The rest of Delhi

So my last post finished on Tuesday when we just had a wonder around the streets near our hotel, we had a rickshaw ride around the shopping area of Delhi and then our taxi man Baljinder invited us into his home for the evening for dinner.

We didn't think he'd show up but Tuesday night at 7pm we got a call from reception telling us he was there waiting! Lee and Lora weren't too keen to go because his English wasn't the best so to make conversation would be a little bit too much like hard work, but after convincing them to come with me, they reluctantly agreed and turned out we had the best night so far of our trip :) 

On the way over to his house (and before us agreeing we wouldn't drink as it would be disrespectful on his religion) he stopped by the wine shop to pick us up 8 cans of beer and a bottle of whiskey for himself! He then poured his whiskey into half a bottle of water he had in his car and downed it whilst driving us to his home! When we got there he then pulled another bottle of whiskey out his pocket and was drinking that all night... don't think he's that religious lol...

That's Baljinder's family, they have a very small place to live, it's one bedroom come living room come dining room and then a kitchen. Their toilet is outside (hole in the floor) and I didn't see a proper bathroom. I think that's outside too... There's a double bed in the main room and two beds leaning up against the wall which they move into the kitchen at night for Mum & Dad to sleep on... It's a completely different world from ours and was amazing to be invited into their home to see the differences. 

He actually is building his own house right next door, so he won't be living that way much longer and his family showed us around it, it's literally just bricks and staircases.... in UK you'd have to have entered with a hard hat and hi viz, but that doesn't seem to matter in India.. anything goes!

We were somewhat of a local attraction when we arrived, and at one point there must have been about 10 of their neighbors friends came to see us while we were there. They all wanted to shake our hand and they were so happy to see white people! 

There was a couple of young girls about my age who came and stayed with us for the evening and they were so amazed that they were taking videos of us talking and stuff, it was so bizarre.

Overall we had such a great night, ended up getting a little bit drunk and was the perfect ending to our time in Delhi :) We got fed loads of food, his wife even cooked chicken for us! It just kept on coming!

The next day Baljinder came to pick us up and took us to the airport, he gave us his card and said if we ever come back to Delhi (or friends and family do) that we should stay with his family and not in a hotel as his house will be complete in 4 months.  

My next post I'll talk about Ahmedabad but right  now we need to get ready for Beckie's wedding this afternoon, so I've got to go. 

Hope everyone is ok back home and sucks about the weather lol :P 

love Hannah xxxxxxx

First few days in India

Well Hello :)

So the 11th January saw me embark on a new journey in life, I left my mum and sister at the airport and a lot of good friends a home to start my travels.

First stop was India. A lot of emotions running through my head, a lot of things I'll be missing being away from my friends and family for a long period of time, excited but nervous and apprehensive for what I was going to experience in India.

We arrived on Saturday lunch time in New Delhi, our taxi man Baljinder Singh was waiting for us at the airport with my name on a sign (always wanted to be one of those important people with their name on paper lol) 

Lora, myself and Lee waiting for the flight to take off!

Baljinder our taxi man

My mums friend Kiran arranged for us to see her Aunt to help us plan our time in Delhi as she lives a few houses up from our hotel, but as we'd not slept much on the plane and it being a night flight we got to the hotel for a nap! 

A quick nap turned into a full on sleep and we woke up at 7pm. I asked our hotel reception to call Koshi and we arranged to meet the following morning. We had room service and went to bed. 

Sunday we were up at 9am to meet Koshi and she showed us a few things on the map to do and showed us her house and invited us in for tea and biscuits, tea is exactly the same as England (I was worried :/) 

Baljinder picked us up at 10am and we went on a tour of Delhi. He showed us several cool buildings like the India Gate, the Lotus temple and a Sikh temple.

The gate of India

Lotus temple, I cut my arm on the barbed wire on the fence protecting it.... apparently it's good luck?

Sikh temple on Sunday was crazy, but a good insight into Sikhism

We went shopping for Sarees as we have a Hindu wedding to attend on the 19th and had lots of fun trying those on... but when the total came to £800 for the 3 of us, we had a heart attack each but handed over our cards.

We had lunch out in Pindus and outside there was a snake charmer... little bit scared I have to say when he put the snake round my neck and charmed a python out of his box, it was attacking him whilst I was sitting right next to him :/

After the day, we went back to the hotel room, put on G.I Jane on my netbook, ordered room service and went to bed. 

Monday saw us go to the Taj Mahal, we had to get up super early as was a 4 hour drive. We met our taxi man at reception, made him wait 40 minutes while we had  some breakfast and then set off at 7am,  he had brought his 13 year old son along with him :) 

We literally couldn't see anything on the way, I've never seen fog quite like it in my time... we couldn't see the car in front unless right behind it. So that turned into 5 hours drive but we got there!!!

We had a guided tour of the Taj which was really interesting and then had a late lunch. On the way home we got stuck in really bad traffic as apparently there were some protests going on in Delhi, so our 4 hour drive turned into 6, so asked Baljinder to stop and get us some beers. 

Got back to the hotel late around 9pm, had 2 Kingfishers each (8%ABV) chucked on some music and just chilled for a few hours. 

Today, we needed a lie in, so woke at half 12, got ourselves ready and its just gone 2 now and we're off out to get some food and have a wonder. 

Overall conclusion on India so far... It's very noisy, dirty and complete culture shock, but I've never met so many people who can't do enough for  you and most importantly, they are very happy :)

Love Hannah xxxxxxx