Tagne 2001

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Dan's Diary

Day 2 - Friday 29th June 2001

see also Steve's Diary for today

The immaculately-gardened HQ of the IMF

I woke around 7:30am and started to sort my things out, which involved more unpacking. Breakfast was at 8:30am and consisted of omelette, toast and tea. We were asked if we wanted more tea too, to which we said no thank you. The waiter disappeared and came back with a tray of five glasses containing sweet tea and put them on the table. We felt obliged to drink them so we did. The waiter came and spoke to use again in poor English. No one could understand so he repeated himself. It turned out he wanted us to pay, but Andy thought Eco Adventures were paying. We tried to explain this but he couldn't understand so in order to keep the peace, Andy paid the 2000Rs for two nights accommodation and breakfast.

Back in our room Jon asked if that was the Liaison Officer who had joined us at breakfast. It was the IMF caretaker. I told Jon not to worry, they all looked the same. Jon and I went for a wander around the IMF building in the soaring heat. Several bouldering walls were attached to the outside of the building and dogs lay in the sand pits underneath them, sheltering from the sun. In the garden was a 50ft high climbing wall held up with scaffolding, on which a climber limbered up. We soon started sweating profusely and headed back inside to cool off near a fan. I took a mouthful of water from my bottle, which had been left on the table overnight. The water was warm. My mouth instinctively sensed it wasn't right and shut, forcing water up my nostrils, causing me to choke and the water to end up all over the floor. Not surprisingly I didn't feel like a drink anymore.

Steve and Jon risk life and limb in an autorickshaw

At 10:00am we decided to go into Delhi and walked down the long drive to wards the main road, past the poverty-stricken families living under canvas hanging from trees just inside the gate of the driveway. On reaching the main road, we stood around looking lost wondering what to do next. Out came the guide book and Alan hurriedly read bits. Then, what can only be described as a tin can on three wheels with a small engine pulled up alongside us. I was later informed it was an auto-rickshaw. He asked us where we wanted to go. Where did we want to go? No one knew. Alan hurriedly looked in the guide book for the names of streets or places in the centre of Delhi. Meanwhile another auto-rickshaw had pulled up and was asking the same questions. Alan found a map of the centre of Delhi and Connaught Place seemed like the place to go. Our drivers agreed to take us there. Steve and Jon jumped into the first auto-rickshaw, and the other one pulled in behind, into which Alan, Andy and I piled, in the back.

Driving, or even being a passenger is a whole new experience in India and it wasn't long before I'd wished I'd taken my climbing helmet. They seem to drive straight at vehicles that are in their way, honking profusely, hoping they will get out of the way. Glad to get to Connaught Place in one piece, we found it bigger than anticipated, and a circle. We have fun trying to explain where exactly we want to be dropped off, but somehow we find the right place. We pay the 80Rs the driver requested knowing that we were being ripped off. Before we'd even all got out a little girl was begging for money. We walked around in circles for a bit, which wasn't pleasant due to the heat, before finally deciding on visiting a bookshop that was back the way we came. The air-conditioned book shop was most welcome, and although cramped it was a nice refuge from the midday heat. Once we'd bought our toilet-paper books, it was back outside where a man tried to sell us chess sets. After keeping on and keeping on he finally realised that he wasn't going to sell anything so he tried to be all friendly, telling us where we can get some tourist information. We ended up following him, Jon and Alan went in, while Andy, Steve and I got stuck on the other side of a busy road. They came out some time later having refused several guided tours of the city, but they did have a photocopied street map of Delhi for their troubles. The guy then returned to trying to sell us a chess set, but it was a half-hearted effort. We looked at shirts, but they were too expensive, so we went for lunch instead. The Kake Restaurant was chosen, just down from tourist info place. We sat upstairs and were unsure of the procedure. They were a long time in coming to get our order, but when they had the food came out quite soon afterwards. I had a chicken curry, which was very nice, considering it cost the equivalent of 50p, although the plate looked a bit dirty. I remembered to avoid the salad and the water, both of which are said to upset your stomach.

Connaught Place - the commercial centre of New Delhi

We flagged down two auto-rickshaws for the return journey to the IMF building at 12:50pm. The drivers had to ask a shopkeeper where it was despite us showing them on the map. We agreed a fare of 50Rs and got in. Then when we finally arrived they wanted 120Rs each. Alan disputed this and stands firm at 50Rp, the meter on the machine in the front said only 29Rs. Then a guy from the IMF came out, after hearing the dispute and suggests 75Rs for the fare. Why he had to interfere I don't know. But he did, so Alan offered 80Rs, but no they wanted 100Rs. A standoff occurred, but it was Alan who gave in first. Alan opened his wallet and gave each driver 100Rs. One of the drivers laughed after seeing how much money Alan had in his wallet.

I looked around the IMF museum, intrigued by the displays of "modern day" climbing equipment and clothing, which looked as though it was from the 1960s. Steve and I returned to our room to sort stuff out. As we did so three Slovakians invited themselves in. They told us that they were going to Leh and asked what we were doing. Steve showed them on the map and then they left. Steve and I joined the others in the pre-briefing with the Eco reps.

We met the director of the IMF at 3pm. This was basically an excuse to have a tea party with a bit of bureaucracy and some slagging off of the Koreans and Japanese as being responsible for not taking litter away from Base Camps. Half an hour later and Rahul, our Eco-rep took us to the English Embassy in one of two taxi-jeeps. While we were stopped at some lights a girl came up and thrust a newspaper through the window and onto Steve's lap. She then demanded money but when she didn't get any, she took the newspaper and tried the next car. The embassy was shut, so we left our passport details with the receptionist and Eco said they'd sort the rest out on Monday. We went to a nearby market, where the others bought shirts to wear to Colonel Singh's club. We had a look around the rest of the market, which sold everything: there was a shop selling bags, another sold umbrellas and the next clothes - the types of clothes that went out of fashion in England in the Eighties. There were various other stalls and shops selling everything from food and drinks to children's toys, wallets and jewellery. Another man wanting money accosted us, so we retreated to a shop where our Eco reps bought us a drink.

Another gamble with fate...

We got into three auto-rickshaws, which took us back to the IMF building. It was as the three auto-rickshaws jostled for position at a junction that images of the Italian job sprang to mind. Can you imagine an Indian version of the film? - using auto-rickshaws?

We got back to the IMF building at 5:25pm. It was showers all round, before sorting ourselves out and meeting our Eco reps and Liaison Officer back at the entrance to the IMF for 6:30pm. From there we got two taxis to take the group to the Delhi Gymkhana Club, one of Delhi's most exclusive clubs (so everyone said) membership of which seems to be effectively restricted to high-ranking Indian Army Officers such as Colonel Singh. Apparently, it has a forty-year waiting list for membership. We waited in reception and were brought chilled water. Colonel Singh came and greeted us, shaking us by the hand before taking us to the bar. Here we sat and talked for several hours, drinking several jugs of lager and eating a variety of Indian spicy meat snacks. The food just kept on coming, as did the lager and the stories discussed. Topics included the unpredictability of the weather; India and Delhi; and then we shared some of our climbing experiences. I learnt that the Liaison Officer was for part of the year a guide, so he was familiar with mountaineering and that Eco Adventures had recently won an award for being the best of some 500 odd tour operators in India. Eco are the Delhi-based tour company, owned by Colonel Singh, who organised everything for us.

The evening came to an end at about 10:30pm when we made our way back to the front of the building and got a taxi back to the IMF. We spent an hour or so packing before we went to bed, as we knew there was going to be an early start in the morning.