Delhi is without doubt the worst city I’ve ever been to. No redeeming features whatsoever.
Jan 2009
I suppose now a couple of years have passed I should qualify that a bit more. It wasn’t just Delhi, it was the people we met there.
Some of our number were heading off independently to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, so were after a train ticket. On arrival at the train station a man in a uniform told us we had to visit the official tourist office and gave us the address, about a mile away. A hot and dirty walk later we arrived at the address to find the Official Tourist Office, sandwiched between two Official Tourist Offices and on the floor below another Official Tourist Office.
We went into the one we’d been directed to and unsurprisingly it wasn’t an Official Tourist Office, so arfer much consternation they directed us next door. That wasn’t the Official Tourist Office either. Annoyed by now we got in a tuk-tuk and asked to be taken to the Official Tourist Office. He took us to another Official Tourist Office which wasn’t the Official Tourist Office.
Very annoyed we stopped in a cafe to get a drink but were ignored by the staff for 30 minutes so left and got a soft drink by the roadside instead. Thankfully there was an Official Tourist Map which showed the Offical Official Tourist Office so we headed there.
The nice chap at the Official Tourist Office said that if we wanted to buy a train ticket we just needed to the train station, where we’d started 4 hours earlier.
In an effort to avoid anyone else having such a dire day, here is the list of official Incredible India tourist offices: http://www.incredibleindia.org/newsite/cms_page.asp?pageid=1110
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Delhi has some terrible people, though, it does have its share of good folks too. Also, Delhi has superb food, especially Indian. The next time, you could possibly do a little homework, before arriving, to be conned by the idiots around.
I apologise on behalf, of the unscrupulous and dishonest people of Delhi, who you had the bad experience with. Please don’t let that be your yardstick to judge the city, its people, or it food.