I am still putting together a basic itinerary for my trip to India. The general direction of travel will be focused around some major events I want to attend that simply cannot be missed, i.e. annual festivals or other events that happen to take place during my time in India.
One of the biggest decisions right now is whether I should attend the Common Wealth Games being held in New Delhi during October. For those of you who haven't been following the news, the upcoming games will be the most expensive yet. The Indian government has just released their new budget estimate at $2.3 Billion USD, that up over 1,500% of the original bid amount.
Tickets have been on sale for a while, which means the cheapest ones are now sold out. I can still get some for what most westerners would consider a good deal: opening ceremonies $100, field hockey $7, rugby $4, closing ceremonies $50. (And yes.. Canada DOES have a field hockey team..)
It's not that I particularly like watching sports but the mayhem may make it worth my while. Take a city already filled to the brim with over 14 million people add parties, thousands of foreigners, not to mention countless Indians from the rest of the country, and I'm pretty sure that's the recipe for a good time.
But with so many people attending it looks like cheap accommodation may be hard to come by, and even with pre-booking there is no guarantee your room will still be there when you arrive.
My current thoughts? I'm thinking about using www.hostelworld.com to pre-book some rooms at $15/night, paying around 10% upfront to reserve them and buying some cheap tickets for the games. Of course there is always the chance that my hostel reservation won't be honored and I'll be stuck without any affordable accommodation. But lets face it; the chance of me turning down a week long party like that in New Delhi isn't very likely!
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