Back to Delhi - The Last Hurrah

It was back to Delhi and the backpacker neighborhood I was staying in this time called Paharganj. It is convenient as it is near the New Delhi Train Station, Connaught Circle and a metro station.
My hotel was called Prince Polonia and I had a nice room with a little balcony (street watching only), a tiny sofa and a refrigerator. Great for 1190 (around $27 ) a day including breakfast.
The street has quite a mixed bag of shops. Everything from luggage, to tacky souvenirs, to gaudy dresses.
This area, centred around the Main Bazaar, provides the first experience of the subcontinent for many budget travellers. Packed with cheap hotels, restaurants, cafés and dhabas, and with a busy fruit and vegetable market halfway along, it's also a paradise for shoestring shoppers seeking psychedelic clothing, bindis, bags and bronzes and essence of patchouli and sandalwood. A constant stream of cycle and auto-rickshaws, handcarts, cows and the odd taxi squeeze through impossible gaps without the flow ever coming to a complete standstill - the winding alleys where children play among chickens and pigs seem worlds away from the commercial city centre only just around the corner



A fast food vendor on a nearby corner. No McDonalds in this area for sure.
On my first day back I headed out to Dilli Haat, a shopping complex in the lower part of Delhi where craftsmen from all over India set up shop on a rotating basis.


My hotel had a lovely rooftop pool. One of the few in the area.
The rooftop restaurant.
I couldn't quite figure out why breakfast was served this way. With even the eggs wrapped up.
The temple outside the metro stop on the way to Chandni Chowk. It is great being able to take the metro at least one way to this old market area near the Red Fort and avoid the awful Delhi traffic.

I passed two fabulous Sari shops on the main street. Some of the nicest saris I had ever seen.

I was heading for an area called Kinari Bazaar, full of interesting trims and glitz.

A small vegetable market in the area.
Back in Paharganj. The main street called Main Bazaar.
The street was very rutted making a ride in a cyclo quite a bumpy adventure. Never mind that you didn't want to touch your shoes after a rainstorm when they had slipped around in the mud.
Tiny horses delivering broken bricks for street repair.






Just your basic bullock cart on the main street.
On the last day they were laying concrete, which, or course, drew crowds of shop workers who had to "oversee" the process. Getting up and down the road was quite an undertaking.