We arrived in Delhi today, the first day of our 7 month adventure on the sub-continent.
Wow this place is crazy, while Mark went out looking for accommodation, I sat with the bags and watch the teaming masses walk past. Every single cliche possible passed by my little corner of Delhi in the space of 45 minutes. Amazingly beautiful saris, crazy hippies, beggars, cows and some seriously amusing drivers. At one point the police decided to stop traffic moving in one direction (I couldn't really work out why) and the sound of the horns was insane.
While in London I'd basically bullied Mark into getting a water filter (a UV light that kills the DNA of all bugs in the water) to prevent contributing to the plastic bottle landfill of India, and I'm now wondering if I'll regret it. Sure, the waters perfectly safe to drink, but oh my god it tastes terrible. Though if you know Mark, you'd know that he'll make me suffer in my jocks and drink the foul tasting stuff!
We've decided to try going on a vegetarian diet, because you are less likely to get serious stomach problems this way. Still, this didn't stop us indulging in London and Malta (where we saw Bjorn and Chris* for the first time since we got married) to help create a fat belly buffer. However, in all of our travels, to all sorts of strange and wonderful places like jungles in the middle of Laos with no running water and electricity, I've never been so paranoid about eating the food, and think my lack of appetite will do more to get rid of that belly buffer than anything else.
Today we haven't done too much other than marvel (Mark very excitedly, and my more apprehensively) at the madness of the one single street we've seen, and book tickets for our next destination, Jaipur. The ticket booking took about one and half hours, and many calls to various banks before we finally had them organised (I guess we're in India). We leave on Friday morning, and will be making our way around Rajasthan for a month.
Anyway, our body clocks are seriously messed up, it's late and we should go to bed. I know I should probably fill people in on how much of a great time we had in London and Malta. It was great, much time was spent with family and friends, and taking a break for touristing. We managed to sell our second van (the good one) the day before we flew out to Malta, and it looks like we MAY be coming to some sort of resolution with our Insurance agency over the Pig. But I'm not holding my breath!!!!
Internet is cheap so hopefully I'll be able to put up more updates and will do some photo's soon.
Miss you all, if anyone's bored and wants to join us in India, let us know!!!!
*the crazy Inlaws, Hi guys :)
Most places in Rajasthan are vegetarian, but I didn't find it made a difference if you ate meat or not. Just try and stick to busy places, particularly those where the locals eat, and you'll be fine.
ReplyDeleteAs for water bottles, check the seal hasn't been broken and look for resealed holes in the bottom of the bottles. If in doubt, get a soda. If you drink it at the shop, you pay less for it as you give the bottle back and you are not adding to the plastic mountain!
You'll find there are government licenced ganga shops in Rajasthan. Make sure you try the cookies!!! ; D Also, make sure if you have a bang lassi that there is no ice in it! I'm convinced that's where I got dysentry from!
If you want any advice on India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam or Cambodia, give me a shout! I spent 6 months in India alone, so hopefully I'll be able to give you some advice!
I'm so jelous! I really loved India.
xxx