The highlight of the tour for me was the visit to the place where Ghandi was cremated. I've always been an admirer of Gandhi and his teachings, so it was special for me to be there.
Joan was also at the tour office, because she was staying in a nearby hotel. We expected that the bus would stop by the other hotel as it did before, so that Doreen and Sheinoor could join us. Unfortunately, it didn't. We were out of luck.
We spent the morning touring Old Delhi, stopped for lunch at a fancy hotel (the bathrooms are filthy even in the best of hotels, by the way...), and then toured New Delhi in the afternoon. I was fortunate to meet a couple from Bangalore. They are Hindu, and were nice enough to explain a little to me when we went to the Hindu temples. Another very nice couple was from Mangalore, which is on the coast near Bangalore. They were determined that I visit them during my time in South India. Unfortunately, I simply didn't have the time for that... This second couple was a Christian couple, and seemed particularly interested in getting to know me. It was the time that I spent with these other tourists that made my trip particularly special.
The highlight of the tour for me was the visit to the place where Ghandi was cremated. I've always been an admirer of Gandhi and his teachings, so it was special for me to be there.
The tour ended at about 5:00. Joan and I took a young British couple who had joined
our tour during the afternoon to dinner at Nirula's. James and Joanne had spent
the last couple of months touring in Thailand, and were just beginning the travels
in India. They had also toured to the Taj Mahal the day before. Unfortunately, the other
people on their tour bus weren't as delightful as our compatriots, and that spoiled
the trip a bit for them. Joan and I were able to give them a lot of advice. I felt
like quite an expert... :)
During dinner, someone (I think it was Joan) mentioned, "Hey look, there's a rat over there..." We turned and looked. It must have been looking for crumbs under a table, scurrying around the feet of a woman who was completely oblivious... I turned to her and said, "Excuse me, you may want to lift your feet. There's a rat." We then pointed it out to the wait staff, and everyone went about their business. Of course, everyone wanted to see it, but it was more of an amusement than anything else... "Only in India..." said Joan. I said, "Well, if you're concerned about rats, you'd better not come to India..." Everyone else agreed. Now, if that rat had been scurrying across my pillow in the middle of the night, my attitude may have been different... :)
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