Hi everyone

Another installmennt so soon....arent you lucky people!!!  This is due to the fact we have a spare few hours and need to air some grievances...so here we go.

We left the last blog at leaving for Delhi and arrive we did, at night not knowingn where we were going and expecting to see a friends face to take us to a hotel.  No such luck, after a phone call and many taxi conversations later we finally arrived in Pahar Ganj.  This is the main tourist district of Delhi and so subsequently a shit hole.  Small streets covered in piss, hawkers, rickshaws, cows ...all in all not somewhere you would want to stay for long.  But we did ... because we had to and here is why. 

Our first day was supposed to be a recuperative day but also to get the ball rolling on our Vietnamese visas.  So off we rickshawed to the embassy.  Arriving at 2pm was a mistake as anything to do with visas was impossible at the time apparantly.  However we managed to get a single form for 2 people and were asked to go and get it copied (the tightarses) so off we trotted to the local market and managed to get it copied for the pricely sum of 1Rs.  After filling the form out and returning to the embassy we were told no admittance till 4:30 so we sat on the curb and waited ...and waited....and waited in the sun.  At around 4 someone who looked alot like the ambassador for vietnam said we could wait inside.  At 4:30 we got to see someone...finally!!! ... only to be told we cannot submit a visa application in the afternoon (bastards!).  We argued tooth and nail for a good thirty minutes and finally we were allowed to submit our application, then the discussion moved 'forward' to when we would get our passports back.  New saga.  Basically we couldnt have it back until tuesday at 4:30 (that magic time) and not a minute before. 

Tuesday rolls around.  Claire ventures to the embassy alone.  Turning up 15 minutes early she storms past the security guard to sit inside.  4:30- no passports ....WHAT?!?!?! Claire flys into a state of quietly supressed rage with much shaking and fist clenching.  Please madam return tommorrow at 4:30 (the only time anything can possibly happen of course) not my mistake, Vietnam not me.  FINE!!!  Returning the next day with Helen as a rage barrier our Delhi wearied travellers finally ccollect their passports with visas.  Immediately they book a coach out of Delhi.  This concludes the visa fiasco ...we just hope Vietnam is a ruddy nice country!!!

Obviosuly you will be wondering what we did in the intervening time.  Helen's sponser immodium withdrew its support and so her new friend became the toilet.  For many days (6 to be precise) she saw little else but the toilet and the bed.  Claires iron stomach lived on!! Mwahahahahaha, it may have faultered for a single day but on the ground of alcohol which to most of you will be no suprise. 

So what did you do Claire i hear you all cry!  Were you a loyal and devoted servant to Helen in her time of need?  No.  I went sightseeing baby yeah!  Onn my first day i headed for the old quarters of the Raj, the raj path, secretariat bulidings and india gate.  All very impressive and what was more so was the clean streets and the distinct lack of people pissing everywhere and anywhere.  During the day i met with some street sweepers and shared a chai and gave them a little hand.  I then ventured to the Nehru museum where i was guided round by a very nice man who clearly hadnt seen another visitor for years.  After this i went and sat in the park at india gate and shared my pack of oreos with some kids who were playing in the fountain.  All right i admit it i may have joined in the splashing too!  Finally on my jam packed first day i headed to a Gurdwara (Sikh temple) on the way i met with a very nice young man studying English.  He guided me around the Gurdwara and explained many of the practices.  Here i met my adoptive Sikh fammily.  Whilst sitting in the sun 2 small childernn came running over to me apparantly their mother had sent them for me to follow to meet themm.  After an hours worth of conversation and the obligatory 'one photo' a sikh guard with an absolutely HUGE spear came and asked me to leave ...so i did.  Outside i met with my friend again and here i found the catch for his friendship.  I was to be dragged around every bloody emporium in delhi.  I stuck to my guns and bought nothing.  Only pausing to make a coffee date for the next day with a creepy jewelry salesman (i stood him up dont worry!!!).  Finally i made it back to the hotel after a day of not eating, drinking little and walking far.  Whats a sensible thing to do??  Drink beer and watch a bollywood film of course.  Krishna my nnew friend at the hotel sat me down and set me up.  

Day 2: KILLER HANGOVER!!!  Did nothing until 2 when i threw up felt fine and went to Akshwadam temple (the largest in the world).  The sculptures were incredible and on a impressive scale.  There was a fountain show also which, for those of you who have been, were an hindi version of waltzing waters (dissapointing). 

Day 3: Helen feels a little better so we venture to the local mosque to take a look around.  After laughing at the other tourists who had not dressed for the occasion (in bright orange bath robes provided by the mosque ...clearly designed to make you look stupid and regret your sinful skin exposure).  Watching the men come and go for prayer and having a little of the Koran explained was fascinating.  Whilst Claire ventured up the tower to get the 'panoramic views of Delhi' (in actual fact about 50m then smog) Helen took a turn for the worse.  She was helped by some kind Indian men who went looking for the ever elusive Claire.  Claire was happily chatting to a 1st generation British Indian couple at the top of the tower and getting hugs off 2 hindu children semi conntinuously (which made it hard to climb the steps).  On returning form the lofty heights Claire found Helen pale and forlourn.  A cycle rickshaw later and they were at the local hospital.  A whistle stop tour get Helen in and out with a handful of drugs within the hour.  Luckily it wasnt a private hospital so all services were free!!  Back to bed for Helen.

Day 4: The red fort, Claire (alone again) finally got roundn to going to the one place in Delhi you should see.  After fighting her way through the bazaar that lines the way she found it to be beautiful but not very informative.  There were many buildings which you could not go in.  All the same the architecture was phenomenal and the scale awe inspiring.  After the red fort she headed for Raj Ghat and ghandis cremation site.  After spending an hour or so in the garden andn a few hours rifeling through the Ghandi memorial museum she headed for Bahai (lotus) temple.  Basically a temple shaped llike a lotus flower.  The harrowing journey there (2 buses, a metro, and a rickshaw ride) as well as the time constraint of having to get to the Vietnamese emmbassy for, you guessed it, 4:30 meant that i did not fully appreciate the beauty of it but it was good to see.

Day 5:  Helen is recovered again!!! Whoop whoop!  We take a rickshaw to connaught place and to the cinema where we try out our second bollywood film.  The seats were plusher, the AC turned off and the film generally mmuch more enntertaining and easy to follow.  We made it!!!!  We have watched an entire Bollywood film!!!!!!  One more Indian dream completed.  Then we took to rickshaw once again and Claire acting as tour guide took Helen around central delhi.  After this incredibly brief view of the nice part of Delhi they were whisked back to the embassy to collect the passports.

Here ends the Delhi files.  We promise next time we wont bitch so much!!!  DISCLAIMER:  If Jaipur is rubbish we will bitch and you know it!

Hope all is well in bonnie ol' England.  We hear there are storms HA HA.  Happy Easter.

Lots of love

Claire and Helen xx