Loading platform in New Delhi Station

We arrived in New Delhi at 0800 in the morning and had till 2pm to do what we wanted. We exited the train station and started walking straight on an almost empty road. From the look of the trash on the street you would have thought there was a parade here the night before but this is India and trash everywhere is as normal as it gets.

We had some troubles finding the hotel and ended up on some back alleys. If you’re in Delhi walk the alleys sometime and you’ll know what I mean when it comes to seeing some crazy stuff. Shit is pretty much everywhere and not all of it is just animal poo either.

We finally found the hotel but there was some confusion about the rooms. Pretty much I just been going with the flow on the hotel rooms, as it seems like we have been able to keep the costs down fairly low but these rooms were 1,200Rs ($27.70) per-room and I guess only 3 people could stay in a room for some reason. If you know anything about India that isn’t cheap, esp for the area we were in where you can get a room for 300Rs ($6.70) pretty easily. Anyways, I thought we had to pay this and that we didn’t have an option, as the rooms were booked out a long time in advance. So I threw my bag into the room, met up with Drew down stairs and we took off. Once we got back, I ran up the stairs with only 10min left before we had to head out to the train station and took a 5min shower. Later I found out that I didn’t have to get the room and it was totally optional, which was kind of lame as no one told us this. Drew never even set foot into the room and still paid. It was a waste of money and neither of us would have taken the room if we knew this. Why some people aren’t telling other people any info, thus leaving us with no information that’s costing unnecessary money spent is beyond me. Anyways, the joys of group travel!

Drew and I both knew we wouldn’t have time to go see the Taj Mahal but we wanted to see something and make use of our time here. We asked a few people and someone said that a good place to visit was the Red Fort. Sounded cool and we both agreed that it might make for a few good photos. We took off and found a tuk-tuk driver but he wanted 250Rs to take us there, which was way over priced. We finally found one guy who would take us for 100Rs.

He dropped us off on the east end of the fort and we walked around it looking for the entrance. The outside of the complex was stunning, as the red bricks stood out. There is a ton of smog in New Delhi and it created a haze over everything that made taking pictures kind of hard. For real, New Delhi has to be the worst city I have ever been in (beating out LA and Bangkok) for smog. You just choked while walking around.

We finally found the entrance and paid 250Rs ($5.50) for a ticket. Indians get in for 60Rs and have to say after visiting the place, the price was a little high. The outside of the fort is more striking then the inside. There is a museum but not much to see. It’s a rather large complex but half of it is being rebuilt and other then the buildings and gardens in the middle of the fort, there isn’t much to look at beyond that.

We looked at the clock and realized we needed to head back and get something to eat for lunch. We tried to get a tuk-tuk driver but the first guy we asked just shook his head no to us, as if he didn’t want to take two dudes from America. Thought that was funny and kind of just looked at each other with “Well man, what do you think?” Then a young guy walked up and said he would take us where we want “No problem sir!” We showed him the hotel card but he didn’t care and just said, “Get in, no problem!”

He didn’t have a tuk-tuk but a rickshaw, which is a bicycle with two seats on the back like a horse carriage. We agreed on 50Rs and he started peddling off. Drew and I both laughed at how we looked sitting side by side in one of these. Maybe it was a good thing that we were laughing because we didn’t notice at first how many times we about got hit by cars and bikes zooming around us. The poor kid got us right in the middle of a 4-lane traffic road and in India that really means 7 lanes. A city bus finally stopped our laughing when it got behind our rickshaw and started blaring the horn. The kid didn’t pay much attention to it and just kept pedaling as fast as he could to move over to the far right lane. After 15min, one protest rally (we drove right in the middle of their march) and 3 close calls… we made it to the train station.

I was really looking forward to seeing Delhi but my first real day there wasn’t much. So far it has been the biggest let down for me on this train trip. I know when I return that I’ll be able to see it properly and didn’t have much time this go around but was still hoping for more. Maybe that was why it was such a let down, as when you expect something you set a bar too high sometimes.

The Red Fort wall. Notice the haze, it’s not early morning but smog

Inside the Red Fort, we asked a family if we could take a photo of them in front of these gorgeous steps

I love the crazy rickshaws you see in India. They will pack anything and everything on them!

… and bicycles to are loaded to the gill. It’s amazing what they can fit onto one

New Delhi train station from above. What you can’t see here is the chaos below. If you want a real experience in India, try moving through this station at noon time. It will make you mad!

This is a school bus believe it or not. Kids use these modified rickshaws to be transported to class from their homes

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