Northern India
Arrived in New Delhi airport past midnight. Expected to be quiet at this hour. Oh! what a surprised as we came out. The din was unbelievable with vehicles horning and people/traffic police shouting on top of their voices and some sort of wedding procession passing by. We were shocked!
This is New Delhi. The next day we were in for more surprises. While moving around town, we had to share the road with donkeys, cows, camels and all sorts of carts. Here everybody loves to horn! Written at the back of most heavy vehicles - Please Horn Me. No way I can drive here with all the vehicles moving very close to each other trying to squeeze in front and nobody wants to knock into the sacred cow. Fortunately, we were using a jeep and had a good driver.
All photos here supplied by my brother in law.
New Delhi (click on the photos to enlarge)
This is the first place we visited in New Delhi.
We were in Northern India for more than 2 weeks. After New Delhi we visited the Taj Mahal and we experienced an exiting stay at an old castle (converted into hotel) in the desert. Got lost in the desert for about 8 hours when our driver could not remember which junction & which road to take. Just imagined no toilet & no place to rest!
Oh! what a relief - toilet at last. Almost reaching our destination.
Must take a photo of this place.
Our mode of transport throughout our tour of northern India with our driver.
Yes it is magnificent - all marble. To maintain the cleanliness, no shoes are allowed in and around the building.
All vehicle cannot drive into the site and everybody will have to go in by special buses.
India do have many old castles but sad to say many had also been vandalised with precious stone stolen. Other then castles, we had been to Mahatma Ghandi's memorial, a fort and watched stone carving and carpet making. We loved to attend carpet sales as we got to drink free tea specially prepared.
The designs on the wall & roof had precious stone embedded in them. Look at the wall behind me - someone had damaged it to get to the stone.
The caption on the photo say it all.
Mandawa castle, our hotel in the desert. Our first experience in staying in a castle. It's old but it's great. We walked around the surrounding area and saw smaller castle-like buildings - old and occupied by poor families. Outside the hotel is hot and dusty.
The reception/lounge area.
Eat like maharaja. We were among the few guests that stayed here and we enjoyed the food & service. Although from the photo the dining area looks old, this place is great.
We spent a week at The Resort, Country Club, Gurgaon before heading home. This is under RCI exchange programe. Here, it is cool in the day and cold at night. Once, we walked out to a small village nearby - a group of people followed us around like we are VIP.