New Delhi

It is no wonder that they named having the runs after New Delhi. The smell as you enter the city would turn your stomach. You do get used to this though and yes it does have some 'nice' parts. We arrived post commonwealth games and you can only imagine the state of the place on the run up to them.

Better than Wash Me!!

We arrived into Dehli arround 11am and took the Metro from the Old Dehli station to the New Dehli train st (lots of security and unusual token system). Crossed to the other side of the Station and a guy told us that after the blast in Varanassi the police had arrested 2 Pakistani terrorists  in the main bazaar and it was not safe, we kind of believed it cos someone working in the security of the station directed us to take a tuk tuk to Connaught place to book somewhere else from the state information center. It was a total scam because from there they only make booking for mid-range upwards... Took a tuk tuk back to main bazaar and found a place  more or less decent, the Hare Chrisna Hotel, for 500rp (after walking around and looking at places for an hour – this involved shouting and telling people where to stick things!) it did the trick.

We went back to Connaght Place, visited the gardens and went from there to the India Gate. We met a few locals that gave us tips, of course we were on edge thinking where is the scam.  One young guy who asked us where we were going and we explained, to us we were crazy that it would take an hour. We sad we didn't mind (thinking he was trying to sell us a tuk tuk ride – but true to his word it was an hour). However, we were glad that we made the walk as there was a big celebration taking place and the entire compound was lit up. From there walked to the Central Secretariat metro station (beside the parliament & presidents residence)  and went back to Main Bazar where we had a beer and snack, back to the hotel to rest but we fell sleep in the end until the next day.

First thing on Sunday morning we got up and went for breakfast, on the way they were cleaning out the underground drains and making piles around the manholes. We thought that someone else would come along and remove the waste, but no it was sort of there when we arrived back that evening (the piles were smaller from the traffic of the day). We went to visit the Lotus Temple (I discovered that the temple belongs to the Bahai faith and they tried to convert us – love using the gay card to get these people to back down), visited a Hindu temple nearby and headed to the temple across the Yamuna river, but it the queues were too long (it was sunday!) so we opted to go and see the light&sound show at the Red Fort. We didn't like it, it was only a recorded voice telling you about the history of the fort and Dehli and they were illuminating the buildings as they the narrator was talking (about 20 people left before the show had finished). The good thing was that we only had to pay 80rp to get into the Fort and realize that it wasn't really worthy to go at day time and paying another 250rp.

As the next day was Monday and many monuments were closed, we took a metro the the Central Secretariat and saw The Parliament and the government buildings, sorrounded the President's Residence, looking for the entrance to the park behind it but it turned to be a little fiasco since it was all walled and we only could visit a garden at the end of the oposite side. After visiting these gardens (not really worthy) took the metro and went to Qutar Minar, it is a long way walking from the metro st. More than 1km, saw the tower only from the outside as they were charging 250 rp to visit the complex, but apart from the tower the rest are ruins. Head back into town and had some dinner in the Main Bazar area.

Now the metro in New Delhi is something to behold. It is very new & shiny with escalators. Now this may not be a huge deal to us who have grown up not having to walk up stairs, but in India it is HUGE. This is the only part of India that has escalators and they love it, they haven't a clue about escalator etiquette and they are a little afraid of what it will do if they get trapped on it, but they love it none the less. On one trip up a old man wrapped his arms around Mariano's leg in fear that he would fall off.

To anyone who has ever been on a metro/tube/underground during rush hour imagine it 100 times worse and with everyone crowded around the doors (in fear that they will not get out) and everyone on the platform gathered 40 people deep where the doors open in fear that they will not get in. We reckon that the Irish rugby should do their training here for the World cup. You have 2 options on the metro: 1. Be polite and not push (you will stay on the metro fr the day) or 2. Be rude and push, shove, barge, shout (basically behave like a local).

After a full day on the metro we needed a lie in so we woke up latish and went to visit the temple across the Yamuna river. This time wasn't too packed but we still had to queue to leave the phone and the camera, USB stick, CD's for security checks...etc the temple is free and it is very beautiful, it is a big complex, pools, gardens (lotus shaped) the temple outside is all red sandstone carved and inside it was all marble. the only draw back is that it all looks to new, but this is minor.

From there headed back to the city center and visited the big Mosque across the red fort. Here we encountered the most unique security system in the world. Like so many tourist sites they want you to buy their postcards, so they don't allow you to bring in cameras (most charge a fee) but of course you lie and say 'no camera'. Well at this Mosque they have a deaf & dumb guy standing their and as you come close he starts screaming at the top of his voice waving his arms. We asked 'Whats his problem?' and they said 'you have cameras'. Of course we reply ' no we don't' to which he replies 'you have a camera phone & he has a camera, you can leave them here or pay the fee'. We did neither! We went to another gate that they had a lesser deaf/dumb security guy and walked in here..

We had a couple of bites in Old Dehli area and headed back to the backpacker area to pick our bags have some dinner and take a taxi to the airport (found out last minute that the metro from the New Dehli train st to the airport was not functioning yet - although they have it marked on the map!!) We only had to pay 220 rp, but of course they put a French guy on our taxi and they still charge him the same price!!

Arrived to IGI T3 (Indira Gandi International) and it was all new. Check in was awful, zero organization, a mess, just like the rest in India. Had a couple of coffees to spend the rest of our rupees and headed to the gate minus the cigarette lighter they took off Mariano even though they have smoking rooms after security checks.

At this stage we just wanted to get out of India, it wasn't that we disliked the country or that we had a bad time. On the contrary, India is an amazing experience. You will not get this experience anywhere else. They don't sugar coat anything, you can like it or lump it. The country really hardens you as a traveler and this is a good thing, if you can survive India you will get through anything. (unlike the story we heard from the two English guys in Jodhpur about an 19 year old girl traveling for her first time on her own and arrived into New Delhi and was staying at the same hostel as them and she spent 5 days locked in her room crying).

We just needed to get to civilization, away from the craziness, the noise (we lived in Temple bar, so we know noise). Plus the other side is that we needed to the beaches in Thailand. For this we were traveling on www.airasia.com