For the second day in a row, we ordered the cholestoral filled English breakfast, fried eggs, bacon, a sausage, one fried tomato and toast. Definitely puts a block of food in your stomach before you start the day. We ate with an elderly couple who were returning to the hotel following a hiatus somewhere else, They greeted all the servers like long lost friends. The return greeting was not so exuberant but perhaps this was because they had a job to do. The couple didn't seem to have a home. It sounded like they were temporarily living in the hotel before moving on to another location.
We hadn't slept as well that night as we'd done the previous so we both fell asleep almost the instant the train left the station for Cambridge. After clambering off with returning residents and many tourists, we caught a taxi for Jordan's new apartment, 34 Castle Street. She greeted us in sweats and a t-shirt and then led us up a flight of stairs to the main floor of the apartment which is divided into two large rooms, a kitchen/dining room area and the living room. Jordan's stuff was piled in one area of the living room waiting for Rob to move out. He's from the U.S. and about to return home.
As Nicola says, the place could use a woman's touch. There's lots of electronics in the living room, a new X-box, an HD projector that shines onto a blank wall on the opposite side of the room, a "strawberry" which is about the size of a deck of cards and which we were told was being sold by Google for about 30 dollars to students learning to program. I believe all the audio/video material was stored inside. There's a couch and two chairs all well-used, student old and comfortable. Mat, one of Jordan's room mates greeted us and offered coffee. Matt's from Edinburgh and is attending Cambridge on a Google scholarship. Jordan says he's could get easily afford nicer accommodations on the scholarship he's been given by Google but figures he likes to live like and with the rest of them. Matt's a slim fellow with nice features and a friendly smile and a nice host offering us tea almost as soon as we walked through the door Of course, Jordan wasn't quite ready so she packed and then we all made our way out for lunch at Pembroke College in town. It's supposed to offer the best food but unfortunately was closed when we got there. So, we went off to the Grad cafeteria located on the edge of the Cam River. Huge portraits of famous Cambridge Grads hung high on the wall of the very high ceiling of this building that would be very new by Cambridge standards. Unfortunately, I remember only Charles Darwin and Stephen Fry however there were a number of others one of whom must have been Sir Isaac Newton.
We met Dave there who'd been working in the lab that morning and ate a very filling although not particularly tasty lunch. The British do beer, literature and science. Cuisine doesn't seem to be their specialty. Dave made coffee back at the apartment while Jordan packed and then we started our long drive out to the airport. Dave was concerned we might get caught in traffic so he left plenty of time for delays. There were none so we were at the airport by 6:00 and through security by about 7:00.
We were concerned about Hart so we made a Skype call from the lounge area on the 45 minutes of free access provided by the airport. He seemed well as did the dog.
We were definitely among a very small minority on this flight. On the initial booking we'd been spread all over the plane so we asked one of the attendants at the airport if we could change that. He could and were exited upon boarding the plane that we were located at the front of our section in the seats that have extra legroom because people are supposed to be able to pass in front of us in case of emergency (or not as we were discover). Nevertheless, it was a very comfortable way to travel for the eight hour flight. We flew one of the larger Airbus planes which was quiet and very smooth. Virgin Air provided a pretty good dinner and the entertainment package on our monitors was great. Nicola and I both finished watching the movie "Side Effects" and were disappointed by Steven Sordenberg's final effort. It started out with a story that could have been interesting and possibly disturbing and turned into a convoluted plot that was just plain dumb.
Delhi Airport was not the crazy madhouse we'd been led to expect. It's large, modern and very empty. After walking hundreds of metres through halls past gates that were all empty we arrived at the luggage area where our bags were the last to get off the plane. From there, we proceeded through security to an empty arrival area where we immediately spotted a short, East-Indian fellow in a which shalwar kameez with Nicolas name written on the sign. After some difficulty extracting money from the ATM (partly because we wanted more than it was willing to give (10,000 rupees or $173).
The parking garage was large and modern with many levels and signs that warned that spitting and cooking were not allowed.
The roads are pretty much what I imagined. Lanes on the main roads which range from two to four in width did not exist in any Western sense of the word. Space will alway be filled whether with a car, a truck, a bus, a motorbike a bike or a horse an buggy. Barely a centimetre of the road is left empty. From a distance, all the cars look in relatively good condition but closer observation reveals that all but the newest have streaks where they've ground their car against a solid object such as another vehicle or post or building and most have small dents covering the sides and back. Many of the back hatches on vans and SUVs are crinkled like aluminum foil after having suffered many, many minor bumps. The honking is continuous but not a sonorous as I was led to expect. The traffic jams are horrendous. They go for miles with vehicles constantly jockeying for position. Driving in Delhi would not be for the faint of heart. If room has opened up in front of your vehicle, it is imperative that you move up into it. Otherwise, another driving will move his bumper in front so that you are left with little choice but to let him in. I say him because I've seen almost no female drivers in this city.
We followed the main roads for about an hour before making a hard right off an exit ramp into a narrow alley crowded with vehicles and lined with walls and gates. At one of the gates our driver turned and a security guard pulled open the metal grate. Our hotel is just the fantastic oasis we'd expected. It's very modern with large floor to ceiling windows lining much of the frontage and beautifully finished in mahogany which is used for the floors and the door and window frames and the clean lines of all the furniture. The fixtures have the same clean lines while the upholstery has the funky swirling designs that were cool in the 60s but in the more muted colours of the 2010s.
We were greeted by a younger gentleman with a pencil thin mustache, a fine tan, cotton shalwar kameez and funky silver metal glasses. He showed us to our room with a giant king size bed and a small single cot. Windows also line this room leading out to an enclosed wooded patio lined potted plants lining and two patio chairs and table. The bathroom floors and walls are marble with a large bathtub and separate glassed in shower. It is very luxurious and a complete refuge from the mayhem that seems to exist outside.
After hiring a hotel driver for a half day, we reenter the crazy roadways and head for Humayun's Tomb the architectural template for the Taj Majal. It was built in the mid-sixteenth century by Haji Begum, the second wife of Humayun. There were lots of steps and plenty of heat. As we didn't really know what we were looking at, I don't have a lot to say about it other than it was quite beautiful with a lot lawn. Weeds were being pulled by squatting women (mostly older) while the men would watch from a distance.
The Bahai Temple is shaped like a giant lotus flower. No pillars exist in the centre giving it a tremendous feeling of space. Visitors are required to maintain complete quiet while inside. Meditation with a higher power is the objective. I discovered myself falling asleep and realized the extent of the jet lag I was suffering.
Our last stop was the Khan Market. Being close to the foreign embassies,it is known as the place for expat shoppers and very high prices We stopped at a book store with an incredible collection of English language books (all second hand) and a restaurant on the top floor. It specialized in an Indian take on Western fast food. Nicola had the crunchy Lebanese sandwich which looked just like a regular sandwich with two pieces of bread with stuff in between them. I had the Quesadilla and Jordan had the Pita Pocket.
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