Sarb and Pavan at the Bangla Sahib SarovarWe'd stayed the night in Delhi and got up quite early to take the opportunity to go to Bangla Sahib again. It was a glorious Delhi morning and we stayed at the Gurdwara for quite a while. If you ever go to Delhi this is one place you must take the time to visit, it is an astoundingly beautiful place that just lifts the spirits of anyone who has the privilege to come here.
Our hotel was on the same road as the Gurdwara
On our return to the hotel we had something to eat and then met up with our driver. We left the hotel at about 10.00am and headed for the airport. Our driver Maurari (a Rajasthani living in Delhi) told us that he had a surprise for us, Uday the Delhi Branch Manager of Rajasthan Four Wheel Drive India, (the company that created and arranged our tour) wanted to meet us before we left India. I have to say that this is a fantastic company and anyone wishing to tour India in the way we have should think about using them. At every stage of our journey the hotels were great and the planning was absolutely perfect. They made sure that everything was arranged to make our holiday a great experience. My brother-in-law, Kashmir Singh Nijjar had heard of the company through a friend, he used it and was impressed. At an Albion game (he's a seasons ticket holder also) he told me about it and having used it, I'd whole heartedly recommend them as well.
Uday met us on the way to the airport and genuinely wanted to find out if we had a good experience. I felt really quite taken a back at his concern for our well being and commitment to ensuring we had a great experience. We had a long chat before we sadly parted company. What a great bunch of people!
Rajinder, Tarsem, Uday and Maurari
Once we arrived at Delhi International Airport we booked onto our flight and had an uneventful 9 hour journey back to the UK. One suggestion I'd make is that you take a decent jacket or jumper onto the plane when you leave a hot environment because the plane temperature was absolutely freezing. The other suggestion is, take your own food because the stuff they give you on the flight is hardly edible!
Helping Maurari unload our cases
We returned to the UK at about 6.45pm on a wet and cold Friday evening. We retrieved our baggage, car and I drove us back to Smethwick returning home at about 10.45pm. Looking at this blog now the journey seems like a dream. I'm going to write some more reflections about the journey over the next few weeks, there is still loads we did that I've not captured on the blog. I've also got some points that I'd like to discuss about using blogs vs other media to share experiences such as these. I've a couple of busy weeks at work but once I have a little bit of time I'll start filling in the gaps before they fade away in my memory, so watch this space! Also, any requests or questions please do not hesitate to drop me a line :-).
so pleased you made it safely back must feel so strange to be home(or at least your west brom home-cos the blog seemed to suggest you have connected strongly with your other, old and new homes). Intersting to see how easy it is to live your days without a blog. ann
ReplyDeleteHi Ann
ReplyDeleteThe blog has been a great record to keep. Looking at it now is a surreal experience, I cannot believe the things we managed to do, elephant rides, Taj Mahal, road trips consisting of days, the house in Virk, the wedding etc...
In terms of home, it's true that we all connected strongly with the village and the family there. It's been interesting to watch the childrens' reactions and listening to their feelings. This provides so much more material to write, I'm going to keep the blog going for a while yet, as things arise I'll add them to the record.
Thanks for being alongside.