So we spent our weekend right in the belly of big old Delhi, exploring the sights, smells and sounds that I have heard so much about.
We took the metro from Gurgaon (our local station) into Delhi which was an hours journey and cost us a grand total of 25p per person. We had to change trains at Rajiv Chowk which is the very centre of Delhi, during rush hour on a Friday night which was completely mental with thousands of people all pushing and shoving to get onto the train. I almost got pick-pocketed but I felt the hand undoing my money belt and quickly zipped it up again, tucking it under my top. I didn't dare look whether anything had gone until we got off the train, and just stood on the train praying that my phone, passport and purse were all still there. Thankfully they hadn't managed to take anything and for the rest of the weekend I was much more careful of my money belt, taking it under the waistband of my trousers and then my top over that - I looked a very funny shape of pregnant.
We risked our lives walking around a roundabout to find the road on which Annie and Martin's flat is, only to find that it was the first road had we walked in the opposite direction. We were very relieved to arrive at the flat and were greeted by Anjolie, the housekeeper who lives there permanently, and 2 boys who were also staying there for the night. We spent the evening sharing our adventures with these 2 boys who have been traveling all around India together for 2 months and have another month here before moving on to other parts of Asia. They were definitely craving conversation with other people their own age as they had not met any other gappers on their travels which I find amazing. We may see them again in a couple of weeks as they want to come out to Tikli Bottom and visit the school. It was a cosy night having 7 people in a 4 bed flat (and some of the staffs friends were staying that night too) so the boys slept on the floor in the living room (they had to leave at 4am so it seemed fair) and we squeezed 3 of us into a double bed, and then 2 in twin beds.
We had a lovely lazy morning and then split forces. Katya, Fenella and I headed off to the infamous Red Fort which was a beautiful, large, red brick fort in Old Delhi with a variety of different intricately made buildings dotted around it. We then walked to the muslim Jama Masjid temple, on entering a man tried to force me to wear this hideous, red and white checked robe thing, supposedly because I had bare arms but loads of other people were walking in with bare arms so I just think he wanted to make me look stupid. As soon as I got out of his sight I took it off again, it was too hot to be wearing any extra clothing. We climbed up a very thin, winding minaret tower to the top so that we could see the incredible view over the jumbled rooftops of Old Delhi. Making our way up the 120 steps was a challenge because the stairway was about 1 and a half people wide but people were walking both up and down it, in the dark - we reached the top very out of breath. It was also very precarious up at the top with very little space to stand and about 20 other people up there and a large, uncovered drop back down the stair well. After staggering back down the steep steps we headed back to the flat to freshen up before heading out to the cinema to meet one of Katyas friends from when she lived here. It was not just any old cinema, we were in 'gold class' which had seats that reclined into a bed, pillows, blankets, waitor service and only about 20 other people in the screen. It was such luxury, oh and the film (the imitation game) was great. He then took us out for dinner at a very fancy hotel with an all you can eat, international buffet and we all went to sleep ridiculously overfull.
On Sunday 4 of us (katya sadly left us to go to a safari lodge down south in the early hours of the morning) went right into the centre of Delhi, to Connaught Place which has a circular lay out with loads of shops in it, and then walked to the gallery of modern art, via India Gate which is basically India's version of the arc de triomphe. Spent a couple of hours at the gallery for Nella's benefit as a future history of art student until Kat, Laura and I then left her there and visited Humayun's tomb which is the inspiration for the Taj Mahal and is just as beautiful but made of red stone rather than marble.
Once back in Tikli, in the evening we briefly went to an Indian wedding. We were welcomed like celebrities, having our photos taken and then escorted into a side tent which we later found out was the drinking tent. We were then stared at even more because the women here don't drink and if they do, they do it privately so we were surrounded by men drinking large measures of Indian rum. We were plied with delicious snacks and were then taken back into the main, very brightly lit, pink tent to have dinner of veg curry, rice and freshly cooked chapattis (nom nom nom). We left shortly after dinner and found out the next day that the bride hadn't arrived yet because she was still at the beauty salon and didn't turn up until 11pm.
I was finally given a (semi) permanent timetable this weekend which is actually very nice, I have Montessori class every day, a few sports classes, some art lessons and then 2 grades that I have for general knowledge and English a couple of times a week which is good so that I can form a proper relationship with them.
We have booked tickets to Udaipur and Varanasi for some of the upcoming weekends which is very exciting, I like to have everything planned out.
On Wednesday there was a big party locally which was celebrating birth of a baby boy - it wouldn't have happened if it had been a girl - where there was booming music all day so we went over to investigate and were given lots of fresh chapattis and lovely, pretzel-y sweet things and had all of our local school kids running up and saying 'good morning mam'.
It was only a 4 day working week this week as on Thursday evening we headed in to Gurgaon to catch a train to Jaisalmer in the west of India, in the desert....
Weather update: clear blue skies and lovely hot, sunny days. I now have decidedly unattractive flip flop tan lines (not cool)
Lotsa love xxxxx
We took the metro from Gurgaon (our local station) into Delhi which was an hours journey and cost us a grand total of 25p per person. We had to change trains at Rajiv Chowk which is the very centre of Delhi, during rush hour on a Friday night which was completely mental with thousands of people all pushing and shoving to get onto the train. I almost got pick-pocketed but I felt the hand undoing my money belt and quickly zipped it up again, tucking it under my top. I didn't dare look whether anything had gone until we got off the train, and just stood on the train praying that my phone, passport and purse were all still there. Thankfully they hadn't managed to take anything and for the rest of the weekend I was much more careful of my money belt, taking it under the waistband of my trousers and then my top over that - I looked a very funny shape of pregnant.
We risked our lives walking around a roundabout to find the road on which Annie and Martin's flat is, only to find that it was the first road had we walked in the opposite direction. We were very relieved to arrive at the flat and were greeted by Anjolie, the housekeeper who lives there permanently, and 2 boys who were also staying there for the night. We spent the evening sharing our adventures with these 2 boys who have been traveling all around India together for 2 months and have another month here before moving on to other parts of Asia. They were definitely craving conversation with other people their own age as they had not met any other gappers on their travels which I find amazing. We may see them again in a couple of weeks as they want to come out to Tikli Bottom and visit the school. It was a cosy night having 7 people in a 4 bed flat (and some of the staffs friends were staying that night too) so the boys slept on the floor in the living room (they had to leave at 4am so it seemed fair) and we squeezed 3 of us into a double bed, and then 2 in twin beds.
We had a lovely lazy morning and then split forces. Katya, Fenella and I headed off to the infamous Red Fort which was a beautiful, large, red brick fort in Old Delhi with a variety of different intricately made buildings dotted around it. We then walked to the muslim Jama Masjid temple, on entering a man tried to force me to wear this hideous, red and white checked robe thing, supposedly because I had bare arms but loads of other people were walking in with bare arms so I just think he wanted to make me look stupid. As soon as I got out of his sight I took it off again, it was too hot to be wearing any extra clothing. We climbed up a very thin, winding minaret tower to the top so that we could see the incredible view over the jumbled rooftops of Old Delhi. Making our way up the 120 steps was a challenge because the stairway was about 1 and a half people wide but people were walking both up and down it, in the dark - we reached the top very out of breath. It was also very precarious up at the top with very little space to stand and about 20 other people up there and a large, uncovered drop back down the stair well. After staggering back down the steep steps we headed back to the flat to freshen up before heading out to the cinema to meet one of Katyas friends from when she lived here. It was not just any old cinema, we were in 'gold class' which had seats that reclined into a bed, pillows, blankets, waitor service and only about 20 other people in the screen. It was such luxury, oh and the film (the imitation game) was great. He then took us out for dinner at a very fancy hotel with an all you can eat, international buffet and we all went to sleep ridiculously overfull.
On Sunday 4 of us (katya sadly left us to go to a safari lodge down south in the early hours of the morning) went right into the centre of Delhi, to Connaught Place which has a circular lay out with loads of shops in it, and then walked to the gallery of modern art, via India Gate which is basically India's version of the arc de triomphe. Spent a couple of hours at the gallery for Nella's benefit as a future history of art student until Kat, Laura and I then left her there and visited Humayun's tomb which is the inspiration for the Taj Mahal and is just as beautiful but made of red stone rather than marble.
Once back in Tikli, in the evening we briefly went to an Indian wedding. We were welcomed like celebrities, having our photos taken and then escorted into a side tent which we later found out was the drinking tent. We were then stared at even more because the women here don't drink and if they do, they do it privately so we were surrounded by men drinking large measures of Indian rum. We were plied with delicious snacks and were then taken back into the main, very brightly lit, pink tent to have dinner of veg curry, rice and freshly cooked chapattis (nom nom nom). We left shortly after dinner and found out the next day that the bride hadn't arrived yet because she was still at the beauty salon and didn't turn up until 11pm.
I was finally given a (semi) permanent timetable this weekend which is actually very nice, I have Montessori class every day, a few sports classes, some art lessons and then 2 grades that I have for general knowledge and English a couple of times a week which is good so that I can form a proper relationship with them.
We have booked tickets to Udaipur and Varanasi for some of the upcoming weekends which is very exciting, I like to have everything planned out.
On Wednesday there was a big party locally which was celebrating birth of a baby boy - it wouldn't have happened if it had been a girl - where there was booming music all day so we went over to investigate and were given lots of fresh chapattis and lovely, pretzel-y sweet things and had all of our local school kids running up and saying 'good morning mam'.
It was only a 4 day working week this week as on Thursday evening we headed in to Gurgaon to catch a train to Jaisalmer in the west of India, in the desert....
Weather update: clear blue skies and lovely hot, sunny days. I now have decidedly unattractive flip flop tan lines (not cool)
Lotsa love xxxxx
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