Elsien's Traveblogue

I suppose Delhi is not really India either, but it's yet another aspect. I was lucky to be able to share with my journalist friend Michael, who was working on expenses, so we could have a nice room in a nice hotel (still pretty budget, mind, by Western standards, but Delhi accommodation is either Western prices 5 star or grotty dirty), but this one was clean and pleasant, with a fabulously powerful boiling hot shower and BBC World, CNN and Star Movies (James Bond season) as well as a decent Internet cafe and nice restaurant.Did all the usual tourist things (on my own: Michael was covering a conference in a 'proper' swanky hotel). Saw the Red Fort, Old Delhi, Connaught Place (British Colonial), the amazing Lutyens' designed Presidential Palace and India Gate on the Rajpath, a Parisian style boulevard. Also the house where Indira Gandhi lived and was murdered and where you can see a totally uncritical exhibition about her life, surrounded by a throng of adoring Indian fans. Amritsar is not mentioned anywhere and the Emergency only in the briefest of terms.Saw lots of Mughal Muslim tombs, all done in the same pinkish red stone as the Red Fort, some with glazed blue tiles, very similar to the ones I'd already seen in Pakistan. I hadn't really realised how overwhelmingly Muslim Delhi's history had been or that there was a sizeable Muslim minority there until Partition. I found a little huddle of them, including black dresses and face veils in the corner of Old Delhi.Now in Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Said goodbye to Michael after 10 days - no, no romantic interest, he's not my type, but he was a good travel companion and I've made another travel friend, another addition to my e-mail list.Took a train to Agra, in the very pleasant company of 4 Indian physiotherapists who'd been to the European Higher Education Fair in Delhi, and the unavoidable German woman in red, on her way to a 3-month meditation with Osho in Poona.Will explore Agra tomorrow and Saturday (Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays) and then I'll go on to Jaipur on Sunday or on Monday, depending on whether I want to see another ruined city or not near Agra.