The First Four Days

Well, we made it. It is Wednesday evening, September 24, Delhi time. The computer I'm at does not have any USB connections, so photos will have to wait. Here is a quick summary of the trip so far:

The flight over was long, but uneventful. Actually, there was a close call in Paris. We had about 1.5 hours for our connection, but they landed us way out at some peripheral gate. It took two busses for us to get to our departure gate. The plane was loading when we arrived, but all was okay.

We were met at the airport by Mr. Sekhri's chauffer, Ramesh. This was a real blessing. It was 11:30pm in a foreign city. It was just very nice to have someone there to greet us and take us to our hotel.

Ramesh picked us up the next day about 1pm. He was bound and determined to get us on a tour of the Golden Triangle = Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. After a bit of discussion, we ended up with a private car taking us.

After signing up for the tour, Ramesh took us around Delhi. We visited the Ba'Hai lotus temple and the India Gate dedicated to the fallen war dead. The lotus temple was well worth the visit.

From what we have seen, Delhi is a very big (about 12 million) very noisy city. No one uses rear view mirrors her, the vehicle behind toots their horn. It's an amazing system, but seems to work. In Delhi and on the highways, the roads are shared by water buffalo, tractors, camels, semis and private cars. Sometimes a cow even just lies down in the middle of the road. There are amazingly few accidents, however. The constant honking really gets to Kathy.

The next morning we left on our tour. Agra is home to the Taj Mahal. It really is one of the wonders of the world. Wait for the pictures.

After spending the night in Agra, we visited an old fort and a bird sanctuary the next morning. The visit to the fort was pretty much a bust, as we were perpetually surrounded by hawkers of trinkets. This was also a real problem at the Taj Mahal, until we ot past the point where we had to pay admission. Both Kathy and I currently feel that this is a big enough problem that we will avoid the tourist sites for the rest of the trip. There were times when there were 3 or 4 people hawking goods at us, simultaneously. We were also repeatedly warned that the hawkers work in groups, one getting in our faces while another picks our pockets. Fortunately, this didn't happen. Okay, enough whining.

The bird sanctuary was the highlight of the trip so far. First, it was a quiet retreat, much appreciated, but also there were dozens of different type of birds there, sometimes flocking to be in the hundreds. Again, wait for the pictures.

We spend last night in Jaipur. We were the ONLY guests in the hotel we stayed at. It was a bit off the beaten path. They treated us royally. This morning we visited a few shops and then drove past both the Palace of the Wind and the Amber fort. Both were probably worth stopping at, but we really didn't want to deal with the hawkers. We took photos from the road and called it good.

So now we are back in Delhi. I have not met with Mr. Sekhri yet, as Rahul Gandhi, an important figure in the Indian government has been in the Punjab and Mr. Sekhri's time has been all tied up. We will take the afternoon train to Amritsar. It is the fastest train in India, I am told and will get us there in only 6 hours. Amritsar is home to the Sikh's golden temple and very close to Mr. Sekhri's college. He has arranged a reception for us on September 29, so we will probably return to Delhi on the 30th. We are actually looking forward to spending four days at the same place.

Stu