Bridge the Travel Gap

Enjoying a week in India

This is a post about enjoying a week in India after we left Thailand. Our first week was getting used to the heat and easing ourselves into the madness of India.

Arrival in India

We arrived at midnight from Bangkok. All went very smoothly, no queues at the airport, driver waiting and in half an hour we were at our hotel the Shanti Home. We stayed in the Bollywood room which was apt as my wife is an entertainer. Our first week in India went gone well. Neither of us have gotten unwell, yet! First four days were in Delhi where we stayed at the lovely Shanti Home and where we will be going back to stay when we return in a few weeks to fly to Dubai. The hotel is like an oasis admid the chaos of Delhi. The food is delicious and we had several enjoyable breakfasts and dinners at their lovely rooftop restaurant overlooking the chaos of Delhi.

Delhi was a feast to the senses, the food was delicious, the Red Fort a bit of a run down and let down. In contrast, Humayun tomb was wonderful and a good forerunner to the Taj Mahal visit. The traffic, sights of flash cars, donkeys and bicycles along with cows and pigs wandering around are what makes India unique. We have increased our budget a bit for India as it is our last country bar Dubai before we go home.

The food

Much to my surprise I am really enjoying the Indian food it is mouth-watering and does not have the heaviness I associate with English and other countries Indian foods. I am happy to find that the food also agrees with me. Debbie also is enjoying a love of paneer and the lassi’s to wash it all down are delicious.

Agra

We took a car from our hotel in Delhi to the one in Agra via the Yamuna toll road. Wow. We were there in four hours at a cost of 80 dollars. The Gateway hotel was wonderful with a very comfortable room and efficient staff. The location was ideal and all the guides and cars we hired through the hotel were excellent. The next day we visited the Taj Mahal, my second visit and better than the first as this time I was with the woman I love. It was great to see it at sunrise and sunset in some lovely gardens opposite it. We also visited several other sites in Agra and enjoyed some lovely food.

The next day we went to Fatephur Sikri an anicent abandoned Indian capital built by Akbar. If you ever get the chance do visit it. The worlds biggest gate and an elephant memorial built by Akbar for the elephant he used to execute people. There are also the palaces and rooms he used during his time there. All in all we had a wonderful week and have now reached Jaipur by a 4 hour train ride in CC class which means comfortable air-conditioned carriages and with a three course meal thrown in.

Looking forward to our second week in India.