OzBus 14

The morning starts early for me and Liam.  First on the agenda is an Ultra-lite flight (Liam and I are the only ones that booked to do it), then moving on to a paragliding session, all before lunch.  For those that don’t know, ultra-lite is basically a small, egg-shaped, pod-like seat for two attached to the bottom of a glider with a huge fan-like enclosed propeller stuck on the back. 

The flight was for one hour over the lake and surrounding city, leaving from the airport situated a short taxi ride away.  Upon arriving at the airport, Liam and I stumbled around like lost tourists looking for our ‘departure gate’.  Once we found where we needed to go, we walk out of the airport toward a hangar at the far end of the runway.  As we get there, we see the previous flight land.  Small, unstable looking and a loud buzzing sound was the first impression we both had of our aircraft. 

We head into the hangar to sign some forms and put on some extra clothing.  The weather was bright with little wind and even less cloud, but they provide us with thick, large, bright coloured jumpsuits, gloves and a helmet all the same.  I was only wearing slippers and thought this was enough.  I was wrong.  As I clamber into my flying pod using a small set of wooden steps, I notice a ‘flight attendant’ attaching a camera to the end of the wing, but I imagined the pictures wouldn’t be worthy of purchase.  We taxi out to the runway, he does his pre-flight checks and then it’s all go!  The propeller, only inches away from the back of my seat, starts whirring frantically and deafeningly.  Before I knew it, we’re off the ground.  The pod is cosy to say the least, with the pilot’s back so close that I could wrap my arms around him without leaving the safety of my harness.  The sides of the pod are so low to my side that my thighs overhang.  Higher and higher we go, with the occasional gust of wind shaking everything around me and tilting us one way to the other.  Despite all this, it’s hard to ignore the stunning view of both the mountain range and the city below.  After a while, you even manage to block out the constant purr of the prop.  As we reach our highest altitude, my pilot, Alexander, cut the prop and we just glided, circling around the mountain range.  Unparalleled views with sun behind us, I nervously got my camera out and took as many pictures as possible.  Then, Alexander would tap me on the knee (which was nestled securely behind his shoulders) and point towards the tip of the wing where the camera was located.  With a click of a button, a picture was taken of me, with full view of both our pod and the range behind us.  As we come to land, prop buzzing away, a sense of euphoria engulfs me and the smile, despite being only 8am, was a mark of a satisfying day.  In the end, I decide to buy the photos – five pictures for 30USD, what a jip.

Next on the list was paragliding.  For those that don’t know, paragliding is launching yourself off the side of a steep incline (in this case, the side of a mountain) with a deployed parachute in tow, guiding yourself around and using vertical drafts (or air pockets as they can be known) for lift.  I had booked for an hour flight, while the rest of the group participating booked only thirty minutes.  Because of this, my scheduled “flight” was going to be a couple of hours after everyone else’s.  I go back to the hotel to have a little clean up of my bag and get picked up via mini bus and taken to the paragliding office.  From there I hop onto another minibus, this time filled with the people doing the same thing as me.  Once we arrive to the launch site, our pilots start to unload their equipment.  Onil was my pilot.  He was born and raised in Nepal, one of the few Para gliders originally from the region.  After a small introduction he talks me through what is about to happen.  Basically, run till your feet can’t touch the ground, then sit back and hold on.  It’s pretty difficult to explain what happened next unless you know the feeling, so I won’t try.  A few tricks and some high altitude photography later, we land at the landing point where we’re treated to a complimentary drink.  My choice?  Heineken.  My flight was only thirty minutes because Onil forgot about the agreement, but it was all sorted out in the office once we got back.

When we arrived back in the office, I find Liam there waiting for his pictures to be put onto a CD from his flight.  We get to talking and decide that we should go for lunch.  We head out for a walk to get some food, occasionally passing others from the group who we hadn’t seen since the night before.  After lunch we decide to get lost and walk around town.  Pokaha, being so high up from sea level and having its own very impressive mountain range, has the highest amount of rainfall in Nepal.  As we were getting lost, we experience this precipitation.  A huge downpour covers the land we had just walked across as we scurry into a local bar.  Once there, we figure the rain won’t stop for a while (4-5 hours it turned out) so we might as well get a drink.  There’s nothing more relaxing than a bottle of whiskey and rain on a tin roof.  After we finish the drink, the weather lets up and we head out to have some dinner.  Tomorrow is another sunrise start, so we call it a night.

Our bus journey for this morning was longer than our maiden voyage in the country, but nothing too far from what we were already used to.  The main difference between this bus journey and the rest so far is not the time or distance travelled.  It’s the altitude.  1000m above sea level.  For me, it was a very exciting and enticing place as the vast majority of high adrenaline activities on the trip revolved around this city (3rd largest in Nepal, in case you wanted to know).  Our leader informs us about the hotel we will be staying in, Hotel Lake View.  Walking distance from the lake, it was contending for best hotel on the trip.  Once we got there, we could see why.

The journey was winding and slow.  In spite of this, it was amazing.  Rice fields scattered on mountain sides, seemingly plateaued at a time long before we could envisage- the kind of period where the Empire was still around and everyone drank tea from fine china table sets.  Clear blue skies, mountain ranges, warm sunrays and the wind in your hair – the ultimate road journey.

As we pull into the city, we’re all giddy and excited like school children.  The lake, a dominating and daunting aspect of the part we were staying in, seemed to continue endlessly.  Hotel after hotel we passed, betting to see which once would be ours, all the while awestruck by how different it seemed from Chitwan.  Eventually we roll up to our hotel and, as stated on the tin, the lake was a stones throw away, literally only needing to cross the road to be at the waters edge (albeit elevated by about 10 metres).

Just like giddy school kids, we all cannot wait to go for a roam in our new home away from home.  First stop, food.  Now, the food on the trip so far has been amazingly diverse and culturally enlightening.  That heightened sense of culture and diversity suddenly went out of the oz bus window when I walked into a restaurant on the high street – they served bacon….  Bacon!  This giddy, excited school kid was now jacked up like he’d drunk a glass of triple chocolate milkshake, eaten three chocolate bars and was sucking on a lolly covered in candy floss.  The significance of this find?  Such meat hadn’t passed my eyes, let alone my taste buds, for over two months (most of which was on our trip).  Throw in a rum and coke, a balcony with table and parasol and a front row seat to a football game between some local groups and it’s an intoxicating cocktail of ecstasy.

Dinner was at the hotel and outdoors.  Like Chitwan, it was a buffet service.  And, like Chitwan, there was entertainment in the form of dance and song.  The night was capped off with a healthy dosage of drinking before retiring.  The morning sees the start to my action packed, adrenaline fueled, activity crammed morning.  Nepal was getting better by the minute.

It’s sunrise and the group gather for our first tour of the day, via Nepalese gondola.  Despite the early start, I feel very positive and eager for the day ahead.  To say Nepal reinvigorated my sense of adventure would be wrong, as that sense never really goes or dies, but there was a sense of excitement towards the next week or so ahead.  As we hop into our shallow gondolas, two in total for the group, the river was calm and eerily quiet.  As we got deeper into the tour, the birds and animals around start to wake and sing their morning song.  It provided time for us all to reflect and admire, broken only by our captains jumping in to push our vessels over shallow water or accidentally falling in (out of sheer excitement, obviously).

Our long canoes drop us off by a bank where we are greeted by a couple of guides, taking us on our next tour; a walking jungle tour.  With nothing more than a vague idea of why we were going on the tour, our minds start to fill with grand conceptions of what we will find: rhinos, elephants, deer, tigers, monkeys – I could go on.  Half way through and the best we’ve had to spotting anything was a puddle of rhino pee.  The guides, much to our surprise, were very pleased with such a find.  They immediately took out their empty plastic bottles and started to collect samples.  Apparently, rhino pee has very high medicinal value in the park.  Who knew?  Further delving into the bush we manage to come across a rhino grazing.  Now, Indian Rhinos, like all rhinos, have poor eyesight.  But, standing still doesn’t really help with the mind’s eye (which at this point was envisaging a mad rhino charge).  Luckily, she just waddled off without a care in the world.  Great fun!

The group has split by this time, between the three tour guides we had been designated.  We had, however, lost the other two groups.  We were all going to the same point – a wide meander in the river near the village where the hotel was situated.  Our guide, keen as he was, wanted to see where the rest of the group went.  So, he found the tallest tree and started to climb.  Not really know what to do, we stood around shouting out names and getting attention.  Good thing to do?  Our guide didn’t tell us otherwise.  Eventually we set off to the river, only to find that the rest of the group had already arrived.  At the river, some of the local kids were splashing around and playing while an elephant was having a bath with it’s minder.  Some of the group were taking a small dip in the river too – the two hour walk plus the heat meant many of us were fairly drained.  After a while, I get suckered into getting on the elephant while it sprays water into your face from it’s trunk.  Looks like great fun from a distance, but you can’t tell how it feels from far away.  Imagine a huge bucket of cold water being thrown in your face by someone travelling in a car.  At a 45 degree angle above you.  While sitting on a rocking horse.  That rocks sideways.  It’s great fun!  Then after being shot with water, the guy standing on the rear of the elephant shouts out something and the elephant slowly rolls over onto its side, tipping you in.  And, after all that cooling off, we get a lift back to the hotel on the back of the happy fellow in time for lunch.  First, and probably last, elephant taxi I’ll have the privilege of taking.

My second elephant ride of the day was the Elephant Safari; travelling through the national park on the back of very tame and occasionally disobedient elephants.  For those into animal rights and the mistreatment of such animals, you can’t help but feel bad for taking advantage of such dominating and docile mammals.  Once you conquer that, you begin to see a different side of the situation.  You begin to see how insignificant of a thing you are in reflection to this huge animal underneath you, which helps settle those activist nerves within.  Unlike my previous experience (which was simply sitting on the back of an elephant), we are placed in a small high-chair-like seat – four to a seat with the ‘driver’ sitting just behind the elephant’s neck, our legs dangling off the side, each of us situated on a post covering NE, SE, SW and NW (made it very hard to see where you’re going, especially for those at the back of the seat, SE and SW).  The sights were spectacular, ranging from Rhinos bathing in tiny rivers to deer running away from the hoard of elephants approaching, right down to our transport deciding to veer off course away from the pack and have a little fight with another elephant, then have a roll around in the bushes.  Eventually, we rejoin the marching band of elephants and head back to base.

Dinner was similar to the previous night, but I had missed the whole thing because I was sitting in a room with Rachel and Jerry talking about very little.  Tomorrow is a lake resort, high up near the mountains called Pokhara.

Nepal’s calm and quiet demeanour has a big affect on the group, especially as the previous country was plagued with chaos and disorder.  Because of the taste left in our mouths from India, the group aren’t as close knit as we could be, but that part of the trip is happily behind us, with only the prospect of peace and tranquility ahead.  We awake with a sunny, warm morning welcome, gathering our bags as usual as we head to our next stop – Chitwan National Park.

The road to the National Park was short and refreshing in comparison to the long and arduous roads of India, with plenty of scenery and flora instead of vast, flat fields.  When you consider the average travel time in India was close to eight hours (and not every day was spent on the bus), the three hour drive to the hotel was a breath of fresh air.  The refreshing journey was topped off once we arrived in Chitwan.

Our hotel, called Park Side Hotel, looked more like a large British Empire-esk house than a hotel; one main entrance with the reception being in a different building, rooms looking more like a sparsely furnished home than a hotel and very minimal facilities.  Sure, it’s not 5* luxury, but compared to the places we’ve stayed in the past, this was light, airy and comfortable.  Surrounded by trees, tall grass, sun, the smallest of roads and the park’s quiet persona, it felt like we had just arrived in paradise.  Imagine the satisfied feeling you get when you arrive home from a busy and stressful day, sit down on your comfortable couch or bed and absorb the quiet of your front room or bedroom, listening only to your breath and clearing your mind – that’s the feeling I had once I arrived.

After settling down, we get given a walking tour of the area. First we visit a live museum (or, from what I could see, someones house and front yard). There’s a small talk about the surrounding area and its history, along with a conveniently placed souvenir stall. There’s an actual museum, filled with farming artifacts, which was our next stop. Seemingly plonked in the the middle of a field with cannabis plants lining the path, it was uneventful but tranquil. We were also given the pleasure of meeting some local kids, who jumped at the chance to show off their game of throwing and collecting slippers.

We move on to a nearby elephant stable before sunset.  This was an amazing yet disturbing sight, as the animals were chained up to large tree trunks. Story being that once they were free to roam, but would destroy the stable, including the people’s habitat that maintained them.  Despite the logic, the sight is still unnerving and saddening.  On the way back to the hotel, we stumble across some rhinos bathing in the river flowing through the field.  As we watch these large beasts playfully rolling around in the water, with the sunset as a backdrop, the sense of calm overwhelms and a feeling of peace was prominent.

Our guide tells us that dinner will be followed by a local surprise.  Dinner was pleasant, with candle lit tables on a covered balcony and buffet service.  A few drinks and we’re all awaiting the surprise.  After dinner, we head over to the hotel lawn/garden area where the hotel had organised a local dance show.  Live music, a lot of shouting, slapping sticks and someone playing with fire ensued.  We were even persuaded to join in with the dance, with half the group lost within a large circle of flailing arms, kicking legs and singing voices.  Nepal was doing it’s best to impress and amaze us, and it was working.

After a little cool down from the dancing, some of the girls and I head out to a small wedding after party we heard about from one of the staff working in the restaurant.  Walking through the poorly lit road to a house with a large concrete slab as a porch, we wonder what we got ourselves in to.  Assuming eyes glance our way as we wander into the party, cheesy pop music blaring.  We do manage to have a little dance, with the girls attracting more attention than myself (naturally).  After another beer or three we retreat to our hotel and rest for the day ahead.  Up and out at sunrise, as usual.

Many of us were happy with what was to come today – our next country, Nepal. With a new country comes the dreaded border crossing. Seeing how the country has left us with an unorganised and hectic impression, we all knew that today was going to be tough. Despite this, our spirits were high and eager to take on the next country on our list. Little did we know how difficult –and painstakingly slow – it was going to be.

As we all load onto the coach, the tiredness as prominent as ever, we head towards the border. Once at the border, we’re faced with a very busy and crowded border control. Before we even get off the coach, our driver and guide tell us that they are unable to take us all the way to the border and that we must get rickshaws the rest of the distance. Our leader, Lana, thinks (as we all did) this was nonsense and a ploy for us to spend some more money. A few exchanges of words and the coach reluctantly took us the rest of the way. We haul our bags through the hustle to a hole in the wall known as the border control office. Here, things start to get a lot more interesting.

Upon leaving the coach, we had a guy come up to us and guide us to the office. No one really knew who he was, but he seemed willing and able to assist. Organising our exit visas took a while, and the staff didn’t seem to be in a rush. There were a few snags; I had misplaced all of my passport photos, which were needed in order to get the visa and Liam didn’t actually have a stamp for getting into the country, meaning he wasn’t allowed a stamp to get out of the country. The heat was uncomfortable and the pressure of the border crossing was adding more stress. I managed to take a photocopy of my passport for the photo, which seemed to be sufficient. Liam, on the advice of our mystery helper, had to “donate” towards the border control officers in order to get his stamp. Dodgy would be an understatement, but after all of the hassle we were allowed to leave India.

On contrast, once crossing the border, Nepal was as calm as a still lake; quiet, slow, hardly any security and sparsely populated. The border – simply a tall arch over the road – seemed to have no form of restriction, with only a simple pole stretched across the road. The border control office, despite its rundown and dark look, was a lot calmer and laid back compared to our previous stop, putting the group at ease.

Our bus for this stretch of the trip was exactly like the bus in Pakistan, bringing back positive memories for the entire group. Our hotel, called Yeti Hotel, was a short drive away. Daylight was fading fast, so after checking in and dropping off the bags, Liam and I go for a wander to see what the tiny town had to offer and to get some money. After walking for just under an hour, the light faded and we were forced to retreat back to the hotel. The hotel restaurant was our destination for dinner and the only place we could find to have a few drinks. Tomorrow is a nice short 3 hour drive to our next stop – Chitwan.

Another dawn event on our trip, down by the river Ganges.  Luckily for us, we actually make it for sunrise and it’s a beautifully amazing and fascinating experience.  The river is a short drive away from the hotel and once we get there we have to walk a small distance as the road cannot accommodate our coach.  The walk itself is spectacular, with people of all sorts walking, bare foot, to the riverside.  Many make a pilgrimage to do what we were doing, and you could see some of those people within the short walk to the river.  Sandeep, takes us out on a local row boat for an hour tour of the river.  I didn’t expect to see so many events and different sights on the tour, but the sights I did see were something expected from the situation and it’s location.  The first thing that hits you is the colour; the sun rising on the shore while women and men riverside try their best to sell you as many things as possible.  The occasional stranger dressed in what looks like a traditional outfit crosses your path as you attempt to reach the dock.  There is a local ceremony that takes place at sunrise where they light candles, placed within dried leaves fabricated into little floating pods and filled with colourful petals and set them off into the river.  There are people on the riverbank constantly trying to sell you these candles, and you have to be either forgiving or blunt before getting into your boat.  Once finally on the boat, we head upstream to see some of the river and it’s people.  It’s not uncommon to see people bathing in the river, or cows for that matter.  What I didn’t expect to see was the local laundry service besides the yoga workout group.  Even stranger was the cremation ceremony further downstream and the dead body floating in the river.  These are not strange things to see for the locals, who, despite knowing what is in (and what goes in) the river, will continue to bathe under the impression that the water is holy.  Some say sceptical, I say realistic.  You will also find boats selling tourist tat and other tourists taking just as many photos as you are.  Holly and I manage to convince the boat owners to have a go at rowing (downstream, naturally), completing my morning workout.  With the sun fully risen, we head back to our coach as breakfast is waiting at the hotel.

Sandeep has planned a local tour for the rest of the day, with what sounded like a action-packed schedule; Buddha’s first temple, an archeological site from a few centuries ago, a silk production house and a former palace.  There was more than what the cover indicated though.  The temple was like many other temples we’d seen so far, except it’s main focus was, obviously, Buddhism.  Colourful and peaceful, it’s a very nice place to be, though the weather wasn’t making it easy for us to take in the sights.  The archeological site was similar; colourful and vast but the heat made it difficult to walk around leisurely.  We go into a museum related to the site just visited, but there is nothing else to mention other than the fact we went there.  Next stop, the silk production house.  Here we saw silk being made and the processes behind it’s construction and, to our surprise, a visit to the shop in store.  Although we were surprised, many of us like the products on sale and go ahead purchasing some fine silk.  Our next stop is the former palace.  It sounds interesting at first, but we then get there and find a derelict and tired looking building holding a carpet emporium and a tiny museum showing us the processes we’d just seen at the silk house.  Disappointed is not the right word to describe the feelings of the group.  Add the sweltering heat to the equation and it’s safe to say that many were annoyed.

Back at the hotel, we all sit in front of our air conditioning units for a while before deciding to head back to the Ganges for the sunset.  We hear that there is a ceremony at night after sunset and decide that it’s a good enough reason to head back to the hustle and bustle.  On the way to the river, Holly, Jerry and I are en route in a tuk-tuk when we have to make a stop due to a street carnival passing through.  With all the colours you can think of, music blearing out and people aplenty, Holly and I decide to get out of our tuk-tuk and take a picture or two.  While taking pictures, one of the locals invites me to have a dance with him, so I do.  Before I knew it, both Holly and I are dancing to the music, surrounded by everyone who are sprinkling us with petals and water, cheering us on and showing us dance moves.  Spontaneity is definitely recommended when out, if it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t have such a story.  Eventually we get back on our tuk-tuk, who had almost left us while we were dancing.  At the river, we find a spot to settle down to watch the sun setting and the crowd slowly build up.  The ceremony itself was a slow and musical affair, with people filling the banks of the river as well as mosquitos.  A few hours watching the show and some close time spent with a few cows, we head back to the hotel to get some dinner.

There was a bar in the hotel where we went for dinner.  As we all sat there we contemplated, over a few drinks, about where we were.  Varanasi had left a mark on us all, albeit different.  Some more positive than others, but the place had definitely left an impression and we all accept it as we prepare for our next country – Nepal.

Yet another long drive for today, so much so that there is almost nothing worth mentioning.  The group has found their own unique ways of dealing with such prolonged stretches on the coach.  As we slowly make our way towards the holy city of Varanasi, we all look forward to what it has to offer.  Some of us know what the city is like, some do not.  Regardless of the opinions some have, we do not have the chance to put them to rest as we arrive in the dead of night.

Due to our late arrival, a few of us head to the restaurant in the hotel next door for dinner.  The theme so far with food has been the same; curry and rice.  Not a late night for us all as tomorrow yet another sunrise.  This time, it’ll be at the holy river, Ganges.

In store for us today was a very long drive.  Something you’d think we’d be used to by now, but you can never really settle into such a routine.  The next stop was Lucknow, a place that wasn’t really highlighted for us by our leader as a place to be doing very much.  As with many other journeys so far, the day is mostly taken up by the events happening on the road.  The roads seem to get crazier the deeper we get into India.  Our drive today was so long that we needed to save time over lunch in order to get back on the road.  At lunch, we find a small children’s playground that gives us a hint of relief from the confides of the coach.

We pull into the hotel at Lucknow very late.  Andrea and I decide to head out for dinner with a couple of people from the group, just to see what the city has to offer.  Tuk-tuk drivers a plenty, many of whom cannot speak English, we find one to take us to the restaurant recommended by the hotel.  All the night was a bit of an unorganised mess, with the tuk-tuk driver not helping proceedings due to his lack of knowledge and constant pushing of us going into the shops giving him commission for taking people to their place.  Regardless, the food was nice, the place was what we’ve come to expect from India and the bed was comfortable enough.  Bring on tomorrow!

5:45am is our suggested time to catch the sunrise at Taj.  Our guide, Anil, says that this is plenty of time to organise the tickets and get to the site before the sun comes up.  Can you guess where I’m going with this?  As we all get on the coach, doubts start to fly as to the reliability of the local “knowledge”.  The ticket purchasing process takes over 15 minutes, to which time the sun looks about ready.  There is a local bus that takes us from the ticket office to the gates of the site, where we find we have to queue for another 30 minutes.  We miss sunrise by roughly an hour, to which Anil say “sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t”.  My initial thought to that reaction was better planning hides ignorance, but for two days we had the company of Anil, so my silence seemed more appropriate.  Despite the disappointment of missing the sunrise, the Taj Mahal is just as good as expected.  A grand building with a romantic and heart-warming story, it was just as perfect as the pictures make it out to be.  I spent most of my time with Lana, walking around the site marvelling it’s brilliance.  After the morning spent there, we head back to the hotel for a spot of lunch before moving on to see the Red Fort of Agra.

The sun is in it’s element now as we walked through the large and extravagant Red Fort.  Just as the fort before, the size and grandeur of the building and it’s compound is breathtaking and awe inspiring.  For some, the numerous tours of such sites has reached its peak and nothing seems to impress anymore.  Should you endeavour to take a tour like this, remember to always take a step back and actually look at where you are before your mind takes over and tells you it’s just a building.  Lunch is free today, so we all take advantage while we relax in the hotel, way from the sun.

In the afternoon, a handful of us head with Anil for a tour around the rest of Agra.  The palace we visit was, in Anil’s words, the Pleasure Palace for the king at the time; a place for his mistresses and concubines to relax and enjoy the riches he had.  As mentioned before, despite the site itself was impressive and had an interesting story behind it, it was nothing that we hadn’t seen before.  The sun finally started to set, meaning the tour was at a leisurely temperature.  A few hours walking round and then we make our way back to the hotel for dinner.  Disorganised is the only word that comes to mind for dinner, but as usual there is nothing much to say about the night.

Leaving Delhi – more so the hotel than the city – wasn’t popular for the group, but is expected as part of the tour.  As we get into Agra, the first thing that strikes you is the traffic.  Delhi was crazy, but organised and almost civilised over the time that the city has had to develop.  Agra was still at its roots as a developing city – manic and exhilarating!

Once at the hotel, we realise that the town is sparse; hardly anything on the street we’re situated on, no banks, restaurants, shops or people.  Luckily for some of us, we manage to find a group of tuk-tuk’s that can take us to see the Taj Mahal at sunset.  You normally have to pay to see the Taj, but the drivers knew a spot that you could see the building from behind, with no additional cost.  Take note, because of the traffic previously mentioned, the drivers of all sorts – tuk-tuk’s, cars, tractors, bulls, etc. – are crazy.

When we arrive at the site, the sun is out of view.  The Taj, however, was in full view and gave us all a taste of what was to come in the morning.  The site itself was a small embankment fenced off from the river that runs around the grounds of the Taj.  The area was crawling with mosquitos and other fortunate tourists that had found out about the spot.  The back door of the Taj looked amazing and, for the first time (for some), gave us the first real sense that we were in India.

Heading back was more of an ordeal than surviving the journey there.  Traffic had escalated to near gridlock, with us stuck on a single road bridge and the opposing traffic trying to squeeze past.  Our patience stretched and lungs full of fumes, we eventually get out of the gridlock and head for dinner.  The tuk-tuk drivers take us to a local – mediocre food, nothing special for us.  The journey was a lot more interesting that the food.  After dinner, we visit a bar for a few beers.  The place seemed as dodgy as the drivers themselves, so it wasn’t long till we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel.

A free day for us all in the city, so Andrea and I decide to go sight seeing.  After finishing breakfast we hop into a tuk-tuk with a vague idea of where we’re going.  The weather was now the hottest we’ve experienced on tour and it felt disparagingly hot.  First stop on our list was the Red Fort – a huge fortress filled with tombs, relics, stages and greenery.  A leisurely walk and few photos later, we decide to try and walk to the river as on the map it seems doable.  If there was one thing I could recommend when in a new city, it’s to find a place you want to go and have a rough idea of where you are going – then get lost!  In the process of finding our way to the river, we stumble into a local market and come across another temple (made of red stone, but the name passes me).  The temple has near to no tourists within it, making for a very interesting photo opportunity.  We do have to pay to take photos, and pay to leave our shoes at the front, but when you look like a tourist all you can do is expect to be treated like one.

Realising our attempts to walk to our destination would be in vain, we hop on a rickshaw in the hope that we will finally find the river.  Our driver was very nice (or at least working hard to earn an extra buck) and, despite his initial dislike, took us to our river.  Arriving there we see that there is nothing to behold, so our driver kindly “offers” to take us to a local spice market, citing that it’s the only place in the city to go and see.  Offering us a deal that is, and I quote “whatever price you are happy to pay, I am happy to take”, we reluctantly accept his offer to take us around town.

If you’ve never been on a rickshaw before, you will find the first time a bit difficult, especially those who feel the need to help out someone that looks like they’re in need.  For those that have been on one, you will still feel the same sort of necessity as trying to cycle uphill in 40 degree heat with two fully grown adults in the back made me, the passenger, feel tired.  We eventually get to the spice market and it’s a wonder that we didn’t expect to find.  Our driver doesn’t give us the change to get off the rickshaw, which was probably a better situation as the passing glimpse of the market had a greater impression.  As with most of India, the sights, sounds and smells hit us the hardest.

Our driver, whose name I forget, wanted to continue the tour of the city, but we felt to restricted and almost in an organised tour, so we decide to pay him off and find our own way.  This was easier said than done, as the amount of money we wanted to give him didn’t seem to “make him happy” (so much for his previous agreement).  After giving too much, we finally get rid of him and head somewhere for lunch.  Light lunch, then we walk down to India Gate.  The traffic going down to the gate was heavy; an intricate jigsaw of tuk-tuk’s, cars and cows, interlaced in an unorganised, yet controlled jumble.  The sun isn’t so warm by this time of the afternoon, so a stroll in the park to see the gate was pleasurable.  More pictures and we decide to call it a day and head back to the hotel for a rest.

Getting back, I find Liam in the lobby wanting to buy a new camera.  Seeing as we were so successful buying a new one in Turkey, I decide to tag along and try to find one before we head out to dinner.  After a few hours of searching, we find a new camera and head back for dinner.  Tonight it’s a local restaurant that was fairly expensive.  Typical menu and nice decor, there were no complaints for the dinner.  Delhi has left a good impression on us all so far, but is nowhere near as crazy as many had originally depicted.  Good or bad, this was not going to affect our experience, which had so far been positive.

The drive to the capital was estimated at 12 hours.  So far, our bus was bumpy to say the least and the most uncomfortable by far.  With no planned stops (other than the usual pit and toilet stops), the prospect of the journey wasn’t promising for us all.  Out of my boredom, I manage to befriend the driver’s assistant and have a go at using the intercom system on the coach.  The only other activity for the drive was to look at the scenery.  India’s landscape is a trench-lined highway flanked by fields, shanty towns and cows.  As interesting as it was, the scene didn’t change much till we hit the city.

Our late arrival into the city was nothing new for us.  The hotel however, Clark International, was a 3-star haven within a hectic and dusty city.  Well decorated and a western twist on everything from service to furniture, the hotel has hit a good nerve in all of us.  Comfortable beds, air conditioning, fully working TV, nice en-suites – a travellers paradise!

Dinner, after much exploration, was in a vegetarian restaurant.  A strange pay-and-go service with ordering the food, and a bingo type calling system all played up to the character of the place.  Despite it’s initial appearance, the food was a welcome change from the tonnes of rice already had within our recent cuisine.  Upon arriving back to the hotel, I take the rest of the leftover rum and polish it off.  That was the end of my night.