After a smooth flight with Air India we landed punctually at Indira Gandhi International Airport at 10.20 am local time. The eight hours in the air passed amazingly fast, even with only 2 hours of sleep. I was passing the time with watching Casablanca and listening to Indian music on the entertainment system.
After getting out of the plane, we went towards the exit of the airport and noticed the vast emptiness - it felt like the last resort before absolute chaos breaking loose.
Having claimed our bags we withdrew rupees and bought a prepaid sim card for phone and internet usage on the run. With some bottled water and the bill for a prepaid taxi to our hotel destination we felt ready to walk out through the wall of people we saw standing there.
We ventured towards the taxi stands and suddenly everything went really fast, bags were thrown into the back and we left.
The taxiride in itself just made me grin the whole time. I did not feel scared or threatened, rather just greatly amused.
This sheer chaos was really fascinating; 5 lanes of cars in 2 actual lanes is really just normal, just as honking everywhere and being stuck most of the time. A wild mix of cars, scooters, auto-rickshaws and cycle-rickshaws going criss cross and passing each other wherever it fits at the last moment.
I would have no idea how to drive in this and am really glad for a driver who seems able to. I have no idea how it works, but it works.
I was so excited looking out of the windows and soaking up every scene i found. There was so much going on, it was dazzling and I didn't know where to look, or what to take a picture of.
People going on about their business, selling wares at the streetside, cows laying around, dogs scavenging for food, construction yards, dust and smog.
Driving through the ministry part of New Delhi, I saw amazing modern and huge buildings. These seemed to either belong to the police or military. It was also quite green, trees lining the street, and new tree seedlings everywhere. It seemed like they are trying to lower the air pollution, I noticed a huge information monitor displaying current ozone level and other climatic values.
We arrived at Paharganj district, but the taxi driver did not know where the hotel was, even though we had the full address. So he let us off at a closeby tourist information center, so they could point us in the right direction.
That is when the whole journey somewhat changed...
The guy at the tourist center looked up our hotel and told us it was really not a good place to stay at.
Also, our plan was going to Agra the next day but we had not booked a train yet, and they were all full.
So, instead of just letting everything come up at short notice, we actually ended up with a somewhat planned itinerary.
First going through Rajasthan with a driver for 2 weeks.
Taking a 40hour train from Agra to Cochin.
Spending 24 hours in Backwaters.
Taking a train to Goa.
Staying roughly a week in Goa.
Flying back to Delhi and spending the last days there before going back to Germany.
I had very mixed feelings about this until the next day. The plan sounded good, but I did not like having this planning hat put over me and not being flexible anymore. Even though it is still possible changing some details, like hotels and some cities, we are still bound to the greater plan due to train and flight bookings. When booking everything just a day or two in advance there is the great risk of not getting any free seats or having to pay a lot more.
But ok, now we had a plan.
A guide took an auto-rickshaw with us to another, supposedly better hotel. This made me grin even more, now we had the mix of traffic, enjoyed in open air and a rather small vehicle.
Again, the driver was really good with avoiding other vehicles or obstacles/potholes at the last moment.
The hotel room turned out to be really nice, even had a nice bathroom.
Not having had enough sleep and feeling rather knackered from that and the sudden change of plans, I could not get myself to catch up on some sleep. There were too many discoveries to be made outside!
We were supposed to be picked up 1.5 hours later for visiting the tourist office again and receiving the travel documents.
As soon as we went outside and paused to look at the map, we were pulled in by the hotel manager, seated on the sofa, served tea and asked what we wanted to do. I explained we just wanted to have a look at the surroundings. We were told to wait there, they would call someone from the tourist office and arrange a sightseeing trip. Everything happened really fast again, so there was no chance to decline the "offer". Again I had mixed feelings about this. It all felt really arranged, but on the other hand I was also happy for just sitting down, sipping tea, and not having to figure out our next steps.
10 minutes later we were sitting in a car with a nice guide, being driven around the city. First we went to the governmental centre, where we walked around a bit.
 |
| Governmental centre New Delhi |
After that, we drove past the India Gate and stopped at the Birla Mandir Temple. As soon as we got out of the car and walked into the temple, all tiredness was gone again and I loved every moment. Walking through all the people on the street, taking off the shoes and leaving them and our cameras/cellphones in a secure room, walking around the temple. It is a really nice and friendly looking place with flower offerings everywhere. The setting, the scents, the break of dusk, the music, it all added up to a great experience. Sadly I could not capture this on photos, so I've added a picture from Wikipedia.
 |
| Birla Mandir Temple New Delhi |
The guide Tanveer was eager to answer any question we had. I just had real problems understanding his accent, so I was either asking him to repeat or staying semi-questionmarked and nodding anyway.
Now it was time for driving back to the office and getting our travel documents. They were not completely finished, so we would receive them the next morning before leaving towards Bikaner, Rajasthan.
Our stomachs were kinda growling, so the guide showed us a place to eat closeby. It was an Indian fast-food restaurant, cheap but very nice food.
 |
| Bangla Food House New Delhi |
Then after a long day we retreated to our hotel, and I was happy I could take a hot shower, it had been quite cold in Delhi.
