Saturday 24th November
Booking onward train tickets online can have its frustrations, despite it being much easier than the experience I had at the booking office in Amritsar earlier in the week. Despite the huge amount of trains going between many destinations (with each train transporting hundreds if not thousands of passengers in various classes of coach), many places are entirely booked up days ahead of the departure date. The only one available to Agra outside of the 'cattle class' was to leave at 6am the next day. I was keen to leave Delhi as soon as possible, having grown weary of the place and the hassle that I was getting, so decided to go for this train.
I took a trip to Old Delhi to see what it had to offer but it didn't impress me much at all. The main attraction is the Red Fort, built by Shah Jahan, the same ruler who designed the Taj Mahal for his dead wife. It was OK, but not outstanding so I didn't hang about for too long. I headed back once again into the dirty, smelly streets. I was fed up at this stage so decided to take the Metro across town to visit the Rashtrapi Bhavan (presidents residence) up close. The red sandstone buildings are huge, and the area is quiet with only a handful of tourists taking photos. I walked up to India Gate which was packed with people, so made a quick exit, leaving for Connaught Place for dinner.
My hair was badly in need of a cut and I had wanted to get it cropped. The fact that there was a barber just outside the hotel was handy and they could do it for 30Rs. The guy then talked me into getting what is described as a 'facial' (phnarr, phnarr), and he even took what looked like a mini-sander to massage my face! For all I knew, they were making it up as they went along, but it felt good. I thought I might as well have the whole lot, so got a shave and a face peel (haha, how queer!) for a total of 190Rs. It took the guy an hour and half to do all of this, finishing with a neck massage. In case any accusations of metrosexuality - or even homosexuality for that - come my way, I would like to emphasise that all of this took place in a wee street in the middle of Delhi, not the New York Back, Sack and Crack Co-Op.
