Friday, December 18, 2009

Day 1 Arrival in Delhi and...the train...

The fourteen hours on the plane actually went very fast, It was as if we boarded on Wednesday evening and when we arrived in Delhi even though it was a whole day later it seemed to us like it was still the same night. As a result of it and because we slept quite a bit on the plane we did not mind going to be at almost 1 am and waking up at 6 am in order to catch our train. The Imperial Hotel in Delhi is a true triumph of the Raj, gorgeous, marble everywhere, incredibly beautiful and comfortable!
The rude awakening comes with the train to Ranthambore, a train that makes the worst Italian train seem luxurious…I wish we could see more from the windows, but , on the other hand, it may be a blessing in disguise. The little I see is huts, cows, buffaloes, open sewers and of course people….
Can’t help thinking that Jimmy would have already run away…screaming.…I just hope I can manage NOT to go to the bathroom until we arrive at destination! That is a must even though as my usual hypochondriac self I have brought seat covers for the toilet…ha ha ha…..

1 comment:

  1. Memories of 1966...
    Rina and I arrived at the Imperial in the middle of the night and collapsed on the bed. In the morning I was awaken by Rina screeming: "Get me out of here"! She had dreamed she was in a hospital since everything - walls, floor, furniture, bed cover, curtains - was white. At the front desk i was told that all the rooms were alike... except for the Imperial Suite; we moved into 2,000 square feet with very Victorian decor. We survived by dining on a kilo of Imperial Beluga we had brought from Teheran, ordering only toast, chopped hard-boiled egg and bottled water. We never did get to open the door to the corridor since, even if we tiptoed to it, the valet who lived in the closet across the corridor preceded us and opened it. The last day we dared to have lunch in the restaurant, to the music of a bad 12-piece orchestra. The food was quite goos and we didn't get sick.

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