The Mannat Gurgaon

... again and we feel we are seeing a completely different place and culture to the ones we’ve seen, really for the first time since Ecuador. People normally have very polar opinions about India, they either love it or hate it, first impressions so far are good and we hope to be in the first group as opposed to the latter.

Here are the photos.

Next stop, Amritsar the holiest site for the Sikh religion.

... which in itself might have been merely BAD were I not sitting directly behind Komy's left shoulder. So every time I nodded off, I would jerk myself back awake in terror of having been caught on video. By the same token, I really hope nobody from Komy or Sidd's family reads this entry (note that this is one of the few times you'll ever see me not wish to maximize my blog readership).

The lamest thing about my inability to ...

A new type of tourism has appeared here in India. Due to the high cost of medical services in the US and the ever improving level of medical services here in India, many people are electing to travel here for medical services at vastly reduced rates. They are known a Medical Tourists, and they are realizing real savings.

Cheap buggers that we are, we decided to explore the opportunities for ourselves, as medical ...

Ok, so we're leaving Delhi tomorrow bound for Nepal to start our 15 day tours back to Delhi. Have just had the time to take a closer look at our itinery and needless to say it looks amazing. This trip is partly courtesey of the Tillingbourne Crew's wedding present. Thank you guys it's looks like we are going to have an amazing time, will keep you all posted on what goes on.

We tried to ...

... lot to me. There are three very influential people who are deeply connected to India that I hoped to pay my respects to during this trip. Mahatma Gandhi is one of those three. The Gandhi Smirti, as it is known, is the place where Gandhi was shot and killed by a Hindu extremist on January 30th, 1948. When I arrived at this very tranquil place (and believe me, tranquility is in short supply in Delhi) one is presented with the option of following the final steps of Gandhi made possible by ...

... hotels with chauffeurs dropping guests off at the door to make sure that they cannot see the beggars outside with no legs and homeless street kids stealing to survive. Anyway we were in town looking for this tourist place in the mid day heat and I had to make an emergency evacuation back to the hotel where I spent the rest of the day purging my system again, violently. I spent another 2 days in bed with the lights off unable to eat or move while Ang also got actual 'Delhi Belly' the ...

... number) of he investor. Also, as a part of stringent 'know your customer' norms, banks ask for documentary proofs including PAN for opening new bank accounts. All this makes it difficult to deploy hidden income without getting caught. Besides, cash transaction is vanishing from increasing number of asset markets. All this means that accountability of taxpayers ...

... arrival was the perfect primer on India: a bus from plane to the terminal, surly customs, and a crazy taxi ride after running the tout gauntlet with pre-paid ticket in hand. I expected no less. Everything you do here has many layers of bureaucracy; charming in a kinda oldfashioned way. We arrive whiteknuckled at "Hotel Tourist Lodge", where we discover it's not quite as "deluxe" as the website suggested. Still, seems OK and we ain't in the mood ...

... first night. The goal is to find some more of the super-comfortable clothing to travel in. Mostly for me, as I've been lounging around in this cotton kurta for a couple of days and it's pretty nice. A long drive back to Delhi and we eventually find the store. We do quite of a bit of shopping and trying on, but only walk out with a couple of things. I'm a little woozy by that point, so we get in the car and make it back to Devia's house without incident. We run upstairs ...

... when he finally left. Heleft with a lot of ceremony carrying the book on his head. On the day that the girls were having their arms Henna'd, the bride took 4 hours with two people working on her, the boys went on a bus trip to the closing of the border at Attari. It was a 90 minute drive to get there and we had to wait around for the border to close. Jatinders dad had arranged things for us but we didn't really know what to expect. Thousands of people turn up on both sides of the border ...