Our last day in India as we have a late night flight to Singapore and onwards to Beijing. We woke late this morning to news of a large earthquake on the Nepal/ India border which was weird because on our hotel tour yesterday we paused in the Grand Ballroom and I watched the two massive chandeliers shake for a full minute at around 6.15, which according to the news is the same time the quake hit Nepal some 400 miles away killing over a dozen people both sides of he border.
After breakfast we had an entire afternoon to kill so we decided to find an English cinema and with directions from the receptionist we set off to the Metro.
If Dame Judy Dench has an Indian sister it is she who makes the English Metro announcements, they even have a gap to mind, just like in London.
Well, we were sent to the wrong metro but that didn't matter as when we eventually found the mall she recommended, all the movies were in Hindi, so thanks for that, Ms Reception.
The mall however was full of shops so we took a slow wonder and found a spa which helped to kill an hour while a small but powerful Thai chick break danced on my back.
I'm now sat in the hotel lobby waiting for our taxi, I need to try an Indian McDonalds (no beef) it's a McSpicy I think and I have to buy a neck pillow as I have to learn how to sleep on planes and trains and buses, especially when my knees are in my face.
So India.....
Highlights...Orccha was very cool, the Delhi Metro was a saviour,Taj was majestic as expected and they serve Beans on Toast everywhere!
Lowlights...TP3
Wish I had... Stayed at The Imperial in Delhi
Wish I hadn't... Bought anything at Delhi airport- US$20 for a magazine are you kidding me?
The overriding factor about India for me is the poverty divide, which irks me
(that word again) when you see how much money is pumped into the religion, the ceremonies and the shrines. As radical and uninformed as this may sound, if the Priests just donated half of what they would normally spend or collect in the name of Hinduism to the communities in which they practise, India would be a different and better off place.
And after all the chocolates my Mum force fed me in England, I figured on a good bout of Delhi Belly to help shed those excess pounds, no such luck. Maybe I'll drink a pint of tap before I go...?
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