Sunday 18 March 2012

Ahhhhh welcome to Delhi

Standing in the check in queue I was worried. Not only was I the only person without at least one flat screen tv, I was the only female - and non Indian at that. My hair is so sun bleached I certainly stood out.

I chilled for a bit in the club lounge, filled my pack with as much free food as I could then nearly missed my flight. Oops, popped into the shops on the way to the gate.

Was excited to be sitting in the first row of economy. The dude (v large indeed) next to me moved so I could get myself sorted. I did a little dance in my seat when he decided to stay in the middle row. Two whole seats to myself and a wall in front to put my feet on. Woohoo!

I got up to put my bag in the overhead bin and looked around. There was not another non-Indian or female in the entire cabin. Too funny. But even funnier was the poor flight attendants trying to get people out of the loo, off their phones and into their seats as we were leaving the ground. The flight was quite good considering Indian men talk at a yell and also talk more than me!

Driving into Delhi in a beaten up small hatch thing was hysterical. Laughing so hard while trying to get my seatbelt on was a challenge. Then I landed at the incorrectly named Hotel Perfect. But I was so tired from such a long day of travel I slept very well.

Wandered out of the hotel this morning into the chaos of Delhi. I couldn't get the smile off my face. I wanted to see some of the sites before my tour so got chatting to a tour agent dude.


I couldn't work out if he was trying to scam me, but we had a lot of laughs over a cup of chai so I decided he was ok. I booked a driver for a few hours to see the town.

Wouldn't you know it, next thing a battered up small hatch thing pulls up. They seem to be the transport of choice in downtown delhi.

I went to a cool temple, India gate, parliament house and Humayun's Tomb. Plus a few shops.

Cool temple (it does have a name but i can't quite remember it. Will be known as the temple where I should have bought those cool pants for 200IR or $4).







This is near parliament house. The president has an enormous pad plus gardens that go for miles. Must make up for the fact he has to live next to his office.




Looking towards India gate. This is where the discussion on the merits of Ricky Ponting started!


India gate. It's very cool and is a memorial to people who lost their lives fighting for their country. The layout kinda reminds me of Washington DC.




When the driver man said he wanted to take me to a tomb I was a bit worried - thoughts of boredom sprung to mind. OMG was I wrong. This tomb was build 100 years before the Taj. There are rose gardens and lots of other small tombs. Could have stayed for hours but I ran out of water.











Then me and Apu took a break.


We decided to agree to disagree about Ricky Ponting, bonded over Gillie playing 2020 and both cracked up laughing as soon as he said Shane Warne.

He's picking me up tomorrow .... he says some lotus temple is worth a look so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Location:Hotel Perfect, Karol Bagh India

4 comments:

  1. Oops, the comments don't exactly line up with the pics so you have creative license.

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  2. The temple where you should've bought the pants is stunning!

    I wonder why everyone had flat screen tvs.

    It is good that you can find common ground with people all over the world.

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    1. Yep the temple was cool but the tomb was even better. And these are not the most popular places to visit - I see these when my tour starts tomorrow.

      There wasn't really common ground with Apu - he is a Ricky ponting fan and I'm not! His fav player is Brett lee so he obviously has some issues. It was a fun day.

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  3. You should make it a goal to see the Brett Lee bollywood movie while you are in India. That's got to be good for a laugh. Also, why didn't you buy a giant tv? You could have left it at our place.

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