Delhi

I spent 5 days in Delhi which in my opinion is too long.

Everyone there it seems is trying to scam you with a smile on their face.

Our first day we were going to walk to Connaught place when we met a very friendly guy who warned us about a slum we would walk through on the way there and recommended we get a Rickshaw. He even bargained with the Rickshaw driver to get us a cheap rate but once in we were in we were taken to a tourist office (travel agent) in the middle of nowhere and had to pay double to get a Rickshaw back.

Eventually we did get wise and to anyone that asked 'how long have you been here' I said 'a while' and anyone that suggested we needed a tourist office instead of where we were going I stopped talking to.

It's not a good introduction to a country, having to learn not to trust anyone that seems to be offering help and really made me debate on whether to stay in India for my intended 3 months.

It wasn't until 4 days into Delhi that I started to enjoy the craziness of it. After a hectic day of monuments, temples and an art gallery we headed over to the red fort for what we thought would be a lightshow. Instead of a lightshow what we found was the first night of a 9 day Hindi festival (dushera) where politicians (or religious leaders) were getting anointed and there wad a performance of the whole of the Hindi holy book on a big stage in front of the fort accompanied by fairground rides and street food.

As soon as we arrived the TV crew asked to interview us so we gave some soundbites about how amazing it is, then they let is through to sit in the front row and watch. Everyone there was really friendly, explaining about the festival and helping us out without expecting anything in return and helped me to like Delhi a lot more.

Day 5 in Delhi and people started getting stomach bugs. We all booked onward travel regardless but were not looking forward to bumpy bus rides ..