Trip Report 12 Parks in 12 Months.

Hi,

If you are here for a trip report about WDW, please check back in December. At the moment I'm in Disneyland Paris, the first of the 12 parks I'm planning to visit this year.

A little background about this trip,
This is me Mimi, today, half frozen.

I'm travelling with my sister and we have both taken a year off work to cross some things of our wish list.
Visiting all 12 Disney parks was very high on my list. My sister likes Disney and is happy to indulge my slight obsession.
We started our trip around the world about 3 weeks ago but this is our first Disney Park. The rules for 12 in 12, that I totally made up for myself, are that I have to stay on property and visit each park for 1 day minimum. I'm hoping I can make 1 long trip report about all the parks, if someone is interested I can add some of my other travel as well.

But let's start with Disneyland Paris, First Park, First Day.
We've already been in Paris for about a week so all we had to do was take the subway from were we were staying, change trains once and exit at Disneyland. I woke up before my alarm and we were ready to leave an hour ahead of schedule. In the first subway I opened my big mouth and said we'd probably make Magic Hour as we'd left so early. Literally 1 minute later the subway slowed down to a crawl and an announcement was made. There was an issue and there would be a delay.
Apparently there was a person on the track at the major station we had to change trains at, so no trains were allowed in. Luckily our train terminated at a station where we could get a Metro that took us to a station where we could get on the train to Disneyland.

The extra travel time swallowed up our Magic Hour but I wasn't too upset about it.
I've always wanted to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, as it's right at the entrance of Disneyland Paris, so for this trip that's were we are staying.
Our room wasn't ready when we got to the hotel at 9.30am so we dropped of our luggage and walked into Disneyland. It felt a bit strange to me, very familiar but different as well. I didn't take too many pictures today as I really wanted to just soak it in and get to know the park, also it rained A LOT today and I didn't want want my phone to get too wet. I did take a picture at the entrance.

We were happy to be there, despite the weather.
First stop was Phantom Manor, there was no line so we rode it twice in row. As much I love the Magic Kingdom version I like this one a bit better. I'm going to try and get some pictures/film it tomorrow or Wednesday so I can show you.
We finished our second ride at 10am and walked past a stand where they sold these,

A cappuccino and these churros where €7 I also bought a coke for €4.20. The churros were okay-ish but we enjoyed them as they were warm.
We walked over to the theatre after eating our snack to watch a Christmas Sing A Long.

We got there late so didn't get the best seats but we enjoyed the show, Mickey spoke French but Minnie spoke English. The only other character that spoke English was Goofy. I thought the show was well done and easy to follow for everyone.
When we left the show it wasn't raining so we hopped online for Star Tours, wait time was listed as 35 minutes but ,as we found out throughout the day, the wait times weren't very accurate. Our wait was nearly an hour.

My sister (P) and I really struggle taking nice pictures, we usually just stand there and take a picture. But we see all these, mostly much younger, people doing all these poses and expressions etc. So we decided to mix it up as well and try some new things.
Here's us "being serious" while waiting for the Star Tours doors to open.

When we walked outside afterwards it was still dry and we saw one of my sister's favourites with no line.

He was fun and very talkative.

 

[cgersic]

Ok, please explain the cake? Is it your face? Is the face part the cake part? And how did they get a big bouquet of flowers in there??? Sooooo fascinating and cool and Happy Birthday!!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Happy Belated Birthday!!! Still loving all this! Keep it coming!

Thank you and I will. Just a bit behind at the moment but Insta is more up to date.

Ok, please explain the cake? Is it your face? Is the face part the cake part? And how did they get a big bouquet of flowers in there??? Sooooo fascinating and cool and Happy Birthday!!

The cake was amazing, not my face but Frida Kahlo's, she's an artist I greatly admire.
Here's one of her self portraits.

The face was printed on fondant and attached to the cake with icing. The flowers had wire wrapped around the stems and were inserted into the top of the cake. It was a super cool cake, I loved it.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

The next day we had tickets to visit Robben Island. It is the island were Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. The island has a long history as a prison, starting in 1658, when the Dutch imprisoned local people opposing the Dutch invasion.
As it is an island you have to take a ferry to get there.

You can only visit Robben Island if you have a tour booked. The ferry ride was very pleasant and only took about 25 minutes.
Robben Island itself is very pretty, it even has penguins.

Unfortunately it has a very ugly and dark history.
You can't walk around on your own on the island, when you get off the ferry you are assigned a bus with a tour guide. You are than driven around the island while the guide explains the things you see. You drive past the quarry where the prisoners had to work, the church building, the village where the prison staff lived etc. There is one stop, so you can get out and use the restroom, buy some souvenirs or a drink, the second and last stop is by the prison itself. You are met by a previous inmate who gives you a tour and explains what life inside was like.

This is Setho, he was arrested when he was 22 years old for being a member of the ANC. He was tortured and spent 3 years imprisoned on Robben Island. The amazing thing was that he was a very positive person. He spoke about how he realised what true love was, while locked up. His mother and sister would come and visit him, (prisoners were only allowed 30 minutes visits, 3 times a year.) His family had to travel 2000km by train one way, during apartheid, so it was not easy to get a train ticket etc. And often they would get back on the train the day of the visit because they couldn't afford nor where they allowed to stay in a hotel.
Most of the prisoners were in a group cell. We were in the actual cell that Setho lived in for 3 years.

There were 3 toilets and 3 showers for one cell holding 60 men.

We then walked to the isolation unit. This is where the leaders of the resistance were kept in order to try and stop them from inspiring others.

This is the cell where Nelson Mandela was kept for 18 years.

As you can see there wasn't even a bed or a toilet, just a blanket and a bucket.

There was a courtyard for some fresh air and exercise where the prisoners managed to plant this tree.

From the prison we walked back to the ferry. The same route released prisoners would walk, the same route Nelson Mandela walked when he was moved from Robben Island, to house arrest at a different location. You walk past all this barbwire and have to go through a gate to get back on the ferry.

It was an inspirational visit for me, such strength and dignity in the face of cruelty and injustice.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

After our visit to Robben Island we walked back to our guesthouse to pick up Baby Lola and we left Cape Town. P and M both like wine and the area around Cape Town is know as the Garden Route and famous for its vineyards. The next 9 days we drove over 1200km, I say we but it was really just me doing all the driving. As P and M wanted to do lots of wine tastings, there wasn't much point putting them on the insurance of the car. So I was the designated driver for the Garden Route. P and I had visited France a few years ago and visited several vineyards, which I quite enjoyed because you got a tour of the vineyard, they explained how they make the wine, you see the bottling process etc. and P could taste some wine in the shop. It was interesting because I like to see how things are made and it usually lasted an hour max. Unfortunately in South Africa they do things very differently. The vineyards are all just fancy bars/restaurants, a few had beautiful gardens and some interesting history but the majority of our visits was just, walk in, sit down and P and M picked which wines they wanted to taste, usually 3 or 5 different kinds. And than the sommelier comes and explains the process of making the wine, the tasting notes of plum or chocolate, bla bla bla. The whole thing would take 2 hours if not more.
P and M loved it.

One vineyard said the wine had a fresh linen note and brought out a fragrance board to complement the wine.

Wine is not expensive in SA and the tasting glasses aren't small.

I found it all quite boring but I love my sister so this part of the trip was for her.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I found the wine tastings very boring and driving in Baby Lola wasn't as fun as big Lola. Google Maps is also a bit of a liar in South Africa because it thinks you can drive the speed limit on South African roads. And you most certainly can't drive the limit as most roads are in bad condition. They either have lots of potholes or no clear lines or a combination of both. So Google Maps will tell me it is an 40 minutes drive to a vineyard but in reality it will take an hour and 10 minutes. I did find South african drivers to be polite and considerate in general. Very little honking, people make room to let other cars pass, you thank someone for letting you pass by flashing your emergency lights once or twice. And guess what a traffic light is called in South Africa?

Yup, it's called a robot. I can't help but smile when I see a sign like this, or see it painted on the road.
The food was very very good in South Africa, we only had 2 bad meals and both were at the airport.
Food is also much more affordable than in the Netherlands and the quality was amazing.
We tried several new things, like samp and rooster koek.

Nelson Mandela loved this samp and beans dish. It tasted a bit like a curry with a nice amount of spice.

Twice we went to Kaai4Braai in Mossel Bay. It's a bbq place on the beach. Only South Africans don't call it BBQ but braai, and they take it very seriously. This place had delicious food and it was dirt cheap.
Here you see the rooster koek on the grill.

I know this doesn't look too pretty but boy was it good. The tomato and onion relish was just the best. It was a freshly made hamburger on a warm just grilled rooster koek with that home made relish. Honestly one of the best things I ate in a long while.

They also made a delicious curry chicken with samp and rooster koek.

Some other good food we had was a flatbread with hummus, roasted aubergine and chickpeas.

A roasted beetroot salad with maple glazed carrots and feta. These beets will live in my memory for ever. Who knew beets could be this delicious?

P was hungry so she started on this pizza before I took a picture. It was a blue cheese, salami and honey pizza, sounds weird but was actually tasty.

One of the most expensive meals we had was this cheeseboard at a vineyard. I was hangry so ordered it while the wine tasting was going on.
South African cheese is pretty bland compared to European cheeses but the chutneys and fresh fruit helped to make it taste good. There was also biltong on the board, it's the african version of beef jerky, not something I would eat, P and M said it was okay.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

We handed in Baby Lola at the airport and had a very comfortable 8 hour a flight to Qatar.
I like to tease P. because when we were getting serious with our planning of the round the world trip, I told her I was going to fly business class. And for a long time P said that that was a waste of money and she would just fly Economy.
She also resisted just having carry on bags. This went on for like 2 years, whenever it came up she was always like 'ECONOMY with a Suitcase, bla bla bla'. Luckily two things happened, 1 she went on a work trip to the carribean and flew long distance business class for the first time in her life, and 2 they lost her checked in luggage on a flight from London to the Netherlands.
After those experiences she understood the wisdom of my words.
Here's P on the flight to Qatar from Johannesburg. Apparently Qatar Airways serves very good rose champagne.

And have handsome flight attendants that bring said Rose Champagne.

Personally I love flying business because it makes travel so much easier and fun again. Much less queuing and waiting at the airport and a lot of extra space on the plane. Not to mention better service and food.
Here's me enjoying my extra space and being right.

Before take off, we were offered Arabic coffee, which is very different from western coffee. P had never tried it and liked it as well.

I had some fresh orange juice and beetroot chips right after take off.

The chips were nicer than they look.
When dinner time came around I had the cheese board as an appetiser.

I forgot to take a picture of my main but it was rice with a african tomato sauce that had sultanas and some nuts.
For dessert I asked for the cherry pie and requested it a la mode, but that got lost in translation so I got 2 desserts, the cherry pie and a chocolate and hazelnut ice-cream with brownie pieces. I wasn't going to complain about that.

P hadn't seen Frozen 2 so we both watched that to get ready for Disney Hong Kong. (There will be a Disney Park report soon, I promise.)

P had issues using the remote control and she accidentally started the reading of the Holy Koran.

I had a little nap, some more fresh juice and got some kitkats to put in my purse.
We also got 2 of these amenities kits. If you would like to have one you can DM me on Insta, we are raffling it soon and will send it free of charge to the winner.

Before we knew it we landed in Doha, Qatar.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

While we have changed planes quite a few times in Doha over the years, we have never taken the time to visit the city. Qatar Airways has some amazing deals on hotels, to promote tourism, so we booked a 3 night's stay.We did this probably in April 2024 or so, right after we booked our RTW ticket but before I accepted a 5 months contract in Saudi Arabia. I literally finished working in Saudi the day before P and I started travelling. So I wasn't too excited about being in Qatar.
P however was really looking forward to it.
Here she is on the train at the airport. This train took us from the terminal we arrived in to the terminal where immigration was.

Qatar is a very safe country to travel in, especially for women. No one bothered us or was disrespectful the 3 days we were there. No one tried to scam us or pester us to go in their shop etc.We got a few looks, but we get that in most places we go. People aren't used to seeing two white women on their own.
Our hotel was in the Souq Waqif. It's a market that's over 200 years old but they gave it a face-lift in the not so distant past.

It is still mostly used by locals to buy anything from new shoes to birds. I didn't like seeing birds, bunnies, turtles and kittens in tiny cages but there is a large section in the souq devoted to selling life animals. It's difficult when you come from a country with different customs to understand why they still treat animals this way. I didn't take any photos of the bird market as it made me very uncomfortable. We avoided the life animal section the rest of our stay.

There are porters to help you with your shopping. They have a wheelbarrow and will put all your purchases in there and walk behind you till you have finished and than they will put it in your car.

One of the buildings in the souq was converted into an art gallery, I liked their lights a lot.

In a central part of the souq was this statue, it's very fittingly called the dumb.

It was a landmark we could use to try and find our way, as the souq was like a maze.
Another landmark was this shop with a giant Qatari flag.

Our hotel was very nice and the service was outstanding. The staff was eager to please and always happy to help.
We had a view of this mosque from the hotel hallway.

The call to prayer starts around 4.50am at this time of year but neither P nor I heard it in our room.

Our room was quite a steal, less than $60 a night, and it had a Nespresso machine, 2 big beds, robes and slippers and luxury bath products.

 

[Rimmit]

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Little late to the game as just got around to reading your thread. Looks great! Thanks for taking us along!

Aww. The plane didn't get the Q-Suite. Was it an equipment swap or did they schedule it that way. Will your next flight at least get the Q-suite out of Doha to your next stop? Either way the service is still amazing and I'm sure you had a great time. Shocked they didn't at least send the plane without the 2-2-2 seats. My kids did Joburg to Doha and it was a Q-suite when they did it, after my wife got run over by the car In Zimbabwe and I stayed behind with her in Joburg. We ended up getting repatriated from Joburg at that point back to Newark in United Polaris, as the idea of having to do a layover in her condition at the time was an absolute nightmare.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Little late to the game as just got around to reading your thread. Looks great! Thanks for taking us along!

Aww. The plane didn't get the Q-Suite. Was it an equipment swap or did they schedule it that way. Will your next flight at least get the Q-suite out of Doha to your next stop? Either way the service is still amazing and I'm sure you had a great time. Shocked they didn't at least send the plane without the 2-2-2 seats. My kids did Joburg to Doha and it was a Q-suite when they did it, after my wife got run over by the car In Zimbabwe and I stayed behind with her in Joburg. We ended up getting repatriated from Joburg at that point back to Newark in United Polaris, as the idea of having to do a layover in her condition at the time was an absolute nightmare.

Thanks for reading my TR, and your not that late, I still have nearly 11 months and 5 castles to go.I'm not really a plane person so I don't know if this was the planned plane or a swap but I was very happy with it. I have flown in the newer ones with the Q-suites for work and actually prefer this older style. While you don't have a little sliding door and a bit less privacy, you do get a lot more room to move around.

 

[Rimmit]

I better buckle up then! Gonna be a long ride!

The main thing for us with the Q suite is the 4 person quad ability. It's just cool to make a quad out of it. My parents actually like the other arrangements better like you, either they're more open 1-2-1 or the 2-2-2. Making the two person bed in the Qsuite is just so cool as well, as there are only a handful business class/first class seats on the planet that let you do that.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Qatar is a small country with less than 3 million inhabitants, Doha is the capital and has 1.2 million inhabitants. Only 15%of the people that live in Qatar are Qatari, the rest are immigrants. Qatari citizens don't have to work if they don't want to as the government gives them a stipend every month from the sale of their oil and gas so all workers are from overseas. It makes for an interesting mix of people. It's also a dry country, meaning alcohol isn't sold anywhere.
On our first day we explored the souq and walked along the corniche. There you have a lovely view of the modern skyline with the old pearl diving boats on the water.

There is a walkway that takes all the way to the marina where they have a new shopping district with some cool street art.

P is missing her cat at home.

There are several ways you can explore the corniche, we were tempted by this one.

We walked back again at the end of the day while the sun was setting.

The next morning we used the fast WiFi in the hotel to do a bit more trip planning. We have now booked nearly everything till the beginning of May. We set of around lunch time to Pearl Island. It's a completely new piece of land that the Qataris created to build a new community.
We took the Metro to get there.
There are 3 differences carriages to choose from. First is Standard, everyone can go on here.

Second is Family, these carriages are for women, children and men that are travelling with a woman.

Thirdly is the Gold carriage. You need a special (expensive) card to ride in these.

They looked real nice though.

Pearl Island was a bit disappointing, some fancy shops and restaurants but not a lot of people. There wasn't much life to the place. I only took one picture, this is suppose to be little Venice.

They are still building lots of apartment buildings on the island, it's the only place in Qatar where foreigners are allowed to buy property, but I wouldn't want to live there.

 

[Bullseye1967]

P had issues using the remote control and she accidentally started the reading of the Holy Koran

How is this even possible? Great TR so far!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

How is this even possible? Great TR so far!

When it comes to technology P is special.

But since Qatar is a Muslim country Qatar Airways has the Koran on the entertainment system. You don't even have to look for it. There is a tile on the screen for Movies,/Music,/TV shows/ Koran.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

On our last day in Qatar we walked around a bit, we past a Flower Arranging Academy. (An improvement on the Pole Dancing Academy we saw in South Africa.)
I poked my head into the Academy because the door was open and a lady very kindly invited me inside to look around.

It was a creative space with some interesting and beautiful arrangements.

Next up we made a real effort to find a McDonald's. Like @Rimmit I enjoy eating at foreign one's to see if they have anything interesting on the menu. I also wanted to get a beef burger since that would be off the menu for a few weeks in our next country.
Mickey D's in Qatar do not have a big Golden M high up in the sky to lead you there. They didn't even have a sign out. It was the most discreet McDonald's I've ever seen.

But we found it, and they had some unusual for us things to choose from.

I didn't get this.
I was super boring and got a cheeseburger with fries.
P did chose something we hadn't seen before, a chicken burger with grilled mushrooms.
Sorry for the slightly gross picture. McDonald's doesn't photograph well plus P already started.

We shared a Spanish Coffee and some churros for dessert.

The Spanish coffee is made with sweetend condensed milk. The churros tasted okay but the caramel sauce was .

Up next was a visit to the Qatari Islamic centre.
It is a cultural centre and mosque for visitors where they explain Islam and you can visit the mosque. We were greeted very warmly and quickly taken to the VR room.

Here you had a 5 minute VR, (is it called a film?) presentation to explain the origin of Islam. It was incredibly well done, I was able to walked through Mecca which was super cool, as non Muslims aren't allowed to go there.
After that there was an opportunity to ask questions but im quite familiar with Islam so I had no questions, and we were escorted to a women's changing room. Some lovely ladies helped us to put on a abaya and hijab.
No time for a photoshoot here so just a very quick pic before we went out to meet our guide.

He took us into the mosque, it's the same one we could see from the hotel.

Inside the mosque was a bit underwhelming to be honest. We have been in very elaborate and beautifully decorated mosques in Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur so this one was a bit disappointing. Qatar has enough money to go all out so I had hoped for something over the top. But it was just a plain room with a red carpet.
It was still nice to visit and the VR alone made it a worthwhile stop.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Next up was a visit to the Islamic Art Museum.
It's in a gorgeous building designed by I.M. Pei.

It looks more impressive on the inside.

I loved this photograph in the museum.

They also had some exhibits from current fashion designers.

Most things were quite old, like these intricate tiny shoes.

I play this game when I am in a museum where I pick one thing I would steal. (Just to clarify I would never steal anything, it's just for fun. I'd be a terrible criminal.)
Anyways, this is what I picked.

We stayed about 90 minutes and then made our way out to go pick up our bags from the hotel.
One last picture, Insta worthy I think, maybe I to can be an Insta Girlie, what do you think @k8einwdw?

 

[Go.Nijntje]

We get back to the hotel and the nice porter offers us a lift to the Metro station in the hotel golf cart.
That quickly turned into a thrill ride when he decided to go on the main road and against the direction of tragic.

Luckily it was a short ride.

Our flight wasn't until 2.25am but we were at the airport by 6.30pm. Why, you might ask? The Qatar Airways airport lounge in Doha is one of the best in the world and we wanted to take full advantage.
And take advantage we did.
The lounge has 2 sit down restaurants.
The second floor glass windows are where the big restaurant is.

All the chairs you see on both sides are part of the lounge.
The restaurant was our first stop, P was happy because the lounge isn't dry and everything is included.

She had a G&T. No pictures, sorry.
I had some delicious fresh carrot juice. The service and layout of the restaurant reminded us of a cruiseship.
We ordered some veggie sushi from the a la carte menu.

And had a look around the buffet.

So much choice.

My favourite part of the meal.

Sadly I was too full to try them all.

After dinner we went to the quiet area where you can have a cubicle to yourself.
Food coma time.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

We spent a very pleasant evening in the lounge before we boarded our flight to Delhi.
We had single window seats this time.
P had more pink champagne.

There was food service but I was still full from the lounge and preferred to nap instead of eat. It was only a 3 hour flight from calm clean Doha to the smoggy mayhem in Delhi.
We had applied for e-visas on line so clearing immigration was pretty painless.
Our driver was waiting for us when we walked out of the airport at 9am.
It's about a 50 minutes drive to our hotel and wow, Delhi traffic is crazy. I've been to several Asian and Middle Eastern countries, where the rules and flow of traffic are very different but India is something else.
When we get to our hotel we are lucky again, our rooms are ready. I booked a 3* hotel, P and I both had our own room. This was mine. No clue why they went for round beds.

Bathroom wasn't that great. The toilet and sink both leaked so you always had water on the floor.

Unfortunately No Smoking rooms isn't really a thing in India yet so the hotel smells stale.
After a nap we went for a walk to find some food and an ATM but it was local election day and most things were closed. As it's very obvious we are tourist we were constantly approached by men asking us we wanted a tour, or a taxi or a tuk tuk. It was quite uncomfortable walking around as the roads are in bad order and there are very few sidewalks. There's trash and dirt everywhere plus lots of stray dogs and the odd cow.
I consider myself a fairly seasoned traveller, I've visited over 85 countries, I also did a lot of research about India before we arrived, but I still wasn't prepared for Delhi. It's hard to explain the noise, the congestion , the horrible air quality and the large mix of people.
When we got back to the hotel we decided to just book tours for the coming days and not venture out on our own for sightseeing.
We hadn't eaten anything so we decided to order room service.
I had vegetables soup with paratha (flaky bread with herbs and spices).

It was spicy but tasty.

The next day we took a food tour through old Delhi. We ate way too much spicy fried food but it was a fun way to learn more about Delhi.

A meal on the go for lots of Indians. It's a fried wheat and lentil bread with a potato or chickpea curry.

This is a semolina fried puff bread that you fill with sweet pumpkin puree.

They even put pepper and chilli on fruit.

The chai is delicious and you see people drinking it everywhere. The little clay tumbler it's served in is single use and disposable.

We also visited a spice market where the air was filled with pepper aroma. You could feel it in your nose and throat.

Old Delhi is still divided into sections by what is sold. So you have a section that for instance sells hardware, a section that sells wedding invitations and my favourite, a large sections that sells wedding clothes.

This dress in hand beaded, you can't tell from the picture but it was stunning and sparkling.
We saw many amazing dresses, a wedding last for several days here and a bride would need at least 5 dresses, so weddings are big business.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

The next 2 days we visited several historical and religious sites around Delhi. This 900 year old brick tower is the oldest in the world.

This used to be a Hindy temple but in the 13th century the Muslims conquered the area and turned it into a mosque.

We visited the Lotus Temple.

It was very busy there and if you wanted to go inside and meditate you had to stand in line for a long time. Here you can see security trying to organise people.

More security to guard the fruit trees. Apparently people try and steal the mangos that grow on these trees. This guy is holding a stick, so he must mean business despite being on his phone.

Our guide was called Punam, she was suppose to be our guide for both days.
She insisted we visit a "handcraft shop". I told her we weren't interested in shopping but we went there anyway. It was just a 4 storey tourist trap with overpriced pashminas, rugs and jewelry. We walked out after 3 minutes, greatly disappointing Punam who clearly gets a commission on any sale.
For lunch she tried to take us to an expensive restaurant, also clearly just for tourists with grossly inflated prices. We refused to go inside and just told her we don't enjoy places like that. Clearly she had a deal with that restaurant as well and she wasn't happy her little sheep were disobeying her. I told P that I wouldn't be surprised if Punam would cancel on us for the next day. We had one more place to visit after the restaurant debacle, a Hindu temple where you are not allowed to take photos. Once we were finished there Punam told us that unfortunately she had an emergency dentist appointment the next and couldn't be our guide. We didn’t like her either so we were fine with that. The super funny thing was that we bumped into her the next day when we were out with our new, and much nicer, guide. She was with another group of tourists. She tried to hide but we clearly saw her and she saw us.
The second day we started of with a visit to a large mosque.

We had to put on abayas again but no hijab this time.
The mosque was very beautiful.

We were transported on pedal rickshaw, I felt sorry for the rickshaw driver, he's got a tough job.

We also visited the Gandhi memorial garden. The memorial was well done but what made the visit memorable for me was the fact that there were lots of school groups. All young teenage boys and one asked me very politely if I would take a picture with him. I've had this before in Asia, especially people that aren't from big cities, they haven't seen, or met white people before and they want to take pictures with you. I think it's funny and always say yes.
So I took a picture with the first boy and before I knew it there was a queue of them, all wanting to have their picture taken with either P or me.

Our guide was getting a bit annoyed because he has a schedule to keep so we had to cut it short. It happened again at our next stop the Red Fort and we are now Insta friends ( Not sure if that is the term?) with the one of the people we took a picture with.

 

[Tiggerish]

We spent a very pleasant evening in the lounge before we boarded our flight to Delhi.
We had single window seats this time.
P had more pink champagne.
View attachment 843377

There was food service but I was still full from the lounge and preferred to nap instead of eat. It was only a 3 hour flight from calm clean Doha to the smoggy mayhem in Delhi.
We had applied for e-visas on line so clearing immigration was pretty painless.
Our driver was waiting for us when we walked out of the airport at 9am.
It's about a 50 minutes drive to our hotel and wow, Delhi traffic is crazy. I've been to several Asian and Middle Eastern countries, where the rules and flow of traffic are very different but India is something else.
When we get to our hotel we are lucky again, our rooms are ready. I booked a 3* hotel, P and I both had our own room. This was mine. No clue why they went for round beds.
View attachment 843378

Bathroom wasn't that great. The toilet and sink both leaked so you always had water on the floor.
View attachment 843379
Unfortunately No Smoking rooms isn't really a thing in India yet so the hotel smells stale.
After a nap we went for a walk to find some food and an ATM but it was local election day and most things were closed. As it's very obvious we are tourist we were constantly approached by men asking us we wanted a tour, or a taxi or a tuk tuk. It was quite uncomfortable walking around as the roads are in bad order and there are very few sidewalks. There's trash and dirt everywhere plus lots of stray dogs and the odd cow.
I consider myself a fairly seasoned traveller, I've visited over 85 countries, I also did a lot of research about India before we arrived, but I still wasn't prepared for Delhi. It's hard to explain the noise, the congestion , the horrible air quality and the large mix of people.
When we got back to the hotel we decided to just book tours for the coming days and not venture out on our own for sightseeing.
We hadn't eaten anything so we decided to order room service.
I had vegetables soup with paratha (flaky bread with herbs and spices).
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It was spicy but tasty.

The next day we took a food tour through old Delhi. We ate way too much spicy fried food but it was a fun way to learn more about Delhi.

A meal on the go for lots of Indians. It's a fried wheat and lentil bread with a potato or chickpea curry.
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This is a semolina fried puff bread that you fill with sweet pumpkin puree.View attachment 843382

They even put pepper and chilli on fruit.View attachment 843383

The chai is delicious and you see people drinking it everywhere. The little clay tumbler it's served in is single use and disposable.
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We also visited a spice market where the air was filled with pepper aroma. You could feel it in your nose and throat.
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Old Delhi is still divided into sections by what is sold. So you have a section that for instance sells hardware, a section that sells wedding invitations and my favourite, a large sections that sells wedding clothes.View attachment 843386
This dress in hand beaded, you can't tell from the picture but it was stunning and sparkling.
We saw many amazing dresses, a wedding last for several days here and a bride would need at least 5 dresses, so weddings are big business.

WOW, that dress is amazing. And your photo of the chilies is fantastic.

Those two photos are the reason for the on that post. Sadly, I don't enjoy Indian food, I've tried a few times, and theres a flavor to it that just doesn't agree with me. It's not the heat, I can handle spicy, and I cook with cumin and coriander, so it's not those flavors but something else. Someday I will find out what it is, and leave it out!!

I think this may be my first post in your trip report, although you may have been able to tell I've been following along. Enjoying the "Disney+" style of your travels.

Looking forward to keeping up with the rest of your journey.

 

[Tiggerish]

We didn’t like her either so we were fine with that. The super funny thing was that we bumped into her the next day when we were out with our new, and much nicer, guide. She was with another group of tourists. She tried to hide but we clearly saw her and she saw us.

Oh, snap!! Good for you. Glad you were able to find a more amenable guide quickly.