Hello all! I had quite a doozy of an experience coming into Delhi, India, let me tell you what happened. A little scary but it does make for a good story on my blog and other social media outlets! Over in Thailand, when i first started traveling back in 2019, I experienced a strange scam in my first 2 or 3 days within the country and strangely, after that, my experience was pretty smooth! Both of these scams were weird for different reasons and ill explain why in a bit!
Warning on the taxis at New Delhi airport, and also for the hotels in the Paharganj District – I wouldn’t advise staying here because it is dirty and crime ridden. Now on with the story. Someone on Facebook advised to take a prepaid taxi at Delhi airport for 500 rupees about $6 usd, so i did. I got myself a receipt which i still have, and jumped in the back of a white non-AC mini cab with an Indian driver who spoke English. Now Delhi is big and the airport is pretty far south. We left the airport and winded our way through some heavy traffic on windy highways, with tons of cars, bikes, and trucks. eventually getting clogged up a few miles from the Paharjanj District close to the train station in New Delhi and the New Delhi metro stop.
Coronavirus Shut down, road blocks 2023 .. So we ended up at a roadblock with one of those yellow police barricades and my driver announced that the coronavirus was shutting down the city and the road was closed. Keep in mind that there is no coronavirus in 2023, but because I hadn’t paid attention to the news media i had no idea, and I thought he was telling me the truth. One other big issue, I didnt have a SIM so i had no idea where i was in the city and I hadn’t downloaded the Google Maps offline on my Google Pixel phone, however i did have a reservation at a small backpacker hotel near the train station.
Ready for some more weird? My driver was asking for the location or phone number of my hotel. It was the Shiva Intercontinental Hotel – just a small cheapie place I got for 1 night. Apparently the driver had called the hotel, and spoke to them in Hindi. The hotel agreed to go along with the scam by coming to a government information registration center, to pick me up and accept me for 4 times what it was listed for on booking.com, its basically a 1 or 2 star place and they wanted about $40 for the night. We are really going downhill here.
Fake Government Information Center… ready for some more strange? The taxi guy drives me to a tourist agency. I never go to these because they just want commissions for something you can get for the same price online. I told the driver that it didnt look like this was a government office for registration of visitors because there was no government signage or employees. The person who was working there attempted to weave a series of lies about how most hotels were not accepting of foreign visitors. The driver didnt really know what to do. Now i was beginning to catch onto the scam because as i mentioned the office wasn’t real.
Distrustful of Indian people … who me? We drove to another tourist agency after the first guy did not come up with any place for me to stay. So for the second guy, i sort of let them continue on with the scam even though by this point i knew this driver was a total fraud. So the second agency i went to the guy told me some similar things about all the hotels being booked and id need to get a 4 star place. I also refused to buy a SIM card from this guy, i ended up buying one later at the Zostel. I just walked out of this office, and i ended up walking towards Connaught circle… The driver accused me of being distrustful of Indian people on my way out.
A stroke of luck, things looking up at Starbucks… Heres where i found a Starbucks where this wealthy Indian guy was sitting at a table near to me it was really crowded. I had told him what had happened and that i didnt have a SIM and didnt really know where i was going to stay for the evening. He helped me get a Wifi connection through his phone (cant use it without verification first in India). He also booked me a room at the Zostel WITH HIS OWN CREDIT CARD, isn’t that a nice gesture? He had some tourist biz and didnt like the fact the other Indians were attempting to scam me so he totally helped me out. Apparently this was a free room, and there were no strings attached, etc. I never heard from our good Samaritan but ill remember his assistance after I leave India…. and lastly the rest of my trip here in India has gone relatively smoothly, with no other major issues.