We flew into Delhi Airport from Singapore totally looking forward to the next section of our journey! A good friend of mine had provided me with a great deal of stories and history before I left Australia. I was excited for sure!
Darren and I walked off the plane. Out at the baggage claim area we waited for our rucksacks to arrive on the conveyor belt, slowly, squeakily rumbling in front of us. One can't help but notice a big difference between Singapore's airport and Delhi's airport. All types of people were wondering around. Disheveled people, rotund mothers with babies slung across their chests, tall bearded white robed men, the odd business man and what looked like scruffy almost homeless people. It was amazing to see so many different types of people in the airport. What would we see outside ... in the country of India!?
Our rucksacks on our backs, we headed through the bag checkers and got our passports stamped. No worries there. Large frosted glass sliding doors in front of us with a sign saying "EXIT" above beckons us to leave and venture forth.
The doors slide open and ...
"Mate! Where are you going?" I ask rather rapidly as I watch Darren squeeze back through the doors.
"Err, I have to change some money!" Replies Darren quite nervously.
There was no need to change money, we had enough on us for a couple of days.
"Mate, what's wrong?" I ask using a slightly more relaxed tone.
"Craig, did you see those people outside? Some definitely looked homeless and that guy on the board with wheels with no legs!! Did you see him skating around on the board? Where the %$#"# are we mate!!?"
We had been told by people plus read ( in guide books ) that India can still be quite a surprise to the eyes for some people. That certainly was correct!!. And we hadn't even stepped out properly into the country itself yet! India, despite all it's beauty and it's jump into the world arena has the second largest population in the world. It's impossible for all to be as lucky as the few. Some things can't change.
We get ourselves together and head back out through the sliding doors and make our way towards the taxi stand. A large majority of the old British taxis, not the London cabs, the Ambassador, still ply the roads hawking for business. There was one directly ahead of us waiting. Waiting just for us! It was just like my friend had told me, old, decrepit and full of character from days gone by. The driver was pleased to see us and ushered Darren and I into the back seat. The problem was, there was no back seat!! The whole of the rear of this classic Ambassador was hollow! Leaving us very little choice other than to sit on the bales of hay that made up the back seat.
It was well into the darkness of night by now. Travelling into the city of Delhi was certainly an adventure. The taxi must have been bumping along at a maximum of 8km per hour. It tool a very long time for the taxi driver to get lost!! :))
We were looking for a hotel. There wasn't much around. We got out and the driver did a runner. He must have been happy that he got a fare, probably well over charged us and decided to take off! We were standing on a deserted street corner, kind of loitering around, trying to make sense of things when a cruising police 4 wheel drive with meshed windows drew up to us. To be honest it was a little scary at this point. Where the hell we were we had no idea!! It was dark!! And before leaving Australia we had heard from the Foreign Affairs Dept. that travellers to India were advised to postpone their plans as a certain amount of unrest was happening at that time. Bombs had gone off in a couple of major capitals and fighting was actually happening on the Kashmir border when we arrived. But, a backpacker doesn't worry about those kind of things ... we just want adventure and good times! Though I never thought about it at that time, we could have been kidnapped and held for ransom! That's certainly an adventure there!! :))
So with our driver doing a runner and being surrounded by cops on a dodgy dark street in the middle of somewhere we began to feel a little anxious. The police started asking us questions. They were polite and friendly. We told them our plight. It was too far for them to take us to the district we wanted to go to but the police were willing to take us to a more respectable location. It was a cool experience cruising the streets in an Indian 4WD patrol car. They dropped us at a hotel. We thanked them for the generosity.
The hotel looked closed. We rang the doorbell. It was quite late now and we were in need of some sleep! A rather large man opened the door, it looked like we had woken him up from his sleep. He gave us a room overlooking the wide street. The beds were rock hard!!
In the morning, after a surprisingly good sleep I opened the curtains to be confronted with "Street Chaos" ... ( not to be confused with "Street Beer" :) ). There was traffic everywhere! Street vendors selling a multitude of items and a cow lying in the middle of the road!!
"Welcome to India mate!" I said to Darren as he looked at the organised confusion through the window.
"Lets go and check this country out mate!!"
... to be continued :))
( more pictures will be added in the future )
Dude. Although it was a little hectic at first...I would go back to India in an instant. What a fun trip.
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