Delhi... was hot. Really hot. We were being cooked as we walked around. It was crowded and it was loud. My work was scheduled Mon-Sat 9a-5p (long work week!) but on two days i left around 2p so I could see somethings before they all closed. Peter worked a lot so Makiko, Alex and Rory played a lot inside. A few times they went out... the first few days we took Taxis/tuk-tuk (or autorickshaws) everywhere- risking life and limb and sweating (noA/C) but after a few times of waiting for over an hour to find one and then having to haggle over the fare (they would always start quoting numbers like 500 rupees to go somewhere not far and then we would have to haggle them down) we hired an AC car and driver which worked out much better- actually cheaper than all of those cab rides AND it was waiting for us when we were done with whatever, knew where the gueshouse was... all in all a MUCH better way to travel about the city!
The first day I'm not entirely sure what Peter, Makiko and the kids all did during the day- I think Makiko explored around the neighborhood. When I came home we decided to go to a local mall because it was so hot- we took an autorickshaw that took us to an old-fashioned city mall- a central "garden area" with a plaza of sorts and shops and restaurants. Turns out the mall we intended to go to was not far from the guesthouse at all and humungous western style mall- four giant malls linked together, fountains, major securiry etc- we did wind up going there a couple of times when it was super-steamy hot out.
The second day in Delhi, Peter, Makiko, Alex and Rory went to Lodi Gardens (not sure what the following pics are from- Lodi Garden or Gardn of 5 senses) and then we all went shopping in Connaught Place, Janpath and Mini-Market. We met up with Balthasar, staying in the guesthouse- works for Max Health developing their health insurance. Really nice
(and busy) guy who arranged all of the car rental stuff and made food recommendations etc.
Day 3 in Delhi I left work around 4pm and we went to Akshardham Temple and India Gate. Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple- a new temple dedicated to Bhagawan Swaminarayan. incredible complex- huge- cameras were not allowed, but it was filled with incredible sculptures, 148 different elephantcarvings, peacock carvings, a small temple- we poured sacred Ganges water on the statue of young Swaminarayan, they tied a string on our wrists and dotted us with the tikka, afterwards, Alex and Rory played with the water in the moat around the temple which contains water from 151 sacred lakes and rivers that were visited by the yong swami during his 7 yr pilgrimage. We skipped a lot of the animatronic stuff and rides due to the long lines, the heat and the kids being so incredibly tired. Also, monkey was "napping" in the security locker area- the security was super-tight- nothing was allowed in the temple.
After the temple we went to India Gate- there was a huge Children's Park on the grounds- many different playgrounds with different play equipment- all in a gated area that closed at dusk. Afterwards we checked out he Gate itself- a memorial to Indian soldiers from WWI.Rory with tikka
Children's Park- lots of old playground equipment, lots of kids...
India Gate- lots of people wanted pictures with the kdis, Peter and us (like in China)
Day 4 in Delhi was to hot for the outdoors, even after I got home after 5pm! We went to a giant indoor mall and ate there. Day 6 in Delhi we went to the Lotus Temple- a Baha'i temple- beautiful- 9 lotus leaves symbolizing "completeness, oness and unity" - the different worl religions coming together under 1 roof- one of my favorite religions I must say. There was a short session where people got up and read passages from different religions. Alex lay on the bench sleepy and didn't want to leave the temple- it was very peaceful.
After the temple we went shopping in a shopping area and then dinner at waves restaurant- we invited fellows and Balthasar (he suggested the place)- right near the guesthouse- excellent kebobs, live music- will try to post a video of it.
yummy kebob
chicken biryani
Alex with the harmonium player
Our last day in Delhi we went to red Fort or LalQila- talk about a hot freaking day. It was an interesting place, lots of cool architecture, we ran around a spinkler, there was, of course, shopping there and afterwards we went back to connaught place then off to the airport to go to Kolkata.monkey at the Red Fort
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nearby slums
alex and rory entertaining themselves at the airport
alex and rory entertaining themselves at the airport
1 comment:
Monkey was "napping" . . . Well, that beats explaining that they suspected that Monkey was a terrorist.
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