Delhi

India. This place is dirty, ugly, beautiful, smelly, noisy, serene and I have only been here one day!

I flew in yesterday on one of the noisiest plane rides I've ever been on. I remember thinking, Shite! If this is what it is like on a plane then leaving the actual country deaf is a distinct possibility. They just shout everything, all the time, non stop!

When we arrived at the airport I walked in with two westerners who live in Delhi and who I hoped (after I told my tragic tale about now travelling alone having lost my travel mate and explaining that I had done nothing whatsoever in terms of planning this portion of the trip) for an offer to come live with them. Didn't happen but they did teach me some rudimentary Hindi.

So i cruised through customs looking for where and when to declare the food I had on me but before I knew it i was outside and so if there are customs or something in the airport, they're well hidden.

As i've said, I have made no plans at all for India. I have no guidebook and I haven't a clue about anything except that the Taj mahal is here somewhere, Delhi is the capital (right?) and that they eat curries in Punjabi. I figure I'm set.

Anyways, when I steppped out of the airport everybody instantly tries to get you into a cab. I had no money and no idea where I was going though so this wasn't my idea of a good time. One particularly insistant driver in the end forced me to make a run for the only other whities I could see, pretending they were my friends and so showing that I wasn't in need of a taxi; thank you very much!

They were an Aussie couple on holiday who had a pre-booked tour and offered to give me a lift to their hotel. Why not I figured? Didn't have a clue where else to go. So I jumped in with them and we drove about an hour to here (not sure where I am just yet). Their hotel was $60US a night so after saying thanks for the free lift I headed off to find something more my price range.

I was advised of somewhere cheap in a nearby building of some sort and so off I walked only to find a rather unpleasant man behind the guesthouse counter. Or he was nice - when he was offering me a room for $60US - but he quickly changed to resemble a pitbull with a bad case of gas when I explained i wasn't paying that much, and yes i understood that it wasn't wise to wander the streets at night, and no i wasn't just ignoring his advice, and no i didn't think i knew more than him about his city, and yes this is his country and very different to mine, and no i wasn't a "pro" traveller etc etc etc. I just wanted cheap is all.

He was discounting like crazy too and it got down to 500 rupees (ooooh) but this is still like $20 and so i said no thanks and cruised. He pretty much kicked me out in the end when i declined his final offer. And i have to say i was and am very pleased I didn't lose my cool and was always polite because this guy could use a fist in the face like... yeah, something witty (o:

But at his hotel i did meet a nice american couple who gave me a map, let me look at their lonely planet and told me another girl was paying 300 rupees for a room in the same place. Hmmm. So i walked next door, was offered a room for 300 before the other guy came over and the room got bounced to 500 again (cartels!) and so i waved down the only taxi for miles around, threw it on meter and started to drive to Paharganj where rooms are much cheaper (around 100-200 rupees). I was also feeling really unsafe in the other area too. That's a first for me travel wise.

Back in the taxi \ tuk tuk \ rickshaw thing we were driving along with me practising my 4 words of Hindi when i spotted an ATM machine. Realising i had no money i asked him to pull over and i went to grab some cash. You swipe your card but then keep it and get your money out. not like other machines wher it goes in and then comes out last once you're done. I did my transaction, it was invalid and then i waited for my card to come back out to try again (remember, it never actually went in to begin with). So i stood there for like 10 minutes freaking out that it had eaten my card when i suddenly realised it was in my pocket! Aaaraggh! This is after a flight remember (o:

So i grab some moneys out, realise there's a guesthouse next door, I'm over this and just want to sleep, it's 150 Rupees a night, i don't even haggle, just say yes and go to pay my driver. He asks for 100R even though the meter said 20R (he's since turned it off and is now claiming there was no meter!?!). I argue for like 10 minutes flatly refusing to pay more and his price keeps falling with a million sob stories about night charges and all this crap. I offer him a 10R tip if he'd just go away and eventually it works when some other drivers come over and tell him to take it (after they'd first tried to get in on the minimum night charge idea of course!).

So i go up to my room which is a mini rubbish heap with dirty sheets, monsters under the bed, ebola viruses floating everywhere, muggers in the cupboard, rapists under the pillow and Chucky making a return coming through the roof and so on but the mattress is cushy and there's a tap so i take it.

I don't dare shower cause i'd contract something for sure but i manage to rinse my face (while being watched by a very spooky looking Indian guy across the coridoor) and head off to bed. I lock up everything possible, shutter the windows, jam the door closed with a metal rod and put my bag against it too. I then try to sleep while feeling sure I am somehow going to die in this little room tonight.

Or it wasn't that bad but I am sure getting out of this place, this city in fact today. I don't care where I go but I'm going. India is going to be amazing but not here, not yet.

So I am off now for a quick something to eat and that's another reason to run from here. The infamous 'Delhi belly'. Everyone seems to get sick here so I figure the rest of the country sounds like a good option. I am off to buy a lonely planet - travel without one i have found is a challenge. I gave my Asian one to some girls at the Thai airport who had just arrived and I think I was like an angel come from heaven to them. They were looking lost but after a little advice I think they'll be fine.

But now I'd better go and figure out where I am going. First bus, first train, to wherever, I don't care, I'm on it!