13th - 16th May - India
The first curry was great - a tiny little place opposite our hotel so we didn't have to go far - the only stress was trying to cross the road. Think Piccadilly Circus Friday afternoon / Pack Monday Fair Dodgems / Arc de Triomphe with mental drivers in all sorts of contraptions aiming for us!
Food was fab and well worth the risk! Lush dahl, butter chicken, chicken curry and naans - avoided the tap water though! No signs of Delhi Belly.
Early start for train to Agra - home of the Taj Mahal. Agra seemed like a mini chaotic Delhi - people everywhere pestering to take us where we wanted 'cheap cheap anywhere'. And to buy random naff souvenirs eg taj in a snow storm - nice - 'cheap cheap everything' - apart from the postcards we were well and truly seen off with!!
Fab nosh on hotel roof with evening views on Taj Mahal (not flash hotel - first of our budget experiences but pretty good!)
Streets were extremely shocking - then the Taj Mahal was a sudden strange haven of peace in the middle of real poverty. For a while it's easy to forget what's going on outside the walls. It was far more stunning than either of us really expected - incredible intracate carvings with embedded gems, shells and coral from around the world. Beautiful.
Next day we hired a taxi to take us round other sights - the driver clearly had other intentions and we were paraded round his mates' carpet, marble and jewellery shops before we got to see the things we wanted to see!
Crap hotel back in Delhi near airport - Swapnil International Hotel is one to miss next time unless you like rattling fans, mouldy walls, grimy pillows and bug infested bathrooms!
All in all a good start - Delhi and Agra have been fascinating but also depressing to see the extremity of the conditions some people are living in, even when people have warned you! Would be really interested to see other parts of India as it's a bit like saying you've done England when all you've seen is the crazy bits of London!
About to fly out to Nepal now in search of some fresh clean Himalyan air!
Food was fab and well worth the risk! Lush dahl, butter chicken, chicken curry and naans - avoided the tap water though! No signs of Delhi Belly.
Early start for train to Agra - home of the Taj Mahal. Agra seemed like a mini chaotic Delhi - people everywhere pestering to take us where we wanted 'cheap cheap anywhere'. And to buy random naff souvenirs eg taj in a snow storm - nice - 'cheap cheap everything' - apart from the postcards we were well and truly seen off with!!
Fab nosh on hotel roof with evening views on Taj Mahal (not flash hotel - first of our budget experiences but pretty good!)
Streets were extremely shocking - then the Taj Mahal was a sudden strange haven of peace in the middle of real poverty. For a while it's easy to forget what's going on outside the walls. It was far more stunning than either of us really expected - incredible intracate carvings with embedded gems, shells and coral from around the world. Beautiful.
Next day we hired a taxi to take us round other sights - the driver clearly had other intentions and we were paraded round his mates' carpet, marble and jewellery shops before we got to see the things we wanted to see!
Crap hotel back in Delhi near airport - Swapnil International Hotel is one to miss next time unless you like rattling fans, mouldy walls, grimy pillows and bug infested bathrooms!
All in all a good start - Delhi and Agra have been fascinating but also depressing to see the extremity of the conditions some people are living in, even when people have warned you! Would be really interested to see other parts of India as it's a bit like saying you've done England when all you've seen is the crazy bits of London!
About to fly out to Nepal now in search of some fresh clean Himalyan air!
posted by Polly and James at Monday, May 16, 2005
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