very crowded, the streets and highways are congested and everywhere you go someone is either trying to sell you something or begging. It's nice to experience the colour and variety this nation has to offer, but it's also nice to be able to get away from it when you want to. Through some friends we learned about a touring company in Delhi who do an excellent job  for taking care of tourists. The company is called

when we complained to Mr. Nazir he immediately found us a nicer, quieter hotel. He couldn't get us one in the downtown area because there was a large trade convention going on in the city. Our recommendation is to book well in advance and ask the main shopping area of Delhi.  The Kanishka and Narula hotels go for about US$ 90  per night and the Imperial hotel for - about US$ 130. Any one of them would  be  worth the extra money, and Mr. Nazir can book them for you. Mid February is a good time to travel in India. Then daytime highs around Delhi top out at about  25° so it's very comfortable. Further south on the beaches temperatures reach about 32° - 35° C but there are fewer tourists than in December and January. We arrived in Delhi on the morning of 7 February and were met by a guide and driver from Explore. They dropped us at our hotel and later took us downtown to the office to finalize our itinerary. At that time we paid for everything and were given vouchers for each hotel and our airline tickets  to GOA where we planned to have some beach time. Everything had been organized in advance. We found Mr. Nazir to be a pleasant man to work with, very professional and sensitive to our needs. For the rest of our first afternoon, the driver and guide took us to see the Red Fort in Old Delhi where the guide walked with us and explained some of the things we were seeing. The Red Fort is a huge fortress surrounded by high, red sandstone walls. Within are a palace, meeting halls, a library, pools and entertainment stages all built of white marble. Most of the marble had been sculpted or inlaid with gold to form figures and flowers, although all of the gold was stolen by the Britisher over100 years ago (at least that's what our guide told us).The Fort certainly demonstrates the grandeur and the opulence of the Moghuls rulers of the day. 
The Red Fort, and many more like it in India, are legacies of the Moghul Emperors who which occupied the country from the mid 1500's to mid 1700's. They were group of Muslim's invaders from Afghanistan who had a penchant for architecture and the arts. They had a major impact on the culture and religion of the northern half of the country and their art is still in vogue. The Moghuls left many magnificent structures behind, in the' form of  forts and palaces, but the most majestic is the Taj Mahal. The next morning we were off to the city of Jaipur. We drove for about five hours through villages and passed by many small farms across a plains area. The fields were planted primarily with mustard which was already blooming and giving the countryside a golden glow. Fields are worked by hand or with oxen and the harvesting is done in the same way. On route we passed a number of road construction sites where again most of the work was being done by hand. About 10% of the workforce were women who were digging ditches and carrying dirt on their heads dressed in their colourful silks and saris. The city of Jaipur is located in a valley surrounded by low mountains. It was planned and built by one of the Moghul Emperors in the early 1700's. All the walls around the city, and many of the walls of the buildings within the city, are painted a coral-Pink colour and  it is known as the Pink City. In the state of Rajas than the colour pink symbolizes friendliness and hospitality. Around    city on the mountain tops are a number of forts each with their respective palaces. Some have long, walled enclosures leading do n the mountain side to dammed pools which served as bathing areas for the nobles and their ladies. Some of these scenes are depicted in their art. We visited two of the better preserved forts, the Amber Fort being the best, and again saw the grandeur of days past. Within the fortress walls the palaces are constructed of white marble which is largely carved or inlaid with pieces of glass, mirrors or coloured stone. The palace in the Amber Fort even has a small stream and waterfall in a bedroom. The water source come from many miles away through an aqueduct System. Within  jaipur the City Palace and the India Palace (the photo on he cover of the Lonely Planet Guide to India feautres the latter) are worth seeing Next to the City Palace is il MoghuI observatory, not a domed observatory it a large telescope but a collection of brick and concrete structures that were used to sight and calculate the exact positions of all the celestial bodies of the then known universe,apparently with great accuracy. The structures are precisely built mathmetically complicated. There is one sundial that stands about 100 feet high and the shadow that moves across the calibrated time scale travels at a rate of about 4 feet per hour. Here you can read the time to the nearest minute. At the time the city was planned the streets were very broad and, l am sure, handed the traffic quite adequately. By today's standards the streets are   still resonably wide, but the population has increased more ten-fold so it's very congested. To complicate matters further there is every form of trains transportation known to mankind travelling those streets. We saw loads being carried on heads and backs; carts pulled by donkeys. horses, bulls and camels; bicycles, motorcycles, cycle powered rickshaws for people and cargo, motorized rickshaws, large  buses and trucks, taxis and finally people riding on horses and elephants. 

Through all this the sacred cows wander at leisure, munching on what ever they can find, and no one touches them. Everything that has a motor spews out black exhaust and drivers enjoy blasting away on their horns. The animals just plod along quietly in spite of the noise. There was only one discernible traffic rule in operation: the guy who gets his nose in first has right of way! At best the traffic could be described as confused, but in rush hours - which seem to be most of the day - it is better described as chaotic! In the end everyone seems to get where they want, but the sight, the colours and the smells were a true experience . 
In Jaipur we stayed in an old palace that had been converted to a hotel of about 20 rooms. It was very quaint and retained the MoghuI theme. It had many artefacts and weapons from that era, plus paintings and wall murals depicting hunting scenes, wedding parties and romantic situations. We enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. 
The second night in Jaipur we decided that we'd try a nice restaurant in town and have some wine with supper. The hotel restaurant had been so-so and had only served beer. Our driver dropped us at a recommended place, but  we were in for a disappointment. When we ordered we were advised that no independent restaurants in the state of Rajasthan are allowed to sell alcoholic beverages in the hotel restaurants. 
The next day was a driving day, travelling from Jaipur to Agra with a planned stop near Agra to see the city of Fatehpur Sikri (a 16th century, perfectly preserved MoghuI city built on a high plateau but vacated 20 years after construction because they couldn't get water Upto it). About two hours out of jaipur we came across a large area that had suffered a hail storm the night before. All the crops were flattened and the (trees stripped of their leaves what a disaster. The farmers were out demanding government assistance and to draw attention to their plight they had blockaded the roads.  At the first block we waited about four hours before we were allowed through. Fortunately we had stopped near a roadside restaurant so we were able to get some lunch and stretch our legs. We finally got through but ran into three more blockades in the next 10 km. A trip which should have taken less  than five hours; took 12 hours, so unfortunately we missed seeing Fatehpur Sikri. On the positive side, however, the delays did give us a slow-motion view of life in rural India. The farms are typically small and the farm houses poor. Cows and waters buffalo are everywhere and wandered around at will. Their manure is collected and formed into large disks that resemble big, brown frisbees. These disks are dried and stacked in piles to be used as cooking fuel or fertilizer. All the farm work is done by hand, but  while we sat and watched during the road blockades it seemed that only the women were working. The men were standing along the road watching us. (Perhaps I should mention that they were peaceful demonstrations and we never once felt threatened.) 
As we cleared the last road-block the sun was setting so the last two hours of the trip were in darkness. What a harrowing experience that was! Whenever a truck breaks down or has a flat tire - and this happens often - the driver just stops it in the road at that point without making any attempt to pull over onto the shoulder. They do not put out flares, reflectors or any other warning devices, but they just gather some rocks from the ditch and make a semi-circle of them around the vehicle. Obviously none of this is visible at night until you're almost on top of it all. In addition, there are camel and horse carts and farm tractors with large trailers all with big loads travelling without any rear reflectors or lights. Again they are not visible until you are very close. To add to the excitement, there are people on bikes and walking in groups, large buses that stop without warning and everyone wanting to pass everyone else. Double overtaking on the narrow two-lane highways is common. One more complication is that they all drive with high-beam lights on and only use their dippers if they intend to pass from behind. It's a credit to our driver that we arrived safely. There were many times when he had to slam on the brakes, or do, a sharp swerve to avoid hitting some obstruction. My wife and I were both terrified sitting in the back seat watching all this unfold, and very thankful we had a professional driver instead of trying to do it ourselves. Our driver later told us that he never drives after dark unless it is absolutely necessary because it's just too dangerous. 
One piece of comic relief from that terror in the dark occurred as we passed through a small village. As we turned a corner we saw an array of bright,  flashing lights on the side of the road with a lot of people dancing in front of them while spread across the road was a nine piece band, belting out music. The driver said it was a wedding! And we drove right through the middie of it along with all the other traffic. 
Next morning we set off to see the Taj Mahal. What a magnificent structure it is. It marks the culmination of MoghuI architecture in India and, as most people know, was built as monument and tomb for an Emperor's wife. As you've probably seen in photos, the Taj Mahal is constructed of white marble, but what you don 't see is that virtually every block of marble is sculpted or inlaid with many different colours of semi-precious stones. Around the entrances, both inside and out, there are 50 foot high sections inlaid with black stone that give readings from the Koran in Arabic script. On the rest of the inner walls, and to a some extent the outer walls as well, semi-precious stones like jasper, lapis lazuli, mall chite. garnet. topaz, and so on are inlaid to form beautiful flowers all linked together by long stems and leaves. 
Some of the flowers have up to 65 small pieces of coloured stones inlaid to form the petals. There is a large marble screen around the tombs of the Emperor and his wife that is cut right through to make it look like a lattice.Each section of the screen is a single piece of white marble about 6 feet high, 8 feet long and 3 inches thick. It is also inlaid with colorful flowers. What an amazing place! The number of hours of labour that went into building it are unimaginable. We spent about three hours wandering around the building and through the grounds which are beautifully planted and manicured and then we explored some of the nearby craft shops. That aftenoon we retumed to Delhi. 

Next morning we were up at 3:30 a.m. to catch the 5:30 flight to Goa. Our Explore driver was there at 4:00 a.m. to take us to the airport. Goa s the name of both a small state and a city located on the west coast about 200 miles south of Bombay. The city was founded by the Portuguese around 1500 and retained by them until the Second World War. It is one of the few Christian areas in India and the locals all speak Portuguese. It has in recent times become famous because of its beaches. 
At the airport in Goa we found a taxi driver who drove us out to the beach and helped us find a nice hotel. (Explore could have booked one for us, but we decided to find our own.) The accommodations come in all shapes, sizes and expense levels, starting from about $4 per night up to about $150. You get what you pay for, and you would not want to stay in some of the places we saw. However, we soon found a nice beach resort (Nanu Resort for US$ 55 per night) and enjoyed a second floor room with a nice large balcony. From there we were able to watch the sunset over the sea and, if we were up early enough, watch the sunrise over the palm trees to the east. We would recommend the resort. 
The beaches in Goa are huge and are composed of sand so fine that it crunches like crisp snow when you walk on it. We walked about 4 km in either direction from the resort and couldn't see the ends of the beach, it seemed to go on forever. There are groups of hotels every 2 or 3 km along the beach, but they certainly aren't wall-to-wall. A number of thatched-roof cafes with outside tables are scattered along the beach. We spent most mornings walking on the beach and watching the fishermen pull in their nets, then selected one of the beach cafes for lunch and spent the aftenoons on their lounges, reading and sipping cold drinks. We usually frequented these places for supper as well because the prices were lower than in the resort and the food was just as good. For small cafes they offered quite extensive menus.Of course the Indian standard is rice supplemented with one of several varieties of curry, but most of the cafes also offer Chinese and western dishes and good seafood. The spelling of some of the words on the menu was amusing, like 'mass potatoes'! 
After a week in Goa we returned to Delhi. The trusty driver from Explore met us at the airport and delivered us to the hotel. The next morning we were picked up and taken to the main shopping area where we browsed in the shops most of the day. fending off the hustlers and beggars. On the last day we had an evening flight, so we spent the day with our driver seeing some of the sights of DeIhi and looking at some interesting cottage-industry shops that contained fine crafts. 
For the 4-day driving tour of the three cities, the airport transfers, the sightseeing and shopping around Delhi, the cost of the car and driver was US$ 360. We felt that was very reasonable, and certainly well worth it given the kind of traffic we saw on the roads and streets of India. The drivers spoke English and answered all our questions about religion or politics or things we were seeing. They were friendiy and courteous suggested things to see or do and were quite literally at our beck and call. We have nothing but compliments for how we were treated by Explore and their drivers. 
India offers fascinating cultural diversity and a tremendously rich history. It is definitely worth visiting. 

Demos Solos is a TS subscriber who lives in Saudi Arabia. 
The Government of India Tourist Office in Canada is located at 60 Blur Street est, Suite 1003, Toronto, ON M4W3B8416 962 3787. fax: 416 962 6279. They can provide travellers with information on local travel tour operators in most areas.