Categories
2008/2009 Nepal & India

Day 1: Delhi

Sunday 30 November 2008

We got up at 08:30 after a lovely night sleep and headed to the bank to get rupees, finding a nice South Indian restarant enroute. We stopped in for breakfast as Scott had a hankering for all the foods he missed since the last trip here in 2006, idli and vada while Tracy had poori masala (both great meals at very reasonable prices).

From there we headed to Karol Bagh Markets and wandered up and down. It was still early so all the stalls were in theprocess of setting out i.e. sweeping the dirt onto the next persons patch. Delhi is even more polluted than we remebered, but the people are still friendly.

We caught the Metro to Connaught Place which was deserted. We were blown away by the lack of people. We had coffee and pakoras for snacks at the United Coffee House. Catching the train to Chawri Bazaar and took the back way to Jama Masjid and then found all the people, it was packed plus everyone seemed to be taking the goat out for a walk. It was manic and great – this was the Delhi we loved. We walked to Red Fort to see what had changed, but there wasn’t a lot different except much much much less police around the place.

We headed off down Chandni Chowk and back into the noisy, throbbing sea of people. Wandering around and getting lost before finding the back way (in other words gross way) into the metro to catch the train back to karol Bagh. The Metro is still super efficient and the easiest way to get around.

Walking back to our hotel we stopped at the Puhnjabi Sweet Corner for a couple of Samosas which were great, the place is just packed all the time.

Finally getting back to the hotel for an after noon snooze. After which we headed off to find a thali restaurant for dinner and coming across a great all you can eat place (Rajistani and Gujarati) for $14. We had to have a walk about afterwards to try and compact some of the food we had eaten and watched as people set up their homes for the night on any empty space of land. Quite amzing consdiering during the day everything is packed up and cleaned.

We finally headed back to the hotel full of good food, our ears ringing form the noise and our eyes sore from all the smoke of kitchen fires – brilliant.

Accommodation: Hotel Singh International
http://www.hotelsinghinternational.com/

For more information and details on Delhi, check out: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/india/delhi