Wednesday 12th – Saturday 15th February 2025

The journey to the airport was a dream.  It was a public holiday in Sri Lanka due to it being a Full Moon! This meant the drive was much quicker than anticipated. We even had time to stop and take a pic of the Lotus Tower. 

Check in was also pretty straightforward, a slight wobble when she asked to see my Indian visa, which I had not printed. I managed to log on to the wifi and show her an email. Unfortunately I was unable to check in online, for some reason the site would not except my phone number, either my uk or my Sri Lankan one, this meant that the only seats left were window or middle 🙁 luckily it’s only a 3 hour flight. 

Colombo airport isn’t the best equipped, I debated paying for a lounge, but it was packed and I didn’t feel it was worth the money, so I mooched about, had a cup of tea, mooched some more, read my book, more mooching and then it was time to board! 😁

There was a huge group of Sri Lankans all dressed in white with matching travel bags, mixed ages and ex, all on my flight. I was intrigued to know where they were going, who they were etc. I ended up sitting next to 2 of the women, they are all on a 15 day pilgrimage to India ending in Bhopal. They were lovely and wanted me in all their photos! 🥰 

Even though it’s only a 3 hour flight, Sri Lankan airlines give you a meal and drinks! Result. I opted for water and vegetable curry. 

The majority of the flight is over India and I would have loved to know the route (I might google it) just to understand where we were flying over. The geography changed quite a bit. 

We landed at 17.15 in Delhi, it didn’t look like the pollution was too bad, it has been dreadful in the preceding months. So that’s a positive. 

Immigration was pretty easy, the biometric machines didn’t seem to work, so I just went to immigration, queued up in the very short Business Class Passenger line! 😀 The chap was very helpful and I was through in no time. 

I then stopped to get an Indian SIM card from the kiosk. Sad to say the young man that served me was a total knob, rude, belligerent, stroppy. In the end I asked him if he’d had a bad day, to which he nodded, so I said well that’s not my fault, so stop being so rude! He then handed me over to someone else! Arsehole. 

My taxi driver, seemed very pleasant. Although at one point he stopped, said something then ran off! I was a tad confused and a little concerned! He did return, it transpired he didn’t have the car keys! 🤦‍♀️😳

The drive to the hotel was interesting, huge volume of traffic, being early evening. Lots of cars & Tuk Tuks, lots of beeping but not anywhere near as bad as I’d anticipated. I think this is due to being in the less densely populated area of New Delhi. 

My hotel is in an area called ‘Defence Colony’ which I think just means a residential area. 

My room is nice, I was a little surprised to find the bed had 2 quilts and 2 blankets on! Seems a lot! It’s Delhi not Nepal! 

However when I went up to the rooftop for dinner, I realised why! It’s a little chilly 🥶 Breezy and fresh. This is less than ideal for me, as I left my denim jacket in Australia and sent all my warm clothes back to the UK in a Box! Thankfully the hotel provides lush, soft blankets to wrap around yourself. 🥰❤️

I ordered a Beer, Kingfisher, and a vegetable biriyani. I didn’t realise it came with quite so many accompaniments! But it was yummy. 😋 

The hotel seems to be full of older English couples, who all seem very lovely. 

I had a reasonable nights sleep and woke up with a plan to go and buy a jumper/cardigan/wrap and some Rupees and possibly have a look around.

Breakfast was on the rooftop again and again it was a little fresh, but nice. To clarify the rooftop restaurant is open. It’s a lovely space just a tad chilly at the moment. 

I got chatting to a lovely couple of ladies, Hilly & Carrie who are from Devon & London respectively. 

They travel often and extensively and were so interesting, friendly and a pleasure to meet. Carrie even gave me her number and said I would be welcome to come and stay with her in London. How kind and generous. They are now heading to Jaipur, I may well bump into them again somewhere in India. 🤞

My excursion went very well, unfortunately I was unable to find a cardigan, jumper or wrap although I did find a M & S Lingerie shop! 😂 I was hoping they might have a cardigan (and possibly a bag of Percy pigs) but sadly just fancy nickers & bras, which aren’t going to keep me warm. 

After the failed shopping attempt my next stop was India Gate. 

India Gate is a war memorial commemorating Indian Soldiers who died in WW1 and The Third Anglo-Afghan War

It stands in a complex that’s has Gardens, Archives, The National Stadium and the Prime Minister’s Residence. It was a vast area and busy but not mad!

The area around here is very nice, long wide tree lined roads, parks and flowers. It’s where all the embassies and government buildings are. Not really what I was expecting from Delhi. Traffic is a little easier during the day and we battled through to my next stop ‘Qutab Minar’ 

I paid my £5 entrance fee, Indians pay 50p. Then got collared into having a guide for a further £5. I did debate not going for the guide, but as I knew nothing about the site I figured it would be Informative. 

My guide, was very good, he never told me his name, but the history and information he gave me were great. 

Qutab Minar is a Minaret and Victory tower. It was built in the 13th century. The surrounding archeological area has Funerary buildings and the magnificent Alai-Darwaza Gate of  Indo-Muslim design. 

It also has the remains of the first ever Mosque in northern India, Quwwatu’I-Islam, which was built by using the remains of the destroyed Hindu temples. 

All of the faces on the stonework from the Hindu temples have been destroyed, but the mix of Hindu, Jainism and Muslim motifs is really unusual and unique. 

It’s a beautiful site, and I’m really glad I had a guide. From here we made our way back through the traffic to the hotel. 

I figure that’s enough for day 1!!

I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the rooftop, drinking tea and writing this blog! ❤️

I slept pretty well, after a nice meal of rice, Dahl and potato & Cauliflower curry! 

Today I have organised a day tour of New & Old Delhi. The car picked me up, without the guide, strange! Apparently we were meeting him somewhere. He did appear after a short wait at our first stop, Humayun’s Tomb. The Tomb was built between 1565 – 1572. It is a fabulous building and was the design copied for the Taj Mahal. Rikesh my guide was incredibly knowledgeable about it as he is an archeological historian, and has apparently shown many people around the place, including Boris Johnson! (He didn’t like him! 😂) The history is extremely interesting as well as all of the symbolism. I won’t go into it all, but it was fascinating. According to Rikesh it is better than the Taj Mahal. We’ll see!

Next we visited a a very old Step Well, this one was built in the 17th century and was used for drinking water, irrigation and Rikesh also said that many female babies were thrown into it, as girls were not wanted, only boys. How bloody awful. 

Next was a visit to the largest Sikh Temple in Delhi, Gurdwara Bangala Sahib Temple. This Temple I really loved, not only was it beautiful and quite peaceful. The temple also provides Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner to thousands of people from every religion, race or caste, for free every single day! They do this with the help of donations & volunteers. They also provide medical help, free or at a greatly reduced price. 

The kitchens were enormous, using huge industrial machines, and volunteers making thousands of parathas, Dahl and curries! It was incredible. Surely this is what religious places should all be doing! 

From here we visited a large Hindu Temple, Shri Laxmi Narayan Temple. Another beautiful building, not quite as old, it was completed in 1939. And Mahatma Gandhi ensured all Castes could enter the temple. 

Next we headed towards the Red Fort. The fort was built in the 17th century and was the residence of the Mughal Emperor’s. Emperor Shah Japan commissioned it after moving the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi. 

The fort fell into decline after the end of the Mughal empire and the interior was destroyed by the British in 1857 after the Indian Rebellion. It is now a world heritage site. 

We didn’t go inside, just admired the building from outside. 

From here we walked to Chandni Chowk the famous, bustling (understatement 😳) market area in Old Delhi. It was insane, so busy, noisy and full on, I Loved it!! 😂😍 It is crazy and amazing. 

So much going on. The sights, sounds and smells are wild. 

We made our way to the spice market, I had been warned about how intense it was, dusty and so much spice in the air it makes everyone cough. Most of the sellers are wholesalers, with a few selling retail. There are people hustling everywhere, carrying huge sacks of spices, pushing carts, tending their stalls, shouting, coughing, spitting, It’s noisy,   Chaotic and mad! 😍😍

We walked through the streets for a bit, where I managed to get myself a wooly wrap for £3! 

Then moved into some smaller lanes, that sold all manner of colourful items, mainly decorations, materials and other items for weddings and celebrations. It was again mad busy and so vibrant. 

This has been my favourite part of my stay so far. 

After the madness of Chandni Chowk we visited the largest Mosque in Delhi, Jama Masjid. This Mosque was also built by the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan in the 17th Century. It was beautiful. It used the same marble as the Taj Mahal. 

We then walked back to the Red Fort, my feet were starting to ache a little now, I’d done around 15,000 steps by then and a lot of stairs! 

We got a Rickshaw the last bit by the Red Fort to the car park, and managed to squeeze myself, Rikesh and 3 other men into quite a small space!! 😳😁 The guys ended up asking to take photos of us all together, respectfully. So I agreed.

The next place Rikesh took me was supposed to be a ‘shop’ which technically it was, as it was selling items, unfortunately it was a private place and I was the only customer! No pressure then! 😬🙁 I really hate this sort of thing, and was a little miffed. The place was lovely and sold beautiful things. Lots of gorgeous handmade Rugs, Cashmere pashminas, lacquered items and jewellery. 

They bought me out some tea and bourbon biscuits, then proceeded to start unwrapping numerous gorgeous pashminas in a variety of colours. I was getting more and more uncomfortable, so I told the gentleman that whilst they all looked gorgeous, and I’m sure they are of the highest quality I would not be buying anything. He said but you don’t know the price, so I asked the price, he told me the prices of the ones he had out, they ranged from £40 – £80 I said in that case I most definitely wouldn’t be buying anything. He offered to negotiate and I remained firm and said, No, I didn’t want or need anything. He tried again, I continued to say No and eventually he realised I wasn’t going to change my mind (unlike several of the people I spoke to later at the hotel, had! 🤦‍♀️) And he relented. He was always polite and never rude or particularly pushy, but it’s uncomfortable and awkward. 

We left, I’m not sure how happy Rikesh was about my lack of purchases, but that’s not my problem. 

Our last stop was the Lotus Temple. There was a huge queue to get in so as myself nor Rikesh were that bothered I just took a picture over the fence and left! 

It was a long, enjoyable day. But time to have a cup of tea and a sit down! I did 16500 steps! 

I chatted to another guest whom I talked to yesterday morning. I don’t know her name but she was a beautiful, glamorous lady from Liverpool, who was also incredibly friendly and kind, and who had the most fabulous Tiffany Sunnies! 😎🩵

Her and her husband have had a great time in India but were off to the airport.  

After they left I had a bit of a rest, wrote more blog then grabbed dinner. More Rice, Dahl and veg curry. Yum. 

So that’s it for my first few days in India. All very good so far.

Things to note:

There are huge numbers of Eagles everywhere! 🦅 ❤️

There are also lots of large groups of men at the attractions I’ve been to, there are some family groups, but it’s predominantly males. 

New Delhi is very different to Old Delhi. 

Everyone has been very kind and helpful so far. 

I’m leaving my hotel today and heading into Old Delhi to my tour hotel. The Tour officially starts tomorrow.  This is going to be a new experience for me, doing an organised trip. I think I’m looking forward to having everything planned for me! I’m also looking forward to meeting my fellow traveler’s. 

I’ll let you know how it goes!! 😁

Have a great weekend everyone.

💚🧡🇮🇳🧡💚

Books Read.

I’ve not finished one yet!