Delhi drives me mad...

RedSwordfish

Hi my friends,
I'm now nearly 24 hours in Delhi and I've had only bad inputs. A taxi-man left me in the middle of night in a dodgy area in Delhi and yelled at me , now I have a shabby room without any window in Connaught-Place and every time I try to go for a walk some young guys try to sell me hashish and follow me the whole time.

hope it"s gtting better

Dino

Hi redswordfish,
Sounds like your having a pretty tough time.Delhi is a big city and it's charms sometimes take a while to reveal themselves.Can I suggest you change hotels?Nothing worse than a room with no windows in my opinion.Hope things get better for you soon and just yell loudly at the hash dealers "cello!".

Alchemy

• Change hotel. Namaskar in Paharganj is a haven (but you need to get one of the more expensive rooms, approx. Rs 400). See the hotel section for details.
• Get out of the commercial ghetto. Walk around Old Delhi or Lodhi Gardens.
• Sit on a Paharganj roof terrace.
• Ignore the touts, or they will ruin your day.
• And, best of all, of course: Go to the Himalayas.

I still vividly remember the first night in Delhi -- exactly the same experience. Changed hotels, walked around the city for a while, and then off to Naini Tal. Came back to Delhi relaxed, and loved it ever since.

Enjoy.

iwanttogoback

redswordfish - at least you are brave enough to try delhi.
i refused to leave the train station when i looked out into paharganj, and stayed there until my next train arrived!
hope things improve.

andygoodyear

Hello!

I am staying at the master guest house in Delhi when I go in October. Its in a nice area and even though it is more expensive than most - looks really nice. I have heard great reviews. It works out at about £14 GBP per night

jennifericous

redswordfish, i had a similar experience first time around in delhi. see post 'delhi-yuck'.
but the second time i was there it was far better, for a star it wasn't as hot in july as in june, and there didn't seem to be so many people. maybe we had just perfected out 'dont tout with me' faces.
we stayed in a nice hotel in pahar ganj called hotel sanai. and theres a beautiful restaurant around the corner called metropolis. possibley the nicest restaurant ive eaten at.
we also visited the red fort-of course. and the ghandi museum which was excellent, and free. and we did some really good hopping (and haggling) in pahar ganj.
Jennxx

SHIMLA

Looks like you didn't find any "nice girls" to take you around!

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agni5454

LOL

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Indojingai

Delhi acts like a heat-sink for a CPU.

People come to Delhi... find that everything they ever knew is all gone, so they scream and shout and then afterwards they will like the rest of India.

I must say, we, bad Delhi-wallahs can use a bit of sweet talk...

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RedSwordfish

Thanx for your answers! After I left the Internet Cafe yesterday I walked over Connaught and a guy pointed on my shoe where a big load of poo was., and wanted to clean it. I herard about this sory but I never thought that it would happen to me! Anyway! I got invited for dinner from some Indian guys living on the roof of my hotel...Very friendly guys. I gave them some gin and after 10 minutes they were totally drunk.

some more soon....

lonelyaztec

Hey,

If u don't like to room, leave the room, and take a different place to stay.

If u don't like the area, go to a different area.

Touts - u will find them every where, so, like someone said - get used to them or ignore them.

Next time, take care that u don't stamp on poop, it is all over the places, as there are too many cows in Delhi and all over India.

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mira4bai4

If you get another load on your shoe just wipe it off with your finger and rub it into the shoe wallahs hair, its only a mix of shoe creams anyway but they will get the message. Don't ever pay to have it cleaned off, I did once, the second time I goose marched the little toe rag to the police room and we both gave him what for. Mind you after I left I am sure they both had a good laugh.

50sQuiff

Somehow I just don't see this 'thing' with Delhi. I arrived and loved it from Day 1, then left 10 days later loving it even more. Pahar Ganj is a great little place to stay. CP is in throwing distance and that's a damn pleasant area in my book. Not to mention the exhausting list of bona fide sites of interest to keep you busy. Perhaps it was because Delhi was a halfway point for me, rather than a point of arrival. But saying that, I arrived in Mumbai and that's still my favourite Indian city so ho hum.

dakotus

So is that really crap that they throw on your shoes?


Its strange because when I was in Delhi 2 years ago this happened to me. I wiped it off with something and threw it away. It was on the top of my shoe and not the bottom.


anyone?

camelgirl

Every city in India I arrive in freaks me out for at least the first 3 days--when I fly in from the USA. I have been to Delhi--(really like Delhi alot, but not those first few days) about a dozen times over the years and Bombay/Mumbai and Madras/Chennai. Even knowing what to expect doesn't ever help.

On our second day in Chennai my husband fell on a cracked and broken sidewalk and really hurt himself and I stepped in cow poop, we were all jet-lagged, sweaty and cranky and were so unhappy that day we might have flown right home! Couldn't wait to leave. 3 weeks later back in Chennai I was so relaxed and happy and going hither and yon in noisy rickshaws, shopping at Spencers Shopping Center for last minute stuff, that I was desperate to stay. Unfortunately, had to really leave after 3 days this time.