Friday 7 December 2012

Amazing Race around India


Where do I even begin? Since Chandigarh and the ag show we have been to Delhi, Mumbai and are now on the road to the beach resort in the Kerala region.  I can’t say it has been smooth sailing. We missed our flight check in time by a couple minutes flying out of Chandigarh so had to book onto another flight 3 hours later for a very late arrival in Delhi for a 10pm supper. Out of Delhi to Mumbai the flight was delayed by “technical difficulties” resulting in a near riot from some of the passengers and another 3 hour delay for a 3 am arrival to the hotel. And today another 2 hour delay due to more “technical difficulties”, which quite frankly starts to become a bit concerning, for arrival into Cochin at rush hour turning what should be a 2 hour drive into a 3 ½ hour journey. It is no wondered people meditate in this country.  So travel is not all glory. But now the real holiday begins.


And last complaint then I’ll get onto some fun stuff – you would think that I would be caught up on writing and work because of all the airport waiting time but you require a mobile number to get the password to get onto the internet.  Because why would you make access to the Internet easy at an international airport in the business hubs of the country.  There’s a little work to be done related to efficiencies and conveniences.


Ok – recap of the last week. Agro Tech was huge. Lots of interest around Canadian food products and lots of progressive farmers in the region. That said, lots of work on the previous mentioned efficiencies is also in order. Met a lot of really interesting people.   The hospitality in the region is outstanding and Chandigarh turned out to be a really interesting place. First planned city in India which just means that the chaos follows a grid pattern, the traffic and the cows however are still generally all over the place. We said good-bye to our armed guard, Victor and driver. I still can’t remember the driver’s name so would resort to Mr. Singh (the Indian version of Mr. Smith).  In fact, I’ve been completely hopeless with names. I’m not great at it to begin with so add in an accent, rapid fire speech and a three syllable name that I’ve never heard of before and it turns into a lot of smiling and nodding.

In Delhi I went down for the count. I was starting to feel a little off in Chandigarh so by morning in Delhi I definitely knew something wasn’t right. ‘nough said.  I’m still not 100% but getting there through the power of pharmaceuticals and probiotics.  Delhi was a bit of a surprise in terms of greenery. They have large forests throughout the city – protected green spaces. We didn’t see a lot but did a bit of shopping (beautiful scarves and clothes), drove past the Red Fort and old Delhi then headed to the airport for our delayed flight.


Mumbai – also a surprise.  Gorgeous old building but really run down. For some reason I pictured it to be more Hong Kong like with tall high rises. Maybe up in the Bollywood area. But it was a mix with many of the old buildings crumbling away.  We stayed at the Taj Mahal – the same Taj that was attacked in 2008.  It is spectacular with stunning flower bouquets and marble floors. Wow.


Again, not a lot of time for sightseeing but lots to see on the way to a meeting at the Canadian Embassy, to dinner and to the airport.  Dinner last night was with a celebrity chef’s restaurant up near Bollywood by the Beach.  Chef Vicky dropped by and ordered up some of his favourite appetizers for us. Supper in India doesn’t happen until 9 or 10 pm, lunch around 2pm. Makes for some really late nights and early mornings.  
But we are now at a Ayurveda beach resort with 7am yoga on the beach.  Unfortunately we are on the move again, headed to the houseboat at noon and then the next day to a bird sanctuary resort. It really is Amazing Race style with about the same luck with communication sometimes. It is frustrating at times because I want to see as much as possible but nothing happens quickly. So time to get my zen on.  7 am is right around the corner.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Mavis,
Super fantastic photos! Hope to see you back 100%
~K