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Published: June 22nd 2017
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Geo: 28.6137, 77.1834
The plane journey took 8 1/2 hours. It was smelly and hot but we were consolled by the MASSIVE array of films available to watch (Bollywood marathon anyone!?). For the on plane cuisine we ordered one meat and one vegetarian just because we're nosey and greedy. Both consisted of a curry and rice (paneer and chicken) and we had two kinds of daal (sooz's daal tasted like a 3:3:2 ratio of feet, armpit and curry), a chickpea salad and stuffed paratha. The veg option had a bread roll and the meat had yoghurt. Dessert was a lemon and cardamom lumpy pudding (we're pretty sure it was meant to be lumpy!). We only managed to watch 'Finding Dory' before we were overcome with exhaustion from the weeks of preparation and organisation mania (and it may have been helped by the free Phil-sized measures of vodka and cokes) . We probably only managed to get a few hours kip before we awoke with numb bums and stiff necks but this was swiftly forgotten when breakfast was served (albeit at 4am UK time!). Breakfast was a blueberry muffin, fruit bowl and orange juice.
The heat in India is indescribable. It's between 30
and 36 degrees at the moment in Delhi and it's hazy and incredibly humid! The heat just saps all your energy meaning a whole day out and about lasts about 4 to 5 hours max! By the time we're back to the hostel it feels like we've just done a run of night shifts.
On our first night we went on a hostel-arranged trip of Akshardham temple. If want to know about it, look it up! All we know is that it is a Hindu temple, was built roughly 10 years ago and it's full of gold (our hostel fella/ tour guide wasn't very forthcoming with the info)! It's made of marble and sandstone but Phil thinks it looks like it was made by a 3d printer. It was stunning! You get turned around and sent away if you bring any electrical item (as two of our party found out) so unfortunately no pictures. Every evening they put on a light and water show which would rival anything in Vegas (Youtube it)! We didn't have a clue what the story was, (something to do with Hindu gods getting angry and wrecking the place) but the water fountains, lights and animation were
jaw dropping! We had dinner in the food court of the temple which was interesting...
Today we ventured into Old Delhi. Everything you may know or have been told about Delhi is true. To say it is an assault on the senses is putting what we experienced today very very mildly. Between trying to cross the road amongst the most famously chaotic traffic without being run over to walking past open latrines to being followed for 200 yards down the road by some guy hounding us to buy a massive balloon, we're pretty sure our senses have been ravaged! This was in such amazing contrast however, to the aroma of all the spices from the markets, the look of the food the street sellers were preparing and the sheer scale and grandeur of the Red Fort. For some reason, the Indian's seem to make their independence from British rule as big a 'thing' as the Irish do! ;-) The Red Fort is definitely Indian architecture at it's best. It's obviously a shadow of it's former magnificence, but it's still a sight to behold.
We're going to tackle New Delhi tomorrow then moving on to Agra (Taj Mahal) for the weekend.
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Chris Carroll
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Sounds magnificent! If only they did day trips to India, I'm not sure i could deal with the sensory overload for longer than that these days!