A Spiced Life...: Potato dosai and traipsing through Delhi.......

A Spiced Life...: Potato dosai and traipsing through Delhi.......: To see the sights of Delhi or...?...I decide to hit the food court of the stunning New Delhi Imperial Hotel. A crackerjack of a hotel wi...

Potato dosai and traipsing through Delhi.......

To see the sights of Delhi or...?...I decide to hit the food court of the stunning New Delhi Imperial Hotel. A crackerjack of a hotel with amazing walls of so many pictures!!! You'd need to first try to understand just how much I crave the taste of an authentic dosai. Filled with chicken masala or potato cooked with black mustard seeds, cumin, curry leaf, fresh coriander, onion, garlic, chili, ginger, and turmeric ~ all wrapped up in a crispy pancake of expertly rolled and fried semolina ~ this dish alone is worth flying thousands of kilometres for. It came served with a bowl of roasting hot sambal, coconut and red chili chutney...I am in my element. So good.....

(Note. Drinking bottled spring water in most of India is a must even to clean teeth and gargle.) Out on the streets Delhi defies any pictures I have seen before and its looking smart, with the centre roads surprising lined with bright rows of tulips and spring blooms. Sadly I can eat nothing from the food vendors in the street as even though everything looks fresh and good...I know that even my tough western guts are not impervious to Delhi belly. The rows of sweet galabi, gulab jamun and halva's drive me to near distraction and a quick cheap taxi ride in a sweaty no aircon "Hindustan Ambassador" car diverts me to the "Haldiram" centre (the Indian KFC) which is nicely indoors at the Gucci style "Ambience Shopping Centre." The traffic is totally horrible but my bag of goodies keeps me patient. My driver tells me he is from the district of Punjab. I hear about his entire family life while he practises his English on me. I give him some sweet morsel and we natter on like old buddies.

At "India Gate" inner park these sweet women pictured below call me over and pose for me, displaying their henna tattoos and toothless grins. So happy are they very smiley as they touch my arms and cackle amongst themselves. I laugh with them - for me it's a magic moment. They point at my blue eyes. 

They all freeze frame for my camera. Just like me they are from out of town...just visiting Delhi. A visit to a mosque in Old Delhi finds me shoeless along with thousands of other stinky, sweaty feet and we all trudge along scalding our feet on the slabs of stone. Gandhi's grave and a zillion sights later ~ it's really time for some kip. My Indian friends only pay 10 rupees to retrieve their shoes but I, as a visitor must pay 100! This happens everywhere I go. When in Rome I guess. My sandal strap breaks after so many steps - amazingly just two Aussie dollars gets it repaired perfectly. My dollar is worth so much here....I find it funny that people are taking my photo, not because I have any fame but just because I am tall with light skin.

 ....Next stop train to Jaipur!

Back to Hurghada with grit and saffron..............

Leaving the lush green slopes of the River Nile, hearty tagine stews, palm trees and the sugar cane of Luxor ~ it's jet flying back to El Gouna, Hurghada, flying over and around the Red Sea once again. What a crusty dust bowl Egypt is from the moon view. Testimony to that is my face tan, sand blasted sunnies. Despite, I have a deep internal satisfaction that I walked, saw, felt, ate and devoured all that the secret ancient tomb world had to offer me. Ever memories. Thankful. Bye bye little jet. Back in town the spice market tugs me to my senses and I find I'm longing for the dirt and smells from the sacks and baskets that line my current favourite store in El Gouna. Egypt imports many of it's spices from India and Africa but its freshly harvested but dried hibiscus flowers makes a great tea. I love the yellow flowered one best. Cumin seed sits fragrant in a huge basket on the path but the most expensive spice in the world - saffron - is inside the store high on the shelf. I see that it's not the purest of stuff. The best is really behind the scenes for the more discerning buyer. I just love this shop. Just running my fingers through the cinnamon and fennel seed is so calming. The store owner calls me Mama but his eye is on my cash and I know it. I buy a few treats for my chef friend. I laugh and laugh as the trader offers me free five hours worth of "hubba hubba" for my husband!! (It's was actually a fake aphrodisiac in the form of "root" ginger.) He winks.....I tell him "We're all good thanks". Now he laughs like a drain. No offense between us and I tell him I'll see him again (maybe) if the price improves on the cassia bark. Back for dinner I sip a local red wine with a toe tingling meal of lamb and lentils topped with brilliant wild basil and parsley. The night is chill and I inspect the dark red soft lamb leather holdall travel bag that I bought for just $33 Australian. So many zips and pockets but made in Egypt.....bargain for me. I pack up every item I own to travel next to New Delhi, India.

Scene from a distance...

Tragic really....leaving all those oranges piled up in a lonely corner in that posh Hurghada supermarket. I bought just four, leaving the crinkly leaves in the bag. Now? With hundreds of vitamin C deficient children roaming the streets beside me, as I travel on through the outskirts of Cairo, I wish I had a few oranges to share out. My western, wrinkled cheeks stand out here. Not many Aussie tourists around in such troubled times. I am still offered many exotic trinkets all of dubious quality. Buy 10 mini sphinx and get 20 free for cousins and aunts! I am amused by this bulk selling technique - it sounds out of place here.
I feel guilty. The mother in me taps at my shoulder. Little children earning a living. Our lungs sucks in the furnace air..... It's so very dry here...I am thirsty but mine is quenchable with the "aqua minerale" dispensed from my hotel. Oh "Oberoi" you do it so well. Nice touch that chocolate truffle on the crisp night linen! I loved it.
But now, I try to look poor......ashamed at my gold pass sunglasses. Hustle and bustle brings me to my father's past to a place he viewed well before I was born. My eyes are now set on the enormous pyramids...one of the many wonders of my world now. Hues of sienna, rust, dust, slate and limestone.

I have goose bumps at the enormity of these monster sand castles! Funeral homes for the long dead. But I am completely overawed at the workmanship. I sit down at the side of the road to rest and to take it all in. Ironically an Egyptian policeman strikes a pose just for me - lips puckered and seated on his camel. "No charge" he calls out. I take his picture anyway, as the children have run away now. I then reluctantly allow a tourist guide to use my camera for me. He takes my photo holding a pyramid. It's my proof of being here......there I'm justified!! I feel myself smile.....I made it. Cairo you are amazing.

Egypt some more...

Could have seen today coming! The dust is settling over the hills of Hurghada at last and the blue "Red sea" is more aqua than ever. Fifty seven kite surfers are up in the northerly winds to the left looking out of the marina. An osprey has made it's sprawling scruffy nest on the outward bound marker just feet from the boats swell. Warming up at 23c the prospects of a swim invite me but the sea is chilly @20c water temperature and I settle for "chili" omelette to warm me up and Nespresso coffee...what more could a girl ask for? Exploration of the local supermarket reveals amazingly diverse supplies and I wonder who buys cat food and a garden rake to compliment their boat stocks....Whatever, nearly everything is available and I am fascinated by the tin of Bombay Indian Curry powder blend number 80. I settle for flat bread and hummus. Magic is the taste of the local honey. I am almost ready for the ancient places that I came here to visit and I start to pack a bag of garments ready to explore in comfort - the great pyramid and sphinx near Cairo. I want to smell it all - feel it - but no more haggling over prices please. I have been offered so many fake watches! Not very Egyptian.
The salted air tastes so, so good...the spray has thickened my hair.
First - This arvo we will sail to the other side of the Red Sea. White hills sprawling. Dolphins calling, just two of them. Lucky me...I am going to need to explain what I am doing on this massive motor yacht at some point I guess...?