Farewell Delhi days and Incredible India!!

Finally the paperwork is complete, visas in passports and tickets being issued so that we can travel tomorrow (Wednesday) - so it is time to bid Delhi farewell. We have been here longer than anticipated and it's been good to spend time here. Memories and impressions of our stay in Delhi include:

Wonderful advertising - this medical outlet really knows how to attract attention!

Creative and appropriate motorcycle headgear..........
and colourful hair styles

Seeing how many passengers you can get into an auto

and peeking through the fancy temple like windows at the back

Cars with fitted curtains as a regular feature.

All kinds of roadside shops and stalls...........

Chaperoned driving instruction - driving lessons where your sisters and aunties can come along too.................

Pigeons having a ball - and a bath on the rooftops after a storm

and cows going about their daily work

Forget pizza delivery - what about pot plant delivery?

...............and my favourite - at the end of each day, as the sun goes down - watching people gather on the grassy islands in the middle of the busy flyovers near Safdarjung!

How on earth they get there is a mystery, but they clearly seem to enjoy relaxing there, oblivious to the lanes of speeding traffic surrounding them! Wonderful - Incredible India Indeed!

"Warthogs and children have right of way"

proclaims the marvellous sign greeting you in Nairobi National Park, Kenya! And just to prove the point, here is a warthog exercising his right of way!

We had an amazing drive through the park this morning, and I saw zebra for the first time in my life in the wild
as well as giraffe. After so many years in Asia, it was truly amazing to see such different wildlife.

History

Today is such a historic day for Sri Lanka. For us it was a very hard time to leave.

Before I post some reflections and images from the period as we prepared to depart, here are a couple of "leaving Sri Lanka" images from our last few hours on the island....

Nomads again

That's it - another chapter is about to begin. The Sri Lanka chapter has now closed - we left hot sticky Colombo and made our way to Delhi.


If Colombo was hot and sticky like a sauna, Delhi was just like walking into an oven! Apparently yesterday was the hottest April day recorded for 51 years. Every surface is hot to the touch and when the power goes off (which seems to be happening quite often) it is incredibly hot. It is hard to believe that in the winter months Delhi has a penetrating, damp cold which you feel particularly indoors.


So, what now? Unlike a book, we don't move on immediately to the next chapter. We have to wait for paperwork and other things to be in place so I guess this is some kind of limbo-in-between stage. We will have some days in Delhi taking care of some arrangements - and baking, before we probably head to Siliguri in north Eastern India to spend time with family. While we don't want to have to wait too long in this nomadic, limbo state, this will be a welcome break from the intensity of the past month and wonderful to spend time with family before we move on again.


It will also be a chance to reflect back on our Sri Lanka experience and record the experiences which I have not yet put into words here and share some of the many pictures.

Happy New Year!

I have just returned from a fabulous trip to the South of Sri Lanka where I spent the New Year at the invitation of a close colleague. The trip was a mix of spiritual, ritual and tradition, wildlife and adventure. Each aspect deserves its own write up and of course, there is no shortage of photographs!

Watch this space...........

Change and reflection

I have been quiet here over the past weeks as we approach yet another big change. My work in Sri Lanka will come to an end in 20 days, as will our stay here. Things are taking shape for the next step - the next job, the next country and, I am sure, the next pressure cooker and rice cooker! That is how it has been since we left Nepal.

Then I think back, and realise that it has been nearly 9 years since I left Scotland to come and live and work in Asia. I remember the trepidation as I prepared to leave for Kathmandu in 2000. I had never been to Nepal before. In fact my only visit to Asia had been for a certain milestone birthday trip the previous year when I travelled on the Trans-Siberian railway through Russia, Mongolia and China instead of having a party. So it was a huge step to a new life and new job in a new country, new continent and new organisation. As well as being a risk, it had been a dream for many years. A dream is all very well, but I had no idea if I was able to meet the challenge of the reality.

I arrived in Kathmandu in the middle of a monsoon downpour and the images of the journey from the airport to town are still etched firmly in my mind. Everything seemed brown (a combination of the fading afternoon light, the rain and the mud) as we drove through the narrow streets past tiny shops and cows chewing rubbish . Leaving Kathmandu nearly 6 years later was a huge wrench and it still feels more like home than anywhere else.

Now I am preparing for another departure and arrival, and coincidentally, another milestone age as it is now 10 years since the Trans-Siberian adventure. An adventure which heralded a completely new phase in my personal and professional life and which broadened my horizons beyond any wild expectations I had ever had. I still find it incredible that I have lived and worked in these special places (Nepal, Mongolia, India and Sri Lanka) and visited many more. Now after four years of a relatively nomadic experience we are hoping to be a bit more settled in our next place.

So, watch this space for news and updates...............