Final days games

In terms of excitement for the final days games we counldn't of asked for more.

England looked to take 3rd place when 3-1 up at half time but the heat and lack of Mantell, especially on shorts, showed, at 3-3 we thought extra time might be on the cards but it wasn't to be, a couple of errors in mid-field and the dutch got the result 4-3.

On the plus side we had virtually a full house, not quite as passionate as for the India games and there was a strong German and Dutch contingent, the umpiring wasn't as good as it could have been but then our man Mair was due on for the final.

So for the final, as expected Asutralia came out very strong, constantly pressing high up the field when they didn't have the ball, which told taking a 1-0 lead into halftime. The Garmans just couldn't find an outlet and whatver was said at half-time did the trick as they draw level and it was a thriller. The Aussies replied and held onto their lead in what was a great game.

In all Delhi has done the World Cup proud, for all the issues they faced before the competition they pulled it off but only just. Wether or not they can do so for a larger competition such as the Commenwealth games still has to be in question but let's hope so.

Other than the hockey today it was the usual avoiding people trying to get us into their emporium, Connought Place just isn't worth the hassle, and explaining to tut-tut drivers where our hotel is.

There'll be a summary of our India visit to follow but extortionate hotel wi-fi rates will mean this will have to follow up back in the UK.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog of my trip to India, please comment and let me know how you have followed me:)

...pictures and video of the final to follow....

Next stop Delhi and the final!

The last two days spent in Udaipur have been a nice contrast to the busy cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Jaipur, not least because of the lack of traffic. We've been based in the old city which is a mass of small mazey lanes, full of shops and hotels, mostly offering a view of the Lake Palace which was used in the Bond film Octopussy. It's as an impressive sight at sunset and sunrise as the postcard pictures suggest, just a shame that as it's a rather upmarket hotel now its not possible to see inside.

 Another contrast of the town is the people, more laidback and open to tourists saying no and then open to a chat about the town, one similarity is how easy it is to get lost, maps and road signs aren't one of this countries strong points but then that is part of what makes travelling fun.

We took in a boat road to get a closer look at the two palaces on the lake and a quick wander round the Jag Mandir one, it looked as though it was getting setup for a wedding later in the day, quite an impressive venue for one. Later it's an overnight train ride on the Mewar Express back to Delhi for our lastnight of the trip, it'll be interesting to compare the train with our first overnight ride on the Radjani Express.

As for the hockey we watched the semi-finals lastnight on the tele, the teams that got through both played the better hockey and fully deserved their wins, just a shame we'll be watching England in the 3th/4th place placeoff, am hoping at least for a decent crowd as hopefully the locals will come out in force....there's still the question of who to support in the final, Germany or Australia, any help in deciding is most welcome:)

Moving on to our last stop

The last couple of days have been quite a busy affair, including a change of venue via a domestic plane ride which wasn't originally planned.

Monday saw us decide to do the sights of Jaipur on a half day organised trip, this meant we didn't have any tuttut battles to contend with but brought it's own challenges. In a small jeep mostly full of locals we set off from the government tourism department to take in the main attractions Jaipur has to offer, all good so far, our guide proved interesting as his english wasn't the best and we found ourselves nodding rather actually taking anything he had to say in. Fortunately the tour of the City Palace had an audio guide which was a nice releif, it was again an impressive building in the Pink City but we may now be suffering from tourist attraction fatigue as when we got to Ajmer Fort we didn't even go inside the main palace, just one fort too many.

 There were two food dishes we hadn't yet had, one Dosa's which we'd been told about we managed to have for tea at Sankelps in the main town, I'd compare them with savoury pancakes, nice but fair better when sweet. Our trip back to the hotel that evening was another rollarcoaster tuttut ride, this time our driver knew how to find our hotel which was a bonus, although he took out one motorbike on the way and nearly had a cyclist over. Our last morning in Jaipur was another a nice quiet affair before a friend picked us up to take in some shopping and lunch, which meant we could do the other food dish we'd yet to have, Thali's, a handful of small dishes and desert all on a large platter, yummy!

We'd planned to leave Jaipur in the evening getting the overnight train to Udaipur, the one issue was that our tickets still weren't confirmed, rather oddly we'd been 1 and 2 on the waiting list for the past month. Not wanting to risk not being able to get on the train we cancelled that and booked an afternoon flight.


So now we find ourselves in Udaipur, home of the palace on the lake which featured in Octopussy, more updates to follow over the next few days before heading back to Delhi for the final. Just hoping England can beat Germany in the semi, my hopes aren't high but Germany without the Zellor brothers have looked beatable so we are in with a chance, if only Mantell wasn't injured.

Down and dirty in Jaipur

The day started off at silly o'clock, 5am to get up and out for a 6:30am train to Jaipur, fortunately it was only a 5hr trip so we'd have the afternoon to mooch around, and we needed it. The train was lovely with it seemed constant food and drink being offered, I spotted the tannoy announcements being done by a man with a tape recorder, not quite as you'd expect in this day and age, still the train worked and we got in on time.

Just like New Delhi train station, we'd been warned about the taxi touts and told to head straight for the pre-pay tuttuts, so we did although got the usual followed along which led to us being taken to the wrong hotel, whose fault it was who knows but its a shame that the few devious people here end up making one sceptical of all, when most people have been very friendly.

The hotel is just as expected and almost on its knees, a sort of Indian Faulty Towers, a grand old building which has been left and no needs some serious repair work, that said the staff are friendly, the rooms nice and it has a pool which I may brave in a bit.

We thought we'd pop down to down for a coffee but soon realised the map we'd been given wasn't to scale, plus every hundred yards someone wants to offer you a rickshaw, if I wanted a bloody rickshaw I would ask for one and wouldn't be walking!!:) Yet again there's few westerners around which doesn't help us out. Finally we found our tried and tested coffee house chain and a while later thought we'd get a rickshaw back to the hotel, this would be our first and maybe last rickshaw of the trip. Firstly we forgot to check that our rickshaw driver was upto the job, geting on for 55-60 and of a slender built probably wasn't the best choice, and so we set off at a pace just greater than walking.

So time later and knowing he wasn't taking us in the right direction, he stops and points to what should be our hotel, but no he'd got it wrong, we decided to get out and try a tut-tut instead, after explaining to a driver where we want to go and with a map in hand we set off, again in the wrong direction, we did finally make it back somewhere near our hotel but think we may need to have a plan before we set out again!:)

Drama in Delhi as England get to the semi finals.

We had our last two days in Delhi before moving out of the city for some sightseeing, they were a mixed affair, I went into work on the Friday to offices in Gurgaon, which is just half an hour outside of Delhi, it was good to catch up with people I'd only had email and phone calls with although really needed more than a day.

My dad made the most of the time without me to have a lazy day discovering some nearby parks and admiring the local construction industry, something which I'm trying to get him to write a guest post on. With the Commonwealth games in October virtually the whole city shows signs of some building work     and it is hard to see them being ready in time. The hockey stadium was only just ready and outside of the pitch area there's still a lot to do, plus what they have done shows obvious signs of being rushed and should be ripped up, at least the pitch seems to have settled down from the first days play when it was rather bobley. 

We'd decided to stay in Delhi until the England vs India game and it was worth the wait, a packed house of around 15,000, with no more than a dozen obvious England fans made us feel a little outnumbered but never threatened. When we scored it felt a little surreal being the only person to stand up and cheer and you have a feel partly sorry for India, such a passionate crowd who expect so much but the team simply isn't up to competing with the top teams at this level at the moment.

The game went pretty much as planned although we should of been at least two more goals up by half time, a couple of sitters were missed and it wasn't till near the end that India got into the game, their skipper failing to get hold of a sitter from a cross in the last minute which would of drawn the game, so it ended at 3-2 and were in the semis.

The issue now is it's most likely to be either Germany or Holland, who play tonight in their group game, I think we have a chance but it'll be an outside one mainly due to Mantell missing, his long balls from the back deep into the corners were dearly missed lastnight, still as were back for the final let's hope we do get through.

The hustle and bustle of Old Delhi plus another great win

Today had two main objectives, find a certain restuarent for lunch and see hopefully another England win, fortunately both were easier to do than expected. After a lazy start to the day we headed north from our guest house to Old Delhi, a seathing mass of busy narrow lanes and yet again non stop horn honking.

 First stop was the Red Fort, very similar to the one in Agra as they were built by the same people it was similarly impressive but felt calmer which made a welcome change. After yet more photo opportunities it was back out onto the busy streets in search of what has been called the best curry house in the Asia and the world (Times magazine, Sunday Times).


Walking past some rather interesting sights, the meat market being the most unpleasent as people were cutting up sheeps heads by the side of the road, the general mele of business was relentless, we soon realised as seems to be often on this trip that once outside any tourist attraction we become the only western people around.

After a few stops to check the map and rickshaw drivers pointing the way, down a backstreet we found it, 'Karims' is as much an insitution as a restuarant. We got shown to a table in one of the several eating halls and studied the simple menu wondering quite what all the fuss could be about. Going for what we thought was relatively safe dishes in that we could recognise them slighly, the food was lovely, quite a different taste to what we have had so far, definately worth the time it took to find.

Once we'd made it back home and taken a brief siesta it was time agian to head up to the hockey, hoping today our driver would know how to get there, and he did, which with none of the expceted rush hour traiffc meant we just caught the end of the Australia vs South Africa  game. On this form there can be no doubt Australia are the team to beat, having started the tournament slowly, their now peaking at just the right time, 12-0 is a druppng in anyones books.

Next up the one we were there for, England vs Pakistan, starting off at a great pace, England looked the much more structured, using the width and controlling the game for much of it, some lovely breaks and crosses into the back post, combined with managing to keep Sohail out at the shorts meant a well deserved 5-2 win, the only issue being a big injury to Mantell who now misses the rest of the tournament.

Now the local team were up in what was really a must win game against Spain, the stadium was pretty much full and a very passionate crowd got behind their boys. As a spectator you have a develop an understanding that every cheer does not necessarily mean goal mouth action for the locals, every touch by one of their players, no matter what part of the pitch means a great roar from the crowd, this could be interesting when England play them on Saturday and my Dad and I may stand out from the rest of the crowd a little....should be fun:)

It's the big one!

Today was the big one in terms of sightseeing, a trip to Agra and the Taj Mahal, one of those must do's even if getting there sounded like as mission. Leaving our lodging's at 6am we headed out of Delhi still half asleep and any chance of catching a kip was gone as soon as we hit any sign of other cars, due to the way they drive out here. It seems when passing anything, it may even be a cow crossing the road, instead of just driving past, you have to honk your horn a lot, rather disturbing when your trying to nod off.

Making very good time, just 2hr 45mins we got to Agra and it was straight into the Taj Mahal, having heard about long queues and lots of hassle, our ease at which we got in was a nice surprise, might of just missed the crowds. It is exactly as you see in all the picturs yet the shear scale and story of how it came to be, make it even more special in person, 22 years in the making and when you see it up close you know why.

Having spent a couple of hours soaking up the Taj's charm it was down the road to Agra Fort, not as spectacular in detail but still impressive in terms of scale. With all the signtseeing for the day done and some lunch it was the mission back. This was definately a mission as hitting the outskirts of Delhi at rush hour was not much fun, I've no idea how or why anyone would want to do it day in day out, it really was horrific, in part due to the building of the new metro and road south of the city, I really hope they make a difference but probably not in time for the commonwealth games.

Tomorrow it's a trip to Old Delhi, hoping to find the infamous Kareem's for lunch and then England vs Pakistan, one we should again win, that's if we can look a bit more awake and keep Sohail away from any shorts.

PS: ....on our drive back from Agra our driver got caught speeding, the limit being 80km, a brief discussion with an army man and it seemed he was 400rupees over the limit, straight into the man's pocket and no receipt, nice little number if you can get it!;)