I left Lowestoft for India at 2pm on Sunday. I caught the train to London then took the tube across to Waterloo, and from there a train to Egham in Surrey where I stayed the night with my friend Andrew and his girlfriend Chloe. We thought it would be funny to go to an Indian restaurant for a curry that evening, and followed this with a beer in the local pub. While we were there I showed Andrew the 1000 Rupee note I had in my wallet. 'Why's Alf Garnett on there?' he said looking at the image of Mahatma Gandhi.
Andrew dropped me off at Heathrow, Terminal 4, at 8am the next morning. Thanks to my e-ticket I didn't have to queue up at the check in desk allowing me to go straight through to the departures lounge and Gate 2 where I could see my Boeing 777 sitting on the tarmac from the window. Once on the plane I was pleased to discover that the flight was not 10 hours as I'd thought but only 7 hours and 55 minutes. We left on time (9.55am) and flew across Belgium, Germany, Austria, Romania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, finally reaching India and touching down at around 11pm local time. Just before we came in to land I had a browse though my Lonely Planet paying particular attention to the 'scams' section for Delhi. In reference to getting a taxi from the airport it read as follows: 'your taxi driver may claim that he is lost and stop at a travel agency for directions. The agent (also in on the scam) supposedly dials your hotel and informs you that your room is double booked. The agent promptly finds you another hotel where he and the taxi driver both earn a commission.'
Once I'd passed through immigration and collected my bag from the baggage carousel I jumped into a taxi giving the driver the address of my hotel. After we'd been driving for about 20 minutes the driver claimed he was lost and stopped at a travel agency for directions. I took a deep breath and followed him inside. It was now around midnight. The travel agent was about to telephone my hotel when I raised my hand and said, 'phone the hotel if you need to, but please do not tell me in two minutes time that they have no booking for me or that they are double booked, understand.' That stopped him in his tracks, and I realised I had been a bit too direct because he initially told me to get out of his shop. I said I was sorry if I had seemed rude, but that I was just trying to be clear with him. He backed down and then made his call, having now to keep up the fiction that he and the driver didn't know where my hotel was. I don't know what was said over the phone but it was too brief to be directions. He then put the phone down looked at me sullenly and said, 'ok you go now, your driver have directons,' without giving any directions to the driver. We both got back in the car and two minutes later we arrived at my hotel. I checked in to the Hotel Ajanta which is in Paharganj, and almost opposite the New Delhi train station, at around 12.30am. My room is lovely - clean and comfortable - and I like the hotel as a whole. Once I was checked in I had a brilliant night of sleep.
Tuesday morning I woke up with little idea of what Delhi looks like so after some breakfast I went out to do some exploring on foot. I walked from my hotel through Paharganj and along a street called the Main Bazaar which was full of shops and people. I had a cup of tea with a guy called Ashok and then wandered down to Connaught Place, the hub of New Delhi. My first impression is that Delhi is an assault on the senses. There's so much happening, moving, and existing around you that it's hard to take in at first. Tuk tuks, bikes, human beings, cows - all are intermingling in the chaotic busy streets and in great number. The architecture of some of the crumbling buildings around where I'm staying is superb. Tuesday afternoon was spent studying my guide book and charting out a more concrete plan of action for the next few months. I've divided the trip into five rough segments (each to be planned more fully as I reach them), and the first of these is to spend the next three weeks making a circuit around Rajasthan. I will stay in Delhi until 30 March and then head south by train to Agra and the Taj Mahal. From there I'll carry on to Jaipur, then Pushkar, then Jodhpur, then Jaisalmer, looping back to Delhi via Bikaner. I've allowed a few days at each location, and hopefully have the pace about right but if not I'll just slow things down a bit. I'll have to judge as I go.
This morning (Wednesday) I've extended my stay at the hotel for another two nights, and popped over to the train station to book myself a train ticket down to Agra for Friday. All straightforward. Now I'm off to do some sightseeing around Delhi.