Delhi, 13th of February 2008,
After a long journey
we finally arrived at the airport of Delhi this morning at 11:45 local time. We didn’t have any major delays
besides the flight to Heathrow from Amsterdam that left two hours behind schedule. The total
traveling time from my parents’ house to the hotel in Delhi was approximately 27 hours so we were rather
worn-out this morning. Fortunately there was a guy from the hotel who picked us
up so we didn’t have to go through the hassle of finding a prepaid taxi (there
are serious problems with taxi drivers. Once we got to the room we found a
liquid surprise that many travelers encounter when going to India, I guess this doesn’t need any further
explaining, does it? hahahaha.
However we decided to go to the city center to find a photo camera and a
guitar (I didn’t bring my own cause I was afraid it wouldn’t get to Delhi in
one piece). I think we must have walked no more than 50 meter when the first
guy came up to us telling a story that he’s a student who wanted to help us
organize our trip by bringing us to an “official” government-owned travel
agency. Now, all of the guides tell you to watch out for these play-actors as
it always involves some kind of scam. So, polite as we are, we told him we had
already found someone who could help us out with that. Not even a minute had
passed when a second guy asked us something and also came up with some kind a tale
and also asking me how much I paid for my shoes. To cut a long story short, we’ve
had at least 6 people trying to sell us maps, trips and other stuff. We have
already developed a strategy and I still need to work a little bit on being not
so friendly ;-)
We did managed to get a camera so now we can make some really nice pictures
because the one we used up until now was not really that great. Tomorrow we’re
going to look for a guitar and stop by the embassy. Up until now we are not
really charmed by Delhi: it’s a huge, chaotic city but maybe that’s just our
first impression of India.
An interesting experience was the ride in the Riksha, these drivers at
least 10 times worst then the worst drivers in Rome. They’re honking all of the
time and most people don’t even seem to hear it, amaiiizing ;-)
Probably we won't stay for long in Delhi: we might already head for Rajasthan next Friday. I hope to be able to update the journal.
