Day 33 & 34 (Delhi)

I think I've finally mastered the art of sleeping on a bus regardless of the quality of the road or the comfort of the seat...I slept pretty much the entire way from Amristar to Delhi though that may have been down to the fact that I barely slept a wink in Amristar because our A/C wasn't working and the room was at a balmy 36 all night long...how uncomfortable :(

We had a lunchstop at a roadside restaurant that seemed lovely, but either my order got messed up, or they were trying to pull a fast one. I ordered Honey Chicken and instead got some kind of vegetable nuggets that were coated in a weird sauce....barely touched it so was happy to help Una with her Onion Kulcha – Mmmmmmm! On the road Kim read out some quiz questions (most of which I slept through) and Richard was victorious with 37/50 I think or something like that.

Delhi was a 2 night stop and Kim had been raving about the hotel with it's rooftop restaurant and bar, and some rooms with wifi..I was really excited about being able to talk to home in the comfort of my room rather than having to try have a normal conversation in a net cafe. But, when we pulled up to the hotel it was pretty clear it wasn't the one Kim was expecting. The driver pulled up, the luggage man got off and started pulling bags out of the boot while Kim was trying to work out what was happening. The bags were unloaded and the bus was gone before we were sure we were in the wrong place. The agency in India had messed up our booking and we were in this dingy, dank hotel where one of the room I looked at smelled like death & decay. We were hopeful that we'd be moved, Kim was on the case and fighting hard to get the error corrected. So we sat in reception for a long, long time waiting to be moved to find out that there wasn't space for us anywhere else so we had to stay where we were. Una and I were given room 215..we went in and immediately spotted the hugest gecko yet camoflagued against the bathroom wall..there was no electricity in the bathroom so though we'd have been able to use it by torchlight there was no knowing where the gecko was gonna go! After much screaming and running around and me jumping onto and off of the furniture to get away from the geckos we were moved to room 101..altogether more pleasant though still very basic and gross.

I went out to a small restaurant not far from the hotel to have a bite to eat with Una, Barbara & Kim that had been recommended by the hotel by way of peace offering for all the hassle we'd had. They had promised to move us to Hotel Sunshine first thing the next morning and have rooms ready for everyone at 8am, provide us with breakfast there and a free dinner on our 2nd evening in Delhi...not bad really, fair play to Kim for getting al that sorted. So for dinner, I thought I'd try Indian Chicken Tikka to see if it rivalled Khan's...it did...so tasty and with a spicy kick unlike any I've had before, but Kahn's maintain their title because this place had no mango chutney to give me which is what makes the tikka so yummy!

The next morning we got up early to get moved to Hotel Sunshine, with the bus packed up we were on the road around 8am and arrived at the hotel moments later to find that though it was Hotel Sunshine it wasn't the Hotel Sunshine that Kim had been fighting to get us into! It was like the Hotel Stella issue in Paris all over again, except this time the hotel we were at wasn't as nice as where we were supposed to be so that sucked somewhat, but at least there were no geckos and the A/C was working and blowing super cold air (so much so I needed my sleeping bag!). We got checked in, dumped our bags and went to their rooftop terrace (full enclosed with wattle that had been painted green) for our breakfast of eggs and toast..really want something new for breakfast..,I've eaten more eggs in the last few weeks than I have in my entire life!

After breakfast a gang of us headed to Connaught Place (who knew we'd find Irish province names in New Delhi?) in search of a tourist office or some sort of desk where we could pick up a guided tour of the city. The theory was that doing a set tour would ensure we see as much as possible in our one day and we wouldn't be wasting lots of time and energy flagging rickshaws and negotiating prices. As soon as we piled out of the rickshaws just off Connaught Circle a green SUV pulled up and a guy asked if we needed help finding anything. He offered us a lift to the tourist office and said that if we liked he could give us a tour. Immediately I was wondering what his game was because I thought it unlikely it was a random stranger picking up 7 foreign ladies and offering them free use of his car and time for the day and I wondered about price, but nobody wanted to bring up the vulgar subject of money.

He brought us to see India Gate and then the presidential palace. Had we known we were going to be there we could have requested an audience but we didn't so we just stood at the gate taking snapshots through the fence. After that he looped back to Connaught Circle to drop Annie off (she was meeting the boys to have a tour with them) and he called his brother to see if he was available to give the boys a tour. It was all falling together nicely.

Before he pulled out again he brought up money telling us that it was normally a charge of 4000 rupees to have an A/C car and driver for the day in Delhi, he said he worked for the tourist office and would be happy to take us around for that price. I wasn't happy as he'd first said we could just give him anything we liked for his time and then we were up to that amount between the 6 of us. After a bit of to and fro we agreed on 600 a piece for the day with the understanding that we'd give him a tip if we had a good day..and so we were off..and then we stopped! He dropped his phone on the floor and bent down to pick it up all the while giving Abby a wink and running over a man on a bike!!! The poor guy got catapulted from his bike onto the ground and looked to be in a lot of pain, bent double on the side of the road. Our driver just sat there..it was only when a police man appeared that he got out. He was back in the car in a minute or two saying it was ok and we could go because he'd paid to make it go away! That was the first accident we saw that day.

So, the driver turned out to the a 29 year old Delhi resident who was married with 3 kids after an arranged marriage where he had only met his wife for 10 minutes before he married her! His name is Sunny and along with his brother Vijay they run a company providing tours of Delhi, Agra and some other venues in India. He was a lovely guy, we just got off to a wrong start because of the cultural differences in how you sort out money!

He took us to see a whole lot more stuff that I can't really remember (the heat is sapping away all my brain cells). Some that I can think of was a mosque that we were refused entry into because it was prayer time, the grounds where Muhatma Ghandi's ashes were scattered, the Lotus Temple, a wholesale market where we got rucksack patches and a market selling everything from keyrings to furniture, jewellery and clothes. We spent a bit more money there than anticipated with 3 of the 6 of us purchasing stuff...I got a lovely ring with my birthstone to go with my new long nails. In addition to all the sites Sunny brought us to a restaurant that though was pricey had lovely food. The only complaint was for some glass that was found on a pizza. My dinner was tasty but not as spicy as I'd hoped for..I really wanted to test my tolerance..but it's obviously something for another day.

As a result of the mess with the hotels we were treated to a free dinner at Hotel Sunshine which was really very good. They served up butter chicken with sides of veg and bread..Mmmmmm.

Delhi was nice, but dirty and I found it hard to cope with all the begging and constant requests for money from little children in rags :(

For photos from Delhi click here.