Dont know where to start, its all too crazy here. Mindblowing. Nothing could prepare us for this!
Amazed at the amount of people, and how forward they are with wanting to "help out."
We got a auto rickshaw to the "Delhi Tourism Centre." They were so helpful, greeting us with a "Kia Ora.... Where are the gumboots?" They told us about all the various tours we could do (which we werent really all that interested in) with photos of all the luxuries we could indulge ourselves in. The catch.... We would have to pay there and then. We couldnt get tickets from the railway station he said, because they were "having renovations" Talk about a "Tui - yeah right" moment. We said we would pop down to the local coffee day to have a think about it. We were followed by three young, hip, businessmen who we had seen in the DTC, who were just keeping an eye on us, offering some friendly advice etc. Needless to say, after a lot of time buried in the LPG (lonely planet) we managed to walk our way to the genuine ITC (indian tourist centre).
We have decided that anyone polite, friendly, chatty and "hip" is not genuine! The genuine train station booking room and the genuine ITC were both pretty grouchy and keen to hurry us along (in a helpful manner though).
The first day was pretty overwhelming, the amount of pressure from the street sellers was incredible. We found our place to stay (Hare Rama Guesthouse) and sat down with bottles of ice cold mineral water to quench our dusty throats and throbbing heads. Too much to take in! However, after a couple of days we feel a lot more settled, and have discovered that when the "helpful fellows" realise you are not interested (by completely ignoring the "hello england, hello american, beautiful hair etc" friendly gestures) they tend to move on pretty fast. The poor buggers seem so desperate. We havent even had the brain space to think or talk about the beggers and poverty, we will save that for when we get home!
The food is incredible.
No Delhi belly so far!
Couldnt live without lonely planet.
So glad for all the advice we have had from various people.
Time to go and hop on a train up to Haridwar, not neccesarily for the spiritual side of things, but more for some peace and quiet.
From there we plan to head to Rishikesh, chandigar, shimlar etc.
Will keep you updated, some photos to come when we get a more secure place to hook up the camera!
B+S :)
Amazed at the amount of people, and how forward they are with wanting to "help out."
We got a auto rickshaw to the "Delhi Tourism Centre." They were so helpful, greeting us with a "Kia Ora.... Where are the gumboots?" They told us about all the various tours we could do (which we werent really all that interested in) with photos of all the luxuries we could indulge ourselves in. The catch.... We would have to pay there and then. We couldnt get tickets from the railway station he said, because they were "having renovations" Talk about a "Tui - yeah right" moment. We said we would pop down to the local coffee day to have a think about it. We were followed by three young, hip, businessmen who we had seen in the DTC, who were just keeping an eye on us, offering some friendly advice etc. Needless to say, after a lot of time buried in the LPG (lonely planet) we managed to walk our way to the genuine ITC (indian tourist centre).
We have decided that anyone polite, friendly, chatty and "hip" is not genuine! The genuine train station booking room and the genuine ITC were both pretty grouchy and keen to hurry us along (in a helpful manner though).
The first day was pretty overwhelming, the amount of pressure from the street sellers was incredible. We found our place to stay (Hare Rama Guesthouse) and sat down with bottles of ice cold mineral water to quench our dusty throats and throbbing heads. Too much to take in! However, after a couple of days we feel a lot more settled, and have discovered that when the "helpful fellows" realise you are not interested (by completely ignoring the "hello england, hello american, beautiful hair etc" friendly gestures) they tend to move on pretty fast. The poor buggers seem so desperate. We havent even had the brain space to think or talk about the beggers and poverty, we will save that for when we get home!
The food is incredible.
No Delhi belly so far!
Couldnt live without lonely planet.
So glad for all the advice we have had from various people.
Time to go and hop on a train up to Haridwar, not neccesarily for the spiritual side of things, but more for some peace and quiet.
From there we plan to head to Rishikesh, chandigar, shimlar etc.
Will keep you updated, some photos to come when we get a more secure place to hook up the camera!
B+S :)
Awesome that you two got this up and running! Well written and most entertaining too. Get the hang of putting pics here as we LOVE them!
ReplyDeleteGlad your head has stopped spinning!
Love mum xxxxxx
Glad that you managed to get to Rishikesh with all your rupees intact :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are having a ball, enjoy the tripping and look forward to more updates!