We never had the intention of staying long in Delhi - it is just too noisy and hectic for the tone we wanted to set. But since we were there it was worth having a quick look around and get a feel for the place.
We were staying in an area called Karol Barg - which is in new delhi and up market in comparison with the rest of Delhi - although it didn't seem so when we first looked around as we had no comparison/reference point.
After a mediocre breakfast that was included in the room rate we took a walk towards Connaught place with the intention of sorting out a train ticket "out of here" for tomorrow. We walked some way (the wrong way) then found a metro station and headed to the Railway station. I was not expecting any problems having passed through there on the way to Amritsar I felt I knew the drill.
The Metro is new in Delhi - only a couple of years old. It is clean, fast, efficient, comfortable , inexpensive and a very very impressive especially when you come in as a haven from the chaos outside. There was a metal detector and bag search at the main station that held things up a little - but it was reasonable and one expects such things in these days of terrorism and bombings.
It turned into a much bigger hassle than it should have as we were confused by a scam straight of the Lonley Planet that had us heading off to a travel agent thinking the ticket office was being renovated (turned out we were on the wrong side of the station and the renovations where the they told us the office used to be had been going on forever.) They didn't get us in the end, just delayed us with a wild goose chase.
We took a bicycle rickshaw, heade for the famous red fort where there was a bit of a mix up with the driver who didn't speak english. We ended up at a red mosque instead and paying fifteen rupees instead of 5. No big deal but just annoying.
We walked back to the metro through bustling old delhi and went back to our hotel. We found a nice restaurant with an "unlimited" thali menu that gave us a nice taste of many different dishes.
