Delhi

We’ve been here (in India that is!) for just under a week now and I still can’t quite work the place out….I don’t hate it and that has left me still feeling a little confused about it all! Delhi hasn’t exactly helped either. The attacks on the senses just keep coming but they are all getting easier to deal with, the number of people which although is still overwhemingly busy is not in anyway as bad as I was expecting nor is the hassle come to think of it. The contradictions between being holy and anything goes, or poverty and ellaborate monuments baffles me but the intrigue and want to see places and to try to make sense of it all is ever increasing! Think deep down I wanted to hate it, all those pre-conceived notions and images of what I thought it was going to be like – I wanted it to be everything as bad and worse just to justify my beliefs! But it’s not….it’s actually alright, in fact it has a certain something about it and I think it will only get better as we explore!
Delhi itself is a sprawling city of shanty towns and grime, with the main areas to see being in the centre between the old town and it’s new ‘swankier’ section. Temples, mosques and palaces are spread around the city as frequently as Starbucks in other cities and provide a small amount of retreat from the dirt and chaos of the streets outside them. Getting around generally involves running the gauntlet of the roads in a rickshaw (auto or cycle) or walking the equally mind boggling streets. We stayed in the very backpackery area of Paharganj, which is basically one long bazaar packed full of cheap hostels, cheap eats, cheap tours, countless charalatans pretending to be agents to scam you for money and 1000’s of shops selling anything from sarees to sleeping bags and endless amounts of other tat that you really don’t want but pushy salesman try to convince you you need. It is a shame but people here are generally out to fleece you in one way or another, the lengths they go to and lies you get are fantastic – trains don’t exist so you have to get a private car, ticket offices have burnt down so you have to buy tickets through them (it’s better for you this way sir!), you can’t buy that here come with me etc etc! It does get tiresome but they generally do it in an annoyingly friendly helpful way that makes it very difficult just to tell them to bugger off at the start of the conversation!
We only spent a few days exploring Delhi and to be honest that is probably enough before anyone of sane mind and non-polluted lungs would want to escape it all. We visited a few of the obvious places to see – The Red Fort (a little disappointing!), Humayans Tomb (better than the fort), wandered the old streets and markets (slightly mental but fun) and checked out the trendier Connaught Place (more relaxing but full of friendly talkative difficult to shake off tour touts!). Whilst the evenings were more just chilling out on one of the numerous roof top terraces hiding away from the streets and munching away on curries and supping beer from coffee mugs or strange flasks to hide that it’s beer as nowhere has an alcohol license! The morning we were due to leave for Agra the dreaded Delhi belly finally caught up with us, well poor Shona anyway! She spent most of the day staggering between the toilet and her bed looking very poorly and sorry for herself….she was right as rain the following day, well she’d stopped being sick at least!