Today’s blog reflects a much less active day – though not without interest – as we travelled for much of the day from Delhi to Jaipur along the new and very empty motorway. We began our day with a trip to an excellent French patisserie (l’Opera) for our first coffee since Wednesday.
The little market where we had coffee had the ubiquitous dogs in coats, but the sharp-eyed amongst you will also notice the available range of ice-creams and what looked to me like olive oils lined up outside the healthfood store:
Given how high the pollution is in Delhi, we encountered an appropriate response – a car with its own air purifier:
To get to Jaipur, we drove along the most un-Indian road we’ve ever been on – an eight-lane highway with barely any traffic.
We passed through really beautiful farmland as we sped along:
However, the fact that we were on a motorway didn’t stop the few drivers misbehaving: driving against the flow of traffic, stopping in the road, hogging two lanes at once and stopping on the motorway at designated places for chats with their friends or picking up hitchhikers. At one point, we had to stop and here’s Sue and Nikhil having a chat with a local farmer – on the motorway!
We broke for lunch at one of the very few official pit-stops though creative locals are building lunch places next to the road so that truck drivers can pull over on to the hard shoulder, hop over the barrier, run down the side and have lunch. Never thought you’d see Sue going into a MacDonald’s, did you?
Tomorrow, we’ll try and avoid Mr Modhi’s visit to Jaipur (police everywhere, pictures of Modhi at every corner) which coincides with ours – so more adventures to come!
A true test of great travel writing – creating a comic narrative out of a motorway drive! Everyone (and their dog) looks so cold in serious coats – strange that iced coffee and ice cream is popular regardless.
Well, who knows if it’s popular- might just be a status offering? The kind of thing sophisticated people might eat and drink even in smoggy January? My favourite restaurant in that particular area was Moets ( as in the champagne) which offered in car dining…
Exactly what I was going to say … brrr, and I gather you weren‘t driving Miriam!!
No, M was not driving – India remains one of the places where M says she will never drive…. even as a more or less non driver, the whole experience can sometimes feel like a wild video game..
Gosh, go to India and eat Mcdonalds! Sue can console herself that what she ate will have been unique to India because presumably the burgers cannot be made from beef.
Certainly no beef – my veg burger was perhaps a tad under seasoned and the accompanying masala chai too sweet but otherwise this was, I fear, a typical McDonalds experience
A joy to see you back on the road and the blog ladies.
Was the motorway a toll road? Seems insane to spend so much on something little used…
Nice to hear from you, Vanessa! You’re right of course about this super highway but big infrastructure investment is the big thing in India at the moment so lots more motorways to come I suspect.