The Escape from Delhi

July 16th, 2012 - Pathankot, India

Namaste!

It's been exactly a week since we left the Great White North.  We'll have to fill you in on a fair bit.  Here goes...

Our journey started out with the spirit of India.  After a tearful farewell at the airport to family and friends, we flew from Kelowna to Vancouver via Canada's favourite airline, Westjet.  We were grateful to take our instruments as carry-on baggage, and the flight was smooth and uneventful.  We marvelled at the Coastal Mountains, and remembered flying home from our last trips and our respective emotions that seeing the great mountains aroused. 

It was hot and sunny in Vancouver, and after claiming our bags, we went to find our China Southern check-in port.  A man stopped us as we were walking past.

"Do you need help getting somewhere?"

"Yes, we're looking for the China Southern check-in."

Our response was countered with a solemn look and a sigh. "Oh no..." the helpful man said, "Your flight is delayed until 7:30pm."

I was 8am at the time.  We joined the growing line up of disgruntled travellers to China and beyond, and we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Although the delay was not exactly to our liking, we were fortunate as we didn't have a "set schedule."  We had plans of course, but no plans that could not be easily altered.  It was unfortunate for the Australians who had to get back to work the next day.  They weren't very happy.  We decided that the best course of action was to laugh at everything that went wrong.  In India it would be much worse, so it was just a warm up!

Finally we were able to talk to the Chinese men at the desk, and we left with simple directions, a scribble on our itineraries, and a point to the next gigantic line up.  Hours later we left triumphantly with our boarding passes and vouchers to a complimentary hotel to bide the time until our delayed flight.  We enjoyed a gourmet $22 meal, and slept until it was time to leave.

Upon re-arriving at the airport, we went through security without any problems besides a quick expedition for me to the new "naked machine."  They were to become a constant for me for all check ins in the future.  The metal bangle on my wrist is not to the security officers' liking.

We arrived in Guangzhou, China after a harrowing fifteen hour flight.  Both Marina and I were used to the luxuries of Singapore and Japan Air, so the discomfort of China Southern came as a bit of a surprise.  We survived, and agreed that for the price it was worth it.  However, we'll do our best not to fly home on the same airline.  We were a day behind schedule at this point, so we were given a hotel in Guangzhou as well.  This one was not as luxurious as Vancouver's; it smelt of sewage and the humidity was oppressive.  With sticky skin and fan on full blast, we managed to fall asleep. 

In the morning we explored a little bit around the hotel.  It reminded me a lot of Northern Vietnam, which makes sense as Guangzhou and Hanoi are quite close.  We wandered windy streets and hid from the heat in the narrow alleyways while exploring the rice paddies in the midst of towering apartment buildings.  It was a free trip to get a glimpse of China!  I'm sure we'll return some day to see it more completely.

The next flight to Delhi was as uncomfortable as the last, but it was an even smaller plane.  We were the second-last row, so at least the engines were a little further away than last time.  Earplugs were a necessity for the fifteen hours before.  China helped us ward off the jet lag, and before we knew it, we had arrived in Delhi. India!

We found our bags quickly and plotted how to get money and escape the chaos of the airport.  It was about 9pm in India; with nightfall, we knew that things would be more difficult, and more expensive.  We booked a taxi to Paharganj, the tourist hub and dirt-bag sector of Delhi.  The taxi wasn't too expensive, and it was nice to break up one of the 500 rupee notes that the ATM had given us. It's always much better to have small change in India.  If you show that you have a lot of money, you'll be forced to spend it.

The taxi ride was pleasant, but when we arrived at the entrance to Paharganj, a man with a hat with "Security" embroidered on it stopped us.  He wouldn't let us in, saying that a Shiva festival was on and that it was too dangerous.  It didn't look dangerous to us.  The streets were deserted and everything was quiet, even for India.  Foolishly, we believed him, and went to a nearby tourist office to ask for aid.  At the tourist office the told us that because of the festival, everything was booked up and that it was impossible to get a hotel or a train or bus ticket anywhere in or out of Delhi.  He told us of "the only way" to get out, which was a government sponsored deal to get a bus to Srinagar in the far north, and a week long staying on a fancy houseboat there.  It seemed believable, and at the beginning we almost went for it.  It was expensive, but the houseboats were on our list of things to do anyway, so we thought it might be worth it.  We even let him scan our passports and signed a little agreement telling us what we would get out of the deal.  Then we noticed another traveller in the shop and found that she was in the same situation.  We started to re-think the set-up, so when the people at the shop left for a minute to let us think, we quickly used their computer and googled "srinagar houseboat scam delhi."  This is what came up, at http://www.scam.com/blog.php?b=8520 :

Scam Srinagar Houseboat Yasir Altaf Omer Baktoo
Posted 05-11-2010 at 01:21 AM by Scammed in DelhiI just want to warn everyone against the scam in India, Srinagar Housboat.
DO NOT trust OMER BAKTOO or YASIR ALTAF.
Or any friends of them..
Both active in Delhi; selling tour to Kashmir, Srinagar Houseboat
They sell you fake tours. Earn allot of money! Try to let you fall in love with them borrow money from you and never give it back!
They SCAM you big time!
Be carefull!!

We weren't at Omer Baktoo or Yasir Altaf, but the description matched our situation exactly.  It seemed smarter to take our chances on the streets of Delhi at midnight rather than possibly throwing away $300 CAD to some slimy scammers.  We told the people that we weren't feeling too great about it when he came back in, and he freaked out.

"Get out of my shop!  Now!" he shouted, "I will be charged 50% for your cancellation! Get out! Faster! Now!"

Of course, he was lying. There's no way he would be charged anything, because he was scamming us all along.  We left with Britt (the Aussie who was also nearly scammed) and tried again to enter Paharganj, but to no avail.  We drove around by rickshaw for quite a long time, and finally settled on the cheapest hotel we could find - six thousand rupees split between the three of us - quite a hard hit to our budget.  But what can you do?  The scammers in Delhi are truly masters, and they all work together to back up their stories. 

The next morning we left early and went to the train station to try to get OUT of Delhi, but the city had us in her death grip.  We left immediately for the YSS centre in Connaught Place and parted ways with Britt.  We meditated for an hour or so, and felt much more able to face the continually trying day.  Upon getting back to Connaught Place, everyone continued to try to scam us, and after 8ish hours of walking to every shop imaginable, we bought a cell phone and left for the YSS Ashram in Delhi, Noida area.  That journey was a little smoother, and there happened to be a retreat running at the ashram, so after arriving safely and fairly quickly, we felt a little more rested.  We stayed for a full day meditating and detoxing our brains - two nights, and then left the next day.  Before leaving we called our Indian friend Yajur in Pathankot and asked for advice.  He told us to go to the bus station and ignore everyone, and to just buy a local bus ticket to Pathankot.

Following his advice, and using our new cell phone to it's full capabilities (letting Yajur argue with the scammers and tell us the truth about the "nonexistant" bus and train tickets), we got on a bus packed with locals.  Thirteen hours later, we arrived at Pathankot, and were welcomed warmly by our Indian family.  We are so grateful for Yajur's help getting here, and the entire family's amazing hospitality and love.

We are still in Pathankot, enjoying Neeru's (our Indian mother) AMAZING food and everyone's wonderful help getting our trip organized.  Marina is in the process of painting Rachit's (our second Indian brother - Yajur is the other) guitar, the way she also painted my travel guitar, and I am busing myself giving guitar lessons and writing songs.  We are playing lots of music, and feeling incredibly grateful.  Neeru's food is actually the best food in all of India, so as long as we don't get too fat, all is well.

That's all for now!  We've heard a rumour that there is good bouldering in McLeod Ganj, about two and a half hours from here, so we're planning on hitting that up and broin' out with the Dalai Lama while we're at it.  Peace and love!  We'll talk to you all sometime after some more adventures.  We're loving India, and this is only the beginning.

Peace through Music,

Orion (& Marina)

P.S. Bron Johnson just finished our first video entitled "Who is OM?" Check it out here! Yet another example of the amazing people and opportunities in our lives.  THANK YOU!