Hurrying to Delhi

Since Varkala, my plan has been to reach Delhi by or around the beginning of December. The reason for the early return is my passport - both pieces of it. I'm guessing during my trek in McLeod Ganj, the page with my picture on it came loose from the rest of the pages. I've been able to use it as an identification during my travels, but it would not be accepted at the airport. I asked the embassy what to do. They told me that the only safe option is to apply for a new passport. But more about that later. I've got a thing or two to say about Hyderabad.

Hyderabad is a crowded and bustling city of seven million inhabitants. It's the capital of the Andhra Pradesh state. I never really wanted to go there, but transport from Hospet directly to Delhi was not possible and I needed to split the huge distance in two anyway. Hyderabad was a good choice.

After arriving there early in the morning, I directly went to the reservation office to wait for the opening of the tatkal-ticket sales at 10 am. Tatkal means last minute and it's sometimes a real blessing for an unplanned traveler. You need to pay a little extra for it and be early the day before in the reservation office, but those two minor problems seem like small things in comparison to booking the trip two weeks or more in advance. Some trains still have regular bookable seats the same day, but especially for longer distances you need to be an early bird, or go tatkal.

I was again helped by a local man, who showed me a place to stay and also recommended a few places to see. The Salar Jung museum was one of them. Unfortunately the visit was just a continuation of my bizarre museum experiences in India. I'm aware that the museum is based on a personal collection of one man, but honestly, two rooms full of porcelain figurines and a room showing walking sticks (among other kitsch,) were not really that interesting. The collection has valuable items add well, but they were buried under a lot of junk.

I also saw the Charminar, the city's most famous landmark. It's name means four pillars and when you see it, you know why. It's built in the form of a square, with four big arches on the sides and four pillars on the corners. It has been looking over the city for more than 400 years already. Pictures from Hyderabad here.

After taking the longest train during my trip so far (26 hrs), I arrived in Delhi on Tuesday morning. As soon as I got to my room, I directly went to the embassy and applied for a new passport. Everything was done in less than 45 minutes. Since I came this early, I was able to apply for a regular five-year passport instead of an emergency passport for one year. It should be ready in a week or two at the most. Then I still have to get an exit visa for it, since my tourism visa was for my broken passport. I heard that this shouldn't be too difficult.

I did some sightseeing in Delhi on foot the next day. I walked a 15 kilometer tour from my hotel to Connaught place, then to India Gate, president's palace and finally Lodhi gardens. I enjoyed it very much, especially the beautiful gardens with old tombs. It's funny to think how much I hated Delhi in the beginning and how much I liked it now. Delhi pictures here.

Now I'm in Vrindavan, where I spent the first three weeks of my India tour. But I'll tell you more about it later, since I just arrived last night.