After a delightful breakfast of something Indian and spicy, I headed to the Red Fort to do some sight seeing. For some reason, everytime I think of India, I think of it being oppressively hot with the exception of the mountain region. This is not true. In the winter, Delhi gets cold. Not Chicago or Boston cold, but not exactly light weight wind jacket warm. I think my attire was the first hint that I was completely new to Delhi and thus an easy mark.
I should have taken it as a bad omen that I saw a Tuktuk, very similar to the one that I was riding in ablaze on the side of the road, but I opted to ignore it. (And when I say ablaze I mean like in the movies where the entire thing engulfed in flames and every minute or so, there was an tiny explosion.) I arrived at the Red Fort where I was quickly greeted by a man that offered to drive me around the city on his rickshaw for free but attempted to ignore him and head into the fort.
The Red Fort was a nice change of pace from the area surrounding it. It was a little bit dishelveled and dirty, and there were a lot of stray dogs procreating on the grounds. But overall, I found the area to be peaceful. Well, other than the Indians that were fascinated by me. I posed for pictures with 6 different groups of children, was hit on by three different men, and followed for forty minutes by a very confused young man that apparently thought I wanted to marry him (maternal Indian women decided to take it upon herself protect me and tell him off). I guess a tall white girl alone is not a common sight in Delhi. People seemed truely fascinated by my every move like I knew the meaning of life and was going to reveal it to them at any moment. This was all in the span of approximately two hours (the Red Fort does not take that long to see but I was unwilling to leave the fortified walls and head back out into the city).
I eventually did where I was quickly greeted by the man from before once again offering me a ride on his rickshaw. Now, pop up spam alerts were going off in my brain telling me that this was a scam, but he promised me that he wouldn't charge me anything and I could pay him whatever I felt like at the end. I was curious just to see how he was going to try and get my money, and I was completely overwhelmed by the city. I figured giving this a try would be better than heading back to my hotel to cry (which was plan b). So I jumped on the back of the rickshaw, and I would say overall that it was worth it. I am sure most of you are concerned about this decision, but I didn't think that I could be kidnapped and held for ransom by a rickshaw that barely went faster than I walked. It was nice going through the markets with someone that actually new what was going on and where things were, since I had no idea. The research I had done in preparation for this trip was severely lacking practical knowledge. I saw a Jain temple that I would never have been able to find on my own, the spice market, silk market, saree market, and wedding market which are places that I would most likely would have taken one look at and run away in fear if I was on my own. I would say that overall I didn't get scammed too badly. We would be going through the market and all of a sudden I would be in a shop looking at twelve pashminas or a dozen ruby bracelets. They are very aggressive when it comes to hocking merchandise. I would stop for a second and out of no where three or four people would emerge teaming up against you to get you to buy something. And the rickshaw driver kept taking me to store to go shopping which was not something that I was really interested it. But I managed to walk away with buying very little. I got a "ruby" ring that is very pretty and very blair and cost about as much as I would pay for it if it was a very good imitation in the US, so I don't feel too awful.
I am not good at haggling, do you know how I know this? Because twice when I bought things the shop keepers felt the need to give me a present as I was leaving. :( I would like to think its because I am cute and sweet and they wanted to buy my affection. But I don't think that is how things work over here.
I should have taken it as a bad omen that I saw a Tuktuk, very similar to the one that I was riding in ablaze on the side of the road, but I opted to ignore it. (And when I say ablaze I mean like in the movies where the entire thing engulfed in flames and every minute or so, there was an tiny explosion.) I arrived at the Red Fort where I was quickly greeted by a man that offered to drive me around the city on his rickshaw for free but attempted to ignore him and head into the fort.
The Red Fort was a nice change of pace from the area surrounding it. It was a little bit dishelveled and dirty, and there were a lot of stray dogs procreating on the grounds. But overall, I found the area to be peaceful. Well, other than the Indians that were fascinated by me. I posed for pictures with 6 different groups of children, was hit on by three different men, and followed for forty minutes by a very confused young man that apparently thought I wanted to marry him (maternal Indian women decided to take it upon herself protect me and tell him off). I guess a tall white girl alone is not a common sight in Delhi. People seemed truely fascinated by my every move like I knew the meaning of life and was going to reveal it to them at any moment. This was all in the span of approximately two hours (the Red Fort does not take that long to see but I was unwilling to leave the fortified walls and head back out into the city).
I eventually did where I was quickly greeted by the man from before once again offering me a ride on his rickshaw. Now, pop up spam alerts were going off in my brain telling me that this was a scam, but he promised me that he wouldn't charge me anything and I could pay him whatever I felt like at the end. I was curious just to see how he was going to try and get my money, and I was completely overwhelmed by the city. I figured giving this a try would be better than heading back to my hotel to cry (which was plan b). So I jumped on the back of the rickshaw, and I would say overall that it was worth it. I am sure most of you are concerned about this decision, but I didn't think that I could be kidnapped and held for ransom by a rickshaw that barely went faster than I walked. It was nice going through the markets with someone that actually new what was going on and where things were, since I had no idea. The research I had done in preparation for this trip was severely lacking practical knowledge. I saw a Jain temple that I would never have been able to find on my own, the spice market, silk market, saree market, and wedding market which are places that I would most likely would have taken one look at and run away in fear if I was on my own. I would say that overall I didn't get scammed too badly. We would be going through the market and all of a sudden I would be in a shop looking at twelve pashminas or a dozen ruby bracelets. They are very aggressive when it comes to hocking merchandise. I would stop for a second and out of no where three or four people would emerge teaming up against you to get you to buy something. And the rickshaw driver kept taking me to store to go shopping which was not something that I was really interested it. But I managed to walk away with buying very little. I got a "ruby" ring that is very pretty and very blair and cost about as much as I would pay for it if it was a very good imitation in the US, so I don't feel too awful.
I am not good at haggling, do you know how I know this? Because twice when I bought things the shop keepers felt the need to give me a present as I was leaving. :( I would like to think its because I am cute and sweet and they wanted to buy my affection. But I don't think that is how things work over here.
1 comment:
I think I'm going to sneak out to check out the Red Fort and Old Delhi during my 11 hr layover...I'll say hi to your tuktuk driver.
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