"Most Welcome to India"

So we learned the hard way that you pretty much can't trust anyone who approaches you in Delhi, even the ones that approach with a warm smile and sweet, gentle voice. We hadn't made a stupid tourist mistake in quite a while, so I guess we were due for a big one...and boy did we fall into quite a trap. Leaving the LP behind in the guesthouse was our first major mistake of the day (strike 1). After avoiding tons of shouting touts and finally making our way through the tourist ghetto of Paharganj to the New Delhi railway station, we were approached by what we thought to be a kind, gentle and trustworthy security worker who directed us to "tourist information" in Connaught Place (strike 2). We arrive at "tourist info" where a man behind a desk claims he is a government employee and we were in fact at the government tourist office...NOT. After listening to his sales pitch for flights to a north Indian city and talking amongst ourselves that we were in the wrong place, we were abruptly escorted out by the "government employee" as he cursed us and our good ol' U.S of A. Lovely. When he got in M's face and shouted, she may have lost her temper and may have used physical force against him, guess you had to be there to know the extent of this altercation. So, strike 3, but not out yet...

We (ah hem, M) managed to settle our (her) tempers and move on to another travel agent to ask some questions. After numerous confusing head wobbles and some alone time to make a decision, we agree to get ripped off and hire a driver for 3 days of adventure through the "Golden Triangle" of India. What were we thinking?! (strike 4?)

OK, it was hot...very, very hot and we had just walked away from what could have become a very ugly interaction with several Indian men and Beth & Crystal were only here for 10 days, oh and did I mention that it was HOT...we fell into a trap and definitely struck out big time.

Oh and the REAL government tourist info office turned out to be closed anyway (this makes us feel a little better).

So, it was set- our driver would pick us up at 7am so the fun could start, yay!

Stay tuned for more exciting stories from "Incredible India!"