Single, Solo and sixty+ doing the travel thing! Day 1 India

Well,  after the last few years I have decided to travel by myself - on reflection, apart from work trips, I have NEVER done this!  I’ve always been meeting up with someone, or had a companion.  So while this trip is a life bucket list item which makes me really excited (I have always ALWAYS had a fascination with Katmandhu!) I am just slightly petrified.  Knowing me, this will come across to strangers as slightly aloof….so I will need to work hard to smile and do the ‘chit chat’ thing!  

First tour is a 19 day India Nepal adventure then a few days off before a 9 day Sri Lanka tour.  

I left the farm on Monday, stayed 2 nights in Wollongong with V3 and Short Sommer before an early morning train to Sydney Airport.   Luck was on my side with a great seat on Qantas to Bangalore!  I managed to get a few hours sleep and then stayed in an Airport Hotel in Bangalore for the next leg to Delhi.

Bengaluru Airport

I had just gotten back to sleep when Fi messaged to say…better get to the airport early!  I was there at 4.45 am but alas, no seats for me for the next three flights and advice was that I would be lucky to get a seat at all….some quick web searching (an international data sim really pays for itself!) and I was booked on an Indigo flight which got me into New Delhi early afternoon.   

A culture shock!   I had only seen the airport in Bangalore - surrounded by lots and lots of development so my introduction to India really only started on arrival in New Delhi.  

The drive from the Indira Ghandi Airport to the hotel was an immediate immersion.  The sights from the car were extreme - transgender people walking amongs cars asking for money in return for blessings; gorgeous greenery; bare red dirt car parks; roadside stalls and shanties and then large corporate buildings with high walls and security.   Cars are checked at gates, boots opened and inspected…quite interesting!  I was busy trying to take it all in while there is no such thing as a road lane (in either direction) and there is a language of horn beeping and everyone does it!  

The air quality was not great - that low brown haze that hung in the air reminded me of Beijing - there were no clouds visible, no blue - just a heavy low beige colour.  

The Grand Hotel is my home for two nights….supposedly 5 star but a little old and in need of renovation.  The surrounding area is interesting (see some of the pics below).  Infrastructure is ordinary, smog is real and just down the road is a 4 storey ‘Mall’ that has all the names and pumps out western music 24/7….Victoria’s Secret; H&M; Uniqlo; Starbucks…anything with a logo and people coming and going.   

Day 1 dinner was a 30 minute bus ride away at an old Indian restaurant that serves Mughlai food - apparently about 80 years old, decked out in historical Indian artefacts including polo sticks on the wall and b&w photos of Raj’s.    The food was delicious - particular Palak Pahoda - a spinach leave slightly battered with a curry and cheese topping! (I must remember to take pictures!!!)

The drive to dinner was really interesting although it rained so a little difficult to take pictures from the small bus (10 seater).  We did pass the the President’s house Rashtrapati Bhavan - all lit in purple lighting…I imagine on a dry night, and walking it would have been quite spectacular.  

Others on the tour include Linda and Nancy from north of New York City; Sam and Davey from Brisbane, May and Jack from Brisbane and little ol’ me!