Day 7 and Delhi on foot...

We awoke early and stumbled out the door by 9am today. We went looking for a place to eat on our street and found a restaurant called Cafe Koshala that we had seen about 10 foreigners eating outside at last night (always a good sign). We sat on the side of the street under a tin roof with the flies and the street dogs and ate two fried eggs on toast for 25 INR (just over 50 cents!) and a veg sandwich as we shooed away beggar kids. Luckily for me, India overflows with tea so I get to enjoy my favourite beverage for about 10 cents everywhere! The only strange thing is that most places don't have mugs for tea and coffee so they serve hot beverages in juice glasses which are very hot and hard to manage!

From there we were hassled into a travel office down the street which went from a two minute ordeal to a five minute ordeal and led to us just walking out. Then we took the metro to Connaught Place (the swanky shopping area) to find the government tourism office to see about trains for the next leg of our journey. We finally found the office and talked with a man who had a very strained and funny voice. He couldn't issue us tickets and was of little help but quickly proceeded to pass us along to a "friend" of his at a travel agent who would help us out. Of course we knew we were in for a swindling good time but we decided to go, directions in hand, and see what garbage he would try to spit at us. First, we went to a coffee shop to really finalize our plans and then found our way to the office through a long line of glares and laughs from vulture street men. The travel agent kept ripping apart our plans and tried to sell us more than we wanted or needed, of course. I was willing to listen to what he had to say in case something amazing jumped out at me but not much did. He didn't have a computer so he had to call in the train tickets and told us to call him back at night. We walked out knowing that we would not be going through him and now needed to try to find the foreigner train reservation office...after some sightseeing first.

From there, we took a prepaid autorikshaw to Humayun's Tomb which was a very quiet and impressive site. Then we tried to get a cab to Lodi Gardens but all the cabs were charging too much. We got one to agree to a price that was still astronomical but more fair to us and everything should have been ok. After about 1km the rikshaw conveniently "stalled" and he pointed to me and slapped the seat next to him, implying that I was to ride up front. "Tsk, NO." Then he pointed to Justin and did the same saying something about the weight being an issue. We were not impressed to say the least. Justin was fuming and walked out, refusing to pay anything. I got pretty nervous because the guy followed us a little. I really don't know what any of these men are capable of so I get uncomfortable doing stuff like that but it really, really, has to be done in some cases or else you'll be swindled out of all your money eventually.

So, we walked about 600 or 700m to the Lodi Gardens. They are a magnificent set of gardens really in the middle of nowhere but extremely peaceful inside. However, we were so tired by then and annoyed that we decided to push on and try to see more since most of the day was spent haggling. Like usual, every time we want a cab there isn't one, so we walked to Safdarjang's Tomb. It was not very impressive at all but I can say that I was in the complex. I had to get an ice cream from a cart right outside because I hadn't eaten from breakfast and was starting to get faint. Their ice creams are great and are very, very affordable.

Then, we walked to Gandhi Smirti, a museum and the site of Gandhi's assassination. I forgot that it is Monday and most all sites are not open on Mondays so we could only walk around the grounds. We were able to see where Gandhi was shot and it was a very eerie experience. Since the site was technically closed, there were no children running around and no crowds to navigate through. When you circle the first building, you come to a walkway with a path of concrete footprints beside it. You amble down the path beside the last steps of the leader until you get to a monument at the spot where he fell. To literally see the footprints of him and walk, in a sense, in his shoes, was very moving.

It is extremely difficult to get a cab here any time after 4pm if you are not at a bus station or a train station because of the rush hour traffic. So, back to walking and a very long and dusty trek to the metro by the Central Secretariat (which we were at the other day). By the time we got there it was dark outside and we were going by the military area with men coming out of buses, etc, which was a bit of a nervous experience for me. Finally, we made it back to our hotel. Then we tried to find a Korean restaurant that we saw a poster for but it was down many alleyways that were dark and very sketchy...again very nervous for me. We decided to go to Gem and try their food and get a beer. We got their Thali (a mixed platter that comes with dal markhani (my safety dish!), rice, another two curry dishes, curd (I avoid this for digestive purposes), papadum, and naan for only 65 INR ($1.75 or so!)).