Yesterday night I managed to get my hair cut at a local barber for 50 rupees (70p). He did a brilliant job although I was a little worried by his blunt scissors. He made Kath a sweet massala tea while she waited. It was a good experience. In the morning we woke late after an exhausting day before, and I went to find a new hotel at a better rate. After a couple of inspections a satisfactory place was found called the Astoria, and at 750 a night it was a lot cheaper than the previous place. When I go back to the hotel Kath is panicking her passport is gone. But its ok its in the bottom of her bag! Phew.
We move to the other hotel and a man says he’s from the hotel and will help with bags, he then waits outside while we get ready. Today we want to see the markets and old town and he will take us on his tuk-tuk when were ready to go. We set off but soon realise once again were being taken to the “tourist information” they won’t take no for an answer so eventually we go along with them and we go inside and ask about a bus to Agra. 1500 he says –we don’t know if this is any good so we leave but not after being hard sold 100 things we don’t want. We say to the drivers now we want to go to the market but they take us to another office! I get angry and tell them I have wasted enough time but somehow they persuade me to go inside. Like a mug I listen to the sales man, they are so good at selling it’s unreal, I would definitely have given them a chance at my old job in debt recovery. We wasted another 45 minutes in the shop – this time being told we can get a train ticket from him when all the rest said I couldn’t get one. However we must come back later. He then goes back to trying to sell us a car and driver for 7 days – despite my explaining we are backpacking on a tight budget. I finally get pissed off and walk out raging that we wasted half the day speaking with these fools! Later we go to the train station to find we can book tickets without problem but we must have our passports, so we schedule a visit to the station the next day first thing. Advice for any other travels, booking trains is stress free you don’t need to book months in advance or worry at all. Go to the station and you will be able to book directly with no fees and no hassle.
We visit Janpath market on foot after our bad experience with the tuk-tuk, visiting Macdonald’s on the way where you can get an aloo-tikka burger for 25 rupees. This is a pretty tasty snack for 35p! The market is amazing, the colours are fantastic and crowds of people hustle and bustle their way through the streets trying to negotiate the best deals. We stay clear of the market because it is a bit stressful, with sellers hastling you if you look into their stall with too much interest – “we have good price, best quality – you like?”. I’m still a bit stressed from before so try and keep a wide berth. We goto some shops close buy and get a good deal on a couple of items. These shops are fixed priced too so less haggling and less chance of getting ripped off.
We grab a couple of beers from the shop and head to a park area to drink them – there are very few bars in India and people mostly don’t drink or just drink in the home. As we drink our beers people come over and ask for our picture many times. We get this a lot here – especially Kath – all the children say hello and shake her hand and want a picture, I think she likes the attention. We also get hassled for ear cleaning and shoe shinning but we manage to get away without paying any money.
After the train station we head into the area opposite where there are many food stalls where the people do the cooking at the side of the street. One place is particularly busy so we decide to stop and try it. We get 4 types of curry and unlimited chappati for 60 rupees each (90p): we sit on a bench next to other customers who are all scoffing away, here you don’t use a knife and fork but mop up the sauce with bread and then eat the rest with your fingers, we get a spoon however. It is really tasty and we survive the next day without Delhi belly. A good risk taken. The owner is very friendly and when I offer extra money as a tip he refuses, so I give 20 to the cook, it is good to meet some nice friendly people for a change.
After we head down the area where all the hotels are called Karol Bagh, near the station. The streets are lit up with neon signs like Blackpool and it feels more like Amsterdam than Delhi, many winding side streets lead to seedy looking places and every alleyway has more and more shops. We find a bar and finally get some beers. The bar has no windows and from outside looks slightly dodgy I think this is because drinking is somewhat taboo. In side there are blue neon lights and glass tables, it seems like something from back in Manchester, there are no seats so we sat at the bar. Kath is the only girl in the whole places and she gets a lot of attention from a fat Sikh bloke. We also get chatting to a bloke called Gerry from England who is an ex army guy who is now on a spiritual journey. It’s a cool evening and we head back to the hotel and get a bit more drunk, all in all a decent day despite the hassle.
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