Welcome to India – The Land of the Taj Mahal, Cows, Selfies, oh and Roof Top Bars!

Delhi & Agra Days 1-3

We have finally made our first destination on our travels. It is difficult to believe it has finally arrived and we are in India!

After navigating and negotiating with the many taxi ranks outside Delhi airport we started the journey to our hotel (we still got ripped off though!) The first thing that strikes you is the pollution, it was Diwali (a Hindu festival – which has increased the levels of pollution through fire and fireworks). Then there is the traffic, absolutely crazy!!! 5 to a moped, and we will never forget our first roundabout!! There is no give way, lane etiquette or the need to go the right way around the roundabout!

Pulling up to the hotel, through rubbish strewn streets we arrived at a hotel, which on initial view did not have curb appeal to say the least.  To our relief we noticed it was not our hotel….“Sorry mate, think you have the wrong place” However it quickly came to our attention that we were next door at what looked to be an even lower standard hotel. Room was basic and dirty, electrics sketchy and sheets did not look as though they had been changed. This was the start of things to come! 

That evening we thought we better go for a walk and get our bearings, and grab some food. It was a little dark and not long before Liz announced  “Ahhhh…its a dog” as she  nearly stood on a dog sleeping in litter.  We also saw street fires, got approached by tuk tuk drivers giving us sales pitches and could not find anywhere nearby to eat. We made a swift re-treat to the hotel, ordered strong beers (Kingfisher strong, can only give you a range for the percentage 5.25 – 8%) and settled to eat in the hotel. Food tasted fine, and we got a few more drinks in before bed!

Day 2 we woke up and decided to head out for the day, we organised a Taxi and a rickshaw to take us around some of the sites of the city. A Rickshaw on the road leaves you feeling a little exposed to the traffic, but was fun in a kind of extreme sport kind of way.  Our Rickshaw driver took us past a number of the sites in Delhi including the Red fort, the Jama Masjid Mosque, Gate of India  and through the narrow streets of the Old Delhi bizarre/market. It was at the Mosque that Liz said “I feel like a celebrity”, selfies requests and Selfies…lots and lots of Selfies!

That evening we met the G-Adventures Group and introduced ourselves, we created a great impression as Dan forgot how old he was, and had to be reminded in front of 16 new people of his age. We were both the oldest.

We went for a dinner at “Kitchen with a cause” which was great, serving up good food by people that had been taken in from the streets and re-trained at the restaurant to give them a career.  It didn’t sell alcohol though.

Day 3 Delhi Belly Strikes……..It was not Dan though!  Good God, some poor Aussie girl had the worst food poisoning we had seen. The rest of the group were paranoid they were going to get it, and we went vegetarian and upped the hand sanitiser use!

To the girls delight we then jumped on a train to Agra and took a tour around the Taj Mahal….wow, it’s an amazing place, quite beautiful even with the mad crowds, it does blow you away the first time you see it as you approach. Not much else to say about it really, pics speak for themselves, but will not do justice to the place.

Time for a Drink, we met some great people on the tour, two of which were from Melbourne and have a thing for roof top bars. They sourced the first of many and that was the rest of day 3 done!!!

Coming up next Jaipur & Tordi Sagar….