Day 5 - Delhi

Matt's body clock is almost sorted, mine not quite so. Couldn't settle last night so ended up watching umpteen episodes of 'Canada's Top Model' - strangely compelling viewing.

So, the things we tried to do today included seeing more of Delhi, planning the next few days, travelling on the Metro and going to see and light and sound show at the Red Fort.

What we did do was:

1) plan the next few days - only to be told that we were doing it all the wrong way round - oh well...

2) Go for a walk - only to be told that the area we were straying in wasn't so safe and so were advised to leave.

3) Take a rickshaw to the main part of town to look around and accidentally got stuck for ages India Tourist Centre being hard sold to - and were almost convinced.

4) Try to book the New Zealand to Chile leg of our journey.

5) Successfully (and finally) managed to visit a few tourist attractions, including driving past the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the president of India's residence) and India Gate (war memorial) and actually going into Lakshminarayan Mandir - A Hindu temple where we saw lots of people taking offerings to a number of figures respresenting deities.

6) Try to get to the Red Fort but took a cycle rickshaw that went the wrong way and then tried to charge us for both legs of the journey.

7) paid over the odds for a tuk tuk to take us to the Red Fort in a rush and missed the entry time by seconds and so had to come straight back again.

Overall, in India, I guess 1 out of 3 isn't so bad.

Day 4 - Feb 4th

After a couple of hours sleep, we dragged ourselves out of bed to go to breakfast on the rooftop cafe. We were given a fried egg sandwich, cornflakes, a banana and a rather nice coffee and so started the day in a pretty standard India tourist way.

Veg Market

We wandered the narrow market streets of Paharganj, taking in all the sights and smells. Unlike my first experience of Bangalore, there was very little hassle and we walked mostly unhindered past hundreds of stalls, people, dogs and cows. Well, kind of unhindered, when we weren't avoiding being knocked over, run into, bitten or tripped. There were so many different stalls selling eveything from deep-fried pretzels to  'little dancer wrestlers'.

Potato King

After a long 5 hour nap, we went exploring again, this time focusing more on the smaller streets dedicated to fruit, veg and general food stuffs, where we discovered lots of new things we didn't recognise and a few things we think we did. Matt's convinced he saw half a dog hanging on a butcher's  stall! We bought some fried potatoes (yep! first food in India - chips!) from the self-proclaimed 'Potato King' and went in search of something a bit more substantial.

Awesome photo,

We found a vegetarian restaurant where we could see lots of nice looking food being served and were sat next to a lovely couple called Stefania and Guillaume. They'd been in India three weeks and were off back 'home' to Shanghai tomorrow. They shared some wisdom and experiences and we will hopefully catch up with them again when we get to China.

We now need to focus on trying to get our body clocks back to normal. It's now 11.20pm and we've only been up about 6 hours.

Day 3 - Feb 3rd - London to Delhi

After lots and lots of food, big baths and attentive service, we were hoping that the plane would be full again and that we might get another night of luxury. Unfortunately not.
We arrived at the airport early, as requested, but were told almost immediately that there would be no volunteers list. After a long wait, made longer by delays, we were on the plane to Delhi. This pretty much took up the whole day and we arrived in Delhi 3.10am. The queues to visa and customs were massive and staffed by the obligatory  impatient grumpy old men. 2 hours later we were on our way to the hostel with the driver we had booked.
The death-defying drive to the hostel very quickly proved to Matt that I wasn't exaggerating when she went to Bangalore. Most people straddled lanes, weaving in and out of other traffic - regardless of how much bigger it is or faster it is going. The police drive no differently.
The driver was quite chatty but as neither of us could hear much after the flight, the crux of it was how long her had had to wait for us, interspersed by a bit of geranl chatter and tourist info. He stopped the car in a web of small streets he had told us was a market, asked for the tip and then helped us to the hostel with out bags. I remembered how difficult it was to please with tips in India. They all know what the exchange rate is and how little you get for your money in sterling and so are not even satisfied with a few hundred rupees.
After a short trip through a couple of very dark alleys, we arrived at the hostel, banging on the door and squeezing our bags past the staff sleeping in reception. We were told that we were in the other 'wing' -a street round the corner and made our way there. The room was about on a par with my first visit to India (before Nic and I went upmarket) so wasn't quite what the pictures looked like online but  was clean and tidy enough.

On our way...

... well kinda.  Plane delayed from 11:45 to 13:00.

Live flight info

Day 2 - Feb 2nd - Supposedly Delhi

We woke up in the rather uncomfortable Travelodge bed which dipped in the middle before making our way to the restaurant for breakfast. We gorged ourselves on various buffet breakfasts stuffs and filled our pockets with individual sachets of Marmite (just for you Steph!) and watched the chavvy lads drinking pints of lager with JD chasers (discretely of course) at 8.30am.

Flying TicTac

At the airport we were told that the plane was full and were asked if we would be willing to volunteer to defer to the following day. Since this came with compensation and a hotel stay, we kindly agreed. Several hours and £10 worth of free refreshment coupons later, we were on our way and £1006 less in debt. We took a quick detour to go on the 'Heathrow pod' - this only went to the business carpark and back but was like a giant flying TicTac so we couldn't resist - Matt for the technology and Anji for the speedy TicTacness!

Our enormous free bed

The Renaissance Hotel looked like a real dive from the outside (think Communist Russia) but was quite grand inside. Matt got carried away and indulged in a bell boy and we both looked rather out of place in our fleeces next to the Prada wearing clientele. Anji tried to torture Matt by booking 'We Will Rock You' theatre tickets but felt guilty since Matt hates musicals and Queen and so simply annoyed the concierge by thinking better of it and declining the tickets he'd managed to secure.


Now, we are just chilling out before heading to the restaurant for our free dinner and may go town later. Either that or we noticed we're near to the business car park so we may try to get in and ride the pod again.

Day 1 - Feb 1st

Day 1 - London town.

After an emotional goodbye, we took the train down to London. The seat booking system was broken so it was a bit chaotic but nothing like what we are bracing ourselves for in India. We got the tube to the station nearest our hotel, where we had a trial walk with our backpacks. Half an hour was plenty enough to spot a few flaws and we were both aching when we got there.

We checked in to the Travelodge, had a hopeful glance in the bathroom for a bath (no joy) and headed back into town. Highlights included a 'bracing' (and consequently brisk) walk in Hyde park, several talented buskers in Covent Garden (our favourite  was a homeless guy who used a traffic cone rather skillfully as a kazoo), a wander through Trafalger Square and the purchase of a couple of carabiners.

We were very much looking forward to our bed when we got back to the hotel. We reckoned it might be the comfiest and cleanest for a while.

Day 30 - 1st Feb - Chitwan National Park

We had an early start to go down to the river to where we saw the crocodile yesterday and board a canoe.
I felt very vulnerable as we climbed in and were almost level with the water. It didn't help that Anu had just been telling us of how his guide friend had had his canoe attacked by a crocodile 'one month before' after it had accidentally collided with it. All passengers survived but I still wasn't exactly confident.

Being on the water in the morning light was absolutely stunning. There were so many birds and we spent an hour floating along, enjoying the view and taking lots of pictures.

We came across a few more crocs too. They rowed us closer than I was comfortable with and would probably have taken us closer if not for the mute (and very slow) head shaking and warning eyes I was directing at Anu. It was all I could do not to squeak.

When we arrived at the starto of our jungle walk, we were given very  serious instructions for what to do if we came face to face with any of the deadly animals in the park.  Rhinos have bad eye-sight so you're just meant to chuck something to draw it's attention elsewhere, and find a tree to climb. With a bear you should stand close together, wave your arms and make lots of noise. Anu suggested singing. He also reminded us not to try and climb a tree. With a tiger you can do little more than just stare at it. How reassuring. After a quick hat-slinging practise and the transfer of all my valuables to Matt in case I needed to ditch my red bag during a speedy retreat, we were on our way.

It was a nerve-shredding hour but other than tiger tracks, all we saw were deer and a few more crocs. I'd still like to see a rhino but maybe from a safer distance!

Our walk led us to the 'Elephant breeding centre' where we saw some very cute babies. They were so young they were still suckling and we stood for ages just watchin them play in between stopping for milk. We also saw some baby twins who were a little older. They were only 2nd pair of twins recorded (worldwide I think) and the first recorded in Nepal.

After dragging myself away, Anu surprised us by taking us to watch the elephants bathing in the river. I got to have a go at sitting on one and it was fantastic to sit astride its bare back and be lifted into the air. The trainer kept pulling on its ear and shouting instructions to make it squirt me with water so I got drenched. The same pleading look I'd practiced near  the crocodiles earlier was used to persuade him not to make it roll over and chuck me in the river.

After a quick shower and another odd lunch, we were taken along with a Russian couple to go on the 'elephant safari'. This time we were all sat in a large crate-like contruction with a bamboo stick between our thighs and our legs dangling on the outside. It was less than comfortable whenever the elephants went downhill and through rivers but it was great to trample through the jungle trees.

Some of the elephant leaders nearby started making calls and I thought they were just trying to work out one anothers location, but pretty soon we were all gathered together around a rhino and its baby. It was absolutely amazing to see them so close but didn't look real. The elephants did not disturb them at all so we sent a while watching them graze and taking lots of pictures.

On the way back we saw some rather rude, lady elephant trunk to male elephant undercarriage action. We also saw quite a few deer and monkeys, also with very cute babies. (Note to Zeena: I am not getting broody, there actually were just lots of babies!)

After a fun, elephant-filled day, we had a free evening to spend how we wanted. Unfortunately, we mostly spent it unsuccessfully trying to find a cash machine that didn't charge more than the price of a room for the night.

We took a walk down to the river just after sunset and saw a massive rhino, which was even closer than the crocodile we had seen there yesterday. It's so strange to see such wild animals just meters away from a built-up touristy area.