Delhi

So I'll need to start this blog with my anger for Avis rental company. And if anyone has good suggestions of how we should handle this we are open to options. So with our car that we had rented in Jordan we returned it to the airport and fought to get a refund for the days that we were unable to use the car. It took 2 days for them to fix the tire and we couldn't use it at all. So we explained this to the guy who was at the Amman airport location. Initially he was going to give us 20$ off the rental, hardly acceptable. So we reasoned with him and he told us that he would give us the 2 days for free, knocking $100 off the price. We had an interesting discussion about the processing of the payment as he said that it was done online and he had submitted for  our agreed cost and that is what I have in the paper work. After checking my MasterCard statement I see that they charged us the full amount. I have already tried emailing them from Jordan with no reply. I was going to go through my mc next. So I will strongly suggest anyone who is renting cars to stay away from Avis, nothing but problems!!!!

Anyway back to our travel blog..... So we're in India. And it's turned out to be what we thought, over populated, polluted, dirty, it's hectic and busy to walk and even worse in a car. However the people are very nice and the food is delicious!!!we have managed to avoid the dreaded Delhi belly. And I have created rules about what I should and shouldn't eat. Mostly if it isn't cooked I'm not eating it and if its not in a bottle I'm not drinking it, which is perfect as that leaved me with water, beer and wine! 

Our arrival here was at 6 am so we checked into our hotel and had a good nap. After that we were on a mission to book out train tickets. Fail. The train is completely booked up because this week there is yet another festival that we are here for. So Indians can book their tickets in advance with a resident number online but foreigners are not allowed. We tried going to the train station and got pointed in a million different directions and talked with a couple tour operators all of which wanting to get us into a hired driver. We decided to figure it all out over some butter chicken and fresh naan. Did  I mention the food is amazing? We ended up hiring a driver and car to take us to Agra to see Taj Mahal and then to Jaipur known to here as the pink city.  We will not be returning to Delhi which suits us fine! 

We took our driver for a test run to see some of the sights around Delhi, the traffic is so bad it takes forever to get anywhere but we were able to see some temples, tombs and ruins, some in beautiful shape, some very run down from the elements. By the end of the day we were feeling exhausted so we had a good rest and headed out to dinner. This meal will be the one to beat. It was incredible, a chicken curry similar to butter chicken but better, and a lamb curry that I can't compare to anything else. There was also crispy okra which was amazing and garlic naan and a naan that comes stuffed with cheese and onion. Incredible! We tried wandering around the complex but most places were closed, tried seeing a movie but the last showing was over.  So we ended up trying to get organized to leave in the morning. 

Now we are headed to Agra and it has been a very slow ride. When I say traffic is bad here it's nothing like at home. You have cars and buses, trucks and motorbikes, but then you have ox's and horses with wagons, tractors, tuk-tuks both motorized and bicycles. People are trying to cross the street, mens with herds of sheep are walking down the shoulder or median, people are trying to turn and there's no lanes. It took us 1.5 hrs to go 33 Kms. So once we get to Agra it will be nice to have 2 days there with little or no driving.