10 Nov 2013
If a 5.00am disembarking wasn’t bad enough, Karin decided to switch the main light on at 4.00am and proceed to piss everyone off – including the rest of the train!!
We reach Delhi and are transferred by bus to our hotel. It is a very strange ending to our tour because it is still not 6.00am and there are 2 day rooms for 12 of us to share. Sebastian heads off by taxi to stay with a friend. Naveen is going home to see his family before he starts a new tour this evening – so there are hugs all round and the rest of us wonder what to do with ourselves. There is no restaurant at the hotel and nothing else is open yet. Those of us who have booked rooms for tonight won’t get these until after 10.00. Those who have other connections have showers and the rest of us have cups of tea and biscuits in the room.
We ask where we can get breakfast and are sent to a hotel up the road, but we are not in the mood for another Indian buffet breakfast – pancakes and eggs are in people’s minds. We then wander the streets finding nothing much at all. Then a tuk-tuk driver shows us a place – which turns out to be the food court at the Swati Hotel that we started out at a month ago. They have Dhosas (pancakes of sorts), fresh fruit, yoghurt, so we decide that this will do as we are getting hungry.
When we get back to the hotel our rooms are almost ready, so then we spread out to rest, wash and sort our things. Some are heading off to do last minute shopping and sight-seeing. Eke, Brian and I head off to find some lunch and go back to the little street café we found on the first day for a repeat performance of our favourite Raaj Kachoori. Brian has a mango lassi. As it is close to our old hotel we drop in at the Swati to see if Marcia and Yvonne are there. We leave a message and then bump into one of their fellow travellers who tells us they are meeting at 2.00. We explore som new streets and even pop into a real estate agent to find out the price of a very nice bungalow in the window – 50,000,000 rupees ($1M) to buy or 100,000 rupees ($2,000) per week to rent.
We go with Yvonne and Marcia (and the other 2 from their group) and have a drink at a nearby café and then all head back to our hotel. Sue & Martin have left their bags in E&B’s room before they head off to the train station for their next 25 days! We all wait in the room and surprise them when they come in. After a quick catch up we farewell them, arrange to meet M&Y for dinner and then we set off following our doorman who has organised a massage for us. We walk and walk going down different streets but end up at the massage place next to the Swati Hotel!
It is a herbal massage – very oily with a hot scrub as well and finishes with a steam bath. Feeling very relaxed we catch a tuk-tuk back to the hotel and gate-crash Naveen’s next group meeting – we tell them what a good guide he is.
Time for a bit of a tidy up before pre-dinner drinks. We start at a nearby hotel but discover that they don’t serve alcohol. We feel that final night drinks are in order, so when Y&M & Audrey turn up we set off in search of a restaurant with drinks. Although it is our last night in India, none of us can face any more Indian food so we need somewhere that serves mixed cuisine. I have a Pina Colada and Pad Thai! We have a wonderful evening reminiscing and sharing stories about our 2 separate weeks. We say our goodbyes and head back to the hotel where I do a final pack.
Naveen rings to tell me that he has reconfirmed my airport transport and that I need to leave at 8.30am (for a 12.55pm flight).
For this and other similar tours see:
Explore Asia with Intrepid Travel
(a range of different travel styles – see my post on travel styles)
Peregrine Adventures (Comfort tours)
Geckos Adventures (for 18 to 30s)
Note: After people telling me they had booked an Intrepid Tour on my recommendation, I now have affiliate links with the Intrepid Travel group of companies and may receive a commission if you book a tour online within a couple of months after clicking through to these sites. So if you are enjoying my tips and stories and finding them useful in choosing your own travel, please click on these links and help me to bring you more ☺.
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