Arrived in Dheli in India on Thursday 8th September to begin our travels. Headed to our usual place - the backpackers area in the Paharganj. The Paharganj is a long street rammed with shops, street sellers, rickshaws, cows, beggars, mangey dogs, budget eateries (Dhabbas), budget hotels among others. Immediately your senses are hit by the differnet smells (which, at times, are so strong you can even taste), sounds, sights and tastes which are unique to Indian cities. You are soon accosted by the shopkeepers, 'you come look in my shop' - selling every thing from Tibetin jewellery to loud coloured clothing, the street sellers - selling eveything from sunglasses to dancing cuddly toys, rickshaw drivers trying to get a hire, beggars in all states of deformity imaginable begging for a few rupees (a few pence) and hotel touts that offer 'excellent' accomodation in very often a dingy dark room with nothing but a bed, although sometimes plenty of company due to the bed bugs. Not to forget the the many offers from people who offer to shine your shoes, although you are wearing sandals or the guys who walk around with a big metal rod, creep up behind you and try to poke it in your ear to 'ear clean'. These guys normally have a big wad of wax in their hand which they claim to have taken out your ear, in an attempt to encourage you to let them have another couple of pokes in your ear - cheap at the price but not a chance, unless you want your eardrum punctured. It's great being with Colin though as he does not even look at them. He just lifts his arm and barks 'CHELLO' (go away), so we don't tend to be accosted for long. Even amidst all the noise he can hear an ear cleaner sneakily approach, from way off. All this after 15 hours of travelling and not yet even checked into a hotel! Still, it's great to be back here and really exciting as this time we are not here only for 2 months, but for 6 months while our visa lasts and then who knows where?
Checked into 'Cottage Yes Please', where we have stayed before. Bit pricey for us at £12 a night, but it is very quiet considering the mayhem outside and we were only staying there until we could arrange a means of getting up to the mountains to stay. So while getting this orginised, our daytime in was filled with wandering around, either in the Paharganj or 20 minutes walk along the road to the up-market area Connaughlt Place where you can shop in Louis Vitton, Benneton, Rolex etc, eat in subway, Macdonalds, Costa Coffee etc. This time there was even a Marks and Spencers. The only difficult part is the walk from the Pahargangi to Connault. You have to pass several public toilets, some purpose built and some which have just 'sprung up' as the place to stop and have a pee, e.g. a part of a wall on the main street. These places are not hard to find because, before you even see the pee stained wall, you can not onlt smell it, but as I said before, TASTE IT!
At night in Dheli, unless you are there with plenty dosh and go to the up-market areas with expensive bars and nightclubs, the evening is taken up with having a meal and then going back to the hotel to watch the 9 o'clock movie channel with 'up-to-date excellent movies' such as Snakes On A Plane, Kung Foo Panda 2. This is another good reason for staying at Cottage Yes Please as you have a TV in your room and, let's face it you, would not want to miss these movies!.
Got flights booked for Sunday the 11th, up into the mountains. Decided to fly rather than take the bus due to my back being not great and the difference between 1 hour by flight and 14 hours on a white-knuckle ride bus and no trains go to the area we want to go to. We were also swayed by the fact that we could get flights cheaper than we thought but soon realised that it was only that Sunday that we could get a cheap flight. Was that because the date was 9/11? We reckoned that we would be safe enough in a small domestic propeller plane which does not hold that many passengers!
We bought a new camera in Dubai airport and didn't want to mess around with it, walking around Delhi figuring out how to work it so we only took this one picture. It is the Paharganj at night. much quieter than during the day.
Frances
Checked into 'Cottage Yes Please', where we have stayed before. Bit pricey for us at £12 a night, but it is very quiet considering the mayhem outside and we were only staying there until we could arrange a means of getting up to the mountains to stay. So while getting this orginised, our daytime in was filled with wandering around, either in the Paharganj or 20 minutes walk along the road to the up-market area Connaughlt Place where you can shop in Louis Vitton, Benneton, Rolex etc, eat in subway, Macdonalds, Costa Coffee etc. This time there was even a Marks and Spencers. The only difficult part is the walk from the Pahargangi to Connault. You have to pass several public toilets, some purpose built and some which have just 'sprung up' as the place to stop and have a pee, e.g. a part of a wall on the main street. These places are not hard to find because, before you even see the pee stained wall, you can not onlt smell it, but as I said before, TASTE IT!
At night in Dheli, unless you are there with plenty dosh and go to the up-market areas with expensive bars and nightclubs, the evening is taken up with having a meal and then going back to the hotel to watch the 9 o'clock movie channel with 'up-to-date excellent movies' such as Snakes On A Plane, Kung Foo Panda 2. This is another good reason for staying at Cottage Yes Please as you have a TV in your room and, let's face it you, would not want to miss these movies!.
Got flights booked for Sunday the 11th, up into the mountains. Decided to fly rather than take the bus due to my back being not great and the difference between 1 hour by flight and 14 hours on a white-knuckle ride bus and no trains go to the area we want to go to. We were also swayed by the fact that we could get flights cheaper than we thought but soon realised that it was only that Sunday that we could get a cheap flight. Was that because the date was 9/11? We reckoned that we would be safe enough in a small domestic propeller plane which does not hold that many passengers!
We bought a new camera in Dubai airport and didn't want to mess around with it, walking around Delhi figuring out how to work it so we only took this one picture. It is the Paharganj at night. much quieter than during the day.
Frances
