We arrived in Delhi after a 7.5 hour red eye from Beijing, which is 2.5 hours earlier than Beijing time. We’re now 9.5 hours ahead of EST. Took a prepaid taxi to our hotel in the Paharganj district, on Arakashan Rd. This area is known for lots of backpackers/hostels. Our hotel was in a back alley, and we had to search for quite a while before finally finding it. The fact that it was 3:30am didn’t help matters. Most of the Hotel lights were out on the street, and when we found the hotel, all of the staff were sleeping on cots in the lobby. Had to wake them up to be shown to our room. This reminded us a lot of traveling in Southeast Asia, where this was common.
After sleeping for a few hours, we were excited to check out the City. Jason purposefully booked our hotel near the Railway station so we would be close for our train to Agra (Taj Mahal). Nothing a pair of earplugs couldn’t fix.
Started our first full day by having coffee (Nescafe) on our quaint hotel roof garden. Other tourists were never out there, so we had it to ourselves, which was nice. The sights, smells and sounds are truly overwhelming – in a good way (so far).J It’s also warm, which is a nice change from Beijing, but not oppressively hot. It’s been 50s-70s so far.
Our plan was to see Delhi for a couple of days, then take an early morning train (already booked online) to Agra, where we would stay for 3 nights. Everyone said this is too much time in Agra, but we planned to chill by the pool and relax at our hotel for a few days after seeing the Taj Mahal. Well, it didn’t take too long before we fell into a couple of notorious Delhi scams. While trying to do a practice run through of the train station, “employees” misdirected us left and right, saying our train was cancelled because of weather. Then they haggle with a rickshaw driver to get you to their partner’s travel agency to book an overpriced tour. We quickly found out the weather delay/cancellation was bogus and ended up at least getting a somewhat reasonable deal with another travel agency. So, our new plan was to do the Golden Triangle, which basically adds Jaipur, known as the Pink City, to our itinerary…
Luckily, we were able to work out a full day Delhi tour with a private driver for $8 total. So, on our 2nd day in Delhi, our driver, Ompal took us to the Kutb Minar, Lodi Gardens, India Gate, Lotus Temple, Parliament, Presidential Palace, Ghandi Museum and the Red Fort. All very beautiful, but we are suffering from a little bit of temple/monument fatigue. REALLY happy we got a driver though, because traffic here is no joke. Even crossing the street can be challenging. There is a hectic mess of rickshaws, bikes, motorcycles and people swarming all around you, but somehow it all works…
We are still easing our way into dining safely, but had a delicious chicken Biryani dish for dinner the first night and pizza at Amici’s last night. SO good! Can’t wait to try more of the regional curries and naans. No “Dehli Belly” yet, and hope our luck lasts!