India - New Delhi
The night before we left for India, we spent the night in a hotel (Jury’s Inn) close to Heathrow, though our flight didn’t leave until 11 p.m. We used the rental car to explore the area, having lunch in my brother’s old college of Royal Holloway, going to Saville Gardens (well worth seeing, although a bit muddy in winter), and to visit the Windsor Sports Centre which has an excellent swimming pool including simulated waves and slide. The boys were exhausted and hungry by the time we left (and so were we), which is exactly what we wanted before boarding the eight hour overnight flight to Delhi.
Check-in for Virgin flights was horrendous. We got to the check in counter quickly having printed our tickets electronically at one of the automatic machines, but then the lady asked as if we had weighed our bags. I told her yes, but then she asked about our carry-on bags which are supposed to have a max weight of 7 kg. This was a bit of a surprise to say the least and each of our bags were about double, so we had to leave the checkin desk to repack. Since our two checkin bags were full and already at the weight limit, we were at a loss what to do. As I repacked, Carmen stood in line and I found an empty green sachel in the suitcase to distribute some of the weight. On returning to the line, Carmen signaled to come forward, but there were too many people in the way, so we stood at the back. Unfortunately, there were about a dozen people in front of us and quite a few families heading back to Nairobi with half a dozen bags or more. Just as we were about to reach the counter, someone who had been waiting for his friend went in front of us and was told about the baggage limitations (he had 5 very large bags). Poor guy was asked to pay 500 pounds for his excess to which he looked devastated. We were quite devastated ourselves having waited an hour in line the second time round; at this point the kids were lying around on the floor or leaning against the trolley so that the bags would fall onto the floor. There were a couple of people in other lines who lost their tempers, so the whole experience was quite unpleasant. All this really because Virgin doesn’t stratify their lines according to destination. Beautiful looking Virgin dedicated terminal though (Terminal 3).
The Virgin flight left late, and the flight was uneventful. The boys slept most of the way and the arrival at Delhi airport quite anti-climactic; we had both imagined a scene of chaos and crowds of people. In fact there were few people milling around in the very modern airport and no one hassled us. I booked a pre-paid taxi as soon as we left customs and we hopped in. An hour later, we were at the Baghat Inn. Not being too impressed with the place, we went to our backup, the YWCA. The room was much bigger and very close to Connaught Circle – the Fisherman’s Wharf (tourist hub) of Delhi. As we approached Delhi, I asked Toby (now six years old) if he noticed any differences between Delhi and London, but he got very annoyed with me saying that he couldn’t see anything different. I tried to point out a few things and he relented that there in fact might be a few differences. Tuk tuks, the motorized rickshaws are everywhere and, like the buses, filled to the brim. There are few, if any, rules on the road with people driving in the same direction on both left and right lanes, as well as in between, so that you often see cars and tuk tuks coming towards you, while pedestrians cross in all directions. Horns are in use constantly to indicate all manner of expression. The pollution is pervasive although different from Morocco. Instead of black smoke, there is a haze so thick, on the day we arrived the sun directly overhead was dull orange. Since then the pollution has improved however.
After a quick nap, I took a tuk tuk to Connaught Circle and found a Saravana Bhavan where I had an uthupam, some lassi and tea. Since there is a Saravana Bhavan in the Bay Area I knew this was a good place to go. When Carmen and the kids woke up later, we took the kids to McDonalds and then Saravan Bhavan again; they also had mango/coconut ice cream for the kids.
Incredibly the kids slept through the night from about 9p.m. until 12 the next day, Thursday. After another trip for breakfast to the same places, we took a taxi to see Lodhi Gardens, where the kids could work off some energy running around the beautiful monuments there. Then on to India Gate which is a large triumphal arch along the lines of the one in Paris, and has an excellent playground nearby, where the local primary school students were playing. The boys had to fight their way on and off the play structures. There were hoards of children going down the slide and the way in which they got on reminded me of paratroopers exiting a plane for battle. At one point, Ethan was knocked into the sand of which he took a mouthful, but he was up again soon, unphased.
Friday morning, I hired a car and driver for the day from the YWCA and went to Connaught Place to try to arrange our trip to Agra. Using Lonely Planet, I found Kumar and Kumar and negotiated a Toyota Innova with driver and one night stay at Hotel Amar. I was also able to get information from them about the train ticket from Goa to Kerala – that 2 A/C is actually sleeper class and also that there were a few seats available on the 4th January ONLY. I promptly went to New Delhi train station and was able to purchase the tickets without any problems or hassle from touts.
When everybody woke up around 12, we went to visit Hunamaya’s tomb which was a forerunner to the Taj Mahal (see pics), followed by Qutb Minar, a tall tower made of red sandstone. Like all Indian sites we’ve been to then and since, locals pay 10 Rps. and foreigners anywhere between 25 and 75 times more.
Next day, we went to the Masjid in Old Delhi near the Red Fort, deciding to give the latter a miss since the one in Agra is supposed to be quite similar anyway (having seen both now I don’t think that’s true). The Masjid was interesting but not as well kept as other mosques we have visited or seen in Morocco. The climb up one of the mosque towers was definitely worth doing and we got a good view of Delhi despite the smog/haze. We decided to branch out of our Saravana/McDonalds routine and got a recommendation from a friend for a good North Indian restaurant called Gulathi’s. The problem with this of course is the boys will then only eat rice and end up hungry a few hours later. The food turned out to be quite good, although I have to say we are already spoiled in the Bay Area for good South and North India restaurants. The only thing I have tried that is distinctly better so far is the paneer (like a cross between cottage cheese and tofu), and the South Indian sweets at Saravana Bhavan like ladoo and halwa. And the lamb here is much more flavorful as well. The use of spices is pretty much the same.