Raj Royalex Hotel New Delhi

... or didn’t realise it wasn’t his ha ha. We meet Kartek on the bus who was on holiday from the UK (Indian decent, born in Kenya). We got to the border safely (we heard a story from this chick that their van rolled) and watched, what has to be the weirdest border ceremony in the world. Not sure if you’ve seen it, but the Indian and Pakistanis basically try to outdo each other with a series of calls (who can yell the longest) and crazy marching (think Monty Python’ ...

... train to Amritsar and stayed the night. Still raining but went to PAkistan border for a full on mad show of patriotism in morning visited the golden temple where we joined in with the Kara Pashad.
Also visited a womans temple really quirky.
Now waiting to fly to Kochi.

Woo hoo- Taj Day is here!!! We were up and on the move at 4:30 am to catch the Taj before the mid-morning sauna-like heat set in. Just a few facts:
* 22 years to finish (1630-1652)
* 20,000 skilled laborers
* commisioned by Shah Jahan for his favorite wife, Mumtaz- the Shah spent his last 8 years gazing on it from the nearby Agra Fort where he was imprisoned by his power-hungry son, Aurangzeb.

In every other city on this ...

... sell it within a month in the market. We, as the largest developer, decided to discourage such speculation", said Rajeev Talwar, executive director, DLF.

The clause, however, has attracted criticism from analysts. "Developers want the best of both worlds. They want to delay registration and charge a transfer fee because once a property is registered it is binding on both developers and buyers," said Pranay Vakil, chairman, Knight Frank ...

... on his way to India to learn yoga. "How can I learn all I need to know as fast as I can so that I can get insurance and get my studio running?" This was the first question he asked when I reluctantly admitted to teaching yoga in edmonton. "You can open a studio in Edmonton then open a branch in Tononto! You can be the master. I'll be your disciple and do whatever you tell me!" Uhhh....no thanks. Yoga is certainly ...

... sure a big bag full of fruit and veg or maybe a load of simple sticks, but also, I've seen women (not in the big cities obviously) carrying normal bags on their head, the kind that have handles, a normal size wicker bag of medium size with two normal handles sat upon someones head. Sleeping in the streets is normal, I'm not referring to the true poor people, but I mean men that spend all day running a veg stall for instance, who then at the end of the day pack ...

... late, we are just glad to see them. It's now 1230am and although tired, we still want to try to complete the arrangements to get home / out of India, as soon as possible, as our flights need rebooking from Mumbai departure to Delhi departure. The two Canadians have friends not far away that they are staying with and so we say our goodbyes. From our domestic arrivals area we need to go to the international area to find the airline offices, which, we have been told, are open until ...

... the walls of buildings resulting in the constant smell of urine. Cow **** always at your feet. Small piles of garbage everywhere serving as a potential snack to the wandering cows who were taking up as much street space as they wanted and causing traffic. I knew I was going to like India! I wondered if this was as bad as it gets or if it could be much worse. Time will tell. I could handle a few more degrees of chaos but not much more. As long as the touts weren't ...

... or buffalo, or goat, or camel, or... on the road was... ho-hum...!) Even though the temple was closed, we had already decided to tip our driver up to R100 just for the fun and the gratitude that we didn't die. We then had him take us to Khan Market, which is full of shops - we all bought some fairly priced clothing, and at Sarah's suggestion (Sarah is a world traveler and knows no fear - I am far more timid) we went up some narrow ...

Getting at night in India is an unforgettable experience. Or at least it was for us. Indeed, thouhg the net, we did book an hostel for the first night and asked for a ride from the airport as we arrived late at night. Thus our first contact with India was as car passengers! And ...