Day1: Delhi
Flights to India were all on time and pretty smooth sailing. Our biggest problem was finding a parking place in Montreal. 8 inches of snow the night before and an overcrowded parking lot made it a challenge. Hopefully, the car will be in one piece, sans scratches and dents, when we return.
Our travel agent, Divya, set up an escort for us through customs and immigration. The whole process took about 15 minutes (skipping line after line of bodies, some only skeletal remains of poor souls spending months trying to get through customs). Seriously, it probably saved us 1-2 hours and at 1:30 in the morning, that was a lifesaver.
After a brief nap at the airport Marriott and an amazing breakfast, we set off for New Delhi proper. Though it was Sunday morning, the traffic was still pretty amazing.
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| Drive from the airport |
The area around Delhi was probably inhabited before the second millennium BCE and there is evidence of continuous inhabitation since at least the 6th century BCE. It is divided into Old Delhi, built by the Mughal rulers in the 1600’s, New Delhi, built by the British during their occupation in the 1800’s through 1947, and the surrounding metropolitan area (NCT). Delhi is the capital of India boasting the 2nd largest population after Mumbai of 11 million in the city proper, and the world’s largest metropolitan population of over 25 million. Delhi also boasts 21,000 parks and gardens.
Our hotel for the next three nights, the Leela Palace, is in the heart of New Delhi, close to embassy row and government buildings. The roads in New Delhi, thanks to the British, are wide boulevards with endless roundabouts. Still, the traffic is crazy, with traffic laws taken as mere suggestions by everyone. Neither a car or bike rental were very appealing thoughts.
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Leela Palace Hotel
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| Red dots and leis on arrival |
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| "Namaste" |
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| Leela Palace Hotel |
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| Hotel Garden |
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We met up with Dave and Carol Wood, and Phil and Anne Langsdorf (Molly and Dave were in the air somewhere over Pakistan) for some afternoon sightseeing, hoping to be able to stay awake. We met our handler/guide, Hemesh, who was going to be with us for the next two weeks. The afternoon was spent at the national museum (bad idea after flying 16 hours and sleeping 3) filled with Hindu artifacts (Hinduism is impossible to understand fully awake let alone being sleep deprived),
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| Our guide, Hemesh |
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| National Museum |
followed by a brief shopping expedition to a higher end market (Khan Market)where we checked out Indian dress clothes (in Fab India) that we decided we probably could not pull off in NH, so elected not to buy.
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| Khan Market |
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| Clothes shopping in Fab India |
We were all pretty trashed by the time we made it back to the hotel, but had a drop of stamina left to watch wedding festivities that were going on in the street outside the hotel.
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| Wedding at the Leela Palace Hotel |
After an early dinner, we crashed hoping for a good night sleep.
followed by a brief shopping expedition to a higher end market (Khan Market)where we checked out Indian dress clothes (in Fab India) that we decided we probably could not pull off in NH, so elected not to buy.
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