Hotel Bcc House New Delhi

... absolutely ev**ything the Lonely Planet warned against happened in the first 15 minutes - it was pretty funny. First off, I bought a pre-paid taxi vouch** from one of the stands in the airport so that I wouldn't get ripped off by the driv** taking me to my hotel. This would seem like a pretty fool-proof plan, but I hadn't anticipated that oth** random taxi driv**s would claim to work for said pre-paid company and lure me into their cabs. I must just ...

... that the city is one of the top tourist destinations in all of India. The people there are rude, the streets are dirty, and the prices are unreasonable. Despite having the Taj Mahal, Agra might be my least favorite place in the whole country. We hit a lot of traffic on the way back to Delhi and the normally 4 hour ride took nearly 6. We arrived at our hotel near the airport, ate dinner, and went to bed for our early flight the next morning.

... endowed with natural beauty, palm fringed beaches, lovely hill stations, picturesque backwaters, tailor made houseboats etc. Among all these picturesque backwaters and the eye catching house boats are more popular attraction of tourists in Kerala.

Backwaters are the unique production of Kerala and their fascinating beauty needs no introduction. Backwaters are large networks of picturesque water bodies like ...

... you come within 6-foot distance of someone. The concept of comfort zones doesn't exist either. On various occasions I had people right in my face, talking Hindi and wobbling their head. The head wobbling doesn't really help - depending on speed and vigor its meaning varies from 'maybe', 'I agree', 'Thank you', 'I don't know'. Consulting my India book I could read:
"It's the one gesture that unites all Indians... Cultural and language barriers miraculously ...

... by our own driver and a guide to visit the sights. Without exception this was efficiently executed despite the vagaries of the nationalised and inefficient but cheap railway system. The trains at night are packed. Fortunately they are air conditioned and sheets, pillows and blankets are provided. These second class sleepers are mainly two tier bunks but on one occasion we did have a three tier sleeper. Try as you may though they cannot be ...

... the Indian Government and is in the area of New Delhi where the British set up their colony, the roads are wide with two lanes running in each direction, lined with trees and the bungalows (many of which are the original ones built by the British, so are around 200 years old) most of which have now been turned into houses are of the type that you would see in the UK except they are occupied by Government officials and have armed security guards at the gates.  Lodi Gardens ...

... or you'll see a few people begging, here you'll see a large crowd of extremely poor people on the side of the road. Hanging out. Waiting. Sometimes selling small handmade items. Poverty is not hidden (like it is South Africa), or segregated to certain areas (like SF's 6th st) but an integral and woven part of the culture. To this end, the contrast between rich and poor is much more apparent as the *volume* of ...

... them others with him. I do the "it's a fort and it's red". I wander down Chandhi Chowk (a street full of shops and street vendors) and stop for a bite to eat. It is a delicatessen and i sit and eat at a stupidly ridiculous price. Wander around a bit more and spot the Metro sign. Yes, they have a tube system. Now i know i can get a metro back to my hotel and head off towrds it. I get to Old Delhi station ( i arrived at New Delhi station). I spot a "shaving man" on the ...

... for its gemstones and we stop at a store. Monika goes wild of course, but leaves very happy. The proprietor is even happier. Our accomodation tonight is something out of A thousand and one night. It's in the style of an old palace of a maharaja and totally unreal. Musician play as you enter, you get a bindi on your forhead and a garland of flowers around your neck and a glass of champagne in your hand. Staff is at your fingertips. And it goes on, it's like a dream...

... bright and early with breakfast at 7:30. The cafeteria at our hotel is under construction, so they're delivering our breakfast to our rooms...nice to eat in bed, but we don't get any say in when the food arrives. I had the veg breakfast; toast, tea, "veg cutlets", stale cornflakes, and an apple. All morning we had some orientation sessions with Rima and Rakshat, our program directors, and then we took a driving tour of the city. First stop was lunch, and I had my ...