Delhi and out of India!
Entering India, we were back to the chaotic dusty dirty streets, full of cars, trucks, rickshaws, cows, goats, dogs, buffaloes, and thousands of people… feces and urine everywhere…
We took a bus to the city of Sonauli where we planed to take the first train we could and get out of there.
This time, and because we were simply fed up with everything in India, we decided to take a second class train, which would spare us from the incredibly filthy, overcrowded, stinky and loud sleeper class we had taken the previous 5 months on the road.
There were no second class sleeper wagons and there was no train we could take any time soon. So we had to stay in that dirty city till next night. We were also forced to take the dirty sleeper class, which left me on a terrible mood.
We bough our ticket, after some struggle, since no one seems to ever heard of “staying on line” and wait for their turn.
The next thing to do was to find a guest house. We visited a couple and they were all expensive and dirty. So we were forced to get a dirty room, with a dirty bed and filthy bathroom. “It´s just for one night” and I tried to think positive. We had our own clean sheets and that was basically what saved us while traveling in India on a low budget.
We went for a short walk, but this city was so dirty, filled with flies, human and animal feces all over the ground, I decided to sleep as much as possible, so time would pass by as painless as possible.
Looking from my window the view was this:
| The smell of burning trash all day long… it was overwelming! |
We found a very cheap local stall serving really yummy vegan food. We ate there a few times but then, while eating, we found out they wash the kitchen utensils and dishes right next to the sewer (or what they call sewer, just a stream of water and feces on open ground). We saw the plates sitting on top of feces and for some reason the sewer overflew right in front of the restaurant. It was really hot and the smell was overwhelming.
I couldn´t finish eating and got really concerned about health issues and E. Coli, as I had been seriously sick for 20 days while in Goa and I´m pretty sure I got E. Coli infection.
| Washing the dishes, the pots and pans side by side with the sewer |
We decided to eat on the rooftop of our guest house and this way we didn´t have to go downstairs or have any contact with the streets. It was too dangerous and probably the most disgusting thing I had ever seen!
We finally took the train, back to Delhi.
We had stayed at hotel Downtown last time, it was a cell like room with no windows or much ventilation, but it was clean and an in suite bathroom and really… I rather have no windows to see so much filth outside my door.
This time though, the owner wanted way more money. How could the room be so much more expensive in matter of months?? It was not high season and they didn´t improve the hotel, so why should we pay more?
We decided to go somewhere else. We were tired of people trying to rip us off.
The problem is that in the area of Paharganj you have to search well before getting a room, as this is the backpacker and low budget hotel area.
After visiting a few filthy places, we found a room that could be ok for the last days of India. It was cheap and relatively clean, or so we though.
A young boy showed us the room and the sheets on the bed were filled with blood, which appeared to be menstruation blood. I was shocked they even showed us something like that, but after 5 months in India, we get a bit used to things like this.
The boy said the room and the sheets were fine, that it was just a tiny bit of blood, nothing serious.
I replied we would take the room if they´d change the sheets for fresh clean ones and clean the room better. It was the end of our stay and our budget was limited. So he agreed and we came back a bit later.
When entering the supposedly clean room, what do I find??
A young child changing the sheets while a young teenager looked out of the window, watching something on his mobile phone and masturbating… (Seriously!!)
I yelled at him, asking; “what the F*** are you doing???!!!” and with a big smile he replied: “Nothing!, your sheets are changed, we´re done”.
We stayed there for 2 nights and found out the place was infested with cockroaches, so we decided to move once more.
We finally found a brand new hotel, stuck in some dodgy labirintic streets of Delhi, but it was really cheap and super clean. And that was our place for the next days.
| Insane and dangerous electricity system |
| The backpackers area |
Paharganj was going through a chaotic time, if it was possible to get more chaotic! There was stuff everywhere, lots of trash, buildings being destroyed and the electricity cables looked scarier than ever before.
We left India with this last images of filth and chaos and the certainty that India is not for everyone and definitely not for us, or at least not for so long and not on a tight budget anymore.
If we’d ever go back to India, we’ll avoid doing everything we did, like trying to mix with the local people, take the same train classes of the majority, stay in the same guest houses locals stay, etc.
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| The only thing that kept me happy…. the Indian food |
We don’t regret we got to know the raw, rough and brutal India. That’s the real India and that’s what we wanted to experience and live, instead of traveling on a bubble of luxury and fantasy without ever tasting the real culture, tradition or gastronomy. But living the raw India can not be done for so long or it will eat you from the inside.
I was pretty drained, pissed off and fed up. Lost tons of weight because of the E. Coli infection and needed to go back to the West urgently.
I was tired of cast system, of seeing the horrible fate of the untouchables and in a way I felt India is probably the most violent and aggressive country I´ve ever been so far… and I´ve traveled a lot! So, Europe, here I come again! Yuppy!
But this trip made me value what I have so much more and just for this it was all worth it!
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The city looks like a real mess! So dirty and busy, but I’m glad you enjoyed the Indian food :). The plate looks so yummy!
India is NOT an easy destination. I’m glad I went there and experienced 5 full months traveling across the subcontinent, but I wouldn’t return. Everyday was filled with stress, problems, people trying to scam us, etc, etc… I believe in India you get what you pay for and traveling with such a tight budget like I did (600€ for half a year for food, accommodation, train rides, motorbikes and 1 month in Nepal+Nepali visa all included – and I returned with money!) was probably a wrong decision.