Delhi life

Third day in Delhi and we are starting to get used to constant honking, crazy streets and being taken around to random places despite saying you want to go somewhere else.

Yesterday we met quite a few different people who come up and try to "help" you, while some are genuinely nice and helpful, some are just trying to make money off you. We first wanted to go to the official tourist info in Connaught place, so the rickshaw driver took us to Connaught place but to a different (probably his friends) tourist information. They then tried to convince me to buy train tickets there because there are long queues at the train station and its closed on Saturdays. When we later found the actual place, she told us to always buy train tickets from the international tourist office at the train station which is open 24/7 and caters only to foreigners. Spent quite a while in the train station trying to find this office as well, as there are a few fake ones as well, but finally got my train ticket to rishikesh on Sunday morning.

We were also followed by another man who promptly wanted to put us in a rickshaw and take us to some kind of shopping "mall". When we didn't want to go straight away he just stuck around and we eventually just had to tell him to leave. Then guy nr 2 comes and shows us around to other shops, all identical tourist traps and while they had really nice things it was pretty expensive. In the end we just left him too and went to get the metro home. It is so annoying that you can't trust anyone, and there are so many people who are just genuinely friendly but we have already become very suspicious towards everyone which is really sad.

Picked up a nice, big and warm scarf around here instead for no money. And then had another 1 pound, delicious dinner in a random little " restaurant ". Prices are ridiculous here, we could probably live  on less than a fiver a day.

Went to an amazingly beautiful monument today, Humayun's tomb, will try to upload some photos but the blog app won't always let me.

Train leaves at 6.45 tomorrow morning so will be an early start for me! I should hopefully get to rishikesh some time in the afternoon. Will be nice to leave crazy Delhi behind!

Touchdown

So after almost four years this blog is finally back! Feels good to be reunited with my backpack even if this will be a slightly less "backpacker" experience than my last trip to Asia.

So after a pretty easy journey from Gothenburg to Delhi we landed around 5 am. It took a while to do the visa paperwork and when we finally got our bags we noticed that mine was covered in some antiseptic smelling liquid. It basically smelled like toilet cleaner...great. Anyway we left the airport and got the metro to the city, super easy. And then the difficulties started. We knew we had to cross a bridge at the rail station to get to Paharganj where the hostel we had looked at was located. But when we got there we were told that the bridge was closed as it is election day (which it's not) so that we had to get a permit to enter the city.

This already sounded a bit strange and when the guy (who supposedly worked at the train station) said we had to get an auto-rickshaw to get there we really thought something was not right. So we ignored his advice and went to the bridge anyway where we asked the police if we could cross - no problem! Met a Norwegian guy who had had the same problem and was also meant to stay at the same hostel! So together with him we managed to find the hostel without getting tricked again! So annoying that you can never trust that the information you're getting is correct, and not just for them to rip you off!

Since we had to wait a few hours to get access to a room, we joined a guided city tour. Went to a few different temples and sights - absolutely beautiful!

Back at the hostel we got a room, and started unpacking a bit, when I realised most of my clothes stunk of the antiseptic , cleaning liquid thing. Disgusting, such a strong smell. Trying to air it out now cause I don't really have much to wear otherwise...might have to get it all cleaned somewhere. Such a paaain.

We spent the evening wandering around, bumped into an English guy who took us to a good place to eat. Prices are ridiculous here, for lunch we paid about 40 p each and dinner was about 2 pounds each (with lots of naan)! And so so yummy.

Back at the hostel now and we're super tired after staying up for 24 hours. Plan is to stay in Delhi until Sunday when I go to rishikesh and Malin goes to goa. So far so good, and we are slowly getting used to the absolute madness that is Delhi!