"Delhi - Capital city of contrasts. " a Delhi Travel Page by Willettsworld

Delhi, the capital of India, is basically split into two distinct tourist areas – Old Delhi and New Delhi. The contrast between the two areas is pretty stark. Old Delhi is a bustling area of narrow streets lined with shops and bazaar’s and the pandemonium that goes with it all whilst New Delhi is a large ordered area of broad tree-lined avenues containing affluent large houses and government buildings designed by the British when they were ruling India.

Old Delhi lies to the north of Connaught Place and contains landmarks such as the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid (large mosque) and the area around Chandni Chowk. There are other pockets of “old-ness” within the city and to the south such as the Purana Qila, Humayun’s Tomb, the tombs and ruins found in the Lodi Garden and the Qutb Minar which is located about 13km south of Connaught Place.

New Delhi includes Connaught Place, a large series of circular roads with a nice, neat and new park area in the centre. This area contains many shops and posh restaurants and expensive bars. The main area of New Delhi lies on or around Rajpath, a broad straight road linking the government and presidential buildings with India’s iconic symbol, India Gate. South of this lies the Diplomatic Enclave and business areas.

Delhi was my first destination on my mammoth 4-month tour of India. I flew in from the UK not really knowing what to expect except great culture, architecture, religion and lots of cows! I spent my first week here exploring a great deal of what it had to offer and that’s a lot I can tell you. As soon as I landed, I got caught up in a hotel scam and ended up in not a bad hotel in Karol Bagh and not the area I wanted to be in which was the backpacking, budget area of Pahar Ganj. I look back on this first day and have a laugh at myself for being so gullible and clueless. India toughens you up a bit so that you just take no bulls**t from anyone. I moved to Pahar Ganj on my second day into a pretty poor hotel but then started to explore the old city and then all the other areas thereafter and enjoyed myself. I quite liked Delhi despite the hazy semi polluted, semi dusty atmosphere which wasn’t that bad. In fact everything was much clearer when I returned to Delhi before flying home.