to cross, whereas we scuttle when we see a break.

Would you like a toenail with your pakora madam?
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The Red Fort has quite a formidable presence in the old city. We decided not to go in as we had seen a few forts in India already. We did try to walk around it as it is on the banks of the Yamuna river, however we were sternly stopped by the police with no explanation as to why we couldn't walk there as there weren't any barricades or signs. Maybe it was for the best!

I had read that the old bazaar of Chandi Chowk was a great place to try the street stall food. Probably why Delhi is renowned for Delhi Belly, when you see the operation of the stalls. Most are just a small cart with a Bunsen burner and wok. I was hungry however and the locals were tucking in, so when in Rome. I had an awesome Aloo Tikka, which is a spicy potato and veggie pattie with sweet chilly sauce and masala. There was no stopping there as I walked and ate my way through the narrow alleyways. The best is the Galub Jamon which are little balls of heaven. They are similar to a doughnut ball simmered in rose water syrup.

Sari heaven
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The bible says the best way to negotiate the labyrinth of alleyways of Chandi Chowk is the bicycle rickshaw but we opted for the walk to lose ourselves in it. It is the best way to see and sample the tiny shops however you do have to dodge the other tourists on rickshaws. One thing I will never understand why but the Indians do all the time is to have a concentration of shops with just one theme - such as rows and rows of mobile phone stalls then jewellery then sari's. It's easier for the consumer, however the competition for the retailer is so great. So far, the prices haven't been anything special and we have a long way to go with our backpacks yet. At any tourist attraction, you are always harassed by roving sellers of baubles and junk. The funny thing is everybody has exactly the same crap - it must be hard to make a living this way.

We had read about some great restaurants but the endeavour to get there was somewhat daunting. Rickshaw negotiations and their lack of knowledge outside their suburb makes it a long journey along with death defying traffic maneouvres, so we ended up staying local most nights and Karol Bagh was not a foodie heaven. One nightmare I experienced was named Navratam Korma. Even though we had been in vegetarian country for some weeks, I was craving green vegies or even a salad. Most veg. dishes here are just the one veg. in each recipe. I asked the waiter what he would recommend as I wanted a variety of veggies. Often I don't know what I'm ordering and it turns out really good, but this was pure slop of frozen veg in a yoghurt sauce with canned pineapple chunks as garnish! I tried but couldn't eat it so they swapped it for a chicken Jalfrezi which was nice and spicy.  We have been lucky so far with just a few bouts of gas but nothing too scary :-)

It took the best part of half a day on the internet and at travel agents but we managed to secure a train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and then onwards to Varanasi on the Ganges. This is the work component of our holiday and takes quite a bit of research and patience. So far we have been blessed by the accommodation gods but the train gods need a bit more devotion. Until the next stop....xo