Discovering Delhi on my own

On the second day alone in Delhi, I didn’t want to walk alone in the streets, so I found a CNG tuk-tuk to take me few places. Actually, I just wanted to reach the 1st tourist attraction, but it seems that you can’t get rid of tuk-tuk drivers the whole day. It’s actually impressive their persuasion skills. I just really wanted him to drive me to 1 spot, but I don’t know exactly how I spent the whole day with this guy in Delhi. Basically, they keep on asking you what’s the next destination, and as I really had a mindset of the next destination I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t thinking about it. I’m a really bad liar!

.Problem number 1: you keep on telling destinations without discussing what will be the cost of the next move.
.Problem number 2: These skilled people can easily change your mind and advise you of another touristic spot instead.
.Problem number 3: I don’t like the feeling that I am limited because someone is waiting for me outside. I prefer doing things on my own.
.Problem number 4: you can’t get rid of them

So, I went with this tuk-tuk driver to the 1st place I wanted. He kept on asking what’s next and that’s how it happened for the rest of the day.
When he started trying to lead me the way he wanted, I started to not enjoy it so much… He kept me from visiting the Parliament just because tuk-tuks can’t stop in that area, so we just drove around the building after me asking him 100 times why? You can’t stop, but I can get off your F* tuk-tuk and go on my own. Yeah, but then the problem is that I wouldn’t be with him the whole day, which is their main goal. I’m so mad that I need to do what he wants instead of what I want. I don’t care it’s the best way, I don’t care you can’t ride that place. I WANT TO DO MY THING.

So I got pissed off because I couldn’t do whatever I wanted just because this guy didn’t want me to. The problem is that he was kind of a nice guy and I had a hard time denying him some of his decisions. That’s part. First, they try to do some kind of an emotional connection to then “sell” their fish. They are smart. That’s actually how you keep a customer. Getting emotional first.

That affected my mood for the rest of the day. We were heading to the last destination – the baby taj- when I decided that I must get a number out of his mouth. This means that I have been asking this guy the whole day how much it would cost me, and his answer was always: “you pay what you want, money no important“. Time to argue, yes I had a big fight with this guy because when I got a number out, it was ridiculous. So we were there yelling at each other. It was a very stressful situation, but after many words, we reached an agreement. Basically, the tuk-tuk drivers have some deals with souvenir stores and they want to take you to those stores so they can get their commission. He explained to me how should I spend 10 minutes inside this Delhi store and pretend to be interested so he can get his commision. We went to two different stores and that’s how we reached an agreement on the final day price. The more stores I go to, the more discount I have in my full day tuk-tuk price.

Close to India gate #indiagate #india #delhi #delhigram #traveling #travel #solotravel #visitindia #citygate

Uma publicação compartilhada por traveling_with_squarepants (@traveling_with_squarepants) em

And so it was, before heading to the hostel I went to this two stores I can get my discount, and he can get his commission. Of course when he dropped me he asked for a tip, but i turned my back and left. I didn’t enjoy the fact that this guy limited my choices and my time in each place I visited that day, so I didn’t like this experience on a tuk-tuk at all, despite the fact he was actually a nice guy.

Find out on the next post the things I have visited duting this day in Delhi that made the day worth it.

Don’t ride tuk-tuks without always discussing the final price.

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