We have been fortunate enough to have visited many cities across the world and although we may not take to them all instantly we can normally find some positives...unfortunately not here!

We didn't get off to a good start upon arrival in Delhi! Having already had bad experiences with cab drivers in Bangkok, Shanghai and Beijing on previous trips we are always reluctant to take taxis from the airport. However we ensured we used the pre-paid Delhi Police taxi service which had been set up after various tourist taxi incidents. You are even given a receipt with the tourist police number on and rules stating the driver will take you to your hotel directly and hassle free so we were confident it would be ok....well that's what you should expect...the story:

We paid the fare and took the receipt to use the black and yellow cabs where a 'helpful' man ensured we got in the correct cab. We assumed that he worked there, however we left the airport terminal and the cab pulled over and picked up the same 'helpful' man who on entering the cab turned and said 'Welcome to India'....he got that right!

I don't ever recall a cab driver picking up his mate before- clearly we were concerned as it is obviously not allowed otherwise he would have got in at the cab rank, not outside the police barrier. This was quite intimidating so we could only imagine how worried a single female traveller would be! The drivers mate told us he didn't know our hotel but we would ask when we got to the general area as people there would know....there wasn't a lot we could do at this stage but we were clearly concerned and wondering what was going on?

Fortunately we had read about the classic Delhi scams where cab drivers would take you to 'tourist' information offices in order to get commission etc. Essentially the exact reason we made sure we got a pre-paid tourist cab... they wouldn't try that though would they?

After a stop so the driver's mate could buy cigarettes we found the area we were staying in 'Karol Bagh' but despite having the full address and a map with the rough location apparently Karol Bagh is a big place! After asking someone (probably just for the time) our drivers told us they would need to ask at the local tourist information office(alarm bell ringing)....After I refused to indulge them and go in to the tourist information office a chap came out and gave the driver directions. The tourist info man told us if we couldn't find it come back as he would sort it out for us...he told us there were a lot of scams in Delhi...no s***! and he was obviously part of what was quickly becoming the next one!

By now we knew we were being set up but didn't want to get out as we were no where near our hotel. We weren't going to be scammed no matter how hard they tried but were getting annoyed that a cab driver had no idea where he was going. We made a note of the drivers licence number....Now sensing that perhaps we weren't as easy a target as we maybe looked, they upped the stakes and it got really interesting....

Just as we left the tourist info office our drivers mate got chatting to another man who then swapped places with him! we demanded an explanation and he told us this was normal (really?) and the new man was a guide and would find our hotel. We left our original drivers mate by the roadside and drove off. After driving aimlessly in the direction of our hotel we pulled up outside another tourist info office! At this point we were annoyed and were going to take no more crap so went into the office to be met by a friendly enough man- what is your hotel Sir? I gave him the address and not knowing it, he said we should give them a call....ok let's try that...so he put me on the phone to a man saying 'Hotel Skyrich', what is your name? I answered and he said 'how did you make your booking, internet? We have no record of a Dring!' Some of you may think I'm a little slow at times but not now...I wasn't falling for that one! Having had some email chat with Rakesh from our hotel the previous day that wasn't going to work. At this point I knew I wasn't talking to the hotel at all....I asked the man on the other end of the phone what his address was, he replied 'Karol Bagh', what number I said, 'umm Hotel Skyrich Karol Bagh'. I laughed and told him he wasn't our hotel, gave the phone back to the tourist info man and stormed out, by now swearing a little too. I told the tourist info man in no uncertain terms 'I'm not stupid, I don't trust any of you and just drive us to our hotel'. I think the fact we hadn't fallen for the - your hotel is fully booked, we can take you to another one routine, made them realise their game was up. The new drivers mate said he thought the cab driver now knew where our hotel was but as he had driven around a lot we should pay him more money...I think I made it clear that would not be happening!!!

We left our 2nd drivers mate by the roadside and drove towards our hotel making one more stop so that another chap could lean through the window and offer his tourist info services...angry isn't the word, we drove on! It actually turned out that the cab driver genuinely didn't know where the hotel was after all but we soon found it with the help of a signpost. As we unloaded our bags he pleaded for more money for the extra driving...I told him he was having a laugh and we wearily trudged up the steps in to our hotel to be greeted by a smiling Rakesh. We told him the story to which he replied 'why didn't you call me as I said in my email'...admittedly I had forgotten that part! Alarmingly, he was not too surprised by the story, although the fact they had pretended to be a hotel was even a new one to him!!

As you can imagine this was a pretty stressful experience, and we were wise to it- you can imagine how they must con many an unsuspecting tourist! Totally unacceptable and something we shall be reporting to the tourist police! Having read this back I still can't believe how bad it was, but at least we had paid them no more money than the correct fare of £4.50!

After this introduction to Delhi we knew we would need to be very vigilant on the streets too..we didn't have to wait long, after we got off the metro in central Delhi. A man approached us and told us the shops wouldn't be open just yet (we were a little early) but suggested we went to the local tourist info office...and how kind of him to walk along with us! I must admit part of me was intrigued to see what they would pull next and as we did need info on trains to the Taj Mahal we thought we would go along with it! Apparently it was the 'official' one listed on our map...yeah right! Anyway it proved useful to see what options were available to us.....

Basically there is a 2hr train leaving 6am returning 6pm everyday but without seemingly even typing or using his mouse he told us it was full for the next week, so we would be better to get the 6hr train, stay over in Agra then come back via Jaipur. He also said we wouldn't want to be stuck on a train so alternatively would be advised to hire a car and driver....yeah ok then mate! He also told us we couldn't get a train ticket directly from the station, something else we later found out to be a lie!

Just when we were giving up hope of avoiding hassle we found some respite in the central park in Connaught Place! A well dressed young Indian chap who had removed his shoes and seemingly relaxing from the daily grind sat near us and started a conversation about cricket. Wary at first we indulged him and probably didn't appear too friendly although I enjoyed referring to our 20-20 side as World Champions! After 10 mins or so it appeared he was just being friendly although he did mention that we should get out of Delhi and visit Agra and Jaipur. Pretty much the classic tourist route..there was no hard sell but he did know a little too much about the train times etc for my liking. However he seemed more interested to talk cricket so we continued to talk. He told us he was meeting his mate to go the cinema and after a couple of phone calls his mate soon turned up. After a few pleasantries a similar conversation followed around Agra and Jaipur and that we should go there etc..they then asked if we wanted to go for coffee with them! This was our cue to make our tired excuses and leave- they appeared disappointed! In fairness there had been no sell or suggestion of it but surely this was just a good cop bad cop routine.....like I said in the Beijing blog and something we learned within 2 days of being in Asia-

"if someone talks to you they are not being friendly they either want to take you on a tour or sell you something"!!! Wise words indeed and five weeks in, we still had no evidence to the contrary!

The remaining days in Delhi pretty much followed the same theme- we have lost count of the times people have tried to direct us to different tourist info offices, telling us it was the only place we could get tickets. When you add in the hassle from tuc tuc & rickshaw drivers, beggars and street sellers coupled with rubbish and general mess in the streets, stray dogs, the volume of people, spitting, pushing in, noise, smog and people pissing in the street it is difficult to feel any real excitement about this capital city! With the exception of the tidy areas around the Commonwealth Games venues, the obvious poverty and corruption evident suggest this is still very much a 3rd world country. Clearly we have seen the 'real' India- a total contrast to the 'emerging nation and new world power' Barack Obama has seen from the comfort of his cavalcade....

Hopefully a day trip to Agra and the Taj Mahal will rescue our visit to India?