This post will deal with general impressions.
Our starting and ending point was Delhi. There is an old and new part and our hotel was sort between the two parts in Dwarka. While the Radisson Blu Dwarka was obviously a high end hotel, we stayed here 3 times in all, they were doing renovations and each time we ended up on the corridor where the renovations were actively being undertaken.
We arrived in Delhi at the end of a very long day. We were up at 4 o'clock and arrived in Delhi just after 8pm with a 4.5 hour time shift.
We were very pleased to see a gent holding a Abyss Tours sign as we exited the arrivals halls. It was still quite hot which was a huge change to the very cool morning we had as we left Canberra. Mr Singh quickly escorted us to his car, which was air conditioned, something we were pleased about as we traveled from place to place on our tour, and we were soon heading for Dwarka.
This was our first experience of Indian road use. We had experienced travel in Eqypt but this was a little different. Firstly, the make up of the road users was quite different. While there were some buses and larger cars and trucks, most the traffic was on the smaller side. This included bikes, motor bikes and rickshaws (which were basically 3 wheeled motorbikes with an enclosed passenger compartment). It is amazing how many people you can fit on a motorbike and in a rickshaw.
We quickly became aware of the Indian road rules. I think there was one, quite simple rule: you are not to hit nor be hit by anything or anyone.
Lines drawn on the road were obviously there as guides only. Like we saw in Eqypt the formal number of lanes bore no relation to the actual traffic flow.
Horns were used quite commonly and generally as a warning that someone was passing another vehicle. There was a lot of horn blowing!
Patience was also a characteristic of the driver/riders.
Divided roads did not mean that the traffic flow was in one direction. Quite often there would be vehicles coming towards the traffic stream as the driver/rider was attempting to get to somewhere on the "wrong" side of the road.
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| Trevor and Lorraine in a rickshaw on our first (very hot) day in Delhi |
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| Cows are sacred in India and they have their own ambulance service |
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| Along with all the other things on the road there are also cows! |
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| We came across a lot of trucks transporting fodder. The bit overflowing the top of the truck is a huge bag like container. |
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| Trucks passing each other were a challenge. The rucks were often highly decorated. |
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| Almost anything can be carried on the back of a motor bike. The motor cycle on the left has a pillion passenger riding side saddle which was quite common a common sight |
