Back to Delhi…again!

We arrived at Mumbai railway station at 4.40pm. It is much smarter than any other station we have been to, very clean and more like Paddington! Our train is also very smart and it seemed that every half an hour or so, someone was coming round giving out food, drinks, newspapers etc. All included in our ticket price. So much food in fact that we really couldn’t eat it all. We were sharing our compartment this time with a couple of Africans and some Indians. It made a huge difference to the atmosphere having some other foreigners in the same compartment, they didn’t want to interact with us at all and wouldn’t even make eye contact. Such a shame. Anyway, the journey was uneventful and we actually slept quite well. We were due to arrive in Delhi at 8.30 am but for reasons unbeknown to us, we finally arrived 3 hours late! We had already agreed that for our last night in India, we wanted a fairly nice room as we had a lot of packing to do so Bryan said he knew of one so off we set. Unfortunately where he took us was on the equivalent of the north circular in London! So Jody set off in search of a better location leaving Bryan to rest up in the reception area. When she returned, the main road was closed and a parade seemed to be starting up, so giving it a brief look as we didn’t want to miss out, we then set off to the other hotel back on Main Bazar - where all the action and atmosphere is. When we arrived the man behind reception told us that the parade we saw earlier would pass right under our bedroom window. Perfect!! It was a Sikh festival with men on horses and bands and Indian style carnival floats. As we watched out of our window, people were waving up at us - wanting their photos taken. There were petals being thrown, it was a really colourful sight. All the vehicles were draped in flowers and the people below were all giving flower garlands so Bryan - never one to miss out, nipped down to the street and bought us some rose garlands, they smelled wonderful - really rosy - not like the roses you buy in England! So after a bit of a snooze later on, we went out for a pot of ‘special tea’ at our favourite Delhi balcony bar. The parade was still going on and there were lots of stalls all giving out free food. With an eye on the time we decided to go and taste some of the food so finished off our ‘pot of tea’ and went to get some. Only to find we were too late and the food had all gone. Hungry by now we walked around the area for a bit longer and ended up buying a bag of peas from a man on a fresh vegetable stall. Then having made the decision to buy some cooking pots and a chapati pan whilst we were here (we did have all that extra baggage allowance now after all!!)we went off in search of a kitchen shop. There was so much to choose from that we bought everything we thought we could possibly need including thali plates, water cups, rice dishes and our chapati pan. The whole lot cost us less than £10. Bargain...! Mission accomplished, we went back to our room and dropped off the heavy pans (I’m sure they will be 23kg all on their own!)and we scoffed our bag of peas before heading off to find some proper food. We ate in a grungy basement restaurant where we had been before and knew the food was really good and shared a table with an artist from Washington DC. And whilst we were there we saw elephants walking down the road - in the middle of Delhi! Amazing and only in Delhi really do you see such bizzare things in the middle of a city. We love it!! For our last day, Bryan went out early & got a haircut & head massage whilst Jody stayed in the hotel & packed the cases. Then later we went out and Jody finally decided to buy a saree. There was some spare fabric in the box so they offered to make the little top with it which being about 1pm on our last day was pushing it a bit. But in true Indian fashion, The man came and measured her and promised it would be back by 8pm. Bryan was hungry so he had lunch in a grotty cafe (he’d pay for that later)and we spent the rest of the afternoon looking for an ‘Ambassador taxi’. These are cars that look like really old fashioned cars. Maybe they are, maybe they’re not - you really can tell in India - they probably have a factory making them brand new somewhere and have had the panel press for 50 years!! Jody had her hands hennaed again and we bought some henna to take back and use on our friends. Then went to check on the saree. Yep, all made and very pretty and all for less than a tenner - bargain...! So our last night in India and it had to be India Gate really. So off we went in our last tuk tuk and arrived as it was all lit up. We started making a video to record our last thoughts and feelings as we prepared to leave, but again in true India fashion, we were hounded by people wanting photos of us so all in good spirit, we obliged for the last time. Back in Main Bazar for a final wander through the streets and to the hotel, up on the roof for hot chocolate before going to bed. Night Night India.... Shelton Hotel Room rating: 9/10 - beautiful, clean, modern & comfy Location: 10/10 - right on Main Bazar - perfect Staff: 7/10 - Nice Value for Money: 9/10 - room for our £ was excellent Other comments: Brilliant as when we arrived the festival passed right under our window :-) Stay again? Yes Overall area experience: 9/10 - Delhi has been at the heart of our stay in India. The streets here are colourful, loud, crazy, delightful, disgusting, perfumed, smelly yet wonderful all at the same time. We wouldn’t have missed it for the world...