We have made it safely to New Delhi, India and what a roller coaster we have riden since being here. Before coming here, we were warned by a man we meet in Nepal that india is difficult to navigate through because the people aren't as helpful and friendly as other Asian countries.
From the airport, we took a pre-paid taxi ride to our hotel that cost 400 Indian rupees which is roughly $6.50 USD (the exchange rate is $1 to about 60 Indian Rupees). We had to swim through all the cigarette smelling taxi driver worms who continually catcall us to take their taxi. We got into the taxi of a nice guy who tried to find our hotel. When we neared out hotel, we found that the major road to get to our hotel was blocked off by a police border because of elections occuring. Our taxi driver took us to the Ministry of Tourism where we called our hotel. The hotel reassured that there wasn't a way to get there and said they would give our money back on our card. We will see if that actually shows up. The guy at the ministry told us that our budget for a hotel wasn't good because the hotels aren't safe and clean. We upted our budget to a max of $50 and the taxi driver took us to another hotel. Sure enough the hotel was $50 a night and it wasn't better than any other hotel we've stayed at. When we arrived, the "nice" taxi driver then said that we owed him another 400 rupees for a "second trip from the first hotel to the second and 500 rupees for (his) tip". Our jaws hit the ground. First off, who askes for and quotes their own tip. Second, there was no way the "second trip" cost the same at the "first trip" because it was only around the corner that he took us. We were peaved and ready to be done with India. We were stuck so we paid the man and went angrily to our hotel. We complained to the front desk about what just happened and the front desk guy's jaw dropped also. As we were stewing about what happened in our room and how much we had to pay for a less-than-average hotel room, the guy from the front desk knocked on our door. He handed us the money that we gave the taxi driver. We asked him how he got it and he said that he knew the owner of the taxi company and called him and told him what happened. The owner called his driver and demanded that he turn around and give the money back. The front desk kid had restored a little faith in India for us.
India is a dirty place with so many diverse people. We walked around our hotel for a little bit trying to find a cyber cafe because our hotel's WiFi wasn't working and we crossed the paths of many homeless people who eat, sleep, and do their business right on the street or sidewalk. It was hard to walk around. We grabbed six samosas for 60 rupees ($1) and went back to our hotel to meet with Brother Boddu.
Brother Boddu was a ray of sunshine. He was so nice to come out to our hotel. He lives about an hour from our hotel, is the Branch President here (four weeks ago he was called to that position), is also the public relations officer for the church in India, and works as a systems analyst at IBM. He gave us a phone with loaded minutes on it to use while we are here in India, and just put a smile on our face. He is a super nice guy and we are excited to spend a few days with him.
The next day we checked out another hotel and moved to another one that was down the street for $30 a night.Later, we hired a tuk tuk driver to take us to some sites around Delhi. We first went to the Askhardham Mandir (you guess is as good as ours. Indian people speak so fast it is hard to understand them). That place was very beautiful, but it kind of felt like Disney Landish. The temple was completed in 2005 and displayed incredible stonework. However, knowing that it was done with modern technology and craftsmanship kind of took away from the magnificence. We were required to leave everything except our passports and money in a locked place so we weren't allowed to take pictures.
Our ride continued to the Lotus Temple. This place was neat also. Most all the sites to see in Delhi are free to enter so, that made it nice to swallow our hotels arrangements. Plus, we have spent about $7 for food thus far and that has covered four meals. Not too bad. With the major expense of our hotels and losing the money from the other hotel, things are starting to balance out because of the super low cost of food.
As we were driving, the tuk tuk driver informed us that the first hotel we were staying at is owned by the same guy who owns the pre-paid taxi service at the airport and that there are fake Ministry of Tourism offices around the city. What a total scam! If they celebrated Christmas here, our taxi driver would get a nice Christmas bonus.
The taxi drivers hands are in the hotel's pants and the tuk tuk drivers have their hands in the merchant's pants. On our way back from the Lotus Temple, the tuk tuk driver stopped at 3 differet stores that sold rugs, carpets, and little trinkets. After denying several rug offers and being pushed to the far corners of each shop to look at another wooden elephant, we made it to our hotel to get ready for the Taj Mahal.
From the airport, we took a pre-paid taxi ride to our hotel that cost 400 Indian rupees which is roughly $6.50 USD (the exchange rate is $1 to about 60 Indian Rupees). We had to swim through all the cigarette smelling taxi driver worms who continually catcall us to take their taxi. We got into the taxi of a nice guy who tried to find our hotel. When we neared out hotel, we found that the major road to get to our hotel was blocked off by a police border because of elections occuring. Our taxi driver took us to the Ministry of Tourism where we called our hotel. The hotel reassured that there wasn't a way to get there and said they would give our money back on our card. We will see if that actually shows up. The guy at the ministry told us that our budget for a hotel wasn't good because the hotels aren't safe and clean. We upted our budget to a max of $50 and the taxi driver took us to another hotel. Sure enough the hotel was $50 a night and it wasn't better than any other hotel we've stayed at. When we arrived, the "nice" taxi driver then said that we owed him another 400 rupees for a "second trip from the first hotel to the second and 500 rupees for (his) tip". Our jaws hit the ground. First off, who askes for and quotes their own tip. Second, there was no way the "second trip" cost the same at the "first trip" because it was only around the corner that he took us. We were peaved and ready to be done with India. We were stuck so we paid the man and went angrily to our hotel. We complained to the front desk about what just happened and the front desk guy's jaw dropped also. As we were stewing about what happened in our room and how much we had to pay for a less-than-average hotel room, the guy from the front desk knocked on our door. He handed us the money that we gave the taxi driver. We asked him how he got it and he said that he knew the owner of the taxi company and called him and told him what happened. The owner called his driver and demanded that he turn around and give the money back. The front desk kid had restored a little faith in India for us.
India is a dirty place with so many diverse people. We walked around our hotel for a little bit trying to find a cyber cafe because our hotel's WiFi wasn't working and we crossed the paths of many homeless people who eat, sleep, and do their business right on the street or sidewalk. It was hard to walk around. We grabbed six samosas for 60 rupees ($1) and went back to our hotel to meet with Brother Boddu.
Brother Boddu was a ray of sunshine. He was so nice to come out to our hotel. He lives about an hour from our hotel, is the Branch President here (four weeks ago he was called to that position), is also the public relations officer for the church in India, and works as a systems analyst at IBM. He gave us a phone with loaded minutes on it to use while we are here in India, and just put a smile on our face. He is a super nice guy and we are excited to spend a few days with him.
The next day we checked out another hotel and moved to another one that was down the street for $30 a night.Later, we hired a tuk tuk driver to take us to some sites around Delhi. We first went to the Askhardham Mandir (you guess is as good as ours. Indian people speak so fast it is hard to understand them). That place was very beautiful, but it kind of felt like Disney Landish. The temple was completed in 2005 and displayed incredible stonework. However, knowing that it was done with modern technology and craftsmanship kind of took away from the magnificence. We were required to leave everything except our passports and money in a locked place so we weren't allowed to take pictures.
Our ride continued to the Lotus Temple. This place was neat also. Most all the sites to see in Delhi are free to enter so, that made it nice to swallow our hotels arrangements. Plus, we have spent about $7 for food thus far and that has covered four meals. Not too bad. With the major expense of our hotels and losing the money from the other hotel, things are starting to balance out because of the super low cost of food.
As we were driving, the tuk tuk driver informed us that the first hotel we were staying at is owned by the same guy who owns the pre-paid taxi service at the airport and that there are fake Ministry of Tourism offices around the city. What a total scam! If they celebrated Christmas here, our taxi driver would get a nice Christmas bonus.
The taxi drivers hands are in the hotel's pants and the tuk tuk drivers have their hands in the merchant's pants. On our way back from the Lotus Temple, the tuk tuk driver stopped at 3 differet stores that sold rugs, carpets, and little trinkets. After denying several rug offers and being pushed to the far corners of each shop to look at another wooden elephant, we made it to our hotel to get ready for the Taj Mahal.
Shelley and the Lotus Temple
Catching some ZZZs.
The first carpet/rug shop taught us how to weave the carpets. We learned that it takes one family who works 6 hours a day for 6 days a week, one year to complete a rug that is 4'x6' in size.
The man with the white hair and beard is Professor Butt. He educated us about all the carpet info..
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