Tag Archives: Tour

Delhi Tourism

Through this little office pass some of the best tour guides in Delhi.

Flower Market

I went to the Delhi Tourism office at about 8 AM to take the morning tour and what did I see spread out at for blocks in front of their office? A raging flower market. Not just any old flower market, this one was huge. I was told that it happens every day starting at 4 AM. The activity was mind-boggling. The trash was overwhelming. It was impossible to walk. I had to be extra careful not to step on or get too close to any of the stray animals and risk getting bitten, kicked, butted or otherwise injured. Only in India can the beauty of a million flowers be ruined by the insanity of a market.

Tour Bus 1 – Delhi

Yeah, that’s my tour bus and a great tour bus it was. The City of Delhi puts on a an excellent tour at a really great price. The cost was 300 rupees ($7) for and all day tour. What a bargain! Hey, the fun I had with the people on the tour was worth the $7.

India Tourism

The guys at India Tourism are great. They made every attempt to help me. I strongly recommend that you go see them when you get to Delhi. You’ll read or hear from some sources that they are a waste of time, but I found them to be quite helpful. They are easy-to-find, if they don’t move.

TI Imposter

It’s a TI imposter. I know the sign says Beijing Tourist Information but the tourist information that you will get here is the tourist information about the tours and the products that they sell. It’s also a shop where they sell souvenirs that they buy from the market and mark up ten times. These things are all over China and they put them close to the actual places they know tourists go. Such as the train station. Or the Great Wall of China.

Dining Family Style – China Tour

Yes, that’s me in the picture. We’re all dining Chinese family style. What happens is that a multitude of dishes are brought to the table and everyone helps themselves. Not such a problem, until you realize there are no serving spoons or utensils. Then you realize that everyone is using the same chopsticks that they’re eating with to get the food off of the serving dish. I would have liked to ask if anyone had seen any serving spoons, but I couldn’t really get my point across to my Chinese hosts. Someday, I predict a serious outbreak of some type of virus in China.

Tour to Suzchou

The tour to Suzchou, China cost me $30 and it was in Chinese, but it was rewarding and I had a good time with about 50 Chinese people. It took almost an hour-and-a-half by bus to get to Suzchou. We got to see some cool stuff and I got out of the big city for a while and saw some of the countryside.

Forbidden City Tour

We took a tour. It went to the Forbidden City. I really wasn’t much in awe of the Forbidden City prior to taking the tour. I can now say that I now have a great deal more respect and empathy for what it must have been like for Chinese Emperors living in previous centuries. I got to see a lot of the Forbidden City on the tour and I now have a much better feel for the place. I also feel really good that I’m not living in the 15th century. Then again, people who are or will live in the 26th century are saying or will say "Gee, I’m glad I don’t live in the 21st century. It was so primitive then." They’ll be right, too. The Forbidden City was the place where the Chinese Emperor resided and from which they ruled for about 500 years.

Lunch Fare on Tour

This is the lunch fare that we had on the tour to the Great Wall of China. It came with the $20 ticket for the tour. The lunch was pretty good. See all those hands going for the chow line. That should tell you something.

Ming Tombs Tour

I took a tour. We went to the Ming Tombs. I was really surprised how similar the Ming Tombs were to the Egyptian Pyramids in concept. Both cultures tried to hide the graves. Both cultures buried friends and family with them as well as material possessions they would need in the afterlife. We spent a couple of hours there with a really good guide.

Rolling Okie

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