Breakfast was included in our Suryaa Villa "special offer" so we made our way downstairs to the lovely dining area. As it is still chilly in the mornings here, being a desert climate, we ate inside but later guests were eating in the lovely courtyard. It was so peaceful this morning now that the wedding over the road seems to have finished. Mind you we heard dozens of explosions late at night last night which we think were fireworks. These are let off regularly in the evenings in India and also at odd hours during the night!
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| Luke pointing to his bedroom window |
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| Roof top views |
Whilst everyone else chose conventional breakfasts, I chose the stuffed parantha which are flat bready like pancake sized circles filled with vegetables and served with natural yoghurt. That plus masala tea was a more than adequate breakfast.
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| View from roof top to courtyard Saryaa Villa |
We set out on our morning walk and seemed to come across "Pharmacy Road" where there were shop after shop selling pharmaceuticals near the hospitals. There are loads of clinics around here with typical Indian doctor names: Gupta, Agarwal, Patel, Singh - just like at home! Not to mention the Eternal Hospital Cardiology Unit - would you go there? !
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| One of many pharmacy where you can buy anything without prescription - no wonder there are resistant bugs out there! |
We bought some travel sickness tablets for our next bus journey and inquired about the price and availability of Annika's medication which is SO expensive at home and we have to go to the Royal Children's Hospital to get it. Here it was, cheap and available without prescription and no special letter required! The quality of medicine here, of course, is quite questionable, so we have brought supplies with us!
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| Eternal Hospital? Might avoid it, I think! |
Walking around our local area, we soon discovered the peaceful Central Park. The kids had a great time doing handstands and tricks much to the amusement of the locals. We were delighted to see kingfishers, quail and many other species of birds as well as the usual endearing chipmunks. It was lovely walking in the shade and we found the exit for the Narayan Singh Circle bus stop to inquire about tickets to Agra. We found the ticket office, with the help of the friendly tuk tuk driver who lent us his mobile phone yesterday. Karl, the ever cautious scam protector, didn't want to buy the tickets today without checking out all the details...so we'll trek back there tomorrow, no doubt, and buy the tickets...which I am hoping are still available for the 0830 bus on Friday.
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| Coofee corner! |
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| Maharajah J L Singh being blessed by a hundred pigeons. |
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| Handstand opportunity. |
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| Birralee shirt travelling far and wide! |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Another beautiful bird! |
By this stage, it was time for lunch and we enjoyed chhole and kulche - naan bread heated with fresh coriander and a delicious slightly spicy dahl mix. Everyone but Luke enjoyed it and at least he ate the naan bread. We walked on and must have missed our turn and end up at Ganesh Temple. We had a quick look but it was noisy as there was a tradition of ringing the bells which were just too loud. Our goal was to climb the interesting mountain and fort behind the temple complex. We walked through narrow streets through what appeared to be a dairy area. There were cows and their calves wandering around the streets and some housed sort of under the street in what seemed to be a local rubbish dump. The kids playing around were smiling and curious.
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| Blacksmith at work. |
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| "Parking for four wheelers " |
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| Bus stop crowd |
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| Chhole kulche for lunch |
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| Hoeing into the Naan Bread |
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| Limca drink |
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| Curious cat. |
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| Cows on the street. |
At the end of this little enclave, we tried to reach the mountain and asked some locals how to access it. Apparently it is only open on one day of the year - 17 February - and we won't be here. Too bad.
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| Carrying dried cow dung on her head |
Now we were rather disorientated and eventually found our way back past another kulche and chhole cart which we availed ourselves of! Armed with some more bottles of water we went back to the villa for a bit of down time.
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| Masala tea for me! |
Luke had great fun creating tuk tuks with his Lego. Listening to his play was fascinating! There was a one legged man who had been in the war in Cambodia, a mine victim, tuk tuks imported from Thailand to India, tuk tuk drivers, disabled people who were given food for Christmas, naan bread stalls, policemen with guns, and precious rubies. He was playing out all of the experiences he has had - how therapeutic! What a lot he has taken on board. He probably really needs to process it all and Lego is a great way for him to do this.
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| Lego tuk tuk! |
Annika and I sat down in the courtyard and played chess. The kids are keen to play which is great because I could never enthuse them at home!
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| My chess opponent |
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| Chillin' |
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| Selfie on the roof top swinging chair! |
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| Swinging chair in the late afternoon |
Towards dusk, Annika and I walked out in the much cooler weather to buy some bananas and apples and orange juice. We also bought some crunchy peanut crackle toffee which the kids consumed away from Luke as he is allergic to peanuts and goes a bit silly if we eat peanuts near him. The highlight of our walk was seeing a hawk sitting in some rubbish. It had a broken wing but was moving around well and sought shelter in some bushes. Not sure if animal welfare would be high on the locals' list when they are so poor. In the back streets there are many little grubby dentists offering all sorts of dental treatment. We saw a miller milling flour and a little tailor's shop, too.
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| Back street miller - making "wheat powder" he told us. |
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| Hawk? - bird of prey |
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| Injured bird |
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| Not sure what there ceramics pots are used for. |
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| Elephants down the road! |
We feel very gritty and grimy at the end of our days as there is a fine patina of dust in the air and awful air pollution from all the vehicles not to mention the filthy footpaths with piles of stinky rubbish, excrement and open urinals. In amongst all of this, there are smiling people ready for a chat, beggars, elephants, spice and produce carts and a thousand horns beeping, tuk tuks, motor bikes, cars, buses, vans and trucks competing for space on the roads and we are in the midst of it all! This is India.
