Today was never meant to be.

When Jennifer and I planned this tour some twelve months ago now, we thought our guests would come in this afternoon some time, they’d check in and we’d have some drinks, then go out to dinner.

But everyone arrived a couple of days ago!

Dale and Lynda Lozner in fact have spent the last week in Rajasthan riding elephants and feeding monkeys!

Yesterday, Sunday, we all met up in Dale and Lynda’s room, where Lynda prepared cocktails for us all – complete with little umbrellas…

We sat and watched the cricket, and I tried to explain the rules to Dale and Lynda, which of course is totally impossible. Who can ever explain cricket??

So with everyone arriving early, what that meant was that we could use this morning for some sightseeing around Delhi, which is what we did.

We hired an additional bus to take everyone to India Gate first off…

…then to Gandhi’s Tomb,

…then to Chandni Chowk, which is a large market in Old Delhi – the oldest market in India.

We had some street chai made the traditional way, grinding the spices in a mortar and pestle and then filtering them out before pouring them into the cup.

Delicious!

We then went to a hotel in the heart of the market area – the hotel is called Crown Hotel, and it happens to be owned and run by my current film editor’s father in law!

Rishi Shukla is doing a fabulous job on my PGS film, and through him we had a gorgeous Thali lunch at his father in law’s place –

… and when I came to pay, Rishi’s father in law said: No, you are my guests. No payment thank you!

So very generous –

We then headed back to the hotel –

And had dinner in Connaught Place at a restaurant called Pind Ballucchi. We invited along a beautiful and very smart young lady, Disha, who works with Rachit making small films on social issues involving women and gays and minority groups.

She spoke at the table about these issues, and answered questions – and Jill in particular had a fascinating conversation with her because she was able to learn so much about what’s really happening in India with women and gays, as against what’s reported in the press – and also it seemed that they had a lot in common, because of work Jill has done in the past with similar communities in the States.

It was Janet’s birthday too – and we bought her a cake and sang happy birthday.

We also collectively said “wish you were here!” to Sue Hansen, who was to have joined us and had to pull out because of cancer surgery.

Our thoughts also went to Steve, who also was due to come but again had to cancel because of lingering issues with his cancer surgery.

Tomorrow we’re on the move – we check out of our luxurious 5 star hotel – The Lalit – and do a little sightseeing at the magnificent Red Fort and the huge Jama Mosque, before leaving Delhi for Agra, and the Taj Mahal.

This is going to be an amazing tour!