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Published: January 12th 2006
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STOP PRESS: We'll we are about two weeks in, but we are moving so fast that there's not much time for blogging (and a lot of places are slooooow...bring back Bolivia !!!). We are in Kerala now...so may have some time to catch up on a few blogs....Sorry about that folks....
Well..here we are again...it's blog time.
So, we ended up back in the UK for a whirlwind Christmas after a fantastic trip around South America. How privileged we are to have experienced all the things we did....it won't be forgotten in a hurry.
Great time at Xmas with everyone at the 'Wortham' friends xmas and equally with our Mum's and Dad's at the 3rd Ockendon Road Christmas celebrations.
But...it was a quick and brief visit...and just as we'd started to settle into the way of life back home in London...we were off again...and here we are in India.
Wow !!
Double Wow !!
What a most amazing, fantastic brilliant country. Words and pictures will never really describe the sights, sounds, places, people, smells and experiences that you come across ... quite literally on a minute by minute basis.
Without question, it's the
people that make this place. Despite the obvious poverty and hardship, everyone, and I mean everyone, is friendly, curious and seemingly genuinely happy to see you...little kids shouting 'hello', people wanting to practice their English, and yes, whilst they may want you to visit their shop/hotel/tour/restaurant, there is no hint of aggressiveness or pushiness....just a smile and a wave goodbye (come back next time).
And then there are the country people. You've all seen the pictures of the brightly saree'd women walking with various pots, woods and other things balanced on their head. That's no postcard, it what you see on every corner, in every village....beautiful, elegant and gracious. And the men, dressed in the traditional dress, with huge colourful turbans, and huge handlebar moustaches to match. Regal.
Oh, and then there's the cows...the sacred animals that are simply everywhere, noshing on whatever rubbish they find in the street and simply laying down for a snooze in the road whenever. My two favorites have been the guy wandering through central Old Delhi markets causing chaos, but definitely the best was the old bull who wandered out in front of us on the Delhi to Jaipur road. Nothing strange
about that you may say...the cows are all over the road. But not when you realise that this road is a brand new three lane motorway and when a cow runs out in front of you at 70 mph it's a bit alarming. But that's just India.
Did we say the people are the best thing about India? Hmmm..maybe not...maybe it's the quite stupendous cultural attractions. There seems to be as much squeezed into every day here as there is in a week elsewhere. It's easy to get 'churched out' in other places, but here...just bring it on. Every palace, temple or fort is amazing. No one place is the same, and everyone is stunning...so different, with so much history is unreal. We are overloaded with Moghal's and Maharaja's and empires and such.
Sorry. Mistake. It's the food ! As a self confessed curry-a-holic, I thought I may be a bit disappointed. Oh no. Baby these boys can cook. We are currently trying the Dhal Makhini in every restaurant to determine the best in India, but the tandoori's, the Lassi, the nan's, the Thali's.....it's all wonderful. Like the best Indian in town, only better....and cheaper...and for lunch.....oh and
breakfast
. We've all got over the early days of stomach cramps, and apart from the odd dash to a loo every now and then, we've been quite good. It’s all part of the fun anyway....toilet lottery and all that (all though to be honest, the boys had nothing but western loos everywhere for the first six days...don't think the girls faired that well).
So...what we have we done...
So, into Delhi early morning no probs and decided to go out for the afternoon, to the recently opened Swaminarayan Akshardham temple. Fantastic building, with an enormous central temple surrounded by 100s of half size elephant sculptures...this place will become one of the hot tourist spots. No cameras though...so no pictures. We did however queue for hour and a half for the 'animatronics' show...only to find an Indian speaking talking rock...left a bit sharpish after that. (Check out the web site http://www.akshardham.com/whatisakdm/index.htm it’s damn impressive).
That evening we ventured nervously into our first restaurant 'Gaylord' and had a great surprise. You read so much about the food and being careful etc etc. but this was spot on. A great charming place, with superb food (Dhal Makhini 7/10) and One queue for tourists
...but we do pay 100 times the Indian price !!! plush decor and so on. Great. Then ended up in a bar with the Indian 'DJ' blasting Guns and Roses at earsplitting volume.
Then next day was Delhi proper. Again...another surprise as we boarded the super fast super clean super efficient New Delhi subway up to the Red Fort. India shows all the sign of the powerful economy that it actually is. That said, coming out from the underground directly into Chadni Chowk, right in the heart of old Delhi is quite some contrast. The bazaars of Old Delhi were amazing...packed with people. scooters, monkeys and everything to buy under the sun. The noise of people and horns is amazing...there are things going everywhere, at every speed and in every direction...but again...absolutely no hint of what I would call 'road rage'...another example of the wonderful nature of the Indian people. We also 'did' the Red Fort and Jama Masjid - the largest mosque in India (it's big), and India Gate etc. Lutterns seems to know a thing or too about city planning...New Delhi (the bit the British built) it's on a staggering scale.
However, us being us and it's off for dinner. At the world best Indian (or so they say), at the hyper expensive Bhukara restaurant in the Sheraton. How excited was Steve !!! We pitched up and found a queue so waited in the 'Golf bar'. One round of drinks and 6o quid later !!! Anyway...we went into the restaurant, and BOY was it good. It's a Tandoori place, and you can see the chefs cooking behind a massive glass screen. We had a Lamb Raan which was to die for, and the chicken tandoori was superb...so succulent...crisp and moist at the same time (Dal Makhini 9.75/10). Eating by hands - it was so good we nicked three of the napkins with the name on it !!!
So...that's the start of the trip. More later when we get the time...
S&L
xxxx
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