Day 193: Country #20.1

Having seen Jaipur’s major attractions, I wanted to take a day trip to Agra and return to Delhi, but I couldn’t find this option, so I ended up going to the main bus station near Sindhi Camp metro and found a bus to Delhi.

There were lots of people selling bus tickets and a few options. I opted for a Volvo over the other services due to reliability, but I didn’t tell them that. The price negotiation was interesting because it involved multiple people, each trying to upsell me on the comfortable AC bus, but I kept insisting that I wanted the least comfortable and cheapest option. I think I got lucky because eventually, they put me on an AC bus so that they could fill it faster. Waiting on the AC bus wasn’t pleasant when I wasn’t turned on, but the bus departed for Delhi relatively quickly.

The ride took longer than expected but 5 hours didn’t warrant an overnight trip and I also wanted to see the countryside between the cities.

Greater Delhi turned out to be much bigger and more spread out than I anticipated. We passed within sight of Cyber City, a large modern technology center a whole two hours outside of the city center, which was further away than the tech centers of other Indian cities. I also counted up to 8 lanes on the freeway, which was crazy, but probably necessary to support the city’s road demand.

We eventually hit lots of traffic and I noticed a lot of people walking between cars selling Indian flags. The bus drop off was nearly an hour away from the city center, so I had to catch a local bus to New Delhi Metro Station, a massive railway station with lots of security checkpoints, which I needed to pass in order to cross to the other side and find my hostel in the Paharganji neighborhood, a tourist center.

After a bit more urban hiking, I made it and found myself in a standard tourist hostel with lots of people hanging out in the lobby area. Once I checked in, I promptly left to explore the surrounding neighborhood and markets to look for food and tour options.

Tip:

In many developing countries, buses leave whenever they fill up, so if you go at a busier time of day, you’ll likely get to your destination sooner because the bus you get on won’t need to wait an extra half hour to fill up. It’s possible you could wait longer if you’re the first one on and not many people show up. You should also consider the popularity of the route.

Published by BE

I write about my travel and money experiences. View all posts by BE