Delhi Belly
Trip Start
Sep 19, 2002
1
117
129
Trip End
Sep 22, 2003
Delhi,
India
Sunday, August 10, 2003
We had breakfast in a place with mice and then crashed out in a hot room but it was only 250r. When we managed to get up we headed to Connaught Place which is a circular area with upmarket shops and eating places. We found McDonalds! It's air conditioned and had plasma screens showing Indian music videos. Unfortunately it doesn't sell beefburgers, or bacon burgers due to the Hindu and Muslim traditions so we could only choose from chicken burgers, filet-o-fish or some dodgy sounding veggie things. It was heaving with people and goes to show that you make a place work if you do your research - 8 years of work before they opened in India! We went in search of a tourist place to book a tour of Delhi and as usual we had to fight off people trying to steer us into things we didn't want. After visiting various offices that pointed us somewhere else we found we didn't want to do the tour they offered - DEJA VU!!!!!
Back in Main Bazarr it had suddenly got busy - India doesn't seem to wake up till lunchtime which goes against every other Asian nation who try and stay out of the heat.
Dehli Street
It was hard work walking towards our hotel avoiding rickshaws (auto and cycle varieties) beggars, touts, cars, buses and of course cows. Cows are a particular problem for me as animals don't like me and I worry that I will get stampeded or something. You have to be very careful of the horns end and of course the back end because the cattle, like the tourists, often have a runny bottom. Vehicles don't mind if they hit you or each other and in avoiding a car I was cycled into and got a nice tyre mark down my leg. Somehow I managed to find a salwar suit amongst all the mayhem - denim top and white scarf and trousers so it doesn't look too ethnic but they are certainly very comfortable. Not bad for about 5 quid!! This time I was more forceful with the sales men and asked them to leave the changing room and not to "help" me out of my clothes thanks.We had a bit of a problem in the room when we went back in that there was no electricity in one socket so they sent a little man to help. He put Pip's shoes on (rubber) which was lucky as he got several shocks and then he tried to get Pip to part with his swiss army knife even though it had his name on!
8th - Checked into the Shelton across the road as it was bigger and had air con and a lovely powerful shower so we don't have to use a bucket. By the time our breakfast had gone down, Pip had come down with a dose of Delhi Belly and we were once again confined to barracks. With all these major and minor incidents we are starting to get paranoid that someone has it in for us and we have had it too easy up till now. We are both really tired (don't laugh we know we haven't been to work for ages) and both run down and very ready to come home so our immune systems are not working at their best. We also really can't be bothered with it all and it is taking a lot of willpower to keep going. I managed to brave the evening chaos and visit the chemist for Pip and we are so well aquainted with tummy upsets now that I even told the chemist what antibiotics he should have. Scared that he would end up in the hospital (he was so much more ill than me) we made sure he had lots of oral rehydration salts and that the air con was on full blast and by the end of the night he was feeling less toilet bound.
9th - An appointment with the tri-nations on TV prevented us from going too far today (even though Pip was feeling much better) so we just headed to the train station to book our onward tickets. As we headed up the stairs to the foreigner booking office we were stopped and told it was being decorated and we should go to the head office. We were then led to a tuk-tuk to take us there and we got very suspicious and wanted to see the office being decorated. You might think this is crazy but we have really learnt that things are not usually as they seem. We had an argument with the people involved who didn't like us questioning their advice and another tourist asked them for ID and they got really narked. Eventually we went back to the stairs and there was a lot of shouting and they grabbed Pip's arm (not for long....) and demanded that we stop. Sure enough at the top of the stairs was a very open and very busy foreigner booking office. There was more shouting in there too (typical Israeli behaviour we have learned) due to a dodgy queuing system. This was all too much for us and we hid in the room till dinner time when we ventured out to TGI Fridays! The decor and style of food was the same but the menu was very small as again no beef (no tacos, no steak, no burgers, no chilli.....). We ordered far too much for our depleted appetites but really enjoyed the familiar food.
10th - Started off in an imporium looking at pashmina shawls, bedspreads, silks, scarves and other lovely things (we avoided the nasty stuff much to their annoyance). After a few purchases we went back to McDonalds for lunch until the start of our tour (that we decided we would do in the end). At the counter I realised I had left my bag at the shop and we had no idea where it was or what it was called as a tuk-tuk took us there. Somehow we managed to give directions to another driver and all was safe although there was a lot of arguing with the driver and he insisted that our problem was solved entirely by him alone. Having left my hat in a shop yesterday I am seriously beginning to question my sanity and brain capacity and therefore my ability to return to work when we get home.
Our tour started with a drive-by view of the blood soaked gate. The guide was speaking English but we found it hard to understand him but we think it was where the last moghals where killed by the British. Next stop was the garden area where Gandhi was cremated after being shot by a Hindu who didn't agree with his ideals of every religion living together. His ashes were thrown in the ganges in Varanasi so this is where people come to remember him and there is a service every Friday which is the day he was killed. The stone is inscribed simply "oh God" - his last words. There was a couple of young Irish girls on the bus wearing very little and they couldn't understand why all the men were staring and wanting to take photos of them rather than the memorial stone. I tried to broach the subject of them covering up a little but it fell on deaf ears - at least I tried. Our next stop was the old fort but only a few buildings remain - a beautiful mosque, the gate house, and the octagonal tower which was Hamuyan's library and where he fell to his death. Don't ask us who he is as we never did understand that part but the fort used to be the city of Delhi a long time ago. (Delhi has been moved several times, not including old Delhi and now New Delhi.) True to the guide's word "every twenty feet or so you will see young couples having the good time". Each bush cast shade over a couple canoodling and we noticed that the men were kissing and holding hands too but this is just their culture - homosexuality is quite hidden here. Hamuyan's tomb was next and was stunning. Apparently the Taj Mahal was modelled on it though they are made of different materials. They both have water out the front and big onion domes for the roof and this one contained 110 burial sites all together. The grounds were so well kept and it was actually quite peaceful which just prooves that people can keep things clean and nice when they try. Of course the guard who pointed the right exit out wanted a few rupees for his trouble and a souvenir seller was insistent that our life would not be complete without a wooden snake so we knew we were still in India. It is such a place of contrasts with these beautiful buildings and their amazing history and obviously the horrible bits we've explained but despite this India is really starting to grow on us!
