Delhi, Part 1 the First, or How I Didn't Get Scammed
Hi from Delhi!
So my flight was uneventful if uncomfortable and my landing was fine. I felt like a celebrity when my driver was waiting for me at airport when I landed at 11:00 p.m., a nice luxury.
My hotel was decent and of my four showers in 2 days I actually got hot water with one of them! WOW!
Yesterday I had a full day to explore hot, hectic, and teeming Delhi. My thought was that I would first buy a train ticket, maybe book a tour of the city for the following day, and look at a few markets and shops. Well, it's going to be hard to give you an idea about what actually happened yesterday but I could sum it up and tell you that I DO NOT want a tour of this city and I am leaving ASAP (today).
I encountered dozens (or more) enterprising capitalist types trying to entice me with "touts", or scams and many of my tuk tuk drivers (auto rickshaws) diverted me to "state emporiums" or supposedly state-run shops where I could buy myself a nice Punjabi suit for only $100 (and where they would get a nice commission.) I was also taken to multiple tourism centers where I was told all the trains were booked and I simply must rent a car, blah blah.
The story and how it played out is actually kind of funny but it is hard to convey here--the intensely capitalistic and lecherous behavior of many of these people is out of sight. (The nicest people were the women and children in the rundown areas I explored.) One young man, nicely dressed, was walking near me in a market and said, "You look like an Indian." UM, HELLO! I am of Scandanavian descent, it doesn't get much whiter. I told him, "Jao!" (Go away) as I was already so fed up with the touts. He said, "I mean by that of course, you have what we call the Indian high style. Oh, right. Long story short he concocted a fairly convincing story, oh, he was going that direction also, to meet his girlfriend, why don't we split the tuk tuk. Turns out he also was working for commision and his advice was NOT GOOD.
I was told later by a French guy that if that is all that I was told by a man I should consider myself flattered. Flattered also that someone grabbed my ass at the railway station. Jao! NOT.
So to sum up yesterday I was able to buy a train ticket for later tody for only R100-about $2-- to Hardiwar. I did notpurchse the $1500 private car tour of Rajasthan, don't worry. Once in Hardiwar I trek (ok that sounds fancy, I will walk) to Rishikesh, a very holy city. (Is there any city in this country that is not holy I wonder?)
What lies next for Sandi Satvi in Rishikesh? Yoga? Diarrhea? Both?
So my flight was uneventful if uncomfortable and my landing was fine. I felt like a celebrity when my driver was waiting for me at airport when I landed at 11:00 p.m., a nice luxury.
My hotel was decent and of my four showers in 2 days I actually got hot water with one of them! WOW!
Yesterday I had a full day to explore hot, hectic, and teeming Delhi. My thought was that I would first buy a train ticket, maybe book a tour of the city for the following day, and look at a few markets and shops. Well, it's going to be hard to give you an idea about what actually happened yesterday but I could sum it up and tell you that I DO NOT want a tour of this city and I am leaving ASAP (today).
I encountered dozens (or more) enterprising capitalist types trying to entice me with "touts", or scams and many of my tuk tuk drivers (auto rickshaws) diverted me to "state emporiums" or supposedly state-run shops where I could buy myself a nice Punjabi suit for only $100 (and where they would get a nice commission.) I was also taken to multiple tourism centers where I was told all the trains were booked and I simply must rent a car, blah blah.
The story and how it played out is actually kind of funny but it is hard to convey here--the intensely capitalistic and lecherous behavior of many of these people is out of sight. (The nicest people were the women and children in the rundown areas I explored.) One young man, nicely dressed, was walking near me in a market and said, "You look like an Indian." UM, HELLO! I am of Scandanavian descent, it doesn't get much whiter. I told him, "Jao!" (Go away) as I was already so fed up with the touts. He said, "I mean by that of course, you have what we call the Indian high style. Oh, right. Long story short he concocted a fairly convincing story, oh, he was going that direction also, to meet his girlfriend, why don't we split the tuk tuk. Turns out he also was working for commision and his advice was NOT GOOD.
I was told later by a French guy that if that is all that I was told by a man I should consider myself flattered. Flattered also that someone grabbed my ass at the railway station. Jao! NOT.
So to sum up yesterday I was able to buy a train ticket for later tody for only R100-about $2-- to Hardiwar. I did notpurchse the $1500 private car tour of Rajasthan, don't worry. Once in Hardiwar I trek (ok that sounds fancy, I will walk) to Rishikesh, a very holy city. (Is there any city in this country that is not holy I wonder?)
What lies next for Sandi Satvi in Rishikesh? Yoga? Diarrhea? Both?
Labels: ass-grabbing, Delhi, touts
posted by Julep | 10:28 PM
3 Comments:
Don't forget to take your shoe off and smack their heads! Or at least threaten to smack their heads! ; )
Horray! You made it! Will you be able to load photos to Flickr while there?
Maybe a tour by helicopter would be good? Otherwise, I'll check with my intern to see if there are other sites to see in Mumbai.
Keep posting! It's the only way we know you're alive.
So far, Chale Jao is enough. Any more and I will resort to left sandal-smacking.
Morton, I will eventually upload pics but I have been too busy taking pics to upload. Today I spied monkeys, lots of laundry, and a sadhu reading a newspaper from my rooftop. I took pictures of all.
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