Delhi

08.07.2008 to 14.07.2008

We have not been updating our blog for quite a while now. We have seen many things and covered so many kilometres since then......

The train trip from Gorakphur to Delhi was quite smooth, ignoring the fact that the train had a 5-hour. We arrived at Old Delhi train station early afternoon and were welcomed by herds of people streaming from every existant pathway in the train station. Head straight, we headed towards the pre-paid auto-rickshaw stand and set off to Paharganj, the backpackers area in New Delhi.

Delhi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It's population is a stagerring seventeen million! So one can picture the feeling you get travelling with an auto rickshaw during peak traffic hours. Strangely enough we were glad of being back in this chaos... happy to be seeing again all the craziness and noise which only India seems to offer. Still we were dreading the fact that we had to spend a week in this city... but we had to, as we were waiting for Ciri, a friend of ours who was coming from Luxembourg to spend two weeks with us. Over and above that we decided to spend an additional day to meet up with Ska, another friend of ours, who would be stopping in Delhi on his way to Thailand.

So that was it... we spent a whole week in busy Delhi. The heat was unbearable, and our room did not cater for the heat-strucken poor individuals who needed air to breath... for Rs300 we managed to get a room with an attached bathroom which resembled a public toilet (obviously by Maltese standards not Indian... we are not that extreme)!! We baptised the room "Il-Latrina". Given Ciri was going to join us for the last two nights in Delhi we had already put our eyes on a particular room which could accomodate three. What was special about this room was that it had a huge cooler... similar to those used on film sets to reproduce wind... and we wanted that baby all for us....

Until Ciri's arrival we spent our time running some errands which had to be done. We mailed the stuff which we had so devotedly been carring, since Thamel in Nepal. This proved to be quite a tiresome task, as we had to do it twice, given that parcel rules changed, and now a maximum of 10kg per box can be sent to Malta. Given our box was a 16kgs one, it got sent back from the post office and we had to open up everything again to split up everything in two boxes... oh well... as long as they arrive.

We tried meeting the Maltese consulate as they had told us it was possible to extend our Indian visa from Delhi. After a long auto-rickshaw ride to the consulate they did not even let us in....so long for Maltese citizenship rights! At the end it was getting so complicated that we gave up and decided to fly to Thailand to renew our visas from there. Obviously this was no sacrifice to us as we adore Thailand. Another thing we sorted out was all our flights... we booked our flights to Thailand and back to India, those to Malta and those to Australia. This way we managed to get better deals as we booked them in such advance.

Delhi is quite a city of extremes. It is much nicer than Calcutta, as in the latter poverty is much more evident. In Delhi it is much easier to escape the chaos and the dirt.

When Ciri arrived we decided to spend a day sightseeing. We first went to Qutb Minar. Qutb Minar is the tallest brick minaret in the world, and an important example of Indo-Islamic Architecture. In fact it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The second place we visited was the famous Red Fort. The Red Fort showcases the very high level of art form and ornamental work. The art work in the Fort is a synthesis of Persian, European and Indian art which resulted in the development of unique Shahjahani style which is very rich in form, expression and colour. It is one of the important building complexes of India which encapsulates a long period of Indian history and its arts. Its significance has transcended time and space. It is relevant as a symbol of architectural brilliance and power.

Both places were incredibly beautiful and full of history, though quite expensive to visit at Rs250 per person.

On our last night in Delhi we had a problem with our room. At around five o'clock in the morning Yakof was woken up by Ciri (jumping on our bed) who informed us that it was raining in our room. At first he had thought that his clothes were dripping on him, given we had washed them and hung them over his bed. But eventually he realised that the ceiling was leaking. And so, more asleep than awake, at five o'clock in the morning, yakof informed the hotel manager and we had to change our room and get all our stuff downstairs. Luckily we managed to get a couple of hours more sleep before Ska came. The guys spent the last hours in Delhi together while Janet opted to stay in the room as she was suffering from what is often called, 'Delhi belly'... stomach upsets.

At around four o'clock in the afternoon we said our goodbyes to Ska and set off for our 15-hour journey to Manali... for the first time ever in a luxurious volvo bus, courtesy of our friend Ciri :)