Air India whisks us to New Delhi in an hour. Upon exiting the airport, we find that the hotel mixed up our reservation and forgot to send our driver. We go to the prepaid booth and the guy quotes 3,800Rs. Knowing that the hotel’s cab was to be 1,400Rs, we squawk our displeasure. The guy comes down to 2,200Rs. I get into my “Don’t mess with me” mode and he drops to 1,500 Rs. Close enough, we get into a cab.

During the drive to the hotel my chest reacts to the polluted air. New Delhi is the sixth most polluted city in the world.

I see more poverty than I’ve seen so far on this trip. A mother looks on as her kids play amongst the cars stopped at a red light.

John tells me that he has booked the perfect hotel for us to spend the next 3 nights in New Delhi. When we arrive I must admit that he is right, we are staying at Hotel Perfect! There seems to be a number of hotels with similar names including the Perfect Palace Hotel. The taxi driver had trouble finding the correct perfect hotel but John pulled out his cell phone map and showed him the location.

The Perfect Hotel is perfectly standard which is not surprising for $43 CAD a night. But the room is  clean with a good shower and king size bed with a faux gem headboard. Once again we don’t know how to turn off the TV so I throw a towel over it.

We even have a pair of doves living on our bathroom windowsill. They watch intently as I use the facilities. I hear the doves cooing throughout the night. At one point the cooing gets frantic…love is in the air.

In the morning we drop our laundry off at the front desk and walk out into New Delhi. John insists that we take the subway. He does love his trains and planes. After one wrong turn and every tuk tuk driver in Delhi asking to take us somewhere we get to the Karol Bagh subway station.

Tuk tuk drivers seem speechless when we say, “We’re fine, we’re taking the subway”.

Currently New Delhi’s attractions are not immediately apparent. There is a faint pollution fog in the air, people keep trying to sell us things, the area looks run down, the traffic is louder than a teenage rave and I keep dodging dog poop. John walks through a few small pieces.

I feel my chest tighten a bit with the pollution. I don’t want to get an asthma cough, which takes forever to lose, so I don a face mask.

The New Delhi Subway

At the subway station we get tokens from the ticket office and onto the correct train with no problem. It’s actually quite civilized. Unusual for a subway system, all bags must go through an x-ray machine and all passengers are wanded and patted down before reaching the token turnstiles. There are gents and ladies lines for this process. The fares vary by distance travelled- our fare was 25Rs per person (46 cents CAD). Much quieter, quicker and way cheaper than taking a cab. Within 20 minutes we exit the Lal Qila subway station, then a five minute walk to the Red Fort.

The Red Fort (Lal Qila)

The Red Fort (Lal Qila) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Fort was built in 1639 and the Mughal emperors lived there until 1857. There are many stories and interesting history to this place.

Entrance to the Fort is at the Lahore Gate but first you must walk ten minutes to the right along the fort walls to the ticket booth and then turn around and walk the same way back to the  security entrance to the left of the Lahore Gate. At security we were confronted with large signs saying no backbacks allowed- we both had backpacks. But security waived us through, after a pat down, while any Indians with bags had to check them. Maybe the hefty foreigner fees for admission have some perks! At almost all attractions there is a fee for locals and a much higher one for foreigners. Often there are separate ticket lines for locals and foreigners. At the fort the general admission just to the grounds is 35Rs (.65 cents CAD) for locals and 550Rs ($10.25 CAD) for foreigners.

The fort complex of over 250 acres is most impressive. I love the intricate (almost lacelike) botanical carvings on both the red sandstone and marble. Besides all the buildings, we also check out the four museums about different aspects of India’s history. This site is definitely a must see for Delhi.

It’s so peaceful in the fort with the loudest sounds coming from the birds. Monkeys and dogs wander the beautiful grounds. We watch a puppy and baby monkey playing together on the grass.

People, both men and women stop me and ask to take selfies with me. At one point, there is a line up of three! Rather flattering. I took one too. John stands off to the side looking dejected as few ask for his photo.

Evening Out

The day passes quickly. We head back on the subway to our perfect hotel. The hotel is in the Karol Bagh area which is full of budget hotels and shops. The area is lively and much more appealing now that the shops and restaurants are all open. There is a large pedestrian shopping street on Ajmal Khan Road where everything you need is available in stores or from street vendors.

We eat at an amazing restaurant called Kitchen With a Cause.  The restaurant trains orphan girls how to work in/run a restaurant so that they have marketable skills when they leave the program. The food is amazing and the restaurant is filled with tourists.

Costs

*Perfect Hotel- $43 CAD
*Subway token- 25Rs (.46 cents CAD)
*Red Fort- 870Rs ($17 CAD) for grounds and museums