With more than 13 million residents, Delhi has often been described as challenging for tourists. And challenging it was for us on our first day. We started off with the deck stacked against us as we were weary and slightly dazed from the long journey. But then we encountered almost every single tourist nightmare and warning about this city--from the auto-rickshaw driver who took us to the wrong destination, to the overly friendly young men in Connaught Place who are hoping to lure tourists (i.e., us) to specific stores, to the more-than-one-hour cab ride home in the very worst of Delhi rush hour traffic. Transporting yourself anywhere in this city requires confidence and fortitude. There's a great metro system, but it requires you to cross eight lanes of chaotic traffic in order to get to the station. Walking, as you might imagine, is not for the faint of heart. There are limited sidewalks, cows and feral dogs to avoid, as well as all number of moving vehicles--cars, busses, bicycles, mopeds, and auto-rickshaws. Today, with a long list of sights to see dispersed throughout Delhi, we did the enlightened thing by hiring a driver for the day. And that made all the difference.
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