Arriving in New Delhi, India

As I flew in from Beijing the inflight tv screen showed that Agra was only about fifteen minutes flight away and so I thought that my trip to India, even though it is barely more than 24 hours, would still be very possible to visit the Taj Mahal and have a nice time.

My hopes began to sink as the plane landed and despite being the capital and the busies airport I have ever seen at gone 2am in the morning, it also seemed the most backward in terms of technology and clenliness. Having completed the immigration form on the flight along with everyone else, I queued up to pass through the human beaurocracy that was all that stood between me and my luggage and sleep.

I didnt mind that my teller was an archetypal dour faced Indian lady with little chatter and a face that would curdle milk and as she processed me she only once glanced up to see that I was not hiding under a false nose and glasses before tapping a few keys and then stamping in.

All around me the airport was still alive, from the mosquitos and bugs crawling on the floor, the traders calling out todays super deals and the locals lining up the all along the entrances waiting for friends and loved ones, not to mention the other passengers all doing the same as I was.

I still had some Vietnamese and Cambodian money left to change and so along with the Chinese Yuan that was left over from Beijing I headed on over to the International currency exchange clerk, a weasley guy who upon hearing my request didn't even bother to uncross his arms as he simple shook his head twice and then went back to ignoring me along with everyone else.

Glancing around I could not see any ATM's here, so I had little choice but to filter out and hope that in the main arrivals hall there would be some, but before I could look for it I spotted the hostel representative who had my name and flight number written out in large letters on a piece of paper, being the second or maybe even third time now that I have been met thus.

He wasn't much of a talker, or perhaps it was just the ungodly hour, but he did manage to give me directions to the ATM machine where it grudgingly gave me 5000 Indian Rupees, around £70, which I figured would be just enough for my hotel including pickup, a small snack and a visit to the Agra where I could see the Taj Mahal.

The pickup ride was extremely bumpy, made moreson by the unbelievable inclusion of speed bumps, totally unneccesary as anything traveling fast over the road surface as it was would be risking life and limb!

The airport was around thirty minutes ride away and although I could not see much fine detail in the darkness and gloom it took little effort to imagine the dirty and squallor that the locals were living in by the state of the roads and streets viewed under the light of hotel neon signs, packed in tight like so many sardines in a tin.

The driver said that I would be woken at 7am for the visit to Agra and when I asked about a train ride the gave the usual garbage answer that he would give to any tourists that all the buses and trains would be full and booked weeks in advance, so I would have to use their private car at a price he wouldnt disclose.

When we finally reached the hostel, after passing numerous wild dogs and driving down ever increasinly small and dingy side and back streets that I would never be brave enough to walk alone at night, I was greeted by a locked door that required plenty of knocks before the inhabitants within roused themselves and let me in.

I was tired, jarred and grumpy but still had enough wits left to ask how much the one day tour would be, to which he told me that it would be over 4250 rupees which I just didn't have and so after a bit of failed negociations on my part I just told him to forget it and staggered on up the stairs hoping that someone would follow soon and show me to my dorm room.

They did and they didn't, in that someone did finally follow me but they showed me to a private room, took my passport for safe keeping ( or so that I couldnt go elsewhere in the morning ) and then left me to my own devices. The room has aircon, a grubby bathroom and a tv that had about 40 local statoins but with so many other buildings in close proximity the chances of getting a good signal on any of them was pure fantasy.

I half chances getting out my laptop to see if any of the other hotels around had a wifi signal without success and so I just threw myself down on the bed and fell asleep to the sounds of the air conditioning.

Around five hours later I was awoke by a combination of cocks crowing, locals yelling and pigeons roosting just outside my rear view window, and once awake I decided that without ear plugs or a pellit gun, the chances of getting back to sleep were slim so despite being still a bit dog tired I got up and started making plans for the day.

Leaving Beijing, China for Delhi, India

It was with a lot of stress and trepidation that I logged on the internet first thing this morning on the Indian Embassy website and checked out my visa application status only to find out that it had "still with embassy" and did not have a time or date or completion and arrival back at the pickup point. I called them up only to hear the same confirmed over the phone but was offered here a glimmer of hope in that they get two deliveries of visas each day and that I should phone back after midday to hear if it was in the second post of not.

If my visa did not arrive today then my choices were limited on what to do and even less so if it was not hear by tomorrow after tomorrow I would also not even be able to arrive in India with enough time to catch the onward flight to Dubai in the Emirates, meaning that both flights would have to be cancelled and a new last minute flight booked taking me direct to Bahrain as a cost I did not want to imagine.

So with barely a wing and a prayer I packed up my rucksack and left to meet my up with H' for lunch not really knowing if this was our final meeting in Beijing or not. We chose a pizza place just around the corner from her work that was also nearby the Indian embassy, at least according to the map, and shared a meal all the while I was waiting to see if my visa had arrived and I could fly today or not.

Around 12:10 the Embassy called to say that my passport had indeed been returned to them with a successful application, which was good news, and although their offices closed at 3pm I felt supremely confident that I would be able to reach them in time knowing how close we were geographically.

Saying goodbye to H' I fatefully decided to try and take a bus to the nearest metrostation stop, which was along the same main road it was heading, where I could then hop on and catch a train the two stops needed to reach the visa offices, it being right on top of the station at the other end.

I had the map and the help of three locals all waiting at the same bus stop all doing our best to make sure that the bus conductor knew where I wanted to get off, yet the stop she ushered me off at didnt look like it was anywhere near a metro stop. With time to spare, but not wanting to put myself under too much pressure I asked a couple of times for directions to the metro station entrance, each time given poins and Chinese chatter in the same direction so I guessed I was in the right direction but after wandering onto a main road after a fifteen minute walk I knew that something was amiss. Either I had got off at the wrong stop or I got on the wrong bus in the first place, as I was clearly nowhere near the station which by all rights should have been right underneath me the second I hopped off.

Laziness took over next so I flagged down a taxi and agai, using the map, I told him that I wanted to go to this metro station stop, feeling very sure that he would not know where the hell I was talking about if I asked for directions to the Indian visa application centre. Twenty minutes later I was dropped off by the taxi driver who pointed in the distance and I guessed he was trying to say that it was a long roundabout and main junction and to get me to the other side would be a big detour.

However after asking for more directions and again for walking for another fifteen minutes in a circle I knew that I had been ripped off, either accidentally or deliberatly as I was miles away from the metro station and by now time was ticking past far too fast.

This time logic prevailed, and I got out my receipt for the phone number so once I flagged down the next taxi I called up the visa office direct and had them give the directions to the driver and this time I was not getting out of the taxi until I was sure that I was at the right place. So all in all I took a 1 yuan bus, a 33 yuan and a 27 yuan fare just to go a couple of miles from where I started and by now it was 14:30 and I had only half an hour til the offices closed.

Thankfully it was a lot easier to collect my visa and passport than it was to drop it off, and within minutes I was in the lift coming back down and wondering what I could do to fill some time constructively til I headed off to the airport. I killed almost an hour in the free wifi starbucks coffee bar on the ground floor after which I decided that I was just going to grab a quick bite to eat and then find the metro station that led to the airport.

It did not really amaze me to find that that along any of the other metro lines 2 yuan is the maximum fare between two station regardless of the length of the journey, but the only line that goes to the airport is the express line which has a fixed fare of 15 yuan, but what was surprising was that it was not better signposted and I had to ask at least four times til I reached a place where I could buy a ticket and be shown which platform to use.

At Beijing International airport it was nice and clean, efficient and with plenty of semi - english speaking staff all eager to help, yet their main answer was no which I later realised was more a polite "I am sorry but I dont understand what you mean or how to advise you" rather than a "no, that is incorrect or not possible here" as I was told that I could not use a laptop or the internet several times til I finally got creative and pulling out my power lead plug and waved it at them til suddenly they realised that all I wanted was to recharge my batter which then got plenty of nods as in fact this possible almost anywhere.

Checking in was not a hassle, neither was security or taking the shuttle to the E wing departure gates and I was almost in heaven when I reached there and found a business centre where I could both recharge and go online for only 30 yuan for an unlimited time ( but a bit restrictive on which web sites you access ) and here I spent the remaining time in Beijing, sat in a comfy leather armchair with a hot chocolate and surfing the net.

The flight was delayed by half an hour by a very late passenger arrival and once we took off it seemed that a few of the Indians liked playing a game of silent musical chairs, as I had at least three different people sit / sleep next to me during the 7 hour flight, but by the end I was alone. I had hoped for perhaps a movie as the flight was certainly long enough to warrant one, but I think they prefer not to show movies on overnight flights and so I just tried to ignore the dim lights, the noise, the seat hopping and the occasional turbulence til we landed a little after 2am the following morning.

My last full day in Beijing, China

After the tourist trappings of yesterday I felt that today I would be best to sort my stuff out for the following trip to India, arrange the last of my flights back to Europe and then catch up on some emails and blogging before it got too much away from me.

Thus it was a quiet morning and afternoon that I spend in Beijing, flicking and searching the internet trying to find better hotel deals, one day tours to Agra and such, with some success and even managed to arrange an airport pickup for my arrival in Delhi, which would be dearly needed with it being an 01:30 landing and having no Indian money to speak of thus far.

Being my last night here I had decided to try and get both my two Beijing friends together and meet each other, however this did not go quite as easily or as smooth as I had intended it to be.

Both of them worked and clocked off at different times, both worked in different parts of the city and knew different areas, so I ended up meeting one first and then waiting for the other to come and find us.

With a lot of confusion on my drivers part, getting us lost twice, I finally managed to pick up my H' and together we headed on over to the Sanlitan area which is one of the best areas for shopping and bar life in the city, grabbing myself a quick subway sandwich to keep me going til we all go together for dinner.

However once we arrived I received a message from V' to say that she was still at work and would be for at least another hour and as I had not eaten so far I suggested that she grab herself a bite to eat and meet up with us as I did not feel I could wait that long for some proper food.

Thus it was that H' and I walked along and found a secluded little Italian restaurant just off the main strip that was a bit more pricey that I had planned, but at least it was warm, quiet and gave us a chance to talk without the hussle and bustle normally found in Beijng.

An hour later we still had not heard back from V' and to complicate matters for me H' now felt a little uncomfortable and sick and requested that we leave as she no longer wanted to stay out much later. I made a decision to let V' know that we were leaving and that instead we could meet up tomorrow lunchtime and just as we were driving away in a taxi she called and said that she was a bit angry as she had rushed to leave work, changed her plans and was almost here now.

So, feeling between a rock and a hard place, I let H' take the taxi and returned on foot back to where I hoped V' would still be waiting for me and as it turned out she was but had not had anything to eat and was eager to find a restaurant close by. Being polite I managed to tuck away a couple of dumplings before I hit critical mass and knew that any more would be a mistake, so let her finish on her own.

It was a slightly uneasy truce for the first half hour, til we got talking properly and thankfully by the time we were ready to leave and heading off to a nearby by for some drinks and good music we were back to being happy friends again.

We found a bar where the music was good but not too loud, the atmosphere and decorations funky and the waiter very friendly who thickly chinese accented english was understandable and his skill at mixing drinks was exemplorary. V' and I chatter away for a couple more hours, getting more relaxed and friendly as the drinks flowed and then without any prompting the waiter asked to show me a magic trick.

Being a lover of magic tricks I was happy to oblige and it was both a real treat and a bit of a let down at the same time when I realised that he was about to show me the exact same trick that my fellow stranded travellers in Fiji had shown me a few months earlier. The advantage that I had hear was that the bar was almost empty so the bar tenders secret assistant could only be one of three people and after being amazed at how how he knew my choice the first two times I narrowed it down to being V', and I guessed more than saw that she was using her bear mat as the tell.

I played along gamely the whole time until they finished when I admitted that I knew how it was done which caused a bit of a laugh, though V' said that she had really planned on keeping me in suspence and email me a few days later to tell me it was her the whole time. Had I realised this was her aim I would have kept quiet, but as it was it just opened up the door to me showing them a few of my own magic tricks, however all the Chinese coins are much smaller than the £2 or 50p coin that I normally use so they were a bit of a flop.

Around 11pm I knew that as I had a long day ahead of me and also V' had work in the morning so I felt it best that I let us both get back before midnight lest we turn into frogs or pumpkins.