Delhi and the sights around

Having difficulty getting wifi so will udate whenever we can.
Easy, uneventful flight, as daylight came up the plane swung south and we could see the Himalayas in the distance, covered in snow.  A bit earlier we’d checked the flight map on the screen and realised that we were flying over Afghanistan – strange landscape and very barren.

Exiting the airport was easy and we even found a taxi, shame he got lost on the way to the hotel and had to keep asking the locals.  The driving was absolute chaos; on a 5 lane highway I counted 8 lines of cars, and then squeezed in between were the bikes and pedal rickshaws.

The hotel I picked off the internet is best described as different but OK, just.  The chaos on the roads just keeps on into the side streets and pavements.  The pavements are so blocked with cars that people walk in between the logjam of cars.

The hotel “boy” escorted down us an alleyway to a restaurant and we entered a world of 1970s British Indian restaurants.  Great food, very different to the Indians we’re used to.  The bill for the whole meal was 310Ir about £3.90.

Our friends Bob and Jan gave us a tenner to have a drink somewhere in the world but we’ve decided to take the tenner for a drink around the world instead…

Our phones aren’t working at the moment so somewhat incommunicado.

We’ve taken a tour around Dehli by coach and were rushed around so many temples and monuments  that they have blurred a bit but photos below give some idea.  It made us realise that getting around this city without local help would be very, very difficult

India Gate – India’s most famous war memorial.

Qutub Minnar temples and memorials.

                                  The Lotus temple of the Baha’I religion – stunning structure.

The images below are all from the Red Fort at Dehli – apparently there are a few around India.  This one was enormous the circular walls must have been a couple of kilometres long.

                                                       These two are from inside the fort.

Below is a street scene outside the hotel

The men on the bamboo are building a marquee at the Lotus temple for a big gathering, the poles were swaying as the moved about, fantastic skill and fearless.

We were sat on the coach when Carole out of the window to see an elephant looking in at her as it walked past – mixing it with the traffic, nobody batted an eyelid around us.

                           The police transport drivers  at home have nothing to complain about!

We already seen some amazing stuff in Delhi; what is striking is the grinding poverty next to sumptuous palaces although everyone seems to get along despite the contrasts, the only bad manners we’ve seen was from a European – not British thank heavens.

We had a coffee in the café at the hotel and got speaking to a retired history professor from Dehli and his American based sister. They said that Indians don’t talk about the poverty it’s almost ignored and the Indians are too proud to accept any criticism on the subject from outsiders.  He said there was now a barrier and that the poorer majority didn’t have much hope of improving their conditions despite the economic strength of India.