Honeymoon Around the World: 2014

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Thanks for the rude awakening, Delhi

So Delhi slapped us in the face like a hot vindaloo curry! The trip from the airport to the central Metro station was pretty easy, but the moment we stepped out of the air conditioned comfort of the terminal our senses were assaulted. Hot, humid, noisy, crowded and not to mention stinky! Public ablution is a standard activity and the combined smell of human excrement, rotting food and stagnant water, all festering in the heat, is overwhelming and gut wrenching.

Trying to deal with the physical onslaught and clearly not from India we became prime targets for dishonest touts. Look, we've met our fair share of scamsters and dodgy caracters throughout our travels, but nothing comes close to what we experienced in Delhi... At first it seems like every other person wants to 'help' and show you the 'right' way. It turns out that Delhi has a network of well organised (well dressed & well spoken) con men with the sole purpose of exploiting tourists. After being taken to three different travel agents to get our supposed 'tourist passes' the realisation that it was all bul*s*it came when one of the agents called our hotel to confirm our booking, telling us our room had been given away because we didn't check in by 12:00. He handed the phone to Wiets (who was slowly losing his patience) and the guy on the other end explained at length why we had forfeited our room... Smelling a rat, we told them to stuff it. Backpacks in tow and back into the heat, we navigated the narrow crowded alleys by foot (with the help of a gps map) and eventually arrived at our hotel... Needless to say, our room was still ours and the clean air conditioned hotel became our sanctuary. We won't be listening to anyone anytime soon.

Almost everyone that's been to India told us to get a travel agent to organise our trip, 'No' we said 'we want to experience India the real way and do everything ourselves'. Perhaps we should have listened...

Anyhoo... Now that we've had our first (and probably not the last) baptism of fire, we are ready(ish) for the rest :)

Elephants, camels and dogs together on the main road... Normal, right?

Our hotel has a rooftop restaurant that serves cold beer and delicious food... bliss!

We could see the busy (read crazy) streets below.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Mumbai Light

We arrived in Mumbai the middle of the night - and what a pleasant surprise. The airport is just beautiful! We checked in at a hotel close to the airport to get a few hours of sleep before the Indian adventure started.

We couldn't have asked for a better introduction to India, thanks Anoop! (Anoop worked with Wiets at RMB) You made our first day in Mumbai effortless :)

Anoop and his driver Muthi(sp) chauffeured us around Mumbai, stopping at all the 'must-see' sights and ritzing us around like VIPs. We stopped at the Dhobi ghat, Ghandis' house, the Gateway of India, The Taj Hotel, Leopoldt and the Mumbai Central Railway station (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus). But best of all, Anoop introduced us to our first Thali! We went to a restaurant called Rajdhani's Rasovara 'The Royal Kitchen' and feasted on a selection of curries, paneer, pickles, dips and rotis (all vegetarian) - and the food just kept coming! I'm obsessed ;) Later he took us to sample some street food in the form of Puri Pani (little hollow domes of thin crispy fried dough) filled with a cold and spicy coriander flavoured liquid and veggies. They fill it messily from a large vat directly after which you pop the entire thing into your mouth to experience the spicy-cool-sweet-savoury sensation that is a pani puri - delight!

After a very comfortable 'India Light' version of Mumbai we are now off to Delhi... Let's see what that city holds!

We have never travelled with backpacks before! But after realising what we were in for we figured that it would probably be the best way... There is a first time for everything ;)