Indian travel. Delhi.
Planning the trip was hard. A lot of literature, forums, sites, people who prompted and coordinated. I wanted to be ready for anything. Already on the eve of departure, all sorts of nonsense began to dream - an excess of information in the brain.
So, the Kyiv-Delhi plane. The transcontinental Boeing caused a shock. Aircraft at the disposal of Aerosvit, inherited from the kingdom of Brunei =) In the economy class, either the TVs did not work, or there was no sound. Sometimes it was stuffy, sometimes cold. Well, the flight attendants were lost in the testimony, and did not know what they had on board and where: ) Nice))))
A young girl sat down next to us, we got to know each other. Irina was traveling to Delhi on business and kindly offered to drive us to the hotel. Since the arrival time was 2 nights, and the hotel was booked in a dream, we decided to agree. Many thanks to Ira, whose driver did not leave us and did not leave until he was convinced that we were in the right place.
Moving away from the opus, booking hotels in India is not a thankful task.
Firstly, the price indicated on the sites is too high, and secondly, the picture of the hotel in 95% of cases is not true. Most backpacker hotels are located in the Paharganj (Main Bazar) area. When the car brought us there, there was a shock. Dirty, stinky, empty. We hoped that flowers would bloom in the morning and smell of ficuses)))
After the driver left us at the hotel, we tried to negotiate the price of the room, because we got to the hotel at 4 in the morning, and we only needed to sleep there until dawn, we wanted to get the minimum price. At the reception, they did not want to make a concession to any. We left the hotel, and stepping over sleeping dogs entered another hotel. We woke up the reception and began to pester with the same questions. This situation was repeated 4 times, and only the fourth time we managed to bring down the price and move in. All this took about 10-15 minutes, because the concentration of hotels per square meter is incredible! The hotel was not particularly stellar, but clean.
The window didn’t close, and we didn’t want to wake up without things, so it was decided to tie one end of the rope to the window handle, and the other to the alarm cornice. If someone climbs, then the cornice will be cut off)))
Darkness came in the morning. Literally. Waking up from the noise on the landing, we were surprised that the room was pitch dark. They looked at the clock - 10 o'clock. We decided to look out the window and make sure that we are still on Earth. And then we were attacked by hysterical laughter. The window faced a spit-covered window opposite (a distance of about 1 meter), and so on from all sides. An ordinary ventilation shaft, and somewhere above the sun's rays could be seen. Relieved.
Having paid for this hotel, we packed our backpacks and went out in search of a more decent overnight stay. Found it quickly. A decent hotel, renovated, fresh bed, on the main street, and the price was also brought down immediately.
We set aside the first day for the purchase of necessary household items.
The entire Main Bazaar area is a bazaar, respectively. Everything for backpacking. You can buy EVERYTHING. The only question is the quality of the product. Although this does not apply to cosmetics and medicines, which are in good quality and at an affordable price. We bought some local clothes, mosquito repellent, had a bite to eat in a pseudo Indian cafe and decided to start sightseeing.
The most convenient means of transportation in Delhi is the subway. The nearest station to MB is New Delhi. To get to it, you need to go through the New Delhi Railway Station on the bridge to the other side. In Delhi, there are checkpoints at all entrances to train stations, airports, subways, shopping centers, etc. Everyone is required to be screened. Often there is a separate screening for women. There is always pandemonium near the checkpoint to the train station. It was easy to recognize us as freshly arrived meat. The facial expression spoke for itself - as soon as we went outside in the morning we got a shock.
Shock from the noise of horns, an incredible number of rickshaws / cycle rickshaws, taxi drivers and Indians, dirt-faeces-animal corpses, flocks of dirty dogs and eagles like vultures overhead, everyone grabbed you and tried to take you somewhere, everyone tried to help and tell where it is better to eat -drive-buy panties. And so on and so forth. In general, we did not have to go far in search of a cheater. He himself found us near the inspection. A decent man of 40-50 years old, in trousers and a shirt, politely asked us to show a train ticket in order to go to the station. We also politely answered - We are on the subway. “Why do you need the subway? "...and then I made a mistake - I started to answer him. She said that she needed to go to the sights, to which she heard the answer that she needed to take entrance tickets, and tickets can be bought ONLY at the STATE travel company. When the man took out a card and began to show, we already understood that we were “meat”.
But, remembering that we did not take train tickets, and this office was located in the city center (and this man finds a cheap rickshaw for us), we decided to agree and see where it leads, otherwise I'm not me if I don't go on adventures. Sitting in a rickshaw, we were immediately “attached” to an escort who brought us almost by the hand to the agency they needed. In the agency itself, smiling sweetly, they told us that there were no train tickets and immediately began to offer a car with a guide. Issue price 250ue. Then they tried to get a tourist bus to Agra for only 25 ye, at the end the agent realized that I was just mocking him with a stream of stupid questions, he took out a folder with A4 sheets and began to show - REVIEWS! “Madame, just read this, this is from England, they write how they liked it with us. And this is from Poland… You simply have to order everything now, we close in 20 minutes, and then we don’t work for 4 days!
You will be stuck in Delhi. ” At this point, I no longer tried to hide my laughter. The agent got steam from his ears, and we, promising to return in 5 minutes, went to an Internet cafe where we bought tickets for 10 for two =)
Such attempts to "check the ticket-send to the agency" in the future we met, almost every hour. Everyone said that he sends it purely to the state office (which, in fact, are all private). The main thing is not to answer and not pay attention to what they are trying to tell you. Then they fall behind.
So, having bought tickets, we immediately walked around the center, went into the underground market (Palika Bazar), and then went by metro to Qutub Minar. From the subway of the same name, you need to drive a rickshaw for 2-3 minutes, or walk. The Qutub Minar complex includes the world's tallest brick minaret, the ruins of the first Indian mosque, a non-rusting iron column with Sanskrit inscriptions, a mausoleum, tombs and much more. Entrance 250 rupees.
A lot of chipmunks run around the complex and parrots fly, Indian couples take pictures and huge families arrange picnics. The complex is very beautiful. The huge painted minaret struck.
After Kutub, it was decided to go to one of the shopping centers (SityWalk) in order to get to the Hard Rock Café and buy some souvenirs. Immediately at the exit from the complex, the first rickshaw who came across tried to take us where they wanted, but with a stop at the market to a friend-brother-matchmaker, because it is cheaper there than in this shopping center. With the help of a young English offspring (judging by his appearance he has been in India for a long time), we managed to catch a sane rickshaw for 60 rupees and get to the shopping center.
And then the next adventures began ...At the checkpoint, we noticed two Swiss knives. Asked to leave them "on parole" we were allowed to enter the shopping center. We wandered in search of a cafe, but it turned out that it was on the other side of the shopping center, where you also need to go through a separate checkpoint.
Returning and taking the knives, we were shown the path right through the shopping center, and we, WITH KNIVES, went through the entire shopping center, passed TWO checkpoints, and when we were stopped at the EXIT from the next compartment of the shopping center for a check, we were surprised. They didn’t have a scan for things, so they asked to open the backpack ...And then it began. A young policeman saw a knife stuck in a backpack among the papers. At first he changed his face, “That's lucky! My first terrorists, ”he probably thought, and then asked for a license, then tried to ask for something else (and he spoke very little English) and, not knowing what to do with us, decided to take us to the main boss. I very politely, at the beginning, asked him to “hold” the knives while we just buy a badge in the Cafe, but this heavenly creature was so stupid that he could not comprehend my words.
Already when we went down to the lower levels of the shopping center, and after waiting 20 minutes for the main security chief, he told us “you can leave it all here and then pick it up” my patience snapped. To my question “why, at my request to do the same, did your people keep me here? ”, he just stupidly spread his hands and said something like “Well, what to take from them. ” Then I decided to sit on their neck and asked for an escort to the cafe. At that very moment, everyone began to understand English and point fingers at each other. Only a lone policeman girl could not get out and, having twisted her face, she escorted us to HardRock. Having bought the little thing we needed, we went down for our knife and saw a picture - a kindergarten in the form of a guard playing with our knife. It is strange that when they saw us, they did not drop it from their hands and, according to the theory of meanness, it did not stick into someone's toe)))). I wouldn't be surprised. Taking the knife, we again went to the shopping center ourselves.
Where is the logic of such “selection of dangerous weapons”, if we are again allowed to walk around the shopping center with him, I still don’t understand.
In the evening, having bought fruit, we dined at the guest house and, with sad thoughts and a desire to return home, went to bed. The next day the train left at 14:00, check-out from the hotel was at 12:00. It was decided to go to the nearest sights from morning to earlier. Taking the subway, we drove one station to Chawri Bazar and taking a cycle rickshaw drove to the Jama Masjid mosque (with another joke). We made another running mistake. The rickshaw did not speak English, and therefore, when discussing the price, everyone thought of his own, although he showed four fingers and when we handed him 4 rupees, he said that he needed 40. He attracted the policemen. I declared that they were "idiots" gave him 20 and we left.
Mosque, nice, but shitty. The area in which the mosque is located is so dumb that it’s scary to walk there even during the day. The smell of feces and public toilets is everywhere.
There are local dentists with dentures right next to the fence, you can fix the bike right there, eat right there. Entrance to the mosque is free, but for photography 250 rupees from each camera. They barely explained to the old Muslim that the presence of two cameras does not mean that we will shoot from two. They forced me to take off my shoes (we regretted that we didn’t take socks or bags) and put on an old used dressing gown and a skirt to cover the male hairy legs))). Naturally, for the portrait, no one prevented me from pulling it off me, but then we wiped our legs for a long time with antiseptic wipes while sitting on the steps of the mosque (the entire floor is in the remains of the vital activity of eagles, sparrows and parts of the Indians).
We left the mosque and turning left (using the map) through the bayonet and the stench, stomped to the Red Fort. They entered from the back gate. The fort is huge, beautiful, there is a lot of greenery around. Above him are flocks of hawks. But there was no time to enter it, and no desire either.
We walked and decided to catch a rickshaw to the subway. Here we began to use the services of the police. Since they are involved in all the machinations with earnings, so why shouldn't we use them? ! Initially, we ask them the price from point A to point B, and then we ask them to catch a rickshaw for us. The spectacle is incredible! ! ! A policeman, whether it be a girl or a boy, slows down all the traffic on the road, pulls out several rickshaws and negotiates OUR price. Poor rickshaws can't really refuse them, so they conspire quickly.
Upon reaching the hotel, we took our clothes and went to the station ...on our way to Agra ...
... Before flying home, we decided to stay in Delhi for a couple more days. Arriving at the Domestic Terminal of the Airport, we boarded buses running between the city and airports. We drove straight to the New Delhi Railway Station and crossed the station got to the MB. The city saw an increase in the number of military and police officers.
The zoo itself is quite deserted. The animal enclosures are overgrown, the animals themselves are skinny. Many enclosures are empty, or it is not possible to visualize animals in them. The zoo itself is dug up, the paths among the thickets of grass are not visible. Although the zoo itself has many interesting animals. On the territory of the Zoo, we had an embarrassment, we could not understand who was on the show, animals or us. They looked at us the same way they looked at the monkeys. Although we tried to get used to the fact that the white man is looked upon as a curiosity, we did not succeed. They were especially worried about the poor children, who twisted their necks so much that it seemed now they would end. It seemed that the teacher was now saying to the children: “Look to the right, you see monkeys of the species Homo ukrainus. ”
Leaving the zoo, we jumped on the bus and drove to the nearest metro station and headed to Akshardham Temple. We knew about the principle of visiting this complex, but we hoped that everything would go better.
The fact is that they are allowed into the territory almost "naked" - neither a camera, nor mobile phones, nor food - nothing can be brought in. Things are left in the storage room, which is "not responsible. " You fill out the questionnaire-list of items to be handed over. It contains the phrase "50 rupees ($ 1) is reimbursed for each lost item. " At least I translated it this way, and the whole memo was interpreted by us as follows: “Dear guests, put your things on the list so that we know which of the complex workers will become the happy owner of an expensive camera for only $ 1. ” The storage room itself did not inspire confidence in us, we hesitated at the entrance and decided that it was “beautiful”, but the photographic equipment is more expensive!
In the evening, not far from the hotel, we went to see my grandfather, who paints with henna. All the drawings are in his head. We talked for a long time while we were being painted. We met a funny Japanese woman who, on the eve, had a drawing on her entire arm up to her shoulder.
So we almost finished our tour of Delhi. The next day we went shopping. Main Bazaar is a large market area with a huge concentration of junk for souvenirs. We paddled a little bit. Bought souvenirs for family and friends. Riding the subway between the markets, we visited the temple-statue of Hanuman, made in the form of a huge monkey god. The entrance to it was closed, but it was possible to walk around.
After checking out from the hotel, we threw our backpacks into the storage room of the railway station. Although the “helpers” scared us that no one would take things from us without a train ticket, we naturally managed to check in our luggage. They just entered the passport number instead of the ticket number (which no one checked later).
Our infusion into the Indian environment was on the face.
We boldly drank lassi (a dairy product) on the street from common glasses, bypassed the huge queues of Indians for checks to get to the station, and walked out of line without even throwing things in for checks. They were noticeably more indifferent to everything that was happening around us, looking at situations philosophically. There was peace inside! ! ! It was just fine, but I still wanted to go home.
The flight was at 5 am, the question was whether it was worth spending the night somewhere and how to get to the international airport at night. In Delhi, despite the general chaos, transport is very well developed. There is a metro express directly to the airport. Fast, clean, quiet, cool and not expensive. The last express leaves from New delhi station at 23-20 (if I'm not mistaken). So having thought that we were tired, and STRONGLY want to go home, we decided to go to the airport in the evening and take a nap there. We were at the airport around 20:00. We were not alone, and there are separate chairs for those who want to sleep.
So perekantovavsya, we finally flew away.
