Trains, trash, sanding tiles and eventual planes

A quick update: Alicia and I made it to Smelly New Delhi after a long day of train travel. We left beautiful-but-horn-filled Solan in the afternoon yesterday, having spent the previous night having delightful high tea, samosas and sweets with the Sharma's.

We wanted to take a taxi down from Solan to Kalka (which is where the 'real' trains start) but had a horrific time with the lazy, rude, and greedy taxi drivers in Solan. They tried to charge us at least 300 Rs. more than the normal fare and were incredibly unpleasant. We are both at our wits end (Alicia especially) with people trying to con us so this was really frustrating.

We knew the toy train was an option so we stopped at the train station and thankfully spoke with two very nice Indian Railways people and got tickets. On our return to the train station with our bags we caught a rickshaw with two guys in their early 20s who I think were super Indian metalheads (one was sporting a Slipknot tshirt). Unlike the taxi drivers they were exceedingly nice, charged us a fair price, and then asked for a photo when we got out. Those two were a welcome spot in my day after dealing with such unplesant people before.

The train ride down is long (about three hours vs. one by car) but super beautiful and thankfully there was lots of room in the car. I spoke for a while with a couple over University students from Chandigargh. Like the metalhead rickshaw driver-and-friend they were a nice reminder that the vast majority of Indians are nice and welcoming. However being tourists we often end up interacting with a bad lot while all the nice people are going about their day-to-day lives around us.

After a bit Alicia took a fake-travel-nap in the highly uncomfortable toy-train seats and I stood in the doorway watching the scenery go by. The doorway spot on Indian trains is the best. You can stand, feel the wind, poke your head out (always looking for what is coming down the track, though the toy train doesn't move more than 20 kph so its rather safe). The view from the train is always more interesting to me as trains bisect the scenery. You get to see in to buildings, neighborhoods, etc... vs. the front-door view from the road. All sorts of people are lined up or walking along the tracks. You can see daily life happening on the doorways and roofs of houses. Or you can see in to the back of a factory or warehouse while people are having a smoke. Its all quite interesting to me...

After picking up the 'big train', which was a special Shatabdi Express. This is excellent as it is basically the nicest type of train in India. You get lots of snacks, water, and a pseudo-dinner. Nice seats that recline and for your added pleasure people loudly adjusting their phone ring tones, men with headphones poorly singing along to songs, and rampant small children running up and down the length of the car screaming - their parents of course totally apathetic to the disturbance the kids are causing to the 50% of the passengers who are trying to sleep...

Our arrival to Delhi was as expected - hectic. At this point we were at least used to the intense chaos of the area around the train station at night and got to our hotel after a rather 'easy' (with huge bags) walk.

We are first thought our hotel, the Hotel Ajanta, was going to be quite nice, even if it was a bit expensive. Nice bathroom, AC, comfortable mattress... not all bad despite the lack of an outside window. But after some closer inspection we realized that the glass block divider of our hotel to the hallway also had wooden, uncloseable slats. This meant that acoustically, our room was IN THE HALLWAY. Where at 6:30am phones started ringing and an hour or two later men started inexplicably sanding tiles outside our door. The hallway is of course made of concrete and tile, so its an echo chamber that all pumped directly into our room and straight past my earplugs which had been forcefully (and vainly) re-inserted at 7:00am so I could try and sleep.

Once we gave up on sleep I was able to get us another windowless room without a direct acoustic coupling to the hallway. Though this room provided us with a smashed ant in the sheet.
We now only have one more night, which is good as we are both ready to escape New Delhi. We have a quick day of a couple errands and then keeping a low profile in our room.

Hopefully the AC will be working when we return (it wasn't when we left!).

The next update will hopefully be from Bangkok in our hopefully-to-be-swanky digs via the epic awesome help of our friend Rob.

Julia Child

Hey!!!
So for all you wild people who know us well, you know that lover and I love to cook, and host a dinner party. {one of the things we cannot wait to be able to do again!!} Therefore, we decided long before our trip that we must search out some cooking classes around the world. In Africa the moment did not arise, but here in India we knew we had to make it happen. Being a vegetarian, Indian food is like dream cuisine for me!! Both Jonathan and I love Indian food, and often indulge ourselves in Indian restaurants in San Francisco, but it is just one of those cuisines that we never knew how to construct ourselves.

We started doing some research and found some wonderful reviews from other travelers, that had taken a class here in Delhi from a woman named Jyoti (her website: Gourmet Desire). She hosts the classes in her home, and its super personal. The class is formulated to your liking {she can do either veg or non veg} and is super relaxed and cozy. She only hosts a couple of classes a week, and only 1 session a day. Miraculously she had time for us!! The class is a little on the pricey side, but its a gift that keeps on giving, and we just had to do it!

On the morning of our class I got all dolled up, {I did not want to show up to some woman's home looking like a weary traveler...you all know how I feel about travelers outfits by now!!!} and we set out to find a rickshaw to get us to her home. Jyoti lives about an hour out from where we are staying, in a suburb called Sheik Sari. Finding a rickshaw to take us was a little bit of drams, as the ride is so far, that unless we wanted a return ride with them, most guys did not want to take us. Finally we got a man, who was quite nice and with good English who agreed. The ride took FOREVER, and the traffic was just obscene!!! Oh, and the temp was easily 100 degrees!!! So no matter how much water I drank on the way to keep my body temp cool, by the time we arrived I was a sweaty over heated red faced mess!!!! So much for arriving as fresh and gorgeous as ever!!

Once we finally made it to Jyoti's neighborhood {about 20 mins late for our appointment...and you must know I despise being late}, We then had to wander around to find where she actually lived. We made it, and despite our lateness, and my red face, Jyoti was completely pleasant, and seemed un phased by our lateness. Well, she does live here after all, so she knows what its like to get from here to there!!

Jyoti's home was very beautiful, in a chic and simplistic manner. There were some interesting art and masks hanging on the wall, but not too many decorations. The class was held in her dining room, and on the adjacent terrace where she had a cooking station set up. Her actual kitchen was being used by her to servants, a man, and a woman who were working on finalizing touches to her baked goods. Jyoti is also a chocolatiere and a baker.

We sat down at the table which already had the full spread of all the materials and ingredients cut, chopped, and measured out, waiting for us. We sat around and chit chatted for a bit while her servants prepared us cooling sweet drinks. Jyoti is such a personable lady. I loved her immediately. She is so warm and welcoming, and just a perfect person to learn some amazing dishes from.

We began with a pamphlet each that she had for us with about 10 different recipes in them. After cooling off and going through the packet we got right to it. We spent the next couple of hours preparing and indulging in dish after phenomenal dish!! It was amazing and delectable to say the least. The spread she had planned was all North Indian style, and this was truly home cooking, the type of stuff that is passed down from grandmothers!!

Overall, the class felt more like hanging out with an old friend who was sharing tricks of the trade with you, than all impersonal, and sterile. We just laughed and cooked, and shared stories. It was perfect. And... if you can believe this, we found out that Jyoti also teaches a class at S.I.T.. This is where my sister Carolyn is studying, and has signed up for the cooking class!!!!!!! Out of all the 14 to 15 million people living in Delhi, my sister and I, here on different purposes both get to have Jyoti as a teacher!!! Unbelievable!!

Just all you wait till we come back to America!! If your lucky we will whip you up some magical Indian delicacies!!!

xoxoxoxoo
Alicia Claire