India Pakistan Border. The novelty factor continues.

This morning decided to get out and about a bit earlier, before the oven, that is Amritsar, in the middle of summer, kicks in.   

We were approached immediately by the tuk-tuk driver from yesterday, who wanted to charge twice the going rate for a ride to Ghandi (Pronounced gaaaandi)Gate, as we were negotiating a cyclo rider offered the same distance for half the going rate.  Of course, we exploited the poor man and the two fat westerners were being cycled around by on old man on a bicycle.

The exploited worker class

What was really disappointing was the expectation that the westerners were expected to get off and walk when travelling up the steep railway bridge incline.   Sixty six percent of the load got off and pushed.  The remaining 34%, like a queen, that she of course is, remained on the carriage.

She's loving it.

The final outcome, was Natahlie swearing she would nevertheless ride on one of those again, and we gave the cyclo driver twice what he asked for.  Salve for a guilty mind?

We walked through the Old city, back towards the Golden Palace, but diverging into Jallianwala Bagh or memorial park Which is where, in 1919 a British officer ordered his soldiers to shoot on unarmed protesters. Four hundred men, women and children died and 1100 more were injured this day.  Some of the bullet holes are still visible in the walls, as is the well into which hundreds jumped into to avoid the bullets, and died there instead.

It  was one of the main focus of Nehru's and Ghandi's push for independence of India, not to come for another forty years.  One of the men, Singh,  who was a water server for the crowd, having seen the carnage, waited twenty years, to assisinate the governor of the Punjab,  Sir Michael O'Dwyer Minister for India, in London in the '40s.

We are beginning to know what it must be like to be Nicole Kidman or Graeme Connors (go look him up)' as whilst we were at this park, at least twenty times we, more particularly the blonde one,was asked to be in family pics.

The short one is not Andrew.

Anyway the pressure was taken from us by the appearance of two Buddhist monks, so we could slip away, just kicking ourselves that we did not get our photos taken with them.

The mandatory Andrew and local Plod photo ....they love the Freddy...the officer's name was Singh.  ABC has the Golden Temple head scarf on.

At the Pakistan border.  Well the bus stop anyway.

Siesta time, and then we were collected by our driver a full hour earlier than expected. So we arrived quite early, but were quickly touted to a shaded area near a food stand by John and his older brother Don (not their real names, but the ones they gave us), where onion Baji was the fare..and lots of water.

It was very hot...so the respite was appreciated.  Then the first set of gates opened, foreigners and VIPs one side, and the seething ( but happily so) Indian ( Asian not American) masses the right side.

Then it was to the security checkpoint,  where we were made to stand in the very very hot sun, for a running of the bulls type process to get past the local VIPs.  You see, the VIPs had written passes for the whole family, but with women on one side men on the other the delay was matching the paperwork with the people of various genders.  It started to get a bit 'heated' if that was possible.   The richer class in India seem to have a far greater sense of entitlement and disdain for obstacles than we would see in our world.   

Seeing a semi distressed white fellow, waving a passport to prove I was a foreigner, and because the border guard was fed up with the uppity family in front of us,  waved me through to the pat down.  

No bags, guns, knives or explosives were permitted.

On the Indian side of the border there are huge grandstands on each side of the road, VIPs closest to the gate, foreigners next,  then the common folk.   

Nathalie is the one on the right- 

The crowd control was suburb.  As you can see above, as an example, all the border guards are of large frame, definite presence, and quite intimidating.  Their dress is immaculate and there is no denying their physique, indicated when the ceremony began.   When they ask you to do something, you do it....immediately.  

Not real good at estimating crowds, but probably half a grand final crowd of locals and maybe 200 foreigners, of which, there would have been 20-30 melting Caucasians.  Directed to sit on a very hot concrete step, the water vendors did a roaring trade, at double the normal price, but we weren't about to dicker.   Two and a half litres of fluid later the ceremony started.

In essence it is a theatrical production of 'thumbing your nose' at the Pakistan side of the border.  Other than the size of the crowd, it's run basically the same on the Pakistan side.  It reminds me of the Maori Hakka, where visual and bodily intimidation is used.

There was a competition of patriotic music from each side, chosen Indians get a chance to run holding an Indian flag to the gate.  Then there was mass dancing of the women to patriotic music.   The crowd being wound up, by the MC.

Then the soldiers, two by two march to the gate, in a goose stepping manner, but very fast and every so often the leg touches the forehead.   Check out the YouTube videos....that's what it's like  amazing, colourful.   The flag was lowered, the gate closed, and the soldiers marched back.

Probably a quarter of the crowd

It has got to hurt...which is probably why we saw then limbering up before hand

Nathalie seemed to like this view?..

Flag lowering...

If I can work out a way of loading videos on to Blogger, we have some awesome ones to add.

The locals photographing, the foreigners photographing the locals

The driver we had today, was an anomaly, he was surly, made no attempt at communication, didn't want to be there,was unhelpful and subject to further enquiries, he may have rorted us by getting us there two hours too early.  Sixty kph on the way there, 80 on the way back??

Back to the Shiraz Continental, for the third shower of the day, out for tea ther other side of Queens road, crossing which is truly frightening, and took at least three minutes to find a 'gap'.  It's not like other places where the drivers will try to miss you...it is scary..so far so good.

Back to hotel for fourth shower, and bedie byes.

Amritsar- in North India near Pakistan border.

We Sikh them here, we Sikh them there, don't need to do much seeking in Amritsar.

Nathalie said that I would never admit it, but here 'tis, I got a good dose of Delhi belly.  It takes the gloss off ones' journey if the focus is where is the next available convenience.  The wind whistling up ones' wahoo as one squats at the train toilet is fun.... At least you can't SEE directly onto the rails as was the case in Sri Lanka.   As I write this I think things have settled down, but I think it will be bland food for the next few days.

Amritsar  and more particularly the Golden Temple, is the holiest place in the world for the Sikh community....so it's lots of turbaned and bearded, regal looking Sikhs, and the colour of choice for some reason is safety orange.

Risked a trip on a local tuk-tuk for an hour and the driver didn't quite understand that we just wanted to orient ourselves,and have a look....the highlight was a stop at Mindar Mata lal Devi Levi or  National Mother temple....it was build by a female devotee, and the crowd was huge....not uncommon in India....it was different......best summed up as a "Disneyesque" journey through about 400 metres of crocked stairs, low ceilings, bells to rings, crawl spaces, water hazards, and each new area has a diorama, or statute of one of the Hindu deities.

  To our way of thinking it was more like a fairground than a place of worship.

There were whole corridors with mirror mosaics,..and not a single earring to "mind your head".  This place is an absolute 'must do' when in Amtitsar.  So when you next visit, put it on your list.

The Golden Temple.  There are no cars/ taxis within about 1/2 a km, so out of the car and began our walk....there were of course the cyclo drivers who wanted to take the lazy westerners to the temple, but we walked...assailed by a tout giving away (for a gratuity) head scarves, who told me I could not wear my hat...the temerity of the temple telling me I could not wear 'the hat'.  Anyway ten rupees later we were set...lovely safety orange head scarf, and it was on... 

From the outside it looks much like an enormous marble railway station, 

 Just to prove we were there

Once inside, the enormity of the crowd became more apparent, a rough estimate would be 193, 432 (give or take 50 thou).   There is a sacred pool about the size of the MCG and in the middle is the Golden temple, with real gold, about  750 kgs of it.  Seeing the tens of thousands of people waiting to enter the GT, we decided discretion was the better part of valour, and the BSC was heading towards 7.5 and we did a lap if the pool instead.  There were thousands of men wearing their ceremonial Kirpan (a dagger, one of the 5 Ks of Sikhism ) and many with fully fledged, clearly old and traditional swords.

This man was peparing to do a sacred dance, using the big sword.

There were some pretty ordinary sights too, because of the sacred nature of the waters, many of the men stripped down to tunic 'undies' to immerse themselves in the healing waters.  The women had bathing boxes.   

The Temple provides food,water and a milk drink to al pilgrims, and the pilgrims can also sleep within the grounds of the Temple if they have no hotel.  It is a wonderful example of volunteerism, and I am sure if I was not on BSC 8 by this stage, we may have eaten there too.

Being the only obviously white people we saw whilst we were at the temple, at least ten families asked if they could have their photos taken with us.  They were delightfully polite, and really loved the uniqueness of the site folk.  When an American Indian(an Indian who has gone to live in America, not a Native American! ) watched three families have their photo taken with us, he suggested we could make a fortune...not quite in the spirit of the place though. Nathalie was more popular...must be a blonde thing.  

Where's  'Wally' and who's wearing Andrew's scarf...eh? 

If it is possible to be so, the traffic at the point of exclusion zone around the Temple, was more bezerk than other places we have seen.   The traffic police, backed up by the state police kept moving the traffic on by blowing their whistles, yelling and belting the backs of cars with long sticks they carry.
Now that's and idea I could float back in Melbourne.

We have mentioned the BSC a few times bore well it stands for the Bristol Stool Scale attached note it only goes up to seven.

Cut short the proposed further touristy things for a return to the Hotel, to enable abc to do a bit of recovering.

Finally caught up with Avi, who is Suyras friend in Amritsar.  He has organised an awful lot for us here and he took us out, first for a look at a shopping centre that was like Chadstone on speed and steroids, and then out for a dinner...which NJC reports and being delightful.  ABC still being cautious.

Avi is doing his MBA with hopes of completing his studies in Australia.

His only fear is the image that Indians have of Australia as a racist nation picking on Indian students...the media has a lot to answer for.

It's not all beer and skittles.....it's more like coke and avoiding being skittled .

Unfortunately Ashish was unable to get away from his studio, to see us today, but after a breakfast of local food, we engaged a tuk-tuk and driver Amin to take us around for about 2 hors for about $4.00.

The first stop was India gate, which is sort of like our National Shrine of  Rememberence, with extended green lines of sight for kilometers, up and down.  Alas we were there when they were expecting a visit from a state minister, so there were lots of police, Military Police, security, and ceremonial soldiers, guarding the space.  To say security was tight, is a bit of an exaggeration...an old lady with a bin and a boy on a bicycle breach the cordon just while we were there.  ABC was tut-tutting this poor display of security area discipline.

Just to prove we were there him before elephant print shirt

The bicycle inside the cordon. You can see the active 'concern'

We couldn't hang around for the arrival of the minister, so we trundled off to..........,.'a good India shop ' that Amin knows where there is ...well we went there, just so Amin would get his delivery fee.

The  Handicrafts Bazar Emporium Store was in fact an Aladin's cave of all things India...pashmina, silk, dress shoes with pointy, turny-up toes and sparkles, kutas ( like a long sleeved Punjabi jacket) and Ali babar trousers.  With elephants on them,,,,our resolve not to buy anything out the window, so $20.00 later, guess who had an elephant print Pyjamas (in the Hindi sense of the word).  But we do know what we can get for all the souvineers, youse guys are to going to get.....

Wandered back to the area  around the hotel, to kill time before the train.... School had just got out.....maybe Some of our high schools can take a leaf out of the transport infrastructure of one of the local high school in Delhi. Maybe yours Marie?   Motor cycle driven.

Hey, you forgot the padlock....you probably can't see the man with the shot-gun riding...well shot-gun

Then there was the high capacity cyclo, which carried nine....count them nine young souls and one cyclist.

Off to the train station, another experience,  Flinders Street railway station wintery Friday evening  peak hour...not a spot on it....it would be  35 degrees cooler, eitghty percent less humidity, and about a million less people.   Love it..........

Fortunately Surya had booked, subject to internet confirmation, two First Class, air conditioned, chair car seats.....which we discovered an hour before we left the hotel, hadn't been confirmed, we'll that's what the concierge said....I'm not convinced as I feel Ashish did it for us yesterday.

This carriage has lay back seats...it would be nice if the one Andrew and Nathalie had could be returned to an upright position.....  Bit of a fanarkle with the seats, we accidentally sat in the wrong seats, but that wasn't the problem....two other contenders for various seat configurations, both told us, very politely, that they would sort it out....which they did....one of the parties moved to some spare seats in another carriage.....seat allocation seems a but rubbery.  

Having read 'Around Ther Equator' (also available free in speaking book form from Librivox)  written by Samuel Clements (without doubt Andrews favourite author...after himself of course..) describing his journey around the world, from about 1890-92. His descriptions of the railway then is reminiscent of our journey today...rubbery seat booking, chaos, right down to the Sikh dominated conductor / inspector class....resplendent in their spotless short sleeved suits,manicured beard and especially moustache and they all wear light blue turbans.   Nothing much has changed since Mark Twain's time eh?

After elephant print shirt.

P.S.O's on trains be jiggered...these ones have machine guns....does it make one feel safe or.......

We arrived at Amritsar, to our reckoning, two or s hours late, and our instructions were to meet dere at the 'Golden Temple Modal' entrance.   As we alighted we asked a number of fellow travellers where this entrance was, no one knew...took the wrong exit and was assailed by dozens of touts, someone hopefully pointed us in another direction and we found Dere standing in front of a lovely big model of the Golden Temple.   ....to the hotel by private car, then more paperwork at the hotel....we're in. It is a lovely quaint place.....just down the road from the Queensland Hotel.  

Been a big day so good night.

Below is a test to see if Patrick is actually reading this blog....this is a picture of ..?...reply by email

James' and Phil's turn will come

Day two in Delhi Friday 5th July.

Friday 4th July.

"Sorry I am late" says Sanjay, when he collected us a few minutes late about 0700  hrs this morning, he goes on" the traffic was bad" or words to that effect..........well ! the traffic.....

Sorry I am a bit late.

At least they drive on the correct side of the road...I think.

The traffic in Delhi...we'll the traffic in Delhi....it's .......it's.,,,,,we'll it's like....nothing really.  Has to be experienced to be believed.  I'd have to do some research, but I'd imagine that other than pedestrians the road toll wouldn't be too high...they don't travell fast enough.  Tangent alert........(Ruikar M. National statistics of road traffic accidents in India. J Orthop Traumatol Rehabil [serial online] 2013 [cited 2014 Jul 4];6:1-6. Available from: http://www.jotr.in/text.asp?2013/6/1/1/118718).  The stats say that in 2012 there were only 1.21 million road deaths in India.   Twenty three percent of the deaths are motor cyclists. This is about 43 per lakh of population compared to Australian rate of 5.6 per lakh. The state of Delhi is not listed in the top five...

A traffic Jam..ox cart actually

Now how does one explain the traffic here...noisy, chaotic, smoggy, terrifying....nah, just adjectives that pale into nothingness when trying the describe the visual and material cacophony that is Delhi traffic...can't do 

 Average speed 35-40 kph.  That's a terrifying speed. There was actually one or two ten second periods during the day that we felt that imminent collision was not going to occur.  Traffic lanes- why use the two lane markers when,  by ignoring them you can get five lanes of traffic, albeit a merging mess. Indicators..yep they're those annoying lights that flash on and off when you accidentally knock that lever to the right of the steering wheel.  Roads are for cars...NOT.!!!  Here there are buses, cars, trucks, tuk-tuks, cows, bicycles, motorcycles, ox carts, donkey(with riders), electric tuk-tuks, three wheeler trucks, every one of them has a horn.....except for the pedestrians.  A quick very unscientific survey of 20 cars revealed that 22 of then has some form of minor panel damage.

And the horns, oh the humanity....The use of horns is not, as is at home, a sign of 'I'm annoyed" or "you're doing something really dangerous".  It's just another part to the car that is used constantly...more than Vietnam, more than Sri Lanka, To use the ten second measure, just then...21.42hrs Friday night ten seconds passed with no horns heard from the Cafe in the Grand Goodwin Hotel.

Notwithstanding the above paragraphs, the skill of the drivers here is beyond anything I've seen elsewhere.  It must be remembered, though that they do only travel at relatively lower speeds, and the drivers in Melbourne could learn a thing or two about patience, and slow speed driving skills.

Once again we did yoga at Yoga Stars (tm) and ended up on Ashish Singh's Facebook page.  ...go on have a look and see of you can pick us out of the crowd. Quite different to the style we are used to...but I reckon we kept up pretty well.

We had a change of drivers- today it was Kosil, the brother of Sanjay.  Kosil was just a friend driving us around because it is illegal for non taxi drivers to take passengers.  So that was fine with us.   

First stop was a place called Qutab Complex which is about a thousand years old, but has a really huge ...even by today's standards, tower or minar as the main feature.  It was the highlight of the 600 odd years of Muslim rule of India. The tower is mire than 70 m high, of carved, mainly red, sandstone.    A main feature of Islamic sculpture and carving is that it does not feature or display any human or animal form, so this has very ornate scroll work.  

The tower was progressively completed over about 800 years of this time. 

It looks like it is leaning.... But no, just Nathalie is crocked.

Bit hard to show the scale...but it's big...and is that a UFO nah..just a plane.

 

Actually saw some blue sky, and it was hot...even by Melbourne summer standards, with a fair whack of humidity too..so lots of water, sunglasses and a daggy ( broad brimmed suspiciously like an ex police broad brimmed) hat.

Even in the short time we have been here,there have been a number of comments about "the hat".  Thinking the first three or so were people being facetious, just let it go, but it seems that I could have a business venture going here....export all the ex broad brimmed hats to India.....tip one - I is don't let them get wet....the dye turns your head,face and clothing purple. Tip two- the sticky outie brim needs to be softened, otherwise you look like a roofing nail.  Whoa.....I think that was a tangent.....well spotted...

The hat 

Did we mention it is hot here.   Next stop was a Hindu temple, Chhatarpur Temple, dedicated to one of the 20, 000 or so Hindu deities.  It idolises its founder Baba Sant Nagpal ji, whose image is one about every surface other than where the deities are.  It is said to be the second biggest temple in the world, the biggest one we visited yesterday.  Lots of walking....much of it in bare feet.  One of the striking features, to us, anyway was the amazing mosaic floor of  one of the temples 

Visually spectacular tiled floor of the Chhatarpur Temple...quite toasty on the bare feet too

Haven't quite worked it out, but today we were asked on three seperate occasions to be in the photo of complete strangers....we don't mind, and they are pretty happy with the result.

Bit fuzzy but you get the gist...don't know who two of the people in this photo are ...that blonde lady just keeps appearing.

 

Lunch was a bit of an adventure, and a language gap.  Via third hand translations we told Kosil that we hadn't eaten yet and would like some lunch.  It appears that he was told we needed a fancy place, serving western food, and piano music.....we followed, up three flights of stairs, and as we waled in, it was like the old westerns, where the music stops, chatter stops, and everyone turns around and looks at you......we stuck to our guns and u turned, and through a phone conversation convinced Kosil that 'street food' was what we wanted....so rather than a steak, wine and music, we had some sort of street food, water, and honking horns on a park bench...all for 120 r.   

That's better...real food....

Then we visited a place called Haus Kaus which had a deer park, and a lake and it was hot and the monsoon was again threatening...so made short work of it.

It had been a busy few days, so we went back to the hotel, showered and recharged our batteries, after we got the air conditioner in the room fixed, then out locally for some mango shakes, 

Gotta love the sexy legs..

and then Indian food for dinner..pretty surprising really

Another big day to bed....phones working now...but as we tried to make our first call, we were dieted to a government call centre to confirm my, my father's name, address and that we were the ones applying for the phone card.  Nathalie had to do the same...but she had to tell them her husband's name....bit paranoid eh?

Off to Amritsar tomorrow .

It's a place you have to see to believe.....and Yoga too

As we are still pretty much in Melbourne time, we were up quite early and popped down to the dining room,me spying 'the locals' chow ing down on their curries and idily etc....told to sit down, and we conceded to have whatever the waiter was to bring. Thinking it was what "they" were having....RIPPED OFF....that all we can say, who travels 6000 ks, to the middle of Delhi to have mushy corn flakes with warm milk, two pieces of toast and jam.....not us....what doesn't kill one makes one wiser/stronger.

Anyway, that drama over we went for a wander around the local streets, Andrew getting his traditional international hair cut.....for about $1.50, and then the most amazing head massage, and a part too.

Spacious two seat salon.

This is in the vicinity of the railway station where other than traffic and pedestrian chaos, the "norms' of western society are not always met, like the 2 y/o naked boy pooing on the roadway...well at least in the gutter, and what I think are quite unique..open air urinals , which, of course are not common in North Dandenong.

At least they have their backs to the street. Hope it wasn't too obvious as a selfie.

Just try telling this dog that he's not a cat....

Not as many as in thought their ( that's for you Kerrin) would be, but there are quite a few beggars, and nearly every one of them has a small child ( thankfully )apparently well nourished as a prop.  Saying no is a hard gig, but well supported by all the travel guides, and locals...but...but...somewhat vindicated by the abuse that one of the beggars gave when we refused.

The day from there....

Ashish, the friend of our yoga instructor Surya  arrived at about 11:30 AM with a car and a driver to collect us for a day in Delhi, and a delightful day it was.

The first stop was at a place called the Red Fort which is very very old, initially built, by an early ruler in the area about 500 years ago, and then in 1857 the British took it over.  It's very red...and it is the very size, especially of the open space within, in such a crowded city, that is a paradox in Delhi.

Ashish, Sanjay, and the foreigner at the Red Fort.

Then off to the zoo.

Every zoo in the world, no doubt, has its.strengths and weaknesses.  We spent a few hours there, and must say that the highlight would have been the white tiger and then the curious hippos, whichh we feel was a highlight for Ashish.  They did get rather close. Good curry and fried roti for lunch at the zoo.  Fun.

Akshardham Temple

The next place we visited is apparently controversial.   It is a Hindu temple dedicated in the name of one of their more famous spiritual leaders.    In a country where so many have so little this place is amazing in it's oppulence and ostentatiousness.   But I'm pretty shallow, and I reckon that those that do have the ability, should be permitted to provide a place of worship to all, notwithstanding that it is a "a wedding-cake confection of salmon-coloured sandstone and white marble, drawing elements from traditional Orissan, Gujarati, Mughal and Rajasthani architecture. The interior offers an almost psychedelic journey through Hindu mythology, with 20,000 carved deities, saints and mythical beings.

Surrounding this spiritual showpiece is a series of Disneyesque exhibitions, including a boat ride through 10,000 years of Indian history, animatronics telling stories from the life of Swaminarayan, and musical fountains".( Thank you lonely planet).   The alternative is ..... Is....  

Anyway. Entry is free.  This place puts the security at any airport we have been to shame.  The car is searched  bonnet and boot, mirrors underneath, then the list of things not permitted include all electronic devices, especially cameras, belts, knives , hand bags, marker pens, papers, books, guns, hand bags, food, soft drinks, explosives, animals back packs, and wmd's.  The men and ladies line up seperate, empty pockets into tray, that is closely examined, then we are frisked( and I should have our constables this well trained) metal detected, then we are in.  It is an amazingly ornate and beautiful place, and of course there are corporate photographers there, and therein a canteen and gift shop on the way out.   An experience. 

Mobile phone SIM cards.

Don't...just don't.  This was an unfortunate experience.  I am very lucky that I had a very calm Ashish with me and a detirmined Nathalie with me.  The documentation even wanted to know what my father (or husband in NJCs case) name was, just as a start.   The unhelpful, uppity,  arrogant, petty bureaucrat, that was the shop 'assistant', insisted that our Visa and face page of passport be copied onto the same page...and was not happy that the copies could be cut to fit the 'legal requirements'.  'Breath in, breath out' was the voice in my ear.... literally.  After an hour or so we got out with our SIM that might work within 24 hours...Airtel is the shop, Tech World shopping centre Noida...avoid it like the plague. I am almost positive my warning will be heeded. Btw the number is ....not really sure...

We were then privileged to be a part of Ashish's 'yoga stars' yoga class. 

And as we were early we had the chance to do shivasana (resting like a dead person) for a good half hour....Andrew didn't fall asleep once.   Who needs bikram yoga here, it's like 35 deg, and very steamy anyway, and Andrew who is renowned for being a sweat head, was rather warm. It was great.

Back to the hotel, where we took Sanjay and Ashish out for tea. Word of warning, those green things that look for all intents and purposes like string beans, you know in the  dahl, well it just could be the hottest and most viscous chilli you've ever had....you've been warned.

The whole day probably cost about $100.73, including everything great value, and exciting too.

 

Friday 4th July.

"Sorry I am late" says Sanjay, when he collected us a few minutes late about 0700  hrs this morning, he goes on" the traffic was bad" or words to that effect..........well ! the traffic...... Next post

Delhi - it's a bloody long way( sorry I used the "b" word)

Just to make it abundantly obvious to the grammer and puntuation purests out there, this blog is also a sought ofif diary to remind us what we done so don't expect a 'Ulysses's' every post.

The journey here was quite un eventful.

Air India , as airlines go, is quite rudimentary.  We got fed, we didn't crash and ended up where we were supposed to end up and we did,get three seats between the two of us, in the emergency escape aisle seats (which included the 17 second extra training, relating  to using the emergency door, and making sure it's not that side of the plane that is on fire but the bit we didn't like, was the expectation that we were to be the last ones off after pushing everyone else off.....maybe aisle seats are not for us...) BUT....there's no window to look out of AND because the screens are in the arm rests they don't lift up...so lounging was out...and the dunny procession was never ending......but there was no livestock, nor obnoxious passengers.

Nathalie is incorrigible, and one day will get in trouble for trying to pass other parent's children as her own....

No....I don't think he's yours...put him back.....

Got to catch up on the latest movies though.  NJC saw Juno, Marley and Me, and then another one she can't really remember...ABC got to see 3:10 to Yuma, The Leggo Movie (immediately thinking of Uncle Nicholas)! And then two Hindi/ Bollywood movies....they are amazing.  The first was called Zanjeer and the next The Channai Express.  Zanjeer

was about a policeman who fought corruption, killing and maiming many people, and destroying whole slums, and yet there is still room for singing and group dancing......the Channai Express was also a good v evil lots of extreme violence, yet once again singing and dancing is king.  Must admit however,that the production values and stunt work is superb.

Thwarted a scam attempt.  We had previously booked and paid for an airport transfer and then prepaid the first few night's accommodation.  Customs not a problem, out within 35 mins.   We were met by Mr.Smarmy who walked us...quite some way.. To a nice private taxi....produced our transport voucher....then we made the mistake of giving him the accommodation voucher, ostensively to confirm our accom...wasn't suspicious until he made two phone calls...only to tell us that the voucher had the wrong confirmation number and there was no booking..... Of course he was almost ready to suggest an alternate, alas, we told him he could take us to the booked accom, and that it was nonsense the voucher as no good.

Once at the hotel, the concierge had to admit that he had room, voila we were in, the driver and Mr Snarmy left with no tip and in no doubt we thought they were 'full of it'....and there will be a follow up through our travel agent..  Round 1 to the Caulfield's.

We went for a wander, amazing place, noisy, busy, colourful, and the smells...wonderful.  The sights...middle of Delhi ..cows walking unmolested along the street, and bullock carts doing their thing.

  Had a simple meal of japati and bananas.....more adventerous tomorrow when we haven't been on the go for 20 hours....sleep now..

At the aero port

Once again we have made it to Melbourne Airport, with thanks to James and.....and.....and Marina.  Yes. Marina..... You must ask him about Marina...apparently they are an 'item'.  The next stop for James will be at Bulla, just 10 min down the road to drop Linton at the Customs & Border Protection kennels, where he will stay for the next month....Linton not James. Bit of a bummer though, that we are returning on a Sunday, because the kennels aren't open to collect Linton and the new puppy...called....maybe Elroy.

Linton....not James.

The flight on Air India is on the new Dream liner, and hopefully will not be too full, (as indicated by the check in staff) so we have been given an exit row seat with no one between the two Caulfields.  Seats 30 A and C if it is ever needed.   This was a poor second to being upgraded, but beggars etc......

Yep we look like we need a holiday, especially the blonde one, who has just finished a run  of eight nights.    Totally by choice of course, as this strategy allowed an extra week's break by carrying over rest days. Unfortunately the dark haired bloke always looks that bad.

Thanks to all of youse who have wished us well, and unfortunately we have lost the list of the requested souvineers.....and the difference is??...

Marie is the official notifier of the Caulfield Clan, for posts......well if only to help the recovery process.

More once we get to Delhi.    We are not anticipating a left turn at Broome.

All done....