We got to the hotel safely as you know from my email. After that a Vodafone representative kindly showed up on time to activate our Indian sim! With a the commotion we forgot to tell him that for an iPhone you needed a micro sim and not just a regular one. "Be back in 30 mins" he told us. (at this point Gabie and I were feeling a little overwhelmed and the tiredness started to kick in). The 30 mins turned into 1 hr and 30 mins....which felt longer whilst we waited in the lobby! The owner offered us coffee and to go sit on the roof garden in the sun (nahseb thassarna nistennew). As soon as we sat down Mr. Voda turned up! He was a very pleasant chap but our data plan still doesn't seem to work on the phone!
Anyways the wait was to say the least appreciated.... Why? Because our day was the craziest day of our lives! Literally!
We got to old Delhi chadni chowk metro station on time for our 'old Delhi' tour. Our guide was there after 10 mins! You'd think delhi would be full of tourists! Wrong! It seemed we were the only westerns there! Therefore we were easily recognisable. "Are you Debbie" she nicely said... And we started. Our infamous tuk tuk tour took us for the ride of our lives! You haven't experienced culture shock until you see what we have seen!
Tuk Tuks in the 100s (both cycles a d motorised) all trying to bust their way through the same lane. Dogs playing dead in the middle of the street. Men lying on the 'centre strip' asleep?dead? I don't know! Goats and cattle in the road too. Motor cycles beeping their horn 50 times per minute... All I know is that we were bombarded with everything - sights, smells and noise! The Indians were staring at us constantly - bot just the men but women and children too. We were fully clothed and extremely decent! But they cannot help seeing "white" people so they just stare and their heads keep turning even once you've passed them!
The tour was nice and the guide extremely knowledgeable (She was following us in a tuk tuk and talking to us through audio microphones plugged in our ears.) but the extreme poverty and dirt was shocking (for me at least). Kids dirty and when I say dirty I mean it! They are not begging for money but want scraps of food. There is a excessive disorganisation/poverty in this old city which I cannot describe - I just don't know where to start! People cooking, others selling parts of cars, right next to them people selling Sarees, rubbish everywhere... and it goes on and on.
The tuk tuk driver or should I say peddler was extremely good and brave to navigate through the narrow streets. Narrow enough for you to touch both walls with oncoming traffic! Yikes!
After the tuk tuk we met up with another guide and this time it was eating time! We ate good food but the places look uninviting! We will definitely give raving reviews (we didn't tell him we were from trip advisor hehe) it was good fun! (We were there with another 2 girls from Manchester)
Anyways the photos below don't give justice to what we have seen today. These are only a few I managed to take with my phone. I have lots of videos which will paint a much better picture though!
All in all this was just the harsh part of India. From tomorrow our trips are going to be much less hectic with much less adrenaline (to my liking). Gabie and I kept saying to each other that we wouldn't imagine any of our friends or family ever making it here! Literally not even sweet Valley!!!
It was a part we had to experienced and looking back on my day, I keep telling myself 'what an achievement'
Tomorrow we will be staying in the Thar desert and I doubt Internet will be available... But one hopes for more updates!
Now in bed, exhausted but greatly satisfied!!!!!
Hey! What a day! I would have literally freaked out and headed back home on the next available flight! lol Keep the blogs rollin' ;) Take care and keep safe. Enjoy it! xx
ReplyDeleteIt works! Thank you!!
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