Well, I'm finally out here, on my trip I've been looking forward to and planning for so long, and I can honestly say that 80% of it so far has been absolutely awful! We arrived in Delhi tired (no sleep due to a delightful screaming baby for the duration of the 8-hour flight) but excited, and everything seemed good. We found our driver at the arrivals gate and we got to our hotel safe and sound, which was in the Karol Bagh district of Delhi. The staff were very friendly, and quickly convinced us to go talk to their friend in the Tourist Information Office (we quickly learned that there are a million such places, none licenced, trying to rip you off on every street corner!) We escaped with all our money, and a recommendation for a 'safe' restaurant to ease our stomachs into India, The food was lovely and we were feeling happy and ready to face Delhi the next day.
On Tuesday, we learnt how the metro system works - it's very fast and efficient and people are willing to help you find your platform which was great. The trains were busy but there were lovely and much less crowded women only areas, which we took advantage of. We went to Old Delhi, a chaotic, congested, mad environment with loads of tiny little shops which sell the same things are the surrounding five shops - so you get a row of 5 shops selling taps, then the next 5 sell wallpaper, etc. We tried some street food for lunch and then went to Jama Masjid, a hige mosque which was beautiful and very peaceful.
Later on, we went to Pahar Ganj, the backpacker district, to see if we could make some friends, and we met a really lovely guy called Richard, who we arranged to go on a tour with the next day. Unfortunately, that tour never happened, as soon after finishing eating dinner with Richard, Nikki started to feel ill so we headed home. And that was when the bad times began! Nikki and I have been very ill ever since - I won't go into details, but trust me, it's not been pleasant.
We managed to sum up the strength to get out of Delhi yesterday (we were both desperate to escape by then and blamed it completely for all our problems) and managed to get a train to Jaipur. So far, I can't tell you much about the place as I've felt too rubbish to do anything, but Nikki felt well enough to go on a tour with Richard (who we randomly bumped into at our new hotel) so hopefully she'll be able to report positive things back to me. Maybe one day soon I'll get to see something more interesting than the ceiling wall again... here's hoping!
On Tuesday, we learnt how the metro system works - it's very fast and efficient and people are willing to help you find your platform which was great. The trains were busy but there were lovely and much less crowded women only areas, which we took advantage of. We went to Old Delhi, a chaotic, congested, mad environment with loads of tiny little shops which sell the same things are the surrounding five shops - so you get a row of 5 shops selling taps, then the next 5 sell wallpaper, etc. We tried some street food for lunch and then went to Jama Masjid, a hige mosque which was beautiful and very peaceful.
Later on, we went to Pahar Ganj, the backpacker district, to see if we could make some friends, and we met a really lovely guy called Richard, who we arranged to go on a tour with the next day. Unfortunately, that tour never happened, as soon after finishing eating dinner with Richard, Nikki started to feel ill so we headed home. And that was when the bad times began! Nikki and I have been very ill ever since - I won't go into details, but trust me, it's not been pleasant.
We managed to sum up the strength to get out of Delhi yesterday (we were both desperate to escape by then and blamed it completely for all our problems) and managed to get a train to Jaipur. So far, I can't tell you much about the place as I've felt too rubbish to do anything, but Nikki felt well enough to go on a tour with Richard (who we randomly bumped into at our new hotel) so hopefully she'll be able to report positive things back to me. Maybe one day soon I'll get to see something more interesting than the ceiling wall again... here's hoping!
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