Day One / Welcome Dinner
Trip Start
Oct 14, 2005
1
7
21
Trip End
Oct 31, 2005
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New Delhi,
India
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
We had one client missing connections in London due to fog (go figure), so was up quite late last night with hourly phone calls from my guys at the airport informing me he was not on the flight. It made me lose precious sleep with the horrible consequence that I started the touring today absolutely exhausted. By the time we got through the day of touring I was so tired I could hardly put a few coherent words of welcome together for the official launch of the tour. Hate that feeling of being so tired your brain doesn't work.
One of the reasons I was tired was that the tour today lasted longer than usual because several of the clients really wanted to see the Baha'i House of Worship, and so we took a quick poll and decided to add a quick photo stop into the itinerary. It added a lot of travel time to the day, and I had to suffer through the guide's somewhat inaccurate description of the Baha'i Faith. I didn't correct him in front of the group, but let him know privately that it is NOT a synthesis of a lot of other religions, and it didn't begin in the 1700's, etc. etc. A few clients asked me questions, and I shared what I thought was relevant. I think they enjoyed seeing it, but because it would have meant omitting other planned parts of the tour, not being able to go inside they didn't get the full impact of a visit. Well, we did the best we could.
We started the tour with an amazing rickshaw (pedal driven) ride through an Indian market. It was absolutely spellbinding -- the crush of people, and smells, the jostling, the nodded greetings from passersby. Now, at last, we truly felt that we had traveled to India. Everyone absolutely LOVED the experience.
We visited a mosque, and old Delhi, then a building that had served as inspiration to the man who built the Taj Mahal. Peaceful, manicured gardens. A paradise.
After the Baha'i Temple and one other incredible site, we raced back to the hotel arriving at 6pm, only to leave for the welcome dinner a half hour later. The guys did it by some miracle, but three were too tired to go on after having arrived late the night before, and they bowed out of the dinner.
We had a welcome drink and toast at an underground gay (because it is illegal here) pub in the diplomatic district close to our restaurant for the dinner. All went smashingly, and the food (Judy) was too plentiful and yummy to describe in detail with one 30 minute internet card. I am truly loving the Indian cuisine, even though it tends to be heavy and my supplier here told me I would gain about 6 kilos during this tour. Yikes!
Gotta pack as we leave tomorrow morning for Agra and a sunset visit to the Taj Mahal. I've strewn everything everywhere in my room, and as tired as I am this isn't going to be fun, so I'd best get cracking.
Hugs,
Dan
