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It's 9.43pm on our second day in Delhi and I thought I'd get started on the blog before we set off to Agra on the 6.15 train tomorrow morning. We arrived here at around half past 10 on the 30th January relatively tired after a missed nights sleep but excited nonetheless. As we walked through the airport to an ATM we were greeted by a small crowd of faces looming through the window which was somewhat unsettling but something we've got used to. Tourists naturally attract a lot of attention and our sense of this heightened the moment we stepped outside and strolled towards the prepay taxi dock, propositioned every step of the way by dodgy looking men with dodgier looking cars. We were eventually directed to a prepay taxi and were relieved to have a moment to escape the confusion in the car on our way to Paharganj, where the cheapest backpacker hostels are located. Our driver continually spewed nonsense about the metro and a 6km radius and eventually took us to a seedy looking 'Tourist Informations' office where we were to learn more. Basically, they tried to convince us that all the hostels in Delhi would be fully booked and attempted to sell us a package tour of Rajasthan at rip-off prices. After a few minutes of tired debate, we made our driver take us to New Delhi station where we walked down the Main Bazaar in Paharanj in search of a hostel. It didn't take too long to find one that suited us, so we shacked up in the Anoop hostel at 200r each (less than 3 pounds) and had a few minutes to rest and get away from the prying eyes of local 'tourist officers' and the like, trying to squeeze us for what we're worth. After all of that we took a stroll down the Bazaar and enjoyed the chaos of the anarchic traffic and ubiquitous cows hiding down every alley way. We had a nice meal in a cafe in the evening as we watched the crowds thin and shops close, a calming end to a relatively stressful, but enjoyable, day.
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