This was to be an extended period of international travel over two days as we headed for home after our three and a half weeks of travelling and sight seeing on the sub-continent.
With there being a degree of uncertainty as to the road travel time from Jaipur to Delhi we opted for a relatively early start and left our Ramada Hotel in Jaipur at 09:00.
Once we’d cleared the city traffic of Jaipur we were soon on the four lane freeway heading north to Delhi. Despite the term ‘freeway’ there were numerous bottlenecks along the way with major roadworks, slow moving trucks and tractors and many slow checking toll-booths to contend with.
After nearly two hours our driver Vikram stopped the bus on a section off the freeway and invited us to join him and feed a group of macaque monkeys. The concept was utterly contrary to our former experiences with the thought of then stealing our cameras or being bitten and then getting rabies being major concerns. However, the brief stop provided an opportunity for Vikram to stretch his legs so we agreed to join him. A roadside hut sold old bananas and water melons and these provided the food for the extended monkey family assembled dutifully along the nearby concrete wall. No simian misbehaviour was noted and the macaques seemed appreciative of the free sustenance providing some liquid refreshment in the high temperature conditions.
Our driver Vikram feeding watermelon to the monkeys
Roadside stall selling watermelon & bananas for feeding the monkeys
The remaining three hours of travel northwards was mostly through farmland and ‘small’ villages and included a coffee break along the way.
After five hours since departing Jaipur we encountered the sprawling metropolis of South Delhi and the traffic, once again became ultra-high density.
The 30 km left to finally reach the Indira Gandhi International Airport took close to another hour.
On arrival at the IGIA we thanked Vikram profusely for his extraordinary efforts over this last week. His skill as a driver under the most testing of traffic conditions can best be described as phenomenal.
At 15:00, on entering IGIA terminal three, we were informed that check-in for our Singapore flight this evening wouldn’t open until 17:30 so we plonked ourselves down in the departure hall and occupied ourselves with up-dating diaries, naming photos and reading. At this point, it would have been appropriate to ask the question; “what could possibly go wrong”?
Having already checked in ‘on-line’ for our 21:30 flight from Delhi to Singapore we were informed by Singapore Airlines staff that the flight would now be delayed by two hours which would mean that we’d miss our connecting flight back to Sydney.
The staff at the check-in counter were exceedingly helpful and issued us with new tickets for the Singapore - Sydney and Sydney - Hobart legs of our journey, albeit with a 12 hour stop over in Singapore!
We eventually boarded our ‘maxi’ A380 plane at around Monday mid-night and commenced the five hour flight to Singapore. After an evening meal we managed to get some rest but the quality of sleep in these circumstances is always questionable.