We’re Sari to say goodbye

The 5am wake up alarm and the hasty dressing and packing interrupted

my final morning reflections, so I’m writing these in transit on our long journey home.

Even at 6am the streets were busy on our drive to the airport. There is always a lot of interest from people that we pass - they peer into the bus windows and some wave. A few times during the trip we have had small children bang on the bus sides or the windows to get our attention. If you look at the bus photo you can see a little hand in the window behind Josh. 

I’m still not taken with Delhi as I was with the earlier cities we visited. Not a bad place, just more urban and developed. There is a LOT of cricket going on here. We passed a long “park” (no grass just dirt) that had at least 30 games of cricket being played in a 200m stretch. It doesn’t just happen in parks though - we saw both adults and children playing in alley cul de sacs, on the footpath in front of a shop, and even on the median strip in the middle of a road. 

Despite the more urban profile, the people here are as friendly and welcoming as those we have encountered elsewhere. For me, the people have been the highlight of the whole ten days. I’m engaged by their genuine curiosity and interest in personal details - what do I do, do I like it, what family members do I have, where have we travelled and so on. They are equally willing to share all manner of information, including honest personal opinions that we would struggle to admit to our closest friends. Before the trip, people told me that I would ‘love it or hate it’ and as it turns out I have quite fallen in love with India. The people and the chaos and the authenticity all came together to provide an incredible experience, helped along by our tour planner, Indian Excursions, and my traveling companions, the Starrett Boys. Thanks for following, for the likes and comments on Facebook, the emails and the texts and comments on the blog. We’ll be back in 2019 with a new adventure.