The lanes of the road near our hotel are wide, green and privileged. However, the cattle have no rules of caste or status and wander through the greenery surrounding the pavement and parks.

Traveling on the bus through the busy metropolis, we have an interesting view of day to day life. You are up a little and the view of the traffic is somewhat startling as a car decides the lane next to you is free even though its on the wrong side of the road.

Our first stop today was old Delhi, originally called Chandni Chowk’s and its speciality is its variety and authenticity: food, delicacies and sweets of more than 1,000 kinds, sprees with chicken and sari’s.

I actually visited there before and I enjoyed the experience. You travel through the narrow lanes on rickshaws, vehicles are unable to go down the narrow lanes. The poor rickshaw driver strains under the heavy load as he negotiates  his way through the throng. Overhead  the electricity wires have thousands of wires entwined and hanging from very precarious positions like electronic lace. I’m almost afraid to look up, the imagination goes wild.

Day to day life goes on around us, people, sleeping, waking, eating the morning meal and working. For many it appears they live and sleep where they work. The smell is wonderful, flowers, mixed with spices and then every now and then a small stall selling food.

Huge loads, far heavier that 2 European ladies are carried in the rickshaws.

We had a small bit of excitement after our visit to the market. We visited our Tailor and organized to have our clothes made… which is another long story. It was a bit of a walk from the Tailor to the bus so our guide put us in a  Tuk Tuk and we followed behind in single file weaving through the traffic…. Our little possum decided to stop at a service station to get air in his tyre and when he finally took off some 8 mins later, of course, he had lost the other tuk tuks. I wasn’t even sure where we were supposed to be but  I wasn’t going to get out of the vehicle until we  found the rest of the group…. Wow lost in Delhi. A kind driver came by and after hearing our story he rang our Guide and after a bit of shouting and gesticulation we finally found the rest of the group around the other side of the complex.

We visited a Sikh Temple

Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib