Tag Archive for: 100 Days in India Project

Visiting Mahabalipuram
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72/ 100 Visiting Mahabalipuram

Our driving woes didn't end once were were on the faster road south though. Like so many people traveling on the Indian roads, our driver was clearly blessed with limitless good fortune and would think nothing of overtaking slower vehicles around blind corners and on the wrong side of the road.
Night photograph of a chai seller in New Delhi, India.
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71/ 100 Uttapams for Breakfast

First things first, to wake us up, a cup of hot chai was needed. They make this by boiling a very large saucepan of milk to which they've added grated ginger root and, of course, large amounts of tea. From what we saw, the whole steaming mixture never seems to be entirely used - they simply keep adding more of each of the three ingredients through the day.
Women weaving threads around a holy tree in Varanasi, India
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70/ 100 Holy Tree in Varanasi

We left our apartment and walked slowly down the deserted narrow lanes we were quite familiar with by now. We emerged into the square that isn’t a square where market traders were already beginning to lay out their fruit and vegetables. The cattle and dogs were heaped up together by the embers of last night’s fire and the rubbish was piled up awaiting the sweeping women who would come along with their cart and collect it before the monkeys and goats spread it all out across the street again.
Stray dogs in India
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69/ 100 Stray Dogs in India

Stray dogs. There are thousands in India, and you can’t avoid them. India certainly isn’t unique in this respect as we have seen huge numbers in South America and other Asian countries such as Thailand too but one thing that seemed to be a little different was the way the dogs looked.
Antique bird cages hanging in a beautiful alcove in the palace in Udaipur, India.
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68/ 100 Indian Taxi Flights

Much to the relief of my ears, we landed in the beautiful city of Udaipur. At least, we had been told it was beautiful - it was actually pitch black by the time we arrived. This city in the heart of the Thar desert was completely new to us and we couldn’t wait to disembark the plane and get exploring.
Pigeons circling a minaret in Udaipur, India, at sundown.
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67/ 100 Don’t Eat the Sandwiches

Because we had upgraded to the best seats in town, amusingly named 'Spice Max', we also had a meal as part of the deal. Having spent most of the day in an airport we were absolutely starving hungry and quite excited about what was to come.
Airport Coffee. Two young men on a scooter ride past whith one carrying a large box above his head.
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66/ 100 Airport Coffee

In an effort to keep alert for whatever surprises the remainder of our journey held in store I figured it was time for a coffee, and as luck would have it there was a kiosk right there in the lounge. Oh my goodness, were we in for a shock.
Black and White photograph of a dog sleeping on a scooter in a busy Indian street
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65/ 100 Another Delay and Another Letter to Write

The clock on the wall behind the check-in desk inside Varanasi Airport told us things that we didn’t want to see. Apparently there were only about 30 minutes left to go until our aeroplane to Udaipur departed, and we were still nowhere near the front of the queue to even check in to the flight.
Elderly man sitting on a cycle rickshaw on the streets of Chandni Chowk in Delhi, India.
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64/ 100 Spice Max

Being a little bit stingy I had booked our flights with one of the many budget airlines available, Spice Jet. Not only was the route cheaper than Air India, but because it was so cheap we could afford to splash out on Spice Max seats which were the best class on the aircraft
An orange and a blue scooter with a goat stading upon the blue on in Dehi, India.
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63/ 100 Varanasi Airport

As is usual in India there was a long and disorderly queue to even get inside the terminal building, with police checking to make sure that you had a boarding pass, or a version of it on your phone. At the time, in 2018, India had fully embraced mobile phone technology, even more than here perhaps, and just about every travel document you needed could be scanned from your mobile.
Black and white photograph of a bicycle rider walking past a large puddle in New Delhi
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61/ 100 Hunt for a Milk Shop

As soon as there first few fat raindrops landed in the dust that covered the streets the entire area transformed. Seemingly from nowhere, huge sheets of plastic appeared over chai stalls and over the gaudy displays of plastic goods lining the streets in this part of town. Cycle rickshaws attached flimsy screens, completely opaque from decades of use, to their roofs to offer some protection from the warm but torrential rain.
Indian coffee and chai tea shop in Delhi, India.
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60/ 100 Indian Coffee

Imagine you have just arrived in New Delhi railway station after spending several hours on a train from Jaipur. You push your way through the thousands of passengers, sliding your bags through the security scanner. It isn’t even switched on, but a guard makes you do it anyway. You avoid making eye contact with the tourist-spotting touts vying for your business