Delhightful?

Delhi oh Delhi! Where do I start, beloved? 

I had a spring on my step as I walked from the aircraft to the terminal building.  Mumbai had been awesome and Delhi promised to be great.

After a slight hiccup with my hotel pickup I was on my way to the city from the airport.  I got to my hotel, freshened up and got ready to hit the town. I must have walked for about 500m away from the hotel when it hit me. I was overwhelmed by noise, the humidity, the crowd and the poverty. I went back to my hotel to try and gain composure and try the city again  a little later.

When I got back to the hotel I changed clothes to more comfortable clothing. In all my travels I've never been intimidated by a city like Delhi did. It was strange. I took a walk to a different direction than I did earlier and it didn't work. The people starred at me without flinching. I was the only black person in the area. In fact I hadn't seen black people since I got off the KQ plane. Delhi 2: Me 0. I went back to my hotel and ordered room service and started thinking about going back home. 

I've never had to cut a trip short over how I felt about the city. I always made cities work. But perhaps I hadn't been to a city as different as Delhi. So after my nap I went online and I looked for a club. At 22:00 I dolled up and went to the club. I stayed till 02:00, met a few nice people but still no connection. Zilch. I wanted to go home. Not even  my next destination but home boo.

I woke up on Sunday morning with renewed energy. I wasn't going to go home. I wasn't going to be defeated by a city. Packed my city bag, walked outside the hotel and hailed a tuk tuk (or an auto rickshaw as they call it) and headed to the Red Fort. Two days later I'm still here and I like Delhi. I think by tonight I will love it.

So what the heck did I do wrong? Delhi is no place for perfectionists and preconceived ideas of how things should run. I chose my hotel based on the fact that it was in a 'safe' area. I expected  everything to be as pretty as a picture. And unfortunately a few metres away from the hotel I was met by the realities of india. I don't know why I expected all of this to be tucked away. I expected a Sandton knowing that Alexandra is across the road and when Alex hit sooner than I expected I freaked out. This has had me question the way things are done in South Africa...

GETTING AROUND
Delhi is a very big city of several millions of people. A city this big needs a transport system that will carry it's people to work and back home easily and efficiently.

Rickshaw
These are the guys who ride bicycles to ferry people along short distances. They charge around 20 Rupees (about ZAR 4) for their  effort. As a tourist they will obviously try and milk as much out of you as possible. So play hard.

Auto Rickshaw
These are what we call tuk-tuks. They go longer distances than the rickshaws and obviously more expensive because they are faster. Ask for the driver to put on the metre or agree on a prepaid rate before boarding.

Metro
By far the best invention for this city. Easy to use and very cheap too. A metro ticket costs  a minimum of... wait for it... 10 Rupees, yes you read right,  and goes up depending on the distance. The metro covers a big chunk of city, is air conditioned and on time. Announcements are made in English as well. There's a cart reserved especially for ladies and no men are allowed  in there. Even the other carts have seats reserved for ladies. Nice one Delhi! Because the men in this city are so aggressive.

Uber
In Uber we trust! Well not in Delhi. I've had two unfortunate events that have put me off Uber here. The first one was when I had to walk a few blocks to find my driver because he didn't know where my hotel was. This was the night I went clubbing. I even asked the hotel staff to direct him in Hindu. After a 7 minute conversation the only thing that made sense was to go find him.

The second incident was the worst for me. We got lost in Chattarpur with another driver. After 5 minutes of getting lost he told me to get off the car because he was late for his next appointment. It was 19:00 in an area I didn't know and he left me. Thank God for kind locals.

Below are a few pictures of the city. I won't bore you with details check it out in instagram.

I will post something on Delhi food culture later. It made me fall in love with the city. I explored restaurants that are over a 100 years old that made the most beautiful meals imaginable. Today I've four more to go. Can't wait.