Delhi - what a hole!
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2006
1
3
47
Trip End
Feb 16, 2007
Delhi, India
Thursday, August 3, 2006
The day kicked off with more shenanigans involving the man from the night before. I met him at 8am and got taken to his bloody office where upon I got shoved in a different car with some old guy who took me to a dodgy ATM (probably got raped in commission but of course being India it doesn't tell you how much!).
After eventually being taken back to the hotel for "breakfast" I checked out and was taken to a different office to "meet the boss". To cut a long story short the guy was a bit of a bellend and I had to lay the smackdown on him to get him to stop fu*king me around and get me to the hotel I wanted.
Ironically, the area I was so desperately trying to reach (Paharganj) turned out to be the nastiest cess pit in existence
A bubba at Ghandi's memorial
. The road, imaginatively named "Main Bazaar", was utterly crazy. The whole thing was narrow and FULL of people, rickshaws (aka mobile death traps driven/ridden by little boys and old men), shops, cows, rabid dogs, massive signs and hanging wires. Besides that the smell was overpowering and often awful (it reminds me...oh what's it called?...yeah that's it...shit!). The other mind blowing element was the continuous horn-beeping and roar of the commotion all around.The first place I went to (after plucking up the courage to leave the comparatively palace like confines of my air conditioned room) was the train station. As warned by lonely planet and most people I've spoken to, dodgy touts tried to divert me to even dodgier tourist agencies and away from where I wanted to go. I resisted and prevailed and decided I was the bravest boy ever.
Later on I headed over to Connaught Place (equally as rancid but with more traffic and less urine puddles). Raj, a 15 year old commission shark, latched onto me and would not piss off. He took me off guard by insisting he only wanted to practise his English. I got taken on a long old walk to a shop that sold fancy Indian goods. When I left I asked him if he'd been paid to take me there. yup - 50 bloody rupees! At least he didn't get it from me. On the way back it amused me how many tourists had fallen into the same trap and were being lead to this one shop by little Indian guys out to make their cut. i left them to learn the hard way.
One thing that really struck me were the tramps smoking smack in the street. They looked like shit, smelt like shit, were covered in shit and I would imagine tasted like shit as well
Ghandi's memorial
. I decided there and then that Delhi is the biggest hole I've ever been to.On the plus side I did see a really top-notch Sikh guy riding a motor bike and wearing Top Gun style aviators. He had a cool old school white beard and a massive curly tash. I enjoyed this a lot.
That night I wound up at a Jewish guest house where I met some cool guys. They told me that "Chello" means "piss off" in Hindi. I laughed so much but didn't bother explaining why (it you haven't seen School of Rock then you don't deserve an explanation anyway). Thought the boys would appreciate that and I've since been saying it to every little scaly who bothers me (about 10 every second).
- Vitals -
Disease- still ok
Banter - improved, but tramps were shoddy
mind fu*k- high
fear - still on edge
_______________
- Day 3 -
I got out of bed to find I was in the coldest place in the universe
Some pillars!
. The A/C in my room must have been supercharged directly by the local powerstation. Obviously, shaking like a whore in a church, I then had a typical ice-cold Delhi shower.I got my stuff together and headed off for a tour I'd booked the night before. On it, I met my first proper travelling buddy. Her name is Rin and she's a massive 49 yr old Israeli mother-of-two. She's adopted me for the time being and we've now hit the road togehter. This woman is AWESOME! She walked really really slowly and smokes all the time but my god, what a character. Turns out she's really into her psychedlic trance and grows her own pot back in Tel Aviv (don't worry Mum, I'm not being lead astray by rogue Jews). Anyway, I guess that's the cool thing about being out seeing the world.
Won't bore you all with the tour details...basically involved cool temples, Ghandi's memorial and stuff like that.
Photos to follow (the computer here electrocuted me and I don't want to blow something in my camera...unbelievable!)
Only other news is that today the amazing Delhi belly made it's appearance. I had my first proper Indian meal for lunch, as well as the shits for breakfast, lunch and dinner....savage!
- Vitals -
Fear - much lower. i'm bigger than them anyway
Banter - surprisingly excellent
Disease - Delhi Belly, the odd itch
mind f*ck - getting accustomed to it all now
