Oh Where to Begin?Well we start with the obviouse choice of a farewell Aus beer in the Airport. The plane ride is not worth a mention as it is always boring.
We arrived in New Delhi airport to find our transfer awaiting us an were quickly bundled into a cab for the ride to our hotel. What a ride!!!
I promise I will never again complain about traffic in any country! The road rules are non existant and its a free for all at every intersection.
We got to the hotel to find our room not ready so left the bags and went for a stroll on the street to find a coffee and internet cafe. We made it to the end of the block feeling rather out of place with eveybody looking at us as if we were from Mars. After another 15 minutes of aimless wandering we returned to the hotel. Streets have no names here and it was very intimidating for the uneasoned travellers that we are.
We decided on hiring a cab for the day and managed to get in a quick shower before heading out to see the sites. By now it was full on Saturday traffic and chaos doesn't even start to do it justice. Our first stop was the presidents palace. Very nice buildings set around nice park lands.
Second stop was the tomb of the first Mogul king of India. The name escapes me as do most names in India. The buildings are fantastic and date back to 15th Century. The architects of the tombs were lucky enough to be executed after completion so that the structure could never be repeated. Nice one!
Next it was a visit to Gahndi's museum. Very nice and free entry made for all round happiness. The man is greatly revered here and was instrumental in uniting the country and bringing about democracy. I never knew he spent many years in South Africa including being imprisoned by the wonderful government of the time. This was actually the driving force behind his mission to unite people against racism and inequality.
After lunch we went to Gahndi's cremation "Ghat" and then back to the Hotel for group meeting. The morning was a 4:30am wake up and off to the train for our journey to Jaipur on the train. It only gets better from here on in but you will have to wait for the next internet oppotunity for that episode.
See you all again soon. Lots of love
Simon and Carol
