Weather: Hazy 25 - 35 degree Celcius. Definitely felt like a 35 degree Celcius day.
After breakfast, we set off in search of the tourist information office. We got a bit lost and an auto-rickshaw guy took us to the 'India government tourist office' on a back lane for Rs10. Alarm bells should have started ringing. The place name is similar to the official tourist office, it was in the Janpath area our guide book said to go to and the guy at the place confirmed that it is indeed a governmental tourist information office. In addition to its location in a small lane, the office is narrow and small with 3 cubicles squeezed in and the guy was pushy. He said trains to Shimla were unavailable and that there was only one train a day. I was pretty sure I had read that there was more than one train a day. The price he quoted for the 'Delhi - Agra - Jaipur' golden triangle tour was also much higher than I've been told by friends. Karin stood firm about not booking anything at that point, and we left with a free city map and a recommendation to go to CCI Mall. Another mistake, it was a 'goverment shop' that tried to sell us cheap cotton salwar kameez for an extortionate Rs1,000.
In between, we were approached by 'extremely helpful' men on the street who sent us on wild goose chase to another 'official' tourist office (we declined) and an International Tourist Booking (we went because we thought it was another ITB). But the guy at this fake ITB could not be bothered to try and scam us when it became clear we wanted train timetable information he didn't have and we were't going to buy anything. He sent us back to the railway station.
This was where we found a gem, the International Tourist Bureau on the 1st floor of the New Delhi Railway Station. It was big and looked official. It had other foreign tourists, air-con and best of all, some slightly bored-looking bureaucrats having their 3 o'clock tea.
We filled in a few forms, sat with a reservation officer who checked and booked trains for us, no problem. He got more animated when he realised Karin shared a last name with Bjorn Borg. We got return tickets to Agra and Shimla, air-con all the way, for less than GBP30 each. Hurrah for bureaucrats!
Yes, we should have read the Rough Guide's section on scams properly. Good thing was, we didn't part with our money to the scammers, just wasted some time.
Chilled out in the evening with a swim in the large YMCA pool, sharing it with kids having swim lessons. Shower ran out of water post-swim mid-hair conditioning as the kids must have used all the water up. Had another inclusive YMCA dinner with excellent dry veggie curry.
After breakfast, we set off in search of the tourist information office. We got a bit lost and an auto-rickshaw guy took us to the 'India government tourist office' on a back lane for Rs10. Alarm bells should have started ringing. The place name is similar to the official tourist office, it was in the Janpath area our guide book said to go to and the guy at the place confirmed that it is indeed a governmental tourist information office. In addition to its location in a small lane, the office is narrow and small with 3 cubicles squeezed in and the guy was pushy. He said trains to Shimla were unavailable and that there was only one train a day. I was pretty sure I had read that there was more than one train a day. The price he quoted for the 'Delhi - Agra - Jaipur' golden triangle tour was also much higher than I've been told by friends. Karin stood firm about not booking anything at that point, and we left with a free city map and a recommendation to go to CCI Mall. Another mistake, it was a 'goverment shop' that tried to sell us cheap cotton salwar kameez for an extortionate Rs1,000.
In between, we were approached by 'extremely helpful' men on the street who sent us on wild goose chase to another 'official' tourist office (we declined) and an International Tourist Booking (we went because we thought it was another ITB). But the guy at this fake ITB could not be bothered to try and scam us when it became clear we wanted train timetable information he didn't have and we were't going to buy anything. He sent us back to the railway station.
This was where we found a gem, the International Tourist Bureau on the 1st floor of the New Delhi Railway Station. It was big and looked official. It had other foreign tourists, air-con and best of all, some slightly bored-looking bureaucrats having their 3 o'clock tea.
We filled in a few forms, sat with a reservation officer who checked and booked trains for us, no problem. He got more animated when he realised Karin shared a last name with Bjorn Borg. We got return tickets to Agra and Shimla, air-con all the way, for less than GBP30 each. Hurrah for bureaucrats!
Yes, we should have read the Rough Guide's section on scams properly. Good thing was, we didn't part with our money to the scammers, just wasted some time.
 |
| YMCA's excellent dry veggie curry |
Hej Carol and Karin!
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog and enjoy reading it. Brings back a lot of memories from my trip to India in -96... Fun to read about your adventours, keep it up!
Lots of love from Sweden and Fredrika
Hi Carol, I'm so glad you didn't get ripped off by those guys - well done for finding the right place. Take care and hope you have a wonderful time! Harriet xxx
ReplyDeleteHey Carol, your trip to India is so adventurous and interesting. Enjoy reading it :)
ReplyDeleteHej hej Fredrika, thanks! It is interesting to hear about some of your experiences from Karin.
ReplyDeleteThanks Harriet! India was a great experience.
Thanks Huey Ning! It had indeed been an adventure :-).
Carol x