Where in the World are V and M?: They call it Incredible India

Namaste (traditional Hindi greeting)!

We made it to India after rebooking our flights because we found out that our original airline, King Fisher, was grounding all its planes (I think the company went under). We were supposed to fly with them from London to Delhi to Bangkok. Instead we had to rebook on another airline one week before we were to fly out and as a result we had to pay double the fare. We made it to Delhi at about 5am and immediately went out to find our hotel transfer... or not. First we looked outside and saw taxi drivers all over offering their services. We had many offers but said, "No, we have someone picking us up, thank you." We were to meet them at a particular spot but they were nowhere to be found. So we went back into the terminal, after pleading with the security guard to let us back in. We found a pay phone and called them. "I'm so sorry we can't get you this morning. My car was in a horrible wreck. You can find a taxi there.... But don't go outside the terminal, they will totally rip you off. Use the prepay yellow and black taxi and we'll refund you the fare." We agreed to do that and made it to our hotel, Ivory Palace within 45 minutes. Since we arrived before check-in time, the hotel let us use a temporary room where Mu and I slept until noon... wow, what a day. We left London the day before, early in the morning by catching a bus, two trains and then the airplane. We didn't really sleep on the plane so we were completely wiped out, but grateful for a safe trip.

When we finally woke up, we switched to our actual room then went to a tour agency office to find out about trips we could do in India. What we wanted to do was use Delhi sort of as our base and take a day trip to Agra (Taj Mahal's location), a day trip to Jaipur (the pink city) and spend a few nights in northern India near the Himalayas. When we got to the tour office we were told that going to the Himalayas (Kashmir State) would be a very long trip, 20 hours by car and would be exhausting for an 8 day vacation. The tour agent suggested that we purchase the "Golden Triangle" tour (very popular for tourists). We'd heard about it, but were only mildly interested in it, but since our dream of going to Himalayas had been dashed we needed something else to do aside from staying in Delhi (In hindsight, we should have stuck to our plan and gone to a hill station (aka city) that was closer). So we agreed on the Golden Triangle tour which included half a day to tour Old Delhi, one day to tour New Delhi, two nights in Jaipur, one night in Ranthambore for a tiger safari, one night in Agra, and one more night in Delhi with a transfer to the airport so we could leave. We were assigned a driver, Asad Kahn, and started the tour.

For that day and a half in Delhi Asad drove us all around Old and New Delhi. Boy are we glad we didn't have to drive ourselves or take a Rigshaw/Tuk-Tuk. Traffic in Delhi was CRAZY!!! We would have died instantly. We've been to some interesting places in the world, but in Delhi, wow... If you can drive in Delhi without getting in a wreck you are truly a masterful and skillful driver. It just seemed that there were no rules whatsoever, near chaos, and zero patience among drivers. The whole time you're in the car you hear the incessant sound of car horns. If you want to pass: hoot. If you want to turn left: hoot. Right: hoot. Driving too slow: hoot. Waiting for the light to be green for more than .01 seconds: hoot. But then that's not even it... all the trucks on the roads had written on their tailgates in huge, bold, and colorful letters "PLEASE USE HORN"! They were encouraging all this hooting business. It seemed some people hooted just to let other people know that they were driving, not having another vehicle anywhere near them.. HOOT!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!! It didn't take long for Muthoni and I to see why you don't want to spend too much time in Delhi. But we were grateful that our driver, rarely ever used the horn so when we were on the open road we found some relief.

Anyhow, we drove from one site to the next and actually enjoyed the time we spent at various spots through out the city.

Check out the photos.

The Red Fort. There are a lot of forts in India. We enjoyed walking around this one. It had a museum that described the colonization of India by the British.

At the fort

The fort is a UNESCO World Heritage site and was home to one of the six Mughal emperors.

Still part of the fort built in pink sandstone.

There were some beautiful gardens at the fort to sit and enjoy the scenery.

A mosque at the fort.

Scenic areas. Not sure what this was meant to be but it looked like there used to be water in there.

Hindu Temple opposite the fort.

The next day we went to visit the tomb of Mahatma Gandhi.

There were people there honoring Gandhi with songs and what seemed like prayers.

In another part of town we visited Gadhi's home. There were several shops in the compound. This man was making carpets.

A tribute hall to revolutionary women of India at the Mahatma Gandhi residence compound.

A sculpture of Gandhi.

This is the place were Gandhi was martyred. We really enjoyed visiting this place. There was an area almost like a museum that described all the men and women who helped in the revolution during the colonial times. It was truly inspiring.

Amazing quote from Gandhi:
I claim to be a man of faith and prayer, and even if I were cut to pieces, I trust God would give me the strength not to deny Him and to assert that He is.