I checked out of the hotel, not before I experienced Indian honesty, I had been looking up some flights in the lobby of the hotel earlier. I had left my wallet there, no idea I had lost it but later, 10 minutes in the room the bell rang and my wallet was presented.
I checked out, got the difference back between what I had paid and what I should have paid and walked up the road to the hotel. I checked in, tried to log onto the WiFi and no signal. When I enquired, I was told they did not have WiFi!!!! for Fucks sake, "could I wait in my room for an hour and the owner would explain". I did point out that one of the main reasons for booking in the hotel was that they had WiFi, If they didn't have it that was an issue. I really couldn't be bothered to wait in my room, I would deal with it later. I love the Indians, it's broken, means it probably doesn't exist. I did however need to find an Internet cafe and book those flights.
While I wandered down the road just getting my bearings I was stopped a couple of times by tuktuk drivers offering to take me to Connaught place for 20 rupees. I don't know why, but my first day in any new city I must walk around with a sticker on my forehead saying, I'm new here, come fuck me for some money. I got in one and guess what, it was the same sort of scam that goes on in Thailand, they take you to a shop and they get petrol vouchers. When I got this (it didn't take long) I went along with it. After the first shop I got out as soon as possible and lo and behold the bloody tuktuk driver stopped me again. I told him I didn't want to be taken anywhere when all he would do was take me to sone place he got commission. I would make my own way, and thank you! I was actually not that far from a metro station so I grabbed myself a ticket to the New Delhi station. It won't happen again!
I needed to get myself familiar with the city, the rough guide is just too big and each time I pick it up I never get to fine what I want. I'd decided this time I'd just take a tour of the city landmarks rather than try and do it myself. While the metro seems very efficient and cheap, it is also very crowded. And the pushing, as soon as the train pulls into the station it's like a scrummage at rugby.
I caught the metro back to Karol Bagh and wander down the the main road. It was quite interesting, loads and loads of shops. I needed some new clothes and here they were cheap. The only shirt I had was decidedly grubby, I'd been wearing it for two days now. And.... They had a McDonalds, I had not had 'fast food' in months so ventured in. Chicken wrap, fries and a coke..
After an afternoon out I got back to the hotel at around 4 o'clock. It was actually only 5 minutes walk from the Market. I enquired about the trips and was surprised that the cost of the trip around the sights by bus was a mere 300 rupees. They also did a trip to Agra for just 700 rupees. That was a good deal... I would do that Monday and Tuesday and then hopefully book the flight to Varanasi for Wednesday. Try as I might I could not find an Internet cafe. Why is it, they are everywhere when you don't need one.
I was knackered, had a brief snooze and watched TV. At least that worked.
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Location:Karol Bagh, New Delhi, India
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