I hardly want to remember this। It was awful, but at the same time I am glad I had this learning experience... We have trusted no one from the get-go, but as Jason pointed out there in an inevitable learning curve... This morning we were on our way to the train station to buy tickets for Agra. Another couple we met at our hotel (Paul and Jacky) were also interested in buying tickets so they tagged along with us. When we got to the train station, it was complete madness! There were tuk-tuks and rickshaws and taxis everywhere. As soon as we were spotted stepping out of our taxi, we became prey. It's no wonder as we all stood out in a sea of brown faces. When we finally made it to the entrance, after shooing away many, we were stopped and told we couldn't go through without a ticket. These were men claiming to be official government workers, showing us their "official badges". Yet red flags went up with their over-zealous attempt to get us to go with them. And it wasn't one particular group of people, it was everyone we made eye contact with. Four times this happened within thirty minutes. We were getting so many conflicting instructions. The police in uniforms and shoulder rifles stood by and did nothing. Even asking the travelers where to get tickets was a disaster. We had to go inside the train station and go down into a room, with people lying in wait to tell us it was closed and we needed to go to such and such a place to get tickets. Finally we decided it wasn't worth it and we were going to go try and see the Red Fort. By the way, this whole time Jason and I were carrying our gear and we were so hot and I got dehydrated! So, we went to get a tuk-tuk (small 3-wheeled taxi) and told the driver to take us directly to the Red Fort. After lots of negotiating and him promising to take us there directly there, we were off. Yet before we knew where we were, we stopped in an alley at a tourist bureau. By this time, Jacquline was irrate and stormed out of the tuk-tuk and said she wasn't paying him anything. There were about four Indian men there coaxing us to sit down and talk to them. We got played by Indian scammers!! Apparently, there are a lot of these scams here. They have a system set up to harrass the foreigners and trick them into buying their overpriced tickets they say are first class but not really so. Anywho, we were in the middle of Delhi then and decided to find the nearest metro to get to the Red Fort. That was a process! There were still people everywhere and it was butt-on-butt crowded. Yikes. Well we finally made it to the Red Fort and it was neat to see! Also, we ended up booking our train tickets online and getting the first train out the following morning with our friends Paul and Jacqueline, and coming back that night. It all worked out for the best anyway!
An outside wall of the Red Fort that was being painted then.
In front of the Red Fort. This was where the kind lived at one point and it is located in the heart of Delhi. There are massive walls surrounding it and subsequent buildings inside.
Our friends from England
At one of the palaces inside the Red Fort
This is our hotel room in Delhi that we stayed in for 3 nights at $45/night. It had A/C, room service, and a shower that kinda worked. It was great!
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