My India Diet Program

This is Geordie for a change. We are in Agra today. The Taj this morning at 6:30 was wonderful but no coffee. We leave the group today and go back to Delhi as originally planned. Tomorrow we jump the over night train to Varanasi alone and are a bit apphensive as we go on for 3 more months.

To my diet program. I have not been eating well since I arrived. I got a cold along with everyone else in the group. That took some time and I still have a bad cough. Then Delhi Belly hit for a number of days so no food. I'm surprized I don't look thinner. Yesterday was my first day of food and the meal was a chicken burger combo at the big M. Sorry. Desert was a cone.

Nigel will bring you up-to-date but I must tell you about my ATV desert experience. It was on the second bad day of Delhi Belly. We drove from Jaisalmer into the desert where we met the ATV's with 4 legs. The group mounted their friendly camels and off they went into the distance. I sat in the front of a jeep and was driven to the camp. The boy there rushed to make a bed for me outside in the shade. I fell asleep. Hours later the group arrived saddle sore and weary. Bruises from cameras and the saddle. Many ached days later. I greeted them and went to bed this time in my tent. I did not get up until dawn to have a piece of dry toast. The jeeps picked us up and back to civilization. Considering that I did not really experience anything I enjoyed being there. I did have to find little bushes to squat behind a number of times.

I am still hopeful for my India Diet Program but not in such a drastic way. Maybe just small veg meals.

Things I've noticed:

Food - good and not too spicy
Camels - smelly and fart a lot
Beds - hard
Noise level - unbelievable
Cows - everywhere
Traffic - more unbelievable
Tour group - great
Tour leader - great
Garbage - everywhere
Hawkers - everywhere and so very persistent
Beggers - "
Deformed beggers - oh dear
Forts - big and always up a steep hill (walking)
Palaces - very plush
Desert - very dry

The Tour has been a good introduction to India for us and I guess we are ready to deal with it ourselves. India is a most interesting place to be, certainly never dull. I am looking forward to all the new experiences.

Geordie