delhi...saris...and flashing the porter

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Hi!! I'm finallly back for another update, about time too as I'm over a third of the way through now! (that's a scary thought). I've back dated this entry because otherwise it's gonna be ridiculously late! as far as now goes we're on magnetic island and loving the sun, I have a few more entries planned for the next few weeks so hopefully I'll be nearly caught up by the time I get home!! all comments and messages welcome - let me know how and what you're all doing.

Delhi....
actually I think on the last message I hadn't even finished the first day so I'll pick up where I left off...
fighting jet lag we stayed up and went sari shopping - actually we didn't buy sari's we bought a punjabi suit each and a top and skirt for the actual ceremony. the bloke at the desk in our hotel was able to suggest a shop nearby where they spoke english (and we were escorted there by the ever-present porter). the lady in the shop was lovely and very helpful and we attracted quite a crowd of people standing looking in through the door at the two european girls buying Indian clothes! The wedding would last 5 days, but we were only going to take part in the first two as the others were on the grooms side and between the fathers of the bride and groom. Because of this Alli and I decided to buy two outfits each for the two more important ceremonies, the middle one being quite casual by comparison. we saw hundreds of outfits in all different colours and patterns and finally found one each we liked, mine is pink (bright pink!) and Alli's is blue/green. both are very ornate... I'll try to upload pics of us but if there are none, appologies, I'll send out my snapfish address shortly that had all my pics online).
anyway once we'd chosen those they were sent off to be taken in for us (they were quite big but all seemed to come in the same size and have to be taken in or out accordingly), the second outfit, the punjabi suit is a colourful tunic-like top over plain trousers. Mine is pale blue and alli's is pale pink and we didn't realise until they were made up but they had identical patterns (hopefully we didn't look too much like bookends!). they had to be made up from scratch so the lady offered to deliver all of the outfits to us the next day.

As we left the shop the porter, who'd stayed and watched us shopping offered to take us to a tourist office 'to get maps of delhi', the next thing we know we're sitting in a travel agents and the bloke is trying to sell us a whistle stop tour of the golden triangle (delhi, jaipur and agra)...all for a very reasonable price of course!! We declined because it was very expensive and we didn't really have time, but we did book a guide and a car for the next day to show us round delhi. I am glad we did because we saw so much more than we would have other wise, and we saw a lot more of the culture. however the guide we had, although nice and very friendly had a very strong accent and we couldn't make out most of what he was telling us, so unfortunately there are lots of pics of me and alli in front of a monument, temple or something, and we have no idea what it is!! when we did understand what we were looking at, we didn't understand all of the history he was telling us, so I'll have to look most of it up when we get home (and internet is free again!!). We did see the red fort (so named because it is built from red stone), one of the biggest markets in India, which was actually more of a huge collection of shops than market stalls. again we were very aware of atracting attention - people would come out of their shops and shout across the street at us what they were selling and what we should buy. we didn't spend a huge amount of time here but moved on quickly to the next attraction, as there are so many 'main' religions in India we saw a huge number of Mosques, Hindu temples and Sikh temples all of which were very beautiflu, but, I'm sorry to say started to blend in to one after a while (especially as we usually didn't know why each one was special!). other places we saw included the house of the prime minister and a Mosque from the 11th century.

One Mosque in particular stands out from the others even now, it was a very modern Mosque reminiscent of the sydney opera house, but sort of 'the other way round' (again sorry fro the lack of pics), shaped like a lotus flower. It was stunning, really really beautiful. Inside was all marble and glass.
While we were sightseeing we were very aware of being the only europeans around beacause of thwe stares we got from everyone, we had though that in somewhere like delhi we wouldn't stand out so much but we really did, we hardly saw any other european tourists. And while in hotels and restuarants people were used to foreign tourists, the Indian tourists really weren't and quite often as we were walking along people walking in the other direction would take our pictures on cameras or camers phones and even sometimes try to get into the back of pictures with us! this was a bit annoying but for the most part not too bad, but in the lotus shaped Mosque it really got quite intimidating. Before entering the Mosque we were asked to remove our shoes and not to take pics inside because it is a place of worship, but two teenage boys followed us round constantly inside trying to take pictures of us and get in pictures with us, twice they were asked to leave and twice they came back in and carried on. this made us feel very guilty as it was because of us they were taking pics so we left quickly. this in particular was strange because of all the different races and cultures at home - differences are normal, and I never realised how normal until I saw how much attention Alli and I attracted.

Much as the tourist attractions were fascinating, it was seeing the culture and the people that was much more interesting as everything is so different from europe. we really did see poverty while we were sight seeing in delhi, I wsa prepared for it and so didn't find it too shocking, we felt more sad and guity. It was very strange seeing first hand what I'd before only seen on the news, people living at the side of the road, not even in shanty towns, jut with material strung over a rope. One seen we watched for about 7 minutes while we were sitting at traffic lights and made for very uncomfortable viewing. two older children (about 7 or 8 maybe) were making two younger children (3 or 4)fight each other and were adding their own kicks and punches at the same time. They seemed to have chosen one child to win and everytime the other one was on top they both laid into her and pulled the other on top until they decided he'd won. The little girl then ran away crying but couldn't really get away. All four children were only half dressed and probably lived on the streets. It was a very hard thing to watch (allison, ever the nursery nurse wanted to give them all time out!), and even worse because there was nothing we could do to help or stop what was happening. It does put everything in perspective, how easy life is at home, and how the Indian government just cannot cope with the huge population here.

we seemed to bring the floods from home with us - naively I hadn't realised it would be monsoon season, but the first night it started - I have never seen rain like it!! luckily we didn't get too wet when we were sight seeing, and it cleared the air of the hunidity, which was more unbearable than the heat. It rained a bit later in our trip but never as torrentially as that first night.

Both Alli and I were shattered the first few days in Delhi beacause we'd struggle to stay awake throughout the day but then be wide awake at night! at least bth of us were awake because it meant we could have the telly on, play cards, talk and not feel guilty for keeping the other up.

We had expected to have to worry about pickpockets, but actually the whole time India we were very lucky and the weren't even that many beggars around. What we did find though was that people tried to scam money out of us instead, by over charging us or trying to sell us things we didn't want. It was then difficult to know how sincere people were being - everyone was very friendly but then everyone tried to sell us something. This got very wearing after a few days of constantly having to decline 'very generous offers'. We got very good at saying no and walking away and not getting talked into buying things, unfortunately I think we may have come across as rude in some instances because people quite literally would not give up or take no for an answer.

The third day in Delhi (also our last) our dresses arrived, reception rang our room to tell us and offer to bring them up for us, but it was quite early and we weren't up yet. 20 minutes later I'd showered and was getting dressed and alli was about to shower when there was a knock at the door, the usual porter (who up until this point was still following us round like a shadow) had taken it upon himself to bring the clothes up anyway. I was less than half dressed so hid in the bathroom while alli answered the door. Alli's pj's are a big t-shirt and shorts, unfortunately it doesn't always look as though she's wearing shorts and as she opened the door the porter got the shock of his life! Alli told me his face was a picture!! We didn't realise how big a shock it must have been until we then didn't see him for the whole of the rest of our stay! (alhtough that was a relief as Alli didn't particularly want to bump into him again either!!).

Wow that was a mammouth entry!! That's pretty much Delhi (all jumbled up, but it's there). There'll probably be more to add, but the next entry will be about agra and the taj mahal, which was a whole different experience. All feed back and emails are welcome as I'm feeling cut off from life at home! I hope you're all well and not too bored by this long rambling entry. I'll try to update again soon, but you know what my track record has been like recently so I don't know when it'll be!! Appologies again for the lack of pics, there will be some soon, or if not I'll write down my address at snapfish where the photos are. anyway - take care

sarah xx

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