Delightful Delhi...

We started our trip on Friday morning, 23 December. At the gate, an Indian toddler was vomiting big time and immediately a number of Dutch women hurried to hand out paper hankies, wet wipes, etc. Nevertheless, mum and dad discarded off the hankies and preferred to have the kid puke in mum’s sweater and then they wiped their hands clean in the sweater as well. Nice...we were wondering how many people would get the rotavirus on board. Once we got to Delhi, we saw mum walking around the luggage belt in her barfy sweater. Comfy...

My backpack had remained in Amsterdam apparently (i’ll spare you the nasty details) and after a white-knuckle ride, we arrived safe & sound at our hotel at 2a.m..

Saturday, 24 December

The nice thing of our hotel is that it is in a residential area. That’s what you discover in broad daylight. Opposite the hotel is a park and stray dogs, Indian eagles (! seriously!) and chipmunks are everywhere.

Connaught Place was on the list. What were we thinking? Harassed by touts we fled the British style “roundabout”. Of course, Sid went from sarcastic to cynic to plain hostile retorts. It helped...

Sunday, 25 December/Christmas Day

We visited Khan Market (Botany Bay - Moby Dick - does that ring a bell? Anyone?) Anyway, it was a great neighbourhood. Besides, it was nice & sunny and we treated ourself to tea and cake on the rooftop terrace of a really nice organic restaurant. Even in India?

We walked to Lodi Gardens, a nice park built by the English in the 1930s, also featuring two tombs of the former sultans (Lodi) and an old mosque. No tourists in sight, only Indian families gathering for picnics, cricket and badminton. It was really nice to see.

Next stop was Qutub Minar complex, one of the oldest islamic sites, built in 1196. We had a nice, steep walk up to the Qutub Minar pillar and as the sun was setting, it was a beautiful sight. On our tour up the hill we also stumbled on Mehrauli Archeological Park. The contrast couldn’t be bigger; on one side of the street you see beautiful architecture; on the other side of the street you see people literally living on trash. Pigs running around trying to find food scraps in garbage, kids playing cricket. A day in the life.

Yesterday we thought Delhi was awful, today we found it had really nice sites. However, after one day, your mucus has turned brown and your face is covered in soot. Happy X-mas.

PS: Hattem: hebben jullie de citatenpuzzel al opgelost? Ben ‘m via internet aan het doen.