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Published: December 20th 2013
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Off to New Delhi, we used the expressway which was a toll road and empty, Mr Harinder had nobody to toot his horn at. We passed a truck or two but probably the tolls make it too expensive to use. The trucks are usually highly decorated we have been told it is to remind the drivers of their wives who they might be away from for long periods. Most of them also have a sign on the back saying horn please, dipper at night so it is just a way of saying hello, I am here and going to overtake. It was late afternoon by the time we reached the outskirts of Delhi and the scenes of Poverty were dreadful, people living under a bit of cloth, surrounded by tons of rubbish, really sad animals, horses that were in dreadful condition pulling huge loads but equally, people pushing or pulling huge loads too. Dogs that had had puppies far too many times were everywhere and though there were less cows than normal, they just stroll about oblivious to everything as they always get fed being sacred. Delhi, like Mumbai has very few cows and buffalo on the streets as the traffic
is truly awful anyway and they would bring it to an total standstill.
15th December
Our hotel was on the outskirts of the city, it was ok but nothing like what we had been getting used to. Raj was our guide for the day and he was good, we started off at Qutb Minar which is this extraordinary tower, an oversize minoret, 234 feet high with 379 steps, which was going to be used for calling to prayer but was too high to climb! It was part of the now ruined mosque which had been built out of looted Hindu temples. It really was a fantastic construction, nearly spoilt for us by a load of very loud Americans who we unpolitely (no such word!) told to shut up.
The Delhi half marathon was going on so Raj suggested a ride on the metro as by the time we had done that the city roads would be opening up again. Our fare to go about 3 stops was 3 rupees, about 3p. The last carriage on the train is for ladies only and Jane and Sal got in there as it was less crowded,
however at the next stop there were hoards of people wanting to get on the train and quite a few men got in the ladies carriage, the ladies were not happy and one woman gave them hell, she wasn't having it and most of the men were very embarrassed and were trying to get to the next carriage but it was so full they couldn't. One of the men started having a very heated row with her - go girl, stand up for what is right!
They have a security gate you need to go through as they do at most places, as you walk through they beep and rattle but on the whole nobody takes any notice though at some places they give you a full body check. Our Delboy in Agra had no problems with any of these security checks, they cramped his style, he seemed to know everybody so we just got waved through and bypassed all the queues.
Can't remember how many millions use the metro each day but they estimate there are between 80,000 and 100,000 tuk tuks in Delhi, 8000 busses and around 20,000 taxis.
Next visit was the mosque, 2nd only in size to the Blue Mosque in Turkey, Jane And Sal were surprised to be allowed in, all shoes removed and then as we were not wearing full length trousers, the men were given skirt type sarongs and Jane and Sal were given 1950's housecoats to the ground in a colourful floral pattern, to say we looked ridiculous would be an understatement but we attracted a huge amount of interest with lots of people around us, probably having a good laugh but it was interesting to visit....... Fortunately there were camera restrictions and only Pete has the pictures which we can't access just yet.
From here we took a rickshaw ride around the narrow streets of Old Delhi, being Sunday, it wasn't as busy as a weekday but busy enough and this is the place where all the joke photos come from regarding Indian call centres as the wires are trailing everywhere with pigeons nesting, monkeys swinging on them and washing drying! It was fab, can only say that our man must have had bloody strong thighs to peddle us two around!
We drove on to a
Sunday market, viewing through the window was bad enough, it was heaving with people, you literally could not move, the stall holders were standing on their stalls holding up what they were selling. It was nearly all men, just one or two women. We passed a Jain temple where they care for sick and injured birds and took a look at the red fort which was similar to the one at Agra and was built by the same person.
Next stop was the memorial gardens for Ghandi, though it was Sunday it was full of school kids who have their outings at the weekend. These would have been state school kids, dressed in uniform supplied by the state who also supply their books and meals. As the family had to supply shoes you could easily see that some couldn't afford them and many were bare footed and others had cut the toes out of their shoes where feet had grown and toes were poking through. We were mobbed by them, they all wanted a photo taken of themselves, their group or with us, it was funny buy also a bit scary being surrounded by 40/50 kids. The
girls just wanted to say hello and wave and pose for photos..... Oh the celebrity of it all, however, maybe not quite what we thought as we discovered later that Jane's bag had been slashed and purse stolen, we don't really know when it happened and the kids were good hearted and it was fortunate that we have split money and credit cards and they only got a bit of cash. It wasn't Janes day as she felt a bit under the weather so we had a drive by the impressive Parliament buildings and then back to the hotel.
We had spotted Pizza Express in Mumbai so had checked the web for branches in Delhi, there were 3, so that was our target, unfortunately Jane just wanted her bed so we set off with Mr Harinder, who could only take us close to Connaught Place which is a massive roundabout with lots of brand shops under colonnades, it is divided into blocks and we headed for the address we had and couldn't find it, we asked somebody who sent us to a different block and still couldn't find it and then somebody else sent us somewhere else,
so with time pressing and Mr Harinder coming back for us we squeezed into a tuk tuk driven by a lovely steady driver and headed to Pizza Hut which we had spotted during our Pizza Express search, not that we were keen on the hut variety but having had virtually 2 weeks of Indian food, which has been fabulous and we have enjoyed, we all needed a break!
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dany
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information overload
My god what an amazing time you are having - my mind is in information overload and your sensations must be overloaded! but with the most incredible things and stuff you will think about for years to come.. love you