Another day to thank the inventor of ear plugs. Hans was awoken sometime in the night by someone hammering nails into a wall, or similar. Thankfully I slept though it, though the call for prayer at around 5:30 did rouse me slightly. I’d intended to have a shower in the morning, but I couldn’t tell if the water was on or off and didn’t want to blow up the boiler.
Oh, boy – were we glad to get out of that hotel. So glad, we didn’t even bother with breakfast. Our car arrived and we dove straight in. Had one of us been driving, there would have been a scream of tyres and a plume of dust as we set off.
Our driver stopped at Akbar’s Tomb on the way out of Agra. Another big red building which looked like countless other big red buildings we’d seen. He’d made the effort, so I popped out and took a couple of snaps. We then set off on the 200-ish kilometre trek to Delhi.
On the way I finished Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons and Hans wrapped up Crichton’s Next. I started on another Arthur Hailey book and Hans snoozed.
We made it to Delhi for around 2pm and asked our driver to drop us in Conaught Place so we could get a KFC while he sorted out some lunch for himself. Food was eaten and Hans and I killed a while by going for a wander. We struck lucky with one street seller hawking off dodgy copies of Lonely Planet guides with the covers ripped off. OK, so they’re a little out of date but they were only 195Rp each.
After another minor scare (two ATM’s rejecting my cash card – memories of Hanoi bubbled to the surface), I managed to get some cash and we posted some cards to people in our respective home countries.
Hans had a go at one of the usual suspects who was trying to convince him he really wanted a rickshaw. Or a restaurant. Or if not now, maybe later? We’s started to walk off, obviously a little fed up with it all and the lad asked “Why are you angry?” to which Hans replied, “We’re not angry. Yet. But we will be if you don’t leave us alone!” It worked, as well. We’ll have to remember that one.
And then to the airport where I’m typing this section up. On the way, the heavens opened and we saw our first rain since arriving here. Thankfully, the roof of the domestic lounge doesn’t leak! Annoyingly, there’s a wireless internet system here for 50Rp an hour (less than twice the going rate at a cybercafe, so acceptable) but I can’t find a single place selling the scratchcards needed to login and use it.
Next stop – Mumbai… assuming our flight’s not delayed by the fog.
Oh, and our driver’s name was Harban Singh. I promised I’d find it out for you!
