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India 2004
I've always associated India with railways, and
so my
'theme' for this journey was travel by train. Using a combination of
good books and an incredibly helpful specialist travel agent in London,
I managed to plan and book my route and tickets months ahead. Athough
this gave
me little flexability as i travelled around India, it did mean that I
could visit what I considered to be every major highlight of a huge
country in a relatively short space of time.
The following travelogue is written pretty much
word for word from the diary I kept at the time.
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Sunday 04/01/04
The time is now 18.05, and here I am in New Delhi, India! What a
strange old life. The journey here was quite long, but uneventful.
Getting through customs was a breeze, and I changed some money for my
first Rupees in the airport. Then, I booked a pre-paid taxi, and told
them where I wanted to go... The Yatri house on Punchkuin Road. That
was when i was introduced to the first of no doubt many little scams.
Despite the office saying that the driver knew where the hotel was, the
driver said that he didn't, and needed to go to another office ask for
directions. Whilst I was there, one of the guys in this other office
pretended to phone the hotel for directions, only to find out that the
hotel was 'suddenly booked out'. He then suggested another, cheaper
hotel, where no doubt he would pocket some commision. I stuck to my
guns, told him the Yatri was where i wanted to go, and that he'd better
take me there. He obviously realised that (a) I knew what was going on
and that (b) i was a lot bigger than him, because the driver took me
there without any more hassle, although after dropping me off, he did
have the cheek to ask for a tip. I told him where to stick it and
booked into the hotel, where lo and behold, my pre-reserved room was
waiting for me. One-nil to Dave!
The hotel room was basic (goes without saying
really), and reminded me of some of the hostals I'd stayed at in
Spain. The weather here is suprisingly chilly. 10-12 during the day,
and half that at night. Afterbooking in, I crashed out for a few hours,
as I hadn't been near a bed for almost 48 hours. Woke up at four in the
afternoon, and decided to go for a wander. My first impressions of
Delhi were noisy and dusty! Drivers don't use indicators, and instead
use their horns to let people know they are changing lanes... Not that
the lanes actually represent anything more than an amusing attempt to
paint straight lines over a series of potholes. There was some sort of
sikh festival happening, and that combined with jetlag was enough for
me, so I headed back to the hotel, and had an early night.
Monday 05/01/04
 I
got up at about ten, and over breakfast, got talking to an Aussie
couple who had first visited India in the late seventies. They
mentioned how much it had changed since then, with the traffic and
pollution all increasing. I caught a rickshaw down to the New Delhi
train station to reconfirm my reservations. There was a guy standing on
the stairs saying that the office was closed, and that I should go to a
travel agent over the road, but this is such an old scam, I just
laughed in his face. The office was, of course, open, and my train
times were reconfirmed, and only one had changed. afterwards, I took a
walk through the main bazaar in Paharganj, and took some photos of the
utter madness there. The way that the pedestrians and autorickshaws
narrowlly miss each other is amazing! Saw a couple of cows loafing
around (first ones!!), and wandered off to have a veg-burger and a cup
of tea. Some of the book stalls had a weird and wondeful mixture of
subjects, and I bought George Orwells Animal Farm, as I hadn't read it
in some time. Took another autorickshaw back to the guesthouse, and I
booked a car and driver for the next day so that I could see the
highlights of Delhi all in one go.
Tuesday 06/01/04
Had a bit of an on-off sleep through the night, but not too bad. I got
talking to the Aussie couple again in the morning, and they said they
were having a bad time coping. This is one of those countries where
you've just got to go with the flow of the chaos of it all, I think,
and there is no point in trying to fit in with the local population
(I'm a big white man in a land full of little brown people!!). You've
just got to take things as they come, and accept that whatever you do,
the locals will always look at you as a tourist.
Anyway, I met my driver Raj outside, who was warming his hands over one
of the thousands of tiny fires that the people here seem to love
lighting at the slightest whim from any rubish laying around.
 He
was a nice enough guy, and first of all, he took me to the Birla
temple. Very picturesque, and you'l probably find a photo of it in myTravel
Photo's Page. Next, was India gate, but the photo didn't turn
out too well, what with all the smog and pollution hanging in the air.
Next was the railway museum, which was a bit of a disappointment, but a
did manage to get a photo of this sign!
We then went to Qutb Minar, which I've always wanted to visit because
of it's two thousand + year old iron pillar which shows no sign of
rust. The best part of the complex, was the Qutb Minar itself, a huge
tower undergoing some repair work, which is probably just as well, as
it's about as straight as the leaning tower of Pisa!
Next stop was the Bahai Temple, in the shape of a lotus flower, which
was very peaceful. In such a frantic city, the quietness is a very
stark contrast. Next was Humayuns tomb, which i felt was the best
monument of the day. Again, and oasis of peace, it is a pre-cursor to
the Taj Mahal, and very photogenic. Spent a while wandering around and
looking at the chipmunks, who were trying to avoid getting eaten by the
eagles (or hawks, wasn't really sure).
Finally, I visited the Red Fort in Old Delhi which was extrememely
impressive and overpowering from the outside, but a bit rubbish from
within. Spent a while in there, (saw a monkey or two!) before jumping
onto a bicycle rickshaw for an unforgetable ride through Chandi Chowk,
which is another bazaar. To say that it was crowded is the
understatement of the year!
Got back to the hotel after a very long day, and slept like a log!!
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