India holiday | bellsandtrance's Blog

Hello from Delhi

So after eight hours of flying we stopped at Abu Dhabi airport for three hours. What a massive and busy airport, we finally climbed on to our plane and reached our destination about 4am or so SA time. We were all a bit worse for wear, grumpy, dirty and really exhausted but everyone was very friendly and tried their level best to make everything more comfortable.
Delhi is amazing.
We are staying on the third and fourth floors of a very ritzy hotel.The metropolitan. We slept until 2 pm. After all we had gone through we sure needed the rest and we decided to go for a walk in the streets. Ha ha ha. We picked up new friends at every corner and we ended up in a park where would you believe Garth and I batted with the local Indian cricket raga muffin team. They loved it when Garth batted and he said he was a famous SA cricketer and the young boys couldn't stop laughing when I batted. Everywhere you go where there are any public around they hoard you. The Indians see you from a mile away and they love talking and trying to sell you stuff, help you carry luggage, help you cross the road etc. Some very scraggly children ran behind us saying Helllooo Helllooo how are you.
The traffic is a total fruitcake and crossing the road is a nightmare, the rule for crossing the road is just hold out your hand and start walking, better you just hope that the trucks, buses, tuck tucks, bicycles, cars, scooters that are all driving eighty or more stop or at least slow down to dodge you. Blowing hooters here is high fashion ie the bigger the vehicle the more you blow your hooter to let the smaller okes i. Front of you know you are coming. It's not for the faint hearted for sure.... Oh yes and the FOG in Delhi is really bad lol!

The food in our hotel is awesome and we are all going to be very fat when we return...hope you recognize us! The curries are phenomenal!

Today we went for our first official tour with a minibus, driver and a guide all to ourselves. We went to Jama Masjid this is the largest mosque in Delhi, it is made of red sandstone and was built in the fifteenth century ....quite something! After that we went to Gandhi's monument that is in a beautiful garden. Everywhere you look there are ladies in colorful saris and people love the kids especially, Cate. They take photos of the kids all the time, but they mean no harm....our guide chases them away if they get too much though. We then proceeded to a doll museum which was rather more interesting than I might have thought as it showed one so much about the various people of India ...this place is massive!
Lunch was up next and we ate dhaal and currie and I don't even know what but it was all delicious. Outside the restaurant there was a very old snake charmer with a turban and beady eyes. He had his flute and his cobra and he was really giving it a good go when he saw us....of course we fell for the tourist trap ...for rupees of course but ja at least we have some photos.

The most amazing thing of the day was the Akshardham Hindu temple Wow, this if the most amazing building I have ever seen...please google it and you will see.......there is a whole room with precious stones stuck to the walls...serious....I have never seen anything like it in my life. Pa said it was the most beautiful building he has ever seen. We were there as the sun came down and it was very awe inspiring for all of us. The atmosphere was really serene and respectful and we all loved it....the walls are all carved by hand. We went back to the hotel and guess what we ate some more curry and chatted to the locals.....tomorrow we are going all over the show and YES YES YES .....shopping. We are probably going to make lots and lots of new friends...Wink.
Will keep in touch when I can.

Ps prices its been hard to tell but we paid about 800 rand for a fancy meal for all of us plus the guide....think you could eat for much much cheaper if you want Delhi belly!
Love from
Us!