So where are we going? 1/6
Up early, headed back to the cafe for some croissants, cappuccinos and wifi. Since the dang wifi didn't work no need to stay there so we hopped in a taxi jeep after 8. Going down the hill was much easier than going up. We got to sit in the back seat which was more comfortable, but you're still not supposed to fit 4 people back there. I could see all the gnarly cliffs we passed that I missed going up. Jeeps passing and swerving and jamming on breaks and honking. It only took us an hour to get down and back to Siriguri.
We had no plans, we were just trying to get out of town so we found a train/bus/plane ticketing office. The dude spoke little English but enough to tell us there were only trains to Varanasi on other days, not today. Ok then, we fly. He didn't know the airport code and he was calling all his buddies. He was online and had the opportunity to look it up. It was like someone who's never used the internet decided to be a travel agent. I can do this better myself- so we left. We had to jump inside an Internet cafe. We tried to book a flight but we needed a local number which we didn't have. I guess we'll go to the airport. We took a rickshaw 10 miles or so through the insane streets of Siriguri. The horn was actually inside the rickshaw window so it blew back into our ears. Between that and the buses honking and us and the pollution, yeah let's get out of here.
The airport is small so we walked right up and bought tickets for the 3:00 Delhi flight. It was more than it was online. Why? The dude said maybe online is a promotion. No it's not, you're not helpful. We have no choice so whatever. We bought our tickets for $180 and planned our entrance and hopefull exit of Delhi. The airport is also an air force base so there are huge plane taking off that feel like they are going to shatter the whole building.
We reach Delhi by 5:30 and jump on the metro. The metro is so nice! Why can't SF do this? What's so hard about non-piss material seats and a sign that tells you what station you're at and where we are heading? We head right for the train station to try to get tickets for Agra in the am. We run all around the station. I think people are trying to be helpful but they don't really know where we are supposed to go either. One line we were in, a dude said this was the men's cue and women are over there. What??!! Segregated ticket cues? Umm OK.
A dude who works there told us we had to go 2.5km to a tourist reservation location. We jump in a rickshaw and get there by 7:15, they close at 7:30 allegedly. The guy at the office says there are no trains until the 10th. We can't wait that long! The bus only had one seat left for tomorrow and the Taj Mahal is closed on Friday (the following day). Shit. We only have 10 days left in India and I'm not spending 4 of them in Delhi. What options do we have?
Although it's not our style, we ended up hiring a driver. Since Rajistan is a touristy area you have to book trains in advance which makes traveling the way we do not possible. Plus so many of the tickets go to locals which makes it harder to get tickets. This is high season in the area as well since it's so hot in the summer. Oh well, this will give us more freedom and Andy can make the dude stop anywhere to take pics. We'll end up seeing more too so that's cool.
Sanjay (a very bubbly and friendly guy) picked us up and we heading for McDonalds. We hadn't eaten all day. Yep, food is the same. We left for Agra at 9pm so we can watch the sun rise at the Taj Mahal. This has been a whirlwind kind of day- we didn't know where we were going when we woke up and we'll end up in Agra. Things don't always work out the way you plan, but when you keep your options open, everything will be OK.