Dear friends,
Please note that we are having a great time, but have had some connectivity issues, so we are far behind on getting posts online and are so busy that we're having trouble keeping up. So here we go with our report on our first full day in India.
We arrived in Delhi a day earlier than was necessary for the start of our tour, because we didn't really savor the idea of landing at 9:30 one evening, checking into a hotel to try for a few hours of sleep and then getting up at 4:30 the following morning for another flight at 7:30 a.m. So we decided to take a breather between travel days, hoping that might also help us adjust to the time difference. Susi and Butch kindly offered to show us some of the sights. Possible Items on the agenda included a tour by car to get an overview of Delhi, a visit to the national museum, which Susi said was very impressive, another monument or two, some craft markets and checking out a birding location within Delhi, which might also be of interest for their future guests.
There were major obstacles to several of the day's options, unbeknownst to all of us. The museum is open on Sundays, but when Lydia went online to investigate our options so we could make a decision, she discovered that the museum was closing at 1:00 pm that day in preparation for the commemoration of Republic Day on the very next day, January 26th. We thought we could still make it there for a couple of hours, but when we were picked up by our driver, Vikram, he informed us that the area around the museum was heavily congested, because President Obama had literally just landed in Delhi for meetings and the festivities. In anticipation of major traffic jams, we retreated back to our rooms at the hotel to gather our birdwatching gear and after a brief delay with some sketchy directions we set off again, but this time in search of the bird refuge. We wended our way through the streets of Delhi, trying to find Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary. This became quite the adventure. We were immediately exposed to the peculiarities of Delhi traffic. Drivers in Delhi, as we had read, use their horns constantly to make their way through traffic, notifying others of their desire to get by. Though there are lane markers, driving in a single lane appears to be optional. Blinkers don't seem to exist. Vehicles include cars, bicycles, motorbikes, three wheeled auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws and trucks of all sizes. There are other things to contend with on Delhi's roadways: camels or people pulling carts, cattle, buffalo and even an elephant.
As we made our way, we also experienced a phenomenon we had read about in the book Delirious Delhi. Vikram stopped along the way to consult with various people getting directions over and over until we finally arrived at the Sanctuary only to find it closed! Unfortunately, the sanctuary was investigating the deaths of nearly 50 birds. Ultimately, it turned out that most of the birds that died were seed eaters and the sanctuary puts seeds out for them. Apparently, the seed had been treated with pesticides, which led to the death of the birds. Most unfortunate on several levels.
From there we began again and made our way, with several stops for directions, to the Basia Wetlands, where we enjoyed getting to know some of India's water birds.
To cap off the day we drove back into the heart of the city to visit an archeological site from the Moghul period in the 1200's, Qutab Minar. It is a compound featuring a major architectural feature - the oldest minaret.
Once we were done there, back to the hotel we went, for dinner and what we hoped would be a decent night's sleep. (to be continued)
Please note that we are having a great time, but have had some connectivity issues, so we are far behind on getting posts online and are so busy that we're having trouble keeping up. So here we go with our report on our first full day in India.
We arrived in Delhi a day earlier than was necessary for the start of our tour, because we didn't really savor the idea of landing at 9:30 one evening, checking into a hotel to try for a few hours of sleep and then getting up at 4:30 the following morning for another flight at 7:30 a.m. So we decided to take a breather between travel days, hoping that might also help us adjust to the time difference. Susi and Butch kindly offered to show us some of the sights. Possible Items on the agenda included a tour by car to get an overview of Delhi, a visit to the national museum, which Susi said was very impressive, another monument or two, some craft markets and checking out a birding location within Delhi, which might also be of interest for their future guests.
There were major obstacles to several of the day's options, unbeknownst to all of us. The museum is open on Sundays, but when Lydia went online to investigate our options so we could make a decision, she discovered that the museum was closing at 1:00 pm that day in preparation for the commemoration of Republic Day on the very next day, January 26th. We thought we could still make it there for a couple of hours, but when we were picked up by our driver, Vikram, he informed us that the area around the museum was heavily congested, because President Obama had literally just landed in Delhi for meetings and the festivities. In anticipation of major traffic jams, we retreated back to our rooms at the hotel to gather our birdwatching gear and after a brief delay with some sketchy directions we set off again, but this time in search of the bird refuge. We wended our way through the streets of Delhi, trying to find Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary. This became quite the adventure. We were immediately exposed to the peculiarities of Delhi traffic. Drivers in Delhi, as we had read, use their horns constantly to make their way through traffic, notifying others of their desire to get by. Though there are lane markers, driving in a single lane appears to be optional. Blinkers don't seem to exist. Vehicles include cars, bicycles, motorbikes, three wheeled auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws and trucks of all sizes. There are other things to contend with on Delhi's roadways: camels or people pulling carts, cattle, buffalo and even an elephant.
As we made our way, we also experienced a phenomenon we had read about in the book Delirious Delhi. Vikram stopped along the way to consult with various people getting directions over and over until we finally arrived at the Sanctuary only to find it closed! Unfortunately, the sanctuary was investigating the deaths of nearly 50 birds. Ultimately, it turned out that most of the birds that died were seed eaters and the sanctuary puts seeds out for them. Apparently, the seed had been treated with pesticides, which led to the death of the birds. Most unfortunate on several levels.
From there we began again and made our way, with several stops for directions, to the Basia Wetlands, where we enjoyed getting to know some of India's water birds.
To cap off the day we drove back into the heart of the city to visit an archeological site from the Moghul period in the 1200's, Qutab Minar. It is a compound featuring a major architectural feature - the oldest minaret.
Once we were done there, back to the hotel we went, for dinner and what we hoped would be a decent night's sleep. (to be continued)
No comments:
Post a Comment