Initially I´d been pretty annoyed about my minder´s disappearing act and intended to make a complaint to the organisation which had arranged for him to take care of me. Now that I was safely back in Delhi I decided not to take it any further, after all I didn´t really know what had happened, it could have been any one of a number of things, not necessarily his fault. He had told me he was originally a Tibetan refugee himself and I didn´t want to get him in to too much trouble.
I was determined to make the best of my time in Delhi and see as much as possible despite being alone so I started to venture forth on my own, initially on foot, and wandered around the area and bazaar near my hotel, always during the day, of course. Near the station I found there was a tuk-tuk kiosk where you could arrange and prepay for your journey without any hassle so I grew bolder and started to venture further afield, trusty guidebook in hand. Connaught Place, a central point in New Delhi, was easy to get to, well-known and had many interesting places to visit so I went there several times. Growing bolder yet I decided a guided full day tour by coach to Delhi´s main sights would be an ideal way to see a lot of interesting places, as everything is rather scattered. There are many tourist agencies selling tours but I made sure to go to the official Indian Tourism one to book mine. The following day on the way to the starting point my tuk-tuk driver insisted on taking me to the wrong agency, no doubt for a commission, but luckily I knew where I was and walked the short distance to the correct place.
The tour was excellent and visited about a dozen places amongst which I really enjoyed seeing the Bahai Lotus Temple, a place for quiet contemplation.
There was the Astronomical Observatory, Humayun´s Tomb, India Gate and many others including the Red Fort built by Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal.
Cutting grass by hand in the Red Fort gardens.
Delhi has many wonderful places to visit, this tour could only cover a few but it was well worth taking. By the end of the afternoon, though, I was ready to get back to my room.
After the tour was over the guide arranged for a tuk-tuk to take me back to Paharganj where I would have to walk the last stretch to my hotel. All went well until we arrived and I went to pay the driver the agreed fare plus a tip. He demanded more than double the fare and started shouting at me when I tried to argue with him. I knew how much had been agreed and was determined not to be intimidated or ripped off. We were near the busy bazaar and a mostly male crowd started to surround us. The driver started appealing to the crowd and I decided I´d better leave before things got out of hand. I shouted at the driver that I had given him the full fare as agreed, drew myself up to my full height (5'7") and marched off through the crowd into the bazaar with my pack on my back. I really didn´t know what was going to happen next, if anything, but I was hopping mad and tired of feeling vulnerable. Despite my fears no-one followed me and I made it back to my hotel without incident, thank goodness.
Still more to come...
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