Back to Earth

Our trip home was uneventful. We did learn that bags bought on Chandni Chowk for 60 rupees are not really robust enough to withstand baggage handling.

We hope that you have enjoyed the blog and that you will join us for future trips if we are spared.

Steam Express

Saturday : Lutyens Bungalow has declared summer. Breakfast is served on the terrace today even though we can see our exhaled breath at 7.30.  We walk up to the metro station and take an auto for the 20 minute ride to Cantonment railway station whence we have booked a ride on the 'Steam Express'. The auto driver tries to hold back on the change but D stands his ground and we just pay what we agreed. If he hadn't have got greedy he would have got a tip.

At the station WP 4-6-2 'Akbar' is ready at the head of the train in Platform 4. The sun is already very bright but we get some decent photos. It is all very low key, not at all like main line steam runs in the UK. Everybody is very friendly and D gets to climb up into the cab to see an exhibition of how to fire the loco. In the meantime R is ensconced in the rather ritzy Chair Car that is the passenger accommodation.  The other two coaches are a generator car and a Pantry car where food is prepared. 

A man and his assistant come round with a garland of marigolds each and a red dot for the forehead. For some reason D gets a few grains of rice placed on his red dot. Departure is only a couple of minutes late and after a steady start we pick up speed to around 90 kph. More attendants appear, with first a souvenir gift of a mug from the Railway Museum, then a bottle of water, followed by a breakfast tray with banana, sandwich and Litchi Juice. Reinforcements arrive with rissoles (?), hard boiled eggs and minted peas! No chai walla on this train but we do get a Shatabdi style tea kit and flask of hot water.

The schedule is not very demanding for this huge loco and the three coach train arrives at Rewari, about 70 km from our start,  nearly half an hour early. This gives us a chance to take a quick look at the Rewari Steam Shed,  where Indian Railways keeps some broad and metre gauge steam locomotives. It is only a few minutes walk from the end of the platform and is surrounded by a very well kept garden with attached loco shed. When Akbar is not working this is home. The Faery Queen, until recently the oldest working loco in the world, is also based here.

Our return to Delhi (DLI) in a conventional 2AC on a regular train is prosaic. We arrive 20 minutes late and D nearly gets us lost trying to find a half remembered short cut to the Metro Station. We just have time for a precise surgical strike on Haldiram's to buy a special type of sweet that Shukla has introduced us to. Then we take our last Metro trip back to Race Course and the packing. We need to come back within a year as we have 92 rupees credit left on our Metro cards which will expire otherwise.

Back at Lutyens we discover that D's parcel from Kolkata has not arrived. It might have stretched the packing a bit anyway. Dinner is also on the terrace, illuminated by candle light. We turn in early as we have flights to catch tomorrow. 

Happy Anniversary.

A misty morning with a bit of of a chill in the air but it is clearly going to be a fine, warm day. We breakfast with Walter, the Swiss sanitary engineer who is looking forward to a flying tour of Old Delhi today. It is our 34th wedding anniversary today and as a treat we are going to the National Railway Museum. Ten minutes in an auto gets us to the entrance where we hand over our entrance fee and receive tickets inscribed 'Boating - Child'.

A few more exhibits have been renovated since D's last visit, a year ago. It is particularly gratifying to see that Darjeeling B Class 777 has been given a repaint. Not too sure about the historical authenticity of the paint job. Last year it was looking very forlorn in bare metal and rust. 

Today must be infant schools train awareness day as hundreds of the noisy little so and sos flood into the museum. They are accompanied by teachers and mountains of snack. The Exhibition Hall is undergoing major alterations , either still or again, it is hard to know which. 

We retire to the tranquility of the Souvenir Shoppe where R is allowed to choose a fridge magnet as an anniversary present. From the museum we take an auto to Karol Bagh market, an area of Delhi that we do not know at all. The market is OK appart from the endless supply of shoe polishers who want business. We make a couple of small purchases and then decide to take the Metro to the Dilli Haat tourist market where they sell great momos.

These are served with a very nippy red sauce that brings tears to R's eyes. Lunch over and with all of our shopping done we return to the Bungalow and indulge in a dip in the pool. The water is chilling and we don't stay in for long but at least we have justified hauling our costumes all round India.Afterwards we partake of tea on the terrace and watch the parakeets. R spots a couple of green pigeons but no hornbill this year. We receive messages from our offspring and relatives with Anniversary wishes.

Tonight we are heading into town to meet a couple of IndiaMikers. V we know from last year and E from yesterday but we all get on like a house on fire despite the stygian gloom enveloping the Qba. The level of lighting is such that mobile phones are needed to illuminate the menu. V orders up a couple of tasty platters and we talk the night away.  Star signs, Leeds slang, childbirth, temples and travel were just a few of the topics covered. We realised that we had to make a move before the metro closed and made our farewells in Rajiv Chowk Metro station.

Return to Lutyens Bungalow

Thursday : No real hurry this morning but we are up and about soon after first light. Today we are changing hotels, not because we don't like the one that we are in, but because we really do like the one that we are going to. It also gives us a chance to pack all of the sundry domestic implements, gee gaws and Madame W's new wardrobe. She has become to churidars what Imelda Marcos used to be to shoes. The trial pack leads to the conclusion that we need an extra bag to get things home.

Rather conveniently the Bloomroom's free shuttle drops off a few minutes walk from our new destination.  We book ourselves onto the 10 a.m run and find that we have the minibus to ourselves and our luggage. It is a fine morning, not too hot yet, so we take the five minute walk from Jor Bagh Metro up to Lutyens Bungalow.  We are greeted with hugs and a cup of tea and told that our room will soon be ready. The plan had been just to leave our bags and check in later but this is good news.

The room that we are allocated is bigger than some with a nice garden view. We drop our bags and set off for Old Delhi. The Metro is moderately busy but again we appear doddery enough to be offered seats. At Chandni Chowk station we avoid the exit via the temple and urinal and instead take the the one via the other temple and the other urinal. We get brave and turn down one of the alleys off the main street and then navigate our way through the cross passages parallel to CC. This area is all fabrics and garments and R adds another pair of churidars to the collection. 

In due course we get back to the main street, almost at its western end. We try three ATMs before getting one to pay out. After a short tour of some of the local catering establishments we plunge into the spice market, a wonderfully chaotic area where the lifting and carrying is still done by manpower.  We have most things from previous visits when we turned a couple of local merchants into rich men in the space of minutes. R is recognised as she passes on of these stalls and invited in for a repeat performance. They seem disappointed when she restricts her purchasing to just nutmeg and cinammon. We also stop to buy a jar of pickle and are treated to samples of a really nice (but messy) sweet and sour lemon pickle. We also spot and purchase the ideal bag for our dirty washing to travel home in. 60 rupees and can be secured with a small padlock. 

Riding our luck we return along Chandni Chowk and head down a lane on the opposite side. This is all shoes so we cut through another alley to a street of serious sari and dupatta shops. R finds the scarf she was looking for and another one besides.  The salesman holds a Masters degree in Fashion Retailing. There must be serious money to be made round here. Just time for D to visit his regular shoe shine walla for the annual service and tune up on his Clarks' before our lunch appointment. 

E is a Yorkshire lass and IndiaMiker on her first visit to India. She is much braver than we were on our first or even current visit. She has been in India for eight weeks and been nearly everywhere. Next up for her is China.  She writes about her Indian adventures here http://www.indiamike.com/india/india-travel-itinerary-advice-f91/8-weeks-in-incredible-india-ongoing-report-t212011/   

When D arrives E and R are mentally devouring the contents of the sweet counters on the ground floor but we agree that lunch had best come first. Haldiram's is a bit like a MacDonalds but with proper Indian food, where you go to the cashier, order and pay, then collect your order on a tray. It was busy so we had to go up to the second floor to get a table. D then went to order and, collecting the drinks had almost got to the table with them, when a coughing fit led to the contents of the tray, lime sodas and lassis, being distributed across the floor.  This trick was last seen in 1997 at the Burger King in Hollywood when the excuse was jetlag.

Eventually we get sorted out and sit down to eat and chat with our new friend. We get on well and swop anecdotes over masala dosas. The lure of the sweet counter cannot be put off and after a good look purchases are made. E is very taken with a confection called an 'Orange Bhog'. A hastily convened committee samples one and concludes that it sounds better than it tastes.

We progress to Kinari bazaar where R has a purchase to make, and then head for the Metro. D is sure that he knows a place for chai but cannot find it so we finish up at another place which is very hospitable and clears some customers of the neighbours' doorstep so we can sit down. The chai is made just 2 or 3 cups at a time,  with the ingredients constantly being topped up and the final dispense being through a sieve. 

E takes part of the Metro ride with us, but gets off before we do. Hopefully we will see her again tomorrow night at the next event on our glittering social calendar. Back at Lutyens we have a cup of tea in the garden until it is time to get ready for dinner. We dine with Shukla, our host and a Swiss sanitation engineer who is on his way home from Bhutan but had 36 hours in Delhi between flights. His driver/guide had told him that it is not safe to leave the hotel. How we laugh! Later we are joined by a man who tells us that his name is eyelash with a K in front. He brings a bottle of wine to the table and shares it round. The conversation is very diverse and includes wine, whisky, Indian driving, kitchen design and domestic robots. Shukla shows us a photograph, over 40 years old, of her meeting Prime Minister Nehru.

Under Pressure

Wednesday : Our hotel continues to deliver. The double glazing works and there is very little noise. Now and again there is the bonus of a Metro train rumbling by underneath. After a good nights sleep we are ready once more for the fray. We opt out of breakfast at the attached Amici Cafe and get a couple of muffins to go. We walk back down to Lajpat Nagar, finding a shorter rouite this time. We have a very specific list. Extra leggings for R's new SK, some mehendi decoration for one of R's hands and a pressure cooker.

Only one or two places are open at 10 a.m. but more open as we watch. The leggings, with a perfect colour match, are quickly sorted and the mehendi follows quite soon afterwards. By the time this is done the kitchenware shops are starting to open and we close in on our quarry.  "Prestige madam. Has very good name in India" Not just India. D's mother's old pressure cooker is used as a soup pot and that must be at least 30 years old. We settle on a 2 litre, rounded shape model. It is going to be used primarily for cooking dal. The best part was when the man told us the price then said "15% discount".

Although it is not that hot today some local residents were getting in a bit of sunbathing. Most of the cars on this street seemed to have a dog shaped hollow in the roof.

We stache our loot back at the hotel. Packing it is tomorrow's problem. Next on the agenda is lunch with a friend from India Mike and our travels last year. This involves a trip on the Metro out to Gurgaon, a rapidly growing satellite city to the south west of Delhi proper. The hotel has a FREE hourly shuttle bus to various useful locations including a station on the direct line to Gurgaon, which saves us money and time. These people deserve your business. 

The trip is uneventful and N is waiting for us as we exit the metro. We take a 15 minute stroll in the sunshine to a retail park where there are a couple of brew pubs and opt for the one that we didn't try last year. We shoot the breeze and N orders the beer. No half measures here. We get round to food - hummus and some nice spicy kebabs. The mega beer lasts 3 hours without any slouching on our part. Eventually it is time to go. The train is quite full but we are offered seats which we accept gratefully. The sky is looking quite threatening over to the west but we make it home safely.

After a rest and a shower we try to make up our minds about what to do this evening. The arrival of a thunderstorm makes up our minds for us. We order a pizza from the in house cafe and watch the telly as the rain lashes down.

Well Hello Delhi

Tuesday : Today we move into the final phase of our trip. Four weeks has flown by. The Ashok suddenly seems to be deserted. Breakfast is not a buffet today, thank god, but they still manage to screw up. D's omelette is fine but R 's hard boiled eggs are yesterday's. Out auto arrives promptly and we depart for the station. The sun has already seen off the mist and it is starting to warm up. 

As we enter the station a policeman asks where we are going. We tell him that we are travelling to Delhi by Jan Shatabdi and he directs us to Platform 4. "Which coach?" He tells us to go down to the new footbridge for C2. When we get there we see that it is still under construction and definitely not usable so we have to retrace our steps to the old bridge. Once we get to P4 we find a bench near the bottom of the new bridge. This is handy for a chai stall so we get comfy.There are plenty of announcements but none for train 12059. A check on its progess by text suggests that it is only 3 minutes late but we have heard that before. Suddenly our train is there. We are in totally the wrong place and trot along the platform for as long as we dare, giving in at D11. This gives us 6 coaches to struggle through with our packs until we are in the right one. 

We have to evict a man eating his breakfast from our seats. The Jan Shatabdis are more affordable versions of the luxury,  high speed Shatabdis,  but without Executive Class coaches or food inclusive fares. The 2S (D) coaches are quite modern but lack AC, having opening windows instead. We are in AC Chair Class again.  The coach is in much better condition than other CCs we have seen and the train bowls along nicely. Until we get to the outskirts of Greater Delhi, then we crawl in and arrive twenty minutes late. 

There are a couple of really persistent taxi touts who keep blocking D's progress down the stairs off the footbridge. These are the sort of people who get Delhi a bad name. They get told to go and procreate and D makes a beeline for the prepaid auto stand. We get our ticket for 55 rupees which seems ludicrously cheap. We then have a problem finding an auto driver who knows where the hotel is. One older chap knows it but says that the price paid is wrong - it should be another 50 rupees. This fits with D's original estimate so we agree the extra and jump on. It takes about 15 minutes to deliver us to Bloomrooms in Jangpura so worth the extra 50.

Bloomrooms is bright and airy with lots of yellow paint. Check in is quick and efficient with much less form filling than most places. We have a room on the second floor, along the corridor from the coffee point. The room is not huge but it is well designed and spotlessly clean. The Wifi works well and is free. There is another one of these hotels near NDLS railway station in central Delhi. We definitely recommend it.

After unpacking and sorting ourselves out we head for the Metro and take a one stop ride to Lajpat Nagar. We discovered the market here last year and it is a favourite as they keep traffic, even bikes, out and there is very little hassle from vendors. R gets herself a top and we swither over a pressure cooker. You can get small ones here, ideal for cooking dal, and the prices are good.

Tonight we decide to tackle Moti Mahal, one of Delhi's famous restaurants.  It is a temperance spot so we factor in a stop off for a beer in the Broadway Hotel's quaintly named Thugs Bar. We travel into the city by metro which seems much busier than even last year. Any time soon the Bardapur line, which passes through Jangpura, will be extended almost into Old Delhi but for now we have to change. We get off at NDLS. One side of this station is backpacker haunt Paharganj, full of touts and cheap hotels. 

The other side is Ajmeri Gate - full on manic India, a chaotic sea of food stalls, traffic and noise. By now it is dark. We have difficulty finding an auto walla who can understand where we want to go but eventually a chap driving some kind of electric golf buggy says he does. He does a U turn into oncoming traffic on a dual carriageway with a massive concrete divider. To save the battery he does not put his lights on. He has to stop to ask directions a couple of times but we get there and let our nerves settle over a chilled Kingfisher.

A five minute walk takes us to Moti Mahal. To our surprise it is empty, maybe something to do with tonight being the night when there is no 'qawwali' music performance. The house specialities are butter chicken and makhani dal so that's what we go for with peas pulao and roti added. It was brilliant!  Equally enjoyable was a stroll through some of the lanes of Old Delhi. Commerce is still thriving at 9 p.m. and various tradesmen are still busy in their workshops. We manage not to get lost (just) and emerge at the Delhi Gate. From here we take an auto to the Metro and a train home. By the time we got home we were exhausted and slept like logs.

Sorry about the photo problem. It seems to be afflicting all Blogger posts at the moment.

Strictly for the birds Pt 2

Monday : If you have no interest in birds don't bother with this post as it contains little else. We rise at 6.30, have a couple of biscuits and a shared banana before meeting Sattu in the lobby. We are going on a pre breakfast owl hunt. It is very misty and cool enough for exhaled breath to be visible but the sun is starting to show as a glowing disc. The first couple of sightings are different varieties of shrike complete with bandit eyemasks. They won't stay put for photos.

The first big spot of the morning is pigeons,  but not just any old pigeon.  These are Yellow Footed Green Pigeons. Next we get a Spotted Owl, one of the small, rather common ones. Birds seem to be a bit thin on the ground (and in the trees) although we do see a splendidly coloured peacock up in the treetops.

 Sattu decides it is time to go back to the hotel for breakfast but on the way we try one more place. Bingo. A Brown Hawk Owl. It was difficult to get a clear sighting and D's camera almost falls into a murky pond in the process but we get it. Sattu has not seen one of these in this park before.

The breakfast buffet is no more inspiring than last night's dinner. Have we been spoiled in places that we have stayed in before or just booked badly this year? We get by on hard boiled eggs and toast, washed down with black tea. Soon we are out again, now in clear sunshine, and heading down into the wetland area. It is much less busy and therefore quieter than yesterday.

The sightings pile in thick and fast, including a good few that we did not see yesterday. The most notable included a Dalmatian Pelican, a Marsh Harrier, a Night Heron and a Crested Serpent Eagle complete with quiff. The noise levels around start to up as the school parties arrive. Most of these are more interested in the telescope and R's binos than in what they are being used to view. Sattu leads us off down a side track where we have things to ourselves. There is a colony of storks and some of the birds are still feeding young in the nest. There are other young ones around that are starting to venture away from the nest.

At our guide's suggestion we have ordered packed lunches and these are delivered to us by motorbike at a small rest area, complete with chai stall, at one corner of the reserve. There is a list of memorable events here including a note that our neighbour, Lord Linlithgow, shot over 4,273 birds here in one day in 1938. What a *~¡*¤★! The packed lunch was huge, including more hardboiled eggs. Will the birds forgive this relatively minor piece of genocide?

Lunch over we are back to work and barely ten paces out of the rest area when Sattu spots another owl. This one is a Collared Scops Owl and is very well hidden among the branches. We continue along some of the quieter side tracks and soon spot a family of Dusky Eagle Owls perched on a distant branch - pa, the wean and ma. We also get our first sighting of a Common Kingfisher, much smaller than the other varieties.

Ann McI Alert. Stop here

Sattu is very keen to show us a python or two. We saw one quite small one in the grass at the side of the road earlier but he tells us we are near a good place. In a sunny clearing in the bushes there is a whole pile of pythons, at least eight of varying sizes. The one at the bottom of the heap is huge. Pythons can move remarkably quickly when they decide to head for cover. So can R.

We keep moving and get a nice view of a pair of spotted deer, the male sporting splendid antlers. We are on the lookout for the orange headed ground thrush. Instead we get a close up view of an Oriental Honey Buzzard, a big ugly brute, and a Grey Headed Canary Flycatcher, a very pretty small bird. By now it is 4.30 and our feet are beginning to tire. It has been a really brilliant day and we thank Sattu over a cup of tea. We keep his number in case we return.

Neither of us fancy the buffet again so we enquire at reception and are told we can order from the card if we wish. This sounds OK so when supper time comes we order pakoras and Aloo chaat. A quarter of the price and even delivered to our room despite the notices saying 'No Room Service' . Just the job, taken in conjunction with our remaining bottle of beer. Have we just stumbled on one of the great untold secrets of succesful Indian travel?

Before and after this en suite feast D makes use of the free wifi to arrange a social programme for the next few days. Watch out Delhi. Here we come.