Royal Rajasthan
Flying into Delhi peers who have travelled India before had told me about the smell – well I liked it, a hot gust of stifling air greeted us as we got off the plane – it smelt of warm mold like a mountain of over worn socks and the spices of a thousand curries...
Myself and travel partner, Guru Nancy of the Holy Blowing Wind found a black government Taxi jeep to take us to Paraganj the backpackers hostelling area and cheap shopping market of Delhi.
The taxi struggled down the busy street full of shoppers, rubble from continuing building work of the market streets under complete renovation of all their shop fronts strewn everywhere and Indians that hardly get out of the way from much beeping.
Delhi is a mass sprawling city and you have to force your way to get across the road confidently or stand by the side watching vehicles hustle past for eternity. I am glad that I hadn’t travelled on my own as the intensity of traffic and people can be a culture shock if you have no-one to hold your hand.
It is advisable to at least telephone ahead before you travel to secure your air conditioned room for a good price as the temperature out of season (in mid April) was over 40 degrees!
We lumbered our bags after being hassled (as usual) for the maximum price possible for our taxi and got attention as smart looking unsun kissed westerners. I was followed all the way up to our hostel door by an Indian man wishing to sell me a pair of fake Ray burns. Here patience and assertiveness is the key. It was a relief to be greeted by a welcoming smile from our hostel host who got us to check in and gave us the key to our padlocked room not much bigger than the double bed.
We were thankful for the air conditioning as the temperature didn’t seem to get much cooler at night but I was initially rather concerned about the electrics – poking out wires, wobbly switches and twitchy light bulbs don’t inspire the greatest confidence of assured health and safety. This is something we got used to as our trip progressed though I imagine, should the government wish to upgrade their country to be safer there would be billions of pounds for health and safety practitioners. On the street below thick strands of entangled cables wove their way down the street where would-be electricians riskily tap into the electricity grid for a bit of free power. I was told that in many more remote towns regular power cuts are to make sure electricity is mostly needed and the more cynical Indians tell stories of no electricity in villages where nearby expensive hotels and industrial plants seem to have electricity running all the time...
Money can buy you most things here but not happiness, although being unhappy with plenty of money can be better than being unhappy with no money especially in India. The country being so much based on spirituality most people seem to be more accepting of where they are, every day worshipping some deity and giving thanks helps the wellbeing it seems...
Amongst the higgledy piggledy ques with ticket waving grandmothers, pushing businessmen and suspicious looked be-staffed Police we booked our AC2 class train tickets for Jaipur. It is strongly advised to book your tickets several weeks in advance via Seat61.com to ensure you travel on AC1-3 with your own bunk, aircon and nearby toilet to avoid the crush and the rush should your Delhi belly be adjusting to the diet. Which brings me to another point – be careful where you eat, where other tourists go where the restaurant looks clean and there aren’t too many flies to disturb your dinner.
When Buying water realise that the usual price for tourists is 10-15 Rupees for a litre and 20 Rupees for two and biscuits together with most other foods have the date when it was manufactured on them and stipulate that they can be eaten up to nine months after manufacture.
I had the embarrassing situation where I bought several packets of biscuits on various journeys and looking at the date exclaimed: “Ah Nancy, look at this one its six months out of date, the last one I had was only three months out of date...!”
Always ask your hotel manager or well travelled westerners the price of things such as taxi rates, hotel costs and various other things before you haggle – the seller will usually ask well over the accepted price...
Our train was due to leave at 4.10am and we had a little trouble finding the right train platform and then the train started to leave while I was purchasing my infamous biscuits, luckily they don’t pick up speed quickly, or if at all so I had no problem grabbing the handle by the door and leaping aboard.
We found our bunks very cosy, I slept above and to the left of Guru Nancy of the Holy Blowing Wind, chain was readily available at various stops where we paid 10 Rupees instead of five even though we knew this was too expensive the young boy just kept smiling g at us and asking for the overpriced rate.
Below me was a young man who seemed to keep himself to himself so I had a few biscuits, a little water and snuggled down for a sleep...More soon...
