from the bottom of the sea to the top of the world

So after an odd experience the day before on the tour bus to Agra,
and spending over 14 hours round trip when we had only expected to
spend 6, we knew one thing.... we wanted out of Delhi.  The plan was
to head south to the town of Jaipur next, and we had tried to
purchase our train tickets the night before, but were told the ticket
agent office had closed early due to a party where everyone had
passed out drunk, but we could buy our tickets from them the
following morning at 9am - Great! except that our train left at 7am! 
After we pitched a small fit, they finally told us that our best bet
was to head to the train station and buy the tickets directly from
the ticket office....Okay. Now we were getting somewhere.  For some
reason, the ticket agents lead you to believe that you must reserve
your tickets several days ahead of time and must do so through a
travel agent.  No one had mentioned we could just get them at the
train station....I know this seems like an obvious thing, but trust
me, its not.  Things don't work the same in India.  So after a
sleep-in, since the travel agent had also told us that there was more
than one train per day, though before he had told us the 7am was the
ONLY train, we had a relaxing breakfast and mentally prepared
ourselves for what might happen on the way to the train station,
which was just a 15 minute walk up the road.   Now I must preface
this by saying that prior to us leaving the hotel, I read an excerpt
from my guide book that warned that there are people at the train
station who will try to divert you and tell you that the ticket
office has moved or has closed, and lead you to another travel agency
so that they can make commission on your purchase.  But the Lonely
Planet guide book states that we should assume that the ticketing
office has not moved, and it remains where it has been for years on
the upstairs level of the station.  We thought we were prepared for
this scam and that we wouldn't fall for it.  But we were not prepared
for what we encountered that day:
We left our hotel, feeling confident and assertive, and hired a
rigshaw to get us to the train station.  We bargained a price
(everything in Delhi must be bargained) and hopped in and gave
specific instructions, "take us to the train station."  He headed in
that direction, but didn't stop the rigshaw for us to get out,
telling us that we had to buy tickets at an office down the road
because the ticket office was not in the station.... This was our 1st
scam attempt but we were not going to fall for it.  We demanded he
turn around and take us to the station.  He refused, continuing on
driving, until we made a bit more noise and he finally gave in and
turned the rigshaw around, dropping us off across the street from it.
  Feeling proud of ourselves for not falling for it, we walked toward
the station, stopping at a guard gate at the front of the parking lot
we had to walk across. I confirmed with him that there was a ticket
office inside, and he pointed for us to continue to the station.  We
approached the station and the staircase to get up to the office, and
were refused entrance by a guard.  This is when things went downhill.
  He asked us for our ticket, and said we weren't allowed inside
without a ticket. We explained that we were buying our ticket
upstairs at the office.  He told us that there was no office upstairs
and that we had to go to a different office to buy the ticket.  We
were not going to fall for it.  We persisted and demanded to be let
inside, but he continued to refuse our admittance.  He said to us
that he had no reason to lie to us, and that he understands there are
people in Delhi that we can't trust, but he is an official and he
even pulled out his badge to prove it.  We examined his badge and ID,
and he explained he works for the train station and that yes, the
office was in deed inside, but they were refurbishing it and it has
been moved up the road.   He asked if I had my guidebook on me, and
so I pulled it out, and he flipped it open to the map and pointed to
a location that the guidebook even had highlighted as a
ticket/tourist office.  He showed this to us and said that even our
guidebook says that this is the place, and that if we continue to
disbelieve him, he would even take us upstairs to prove that it isn't
there.  My aunt and myself began to question ourselves and our
assertiveness and confidence started to wain.  We exchanged some
glances and asked if we believed this man or not....after all, he
pulled out an official badge, he had no reason to lie, he worked at
the station, he would know...wouldn't he???  It might be possible
that it closed for refurbishing, wouldn't it?? and he said he would
take us upstairs to prove it, so perhaps its true??  The man
continued as he saw the doubt and confusion in our faces.  He pulled
us aside and told us that he has no reason to lie, and that he wants
to help us out so that we don't run into any more hassles or scams. 
He was so convincing that by the end of his shpeel, he had us saying
thankyou to him for helping us out!!!!  He guided us to a rigshaw and
told the rigshaw driver where to take us.  The driver quoted a price
of 20Rp.  The guy bargained him down to 10Rp for us, again showing
that he was on our side and we could trust him.  Both my aunt and
myself were still hesitant to go along, but were ushered into the rigshaw before we had a moment to think about it and object, and next thing we knew, we were being taken away from the train station to the 'ticket office'.  The rigshaw dropped us off in front of the office and we wearily went inside.  We were greated at the door and told that yes indeed, this was the official government tourist information office and that they could help us buy train tickets.  We sat down with the man inside as he explained to us the process of buying train tickets, also telling us that tickets were not available for the train we wanted, and we'd have to take a later train that evening that would get us in the next morning.  Then he threw out a sales pitch of us hiring a driver and car to see India, because since my aunt needed to be back at the airport to fly home in 10 days, we didn't have enough time to travel by train or bus, as we'd spend all of our time in transport and would hardly get to see anything.  This sounded logical, and it wasn't the first time I had heard this argument.  As a matter of fact, I met a chilean couple in Turkey who recommended just that, because they also had limited time in India, so they hired a car and driver for 10 days to see the sights, and said it worked out great.  They even recommended a company for me to go with, whose business card they gave me.  They paid 200USD per person.  The guy from the office we were at suggested the same thing but was asking close to 400USD for person, and we laughed it off, saying there was no way we would pay that much when this other company would only charge 200USD.  He started negotiating the price with us and we got him down to 300USD per person.  Thats when my aunt and I started getting suspicious, realizing that the true government tourist office wouldn't be haggling with us.  I asked to see his license and proof that he is in deed who he says he is. He showed me a certificate saying he is a certified tourist office, issued by the gov't of India.  He continued to maintain his story that he is THEE official tourist office.  We realized once again that we were being scammed, and had fallen for exactly what we read about in our guide book!  We asked him several times if he was the official tourist office, each time he said yes.  Finally, he admitted that he was a tourist AGENT sales office, and that the official office was 10 minutes up the road.  We were irate!  That was 3 times that day we had been scammed and lied to already in a span of 1 hour!  We walked out and were determined more than ever to seek safety refuge at the OFFICIAL Governmen tourist office.  We began walking in that direction, when another gentleman noticed we were lost.  He walked up to us and asked what we were looking for, and we told him. He said to us that we shouldn't trust ANYONE, but that he knew where it was and we should follow him, and he would get us there.  And so we followed him, and he guided us in the general direction we knew we needed to head in anyhow.  He pointed down an alley and said the office it there at the end.  Again, we followed his directive, and were lead to yet ANOTHER FAKE tourist office!!!  Already suspicious, we entered the office and were greated by a man.  I asked for proof that he was the OFFICIAL office, and he said yes, of course, and that we could book tickets for the train through him.  I asked to see his license and business card, and the address on the business card matched the address for the official tourist info. office that I had in my guide book.  This confused us, because it didn't feel right.  He even had business cards printed up with a fake address on them, so that tourists would see the address in the guide books matched his office address, and would purchase packages from him!!!  We continued to question him and ask for proof, and he maintained that we were in the right place.  My aunt still wasn't feeling comfortable with his answers, and asked again... finally, he admitted that he was NOT the official office, and that place we were looking for was 1 street over!  Now we were furious!  Again, we were lied to and scammed, and frustrated that it seemed that everyone was out for their own good, and that we had continually been lied to directly to our faces!!! Who could we possibly trust in this city???!!!  We left that office and headed up the street, where I saw 2 tourist police officers and approached them in desperation.  We asked for the official office, and they pointed to the building behind them....finally we had found it!  We went inside and knew instantly that we were in the government run tourist office.  We sat down with the ladies behind the desk and told them our story, which to them was all too familiar as they'd heard it many times before.  They shook their head in disgust at the false claims and hassles we had encountered that day.  They did, however, agree with the other travel agents that our best and safest bet was to hire a car, because the distances we were trying to travel and squeeze into 10 days was too great and we'd never get to see anything.  Based on their recommendation, they sent us to a trusted travel agent who is approved by the government, and told us that we should hire a rigshaw to get there.  They warned us, however, that even the rigshaw driver will probably try to divert us, so we should simply tell him that we are meeting friends there, rather than going to hire a car. We left that office feeling completely exhausted, beaten, and with bruised egos, knowing that even though we had been warned about the scams in Delhi, we couldn't avoid them and had fallen for them over and over again, hook, line, and sinker!  We couldn't get over the fact that these people had lied directly to our faces to try and take advantage of the situation!  But we had one more hurdle to get through... the rigshaw drive to the recommended travel agent.
We hired a rigshaw and told him to take us to the destination.  He began to drive off, when another rigshaw pulled up next to us and asked where we were going. We told him, and he actually told us that the office had BURNED DOWN!!!!!  He said that it no longer existed and we should go to this other place.... AGAIN!!!  An out and out lie! We told him we had friends that we were meeting so we knew it was not true.  The man looked confused, talked in Hindi to our rigshaw driver and questioned us again.  We maintained we were meeting friends there and that was where we wanted to go, and told our driver to get a move on, and so he did, and sure enough, he dropped us off right in front of the office and walah!  There it was, not burned to the ground as they wanted us to believe!  We walked into the hotel where the office was and sat down with the agent, already prepared to hire a car and driver from him, because we didn't want to continue to have the hassles we had already experienced in Delhi.  It seemed impossible to get anywhere! 
He offered us a nice vehicle and 10 days all inclusive (though we'd have to pay for our hotels and meals) for 300USD/pp. and we took it.  Within 15 minutes, our driver had arrived, we examined our very nice airconditioned car, signed the papers, handed over the money, and were off to our first destination, the city of Jaipur.  Finally, we felt safe from the onslaught of Delhi, and though we were upset at having to compromise our trip details, we grew to know that we had made the right decision in hiring the car, for safety and security reasons, in addition to having some peace of mind at the end of the day that we wouldn't have to haggle and deal with harrassments anymore.