March 2, Friday

March 2, Friday

Early morning wake up at 7:30 so that I can be ready to go at 9:00 for my Delhi city tour.   Limited my breakfast to a bowl of cereal and fruit and a really nice cup of coffee.   Yes, IBIS has great coffee.  They use a cappuccino/espresso machine so it’s exactly right every time; even does the hot frothy milk !

My driver, Neema (not sure of the spelling, this is phonetic) seems very nice, but extremely quiet.  So much for having a “driver / guide”.   He drove me to each area, dropped me off and told me where he would be parked when I got back from my visits to the various sites.  He pointed out a few other places along the way, but that was it.   He will be driving me through Rajasthan as well, so I’d better do my own research for each destination.

We started off by driving out of Gurgaon,  passing the metro station at the Huda City Centre.  

  Metro station

 Train leaving the station.  Bombardier strikes again !
It took one hour to drive the same distance it took the metro to do in 10 minutes. You got to love that traffic. NOT ! I have to get used to the honking horns and erratic driving; can’t be the backseat driver ! Our first stop was at Qutab Minar, where the world’s tallest brick minaret is located (at least that’s what the brochure says. Huge site with beautiful sections of palaces and temples remaining.
 Qutab Minar built around 1200 BC.   From a distance it looks about the size of a light house.
   Think again !   It's huge.  Built out of multicoloured stone
  The effect is spectacular
  Some of the detail carvings on the stone
  Look up,   look way up !
  Inside one of the other buildings on the site
  Detail of one of the arches in this building
 Here is the building from the outside
  Other buildings are only partially left but provide amazing idea of what it would have looked like way back when.

  Detail on one of those huge arches that have been left standing
 
And some of the carved columns scattered all around the grounds of the site

From there we drove on to the Lotus Temple, a fairly new structure built by the Bahai faith. 

  The Lotus Temple

 Had to remove our shoes for this one, and since I was wearing white socks in my white running shoes, I took those off too. 
   (Note to self: buy more “wet ones” for when you visit other temples and need to clean your feet before putting your socks or sandals back on & possibly consider buying dark socks to keep in my purse)
 Entrance to the temple
 Exiting the temple
There are pools all around the lotus, and I would have loved a picture from above.   Saw one in a book of photos taken from a kite !   Photographer Nicolas Chorier.  Have to check him out on the internet.

They lined us up outside and gave us instructions about being quiet and taking the opportunity to reflect.  I actually tried to meditate, hadn’t done that in a while, but with only 5 minutes, it didn’t quite work out.   I’ll have to try it somewhere else during the excursion in Rajasthan.

We drove on north towards the downtown area, stopping to visit Humayun’s Tomb and Gardens.  Another great site.  There are actually many “tombs/mausoleums” here to various historical individuals,  but Emperor Humayun is the main one.  It was the first “garden-tomb” to be built, by the emperor’s wife.  They don’t mention HER name by the way ! ! !

  Humayun’s Tomb and Gardens

   Going through the first series of gates
  This is the second gate
  Looking through the second gate
 Maquette of  Humayun’s Tomb and Gardens
  Looking through the "jalousie" window of the 2nd gate towards the tomb.
  This is the tomb.
  From the main level of the tomb, looking back towards the 2nd gate.
  From within the tomb
  Trees on the grounds have been covered by other tree lianas.
  Workers on the grounds use wooden carts to haul things around.
  Back outside, and across the road, there was a flower show !

A few things that are (sorry for this expression but…..)  pissing me off:

1)     People pick their noses here, very openly, regardless of where they are.  It’s gross.
2)     The men collecting the entrance fees at museums/metros/historical sites pretend they have no change, so when (for example) you are told it costs 250 rupees and give them a 500 bill, you only get 200 in change.   DO WE HAVE STUPID PRINTED ON OUR FOREHEADS ?   They are collecting money all day, of course they have change.   So for every 2 foreigners who go in, the guy pockets 100 rupees.   Not that 50 rupees is that much, but it all adds up.  There were hundreds of tourists at each site I went to today.
3)     The driving !   Just get in a lane and stay there !   You’re causing traffic jams by weaving in and out and putting 3 cars wide where only 2 should be !

Sorry.    I needed to vent.

From Humayun’s tomb, it was only a short distance to the famous India Gate.   Similar to Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, this baby is huge, but you can’t climb inside since they have it fenced off.  

  The eternal flame and the tomb of the unnamed soldier are underneath the arch.
  This is the park that surrounds the arch;  it is full of garbage !
  The India Gate
  A beautiful fountain facing the India gate. 

It was passed 12:30 by the time I got back to the car and when Neema suggested we stop to eat I was VERY pleased.   We stopped at an area where there were about 3 or 4 restaurants and went in to the Indian one.  I LOVE THE FOOD !   Hot buttered naan…..YUM, Chicken Masala with veggies and rice with caraway seeds.  Soda water with lime juice…  real lime juice.

By 1:30 we were back on the road and did some “drive by” sightseeing:  

  Friday afternoon,  going to the mosque

  This little guy seems to have a pretty good seat !
  Jama Masjid Mosque (it was Friday and time for prayers so no entry for unbelievers)

The Red Fort (you can only walk around outside)

 A rickshaw

 Another temple along the way

But when we got to the park where the Ghandis have their mausoleums, we made a stop so that I could see Mahatma’s mausoleum/tomb. “Gandhi Samadhi is a sacred place. People from all over the world come here to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation. We seek your cooperation to keep this place clean and beautiful”. And this works, probably because of whom Ghandi was; not one speck of garbage in this park.

  The entrance to the mausoleum.  Instead of going through the gate at the bottom, I went up the ramp to the top for a better view.
  A view down to Gandhi's tomb
  Very respectful and quiet.

Then on to Parliament buildings and the Presidential Palace....  where the 2nd battery for my camera died.  Sorry no pics yet.  I'll take some when I return to Delhi.
  On our way back out of "old" Delhi we passed this corner where half the building had been torn down to allow for road widening.  Guess what ?  People are still living in the buildings !   Unbelievable.

We were driving back towards Gurgaon, in traffic, it was going to take forever, when I noticed on the map that we were pretty much following the underground metro line, so I suggested to Neema that he drop me off at the next metro station and I would ride back that way instead.  It would save him driving me all the way there, and having to drive all the way back.  He loved that idea !   (And I was relieved to be getting out of the traffic and onto a speeding metro!   So he dropped me off at the nearest station and agreed that he would pick me up at the hotel IBIS tomorrow morning at 8 am. 
Forgot to mention that the metro here is slightly different from ours, or I should say the process is.  You have to have any bags scanned, just like at the airports, and there is a separate security line for women and another for men; because they do pat you down.   Well I tripped as I was going into the ladies line up and fell down hard on both knees.   My poor knees are going to be mush by the end of this trip.  They had rigged up some kind of carpeted platform, so that you would be standing maybe 6 or 8 inches higher than the lady who was patting you down, and somehow I tripped.   Both knees are still sore from my fall at Victoria Falls.   Won’t be kneeling down to pray any time soon !   

 I rode the metro back to the Huda City Centre, and took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel.   Taxi on Monday cost me 600 rupees, the tuk-tuk cost 100 for the same trip.  

Glad I took those pictures yesterday of the “housing” in the empty field beside the hotel because when I got back and was trying to take photos of the sunset from my hotel window, I noticed that the entire rows had been evacuated, roofs removed, ready to tear down. 
  No roofs left, everyone gone.

No idea what happened to these poor people.  Where do you go when you have absolutely nothing?  Were they given notice?   Does anyone care what happens to them?   My heart is breaking.    Why do I keep being reminded of man’s inhumanity to man?