Delhi - Imperial Dreams

The Imperial Hotel - We checked into the Imperial Hotel in the centre of Delhi and explained the sorry story of the stolen bag. Not sure if it was as a result of this or just coincidence but they had upgraded us to an Imperial room. Lovely big room, huge bed, sofa, arm chairs, massive bathroom and all filled with lovely heavy wood furniture. The hotel itself is stunning, all the corridors are lined with pictures from the 1800's, mostly battle scenes and Indian history, chandeliers hung everywhere and at each corridor junction was a large round table with flowers and candles. There was just a general air of opulence about the place but there was no snobbery in the staff, they were all lovely.

Tired and sweaty after our trip we decided to head to the pool after we had sorted out the credit cards and other necessities. Lovely pool surrounded by palm trees and teaming with the little stripey squirrels you get here. We shared a burger and a shandy and generally relaxed for a while. After a few hours we headed up and got changed and then just wandered around the hotel corridors for a while, looking at the art, the arc deco furniture and then having afternoon tea. It really is a show piece hotel and just wandering around was a nice way to spend a peaceful afternoon.

Day 2 - The Great Ticket Hunt - Up early for breakfast on the terrace, we had a car booked and wanted to make the best of it. First of all though we had to sort out the missing train tickets, the concierge had given us an address we needed to go to so we headed there first. We couldn't find it and we asked a chap, "you need to go to the main station", so we did. We went to the main ticket hall (where before you can buy a ticket you need a requisition form, honestly) and joined the queue for window 1 "lost tickets" - quickly to be told that as Foreigners we needed to go to the Foreign ticket bureau round the corner in the main station. Off we headed, but as we attempted to get into it we were told it was closed and to go to window 1. We explained we had already been there and they had sent us here - "but it is closed for refurbishment and will not open till next week" a young chap told us - bloody hell . All this chasing around was wasting the time we had in Delhi and still no new tickets. The young chap told us to go to a travel agent of Connaught Place and even got us a tuc tuc to take us (for a good price), so off we headed again. At last, when we arrived we found sanity - the people there were organised, knowledgeable and gave us cold Pepsi - hurray! The travel agent suggests we hire a car to take us to Jaipur and Agra, we would see more and could stop on the road. The 6 day trip, fuel, driver, insurance and everything - 300 hundred pounds - we couldn't say no. The train tickets, well we had PRN numbers and the tickets had been reconfirmed so we would have no problems even without tickets - perfect. We have our driver come fetch us and head off to the Red Fort.

Historic Delhi - We park the car in a car park and get into a cycle rickshaw which takes us to the Red Fort, pay for our foreigner price ticket and head past the machine gun posts at the Lahore gate and enter the main fort. We pass through the Chatta Chowk (covered bazaar) once holding the shops which sold to the royal household, now selling tourist tatt, and emerge into the first open area of the fort. We turn left and head to the museum, but it is poorly stocked and dingy so we don't stay long. Through a further set of gates is the Diwan-i-am (hall of pubic audience), a marble panelled thrown on a red dais where the emperor would meet his subjects. Behind this is the living quarters, the bath house (hammam), a mosque, a private audience hall and a private work area. Much is in marble and once would have been inlaid with precious stone - however many of the intricately carved panels are rotting and the barracks once used by the British soldiers are no more than crumbling shells. They really need to do something about it quickly before it all rots and they have nothing left to protect. Its a real shame. Its getting hot now and we head back to our cycle rickshaw and speed off for a look around the Chandi Chowk - the shopping bazaar of old Delhi. Typical of all India it is packed with all areas of life, hole in the wall shops, eating, barbers, Hindu temples, mosques, Sikh temples, even a church. The lanes are tight - sometimes only wide enough for our rickshaw and slung between the buildings are hundreds of electric and telephone wires, blocking the light. It smells great, fruit juice, spices being ground, pav vada frying, every one smiled and waved at us, it felt like "real" India, lol.

The Mosque (Jama Masjid) was closed for prayers so we headed up to Hamayun's tomb.

It was built in the 16th Century by a senior wife of a Moghul emperor and is pretty sensational. We walk around the minor tombs (the emperor's barber got one) before visiting the main tomb, which is set in lovely gardens full of birds and squirrels. The heat by now was blistering and it felt like the water was being sucked straight from your body - 2 litres of water and still I didn't need to pee! I discovered later that it was the first day of the year it hit 40.

We headed back to the Jama Masjid and this time could get in. The red stone burnt our bare feet, it was busy and we were tired so we didn't linger long. Back to the hotel where we leapt into the pool to cool off, a short relax and then up to get changed for dinner. we had two very nice cocktails in the 1911 bar and Keith checked out the display of medals they have in there. Dinner at the "Conde Naste Awarded" Spice Route restaurant was disappointing and we didn't linger late. We had an early start as tomorrow we were driving to Jaipur.