This is the final installment of the India trip. Our last stop was Delhi, the seat of the National Government in India. Again, amazing contrasts; here between New Delhi, built by the British and Old Delhi, which is ancient part of the city. The history of Old Delhi goes back over 3000 years, and New Delhi. King George V decided to move the capital from Calcutta to Delhi and the new city was officially inaugurated in 1931. It is a place any westerner could recognize with broad avenues and beautiful stately homes, some of which are Embassies of foreign governments. An important site for citizens and visitors alike is Raj Ghat, the monument ot Mahatma Gandhi, erected on the site of his funeral pyre. In the old city, we visited yet another Mosque, but different in that it had a very large open courtyard where the worshipers congregated for services. Subsequent to that, we mounted bicycle rickshaws for a ride through the Chandni Chowk bazaar. This is an old market area of winding streets which are extremely narrow. Here entire streets are devoted to the sale of a particular item, such one for silver, one for gemstones, one for fabrics, et. seq. It is impossible to get even the smallest car down these streets. It is pedestrians, the bicycles, rickshaws, and the ever present motor scooters. I remember seeing monkeys running along the massive jumble of electrical power lines and wondering about the catastrophic results of a fire in this neighborhood. Also, while riding, I passed a small shop (there are thousands of them) that had fruits and vegetables on the ground that had been placed on what appeared to be a very dirty towel. The thought came to mind of how many rats must thrive in this environment.

Our stay again was at the Oberoi New Delhi Hotel. This was not a resort type property as some of the other, but a very elegant big city hotel. While we were there, the King of Belgium was in town and he and his entourage dominated the hotel, and frankly inconvenienced the other guests. At dinner one night, I ordered New Zealand lamb chops which were the best I've had in a long time. I've a very good friend who is a native of Rotorua, New Zealand and he puts up some lovely lamb chops, but it seemed so incongruous to find wonderful New Zealand lamb in India of all places.

All good things must come to an end, and we boarded an American Airlines flight from Delhi to Chicago (ORD) for the long flight back over the N.Pole to connect to another flight to our home in San Diego. This trip was one of incredible contrasts in cultures and lifestyles and ostentatious wealth and mind numbing poverty. Even for all the precautions you must take and the shots and inoculations and the food and water precautions, I am very glad I made this trip. It was a wonderful cultural and educational experience. Everyone should experience the Taj Mahal once in their lifetime!

Shortly after our return home, I heard the news flash about terror attacks taking place in Mumbai. Ellie and I turned on the TV and lo and behold we see the aforementioned doorman from the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai carrying a casualty out to an ambulance. He then turned around and ran back into the hotel. The camera panned up one floor to the lobby level and we could see broken windows and flames and the doorman running back into the hotel to help other victims of the attack. Ellie also has a picture she took of the Taj Hotel when we were on our way to the dock for our visit to the island I talked about in the first episode of my blog of this trip. We were simply lucky. We were close to being victims of the attack and the attack was obviously being planned while we were in Mumbai.