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Published: December 28th 2006
Finally arrived in Delhi and was met with a barrage of noise, crazy traffic, bad smells and COLD COLD fog!
Delhi seemed absolutely manic, but there was no time for that to affect me, as was collected the next day by our driver and whisked off to the airport to meet mum, who was flying in for a week. Was great to see her after 3 months, and then we went to check into our 5* hotel in Delhi which was OH MY GOD, abbbbsolutely AMAZING!!
Was just a stunning hotel, very glamorous, elegant and richly luxurious - was loving it all, especially having a fresh box of belgian chocolates put in our room every day!
Ate at supposedly one of the top 10 restaurants in the world, and had brilliant indian food. Considering I thought that the indian food on the plane to Delhi was great, eating in fabulous restaurants was just amazing!
Had a day to relax, and dragged my reluctant mum out onto the streets of Delhi to see some shops - we stayed until it got dark and think she was a bit scared! Oops, forgot about the whole culture shock, which is
made 100 times worse by staying in a luxury quiet haven!
Had a full city tour of Delhi, with our driver and guide. Saw Old and New Delhi, and all the grand buildings, including the largest mosque in India, Parliament, the Red Fort and the impressive Humayan's Tomb - the building that inspired the Taj Mahal. All were stunning and such a vast contrast to the poverty on the streets.
The only word to describe India is a place of extremes. The extreme wealth and grandeur of the buildings and posh hotels, and the extreme squalour that is everywhere on the streets. On one hand the sights are so impressive and the hotels more luxurious than I could have imagined, and on the other, the streets are dirtier, smellier and filled with more poverty than I could have ever thought. It's just crazy, and very hard to see - most of the roadsides look like refugee camps, packed with tents where the people live, and beggars everywhere. Think mum was definitely pleased we were safe in our car most of the time (as shows from my lack of 'street scene' photos...but don't worry - plenty of time for
pics of cows and dirt!)
Enjoyed lots of fine dining, as well as making mum eat some street food at a local market which was also great. Yum yum yum.
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