Chris: Unlike many travelers, we were fortunate enough to be ushered into Delhi by our gracious hosts from their comfortable home. Bridgit and Graham provided an introduction that most could only dream of. They took us for some local shopping, sights, eats and we even were able to meet several Indian colleagues and get their travel advice on our first night in their country.
I was able to take the new camera for a test drive although I admit to using mostly automatic modes for advanced settings so far. Steph kept herself very busy with a Women’s Rights conference at the Habitat Centre and visiting a Mosque during the evening Ramadan festivities. Meanwhile the cook, Anthony, also agreed to take a day with me at the market, and then showed me how to cook a full Indian feast from the kitchen and the BBQ. He offered a good deal of techniques and tricks to cooking a butter chicken tikka with vegetable and paneer curry. The following day I tried to return the favor. Anthony helped me cook the family a slightly more continental dinner of a curry pear salad, grilled vegetables, corn on the cob and homemade macaroni and cheese.
We loved our first week in Delhi as it gave us a comfortable base to launch our tour of Northern India. On Saturday we boarded the Raj express for Agra-Jaipur-Ajmer-Pushkar-Udaipur-Jodphur-Delhi by Indian rail. My only previous knowledge of Indian trains is from the luxury coaches in the film “Darjeeling Limited” and carriage-hopping in “Slumdog Millionaire”, oh, and that trains are reliably late - usually by hours instead of minutes. The first half of this itinerary is known as the ‘Golden Triangle’ that tourists often follow to see the most celebrated sights such as the Taj Mahal. The second half will be more adventurous. We’ll leave the rail lines for some long mountain bus journeys, deeper into the orange deserts of Rajasthan…Our bags are packed for adventure.
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