We can’t think of a funny title for Delhi. May 23, 2008

15.May.08

Jumped on our 7 hour train to Delhi without hassle, and arrived in Delhi filled with terror about what awaits us. Constantly people (and guide books) tell us how insane Delhi is. Completely filth drenched city, covered in trash, and hazy with black soot, filled with very pushy, aggressive touts and rickshaw drivers, extremely persistent beggars and street children who will do nothing but sniff glue with your given, or stolen money, and constant rip-offs and scams from hotels, shops, and restaurants. Surprisingly we experienced absolutely NONE of this. We exited the train station for our straight walk to our hotel Hare Krishna Lodge down a tourist infested street. A couple rickshaws asked kindly if we wanted rides, a couple touts asked if we wanted hotel rooms, and all backed off with a simple “no thanks,” one beggar asked simply for food, and, for supposedly being “the dirtiest city in the world,” the Delhi we experienced was surprisingly SPOTLESS by Indian standards (save the fog of air pollution; not much worse than LA 10 years ago). Our only minor problem was with the hotel we picked out from the book, it was more expensive than we expected (by $2, a big deal here) and they put us in a small room next to massive construction and a with broken toilet, and meager fan. After a complaint about the noise they gave us a room for the same price, but three stories up, and somehow 3 times bigger than the other room with two double beds, air cooler, working TV, and spotless, fully-functional bathroom! I don’t quite get how that all worked out, but we suppose they just wanted to see if we would be happy with the crappy room before giving us the real room, it all worked out great!

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out, doing nothing special. Our hotel restaurant, now just a quick flight of stairs up on the roof, served some excellent Thai food which we have been craving as a break from Indian (Mmm Tom Yam soup again!) We had some beers later at a local bar, and ended our night.

16.May.08

We had a long day of monument exploration, souvenir shopping, and FINE dining. First stop the Delhi Red Fort with terrific marble mausoleums, mosques, and huge red walls, one of the many central courts of the Mughal empire (they moved around a lot, similar structures as the Red Forts in Agra, built in different generations). We shopped a bit at some stores nearby getting fabulous souvenirs for friends and family. Then went to a Jain temple nearby with a bird hospital, and after to a massive mosque where we came across more obnoxious Muslims trying to cheat us out of our money by charging us to bring a camera in. We told them we wouldn’t pay and simply wouldn’t take pictures and keep the camera in a purse, but they said one of us would have to wait outside with the camera. We told them that was a load of shit and left, content with appreciating the outside of the mosque (terrorism aside, they don’t try very hard to get people to like them).

Then we headed to Karim’s restaurant around the corner where we ate one of the best meals we’ve had yet in India. Even Time magazine rated this place as one of the very best in all of Asia, and the mutton (goat) in almond curry, spicy red curry tandoori chicken, and sweet succulent Naan bread proved Time correct! Best part of this place is, for being a 5 star restaurant, the prices are far cheaper than even the meager food you’ll find at many hotels.

After our stomachs were full we walked a way to the nearest Metro station, which is BRAND SPANKING NEW. It is one of the most gorgeous Metro systems we have ever seen. Completely devoid of all graffiti and trash, ice-cold air-conditioning, fast, efficient, cheap, and massive, stunning terminals. After everything we have learned about Delhi and now riding the Metro, we are very excited for the future of this city. Just 5 years ago Delhi was rated among the dirtiest cities in the world, and THE dirtiest capitol, yet in just that time, they have converted all public transport from Petrol and Diesel to Compressed Natural Gas, built a gorgeous Metro which is planned to cover even more ground by 2010, cleaned up 90% of all trash, clamped down on factory and auto emissions, offered solar power rebates, and planted thousands of trees and cleared massive plots for green space. In ten years more, I guarantee this city will be an even more stunning place to visit with the smog cut into fractions, and fancy modern structures nestled next to a plethora of ancient monuments. Lot’s of excitement for the future of this city and country!

17.May.08

Took the Metro again this morning to Parliament which, once again, is up there as one of the most gorgeous government structures, towering above and abroad with gorgeous red stone. Directly across and through a tree-flanked park is the India Gate similar to the Arc de Triumph (only more red). Then we went to the national museum where we were ALMOST overcharged Rs 300 each for being tourists, but then we showed our year out-dated student ID’s and got in for Rs 1. (Saved Rs 598, or $15, see parents it was worth paying the tuition). We took no pictures in the museum, but it was quite unforgettable, though sometimes poorly maintained with many ancient relics open for people to freely touch them (which Indians, and children, LOVE to do). It spanned the whole history of India with paintings, brass, stone, & wood carvings, clothing, coinage, etc.

Afterwards we struck a deal with a Rickshaw driver to drive us to many more monuments for a decent cost and we let him take us to a couple shops where they pay him to bring us, so we don’t have to! Everybody wins, and we only have to suffer 10 minutes of them trying to push massively overpriced souvenirs on us, though it is always worth it, and something we do in almost every city. He took us first to Humayud’s tomb, just some dead Mughal Muslim emperor, who needed to build a massive, priceless structure for his dead, bloated, rotting corpse.

After that we took a long ride to the Baha’i Temple, a faith that really has no ties to other religions and preaches one god, unity, science, tolerance, and peace for mankind. More importantly however, they got some sweet style in their temples!!! There was a long wait to enter the temple as many people wished to see the innards of this white lotus monolith on a hill. Absolute silence was required, and we were pretty sure it was the first time in MONTHS that we had almost complete quiet to hear a pin drop. Indians being silent? I thought some might have an aneurysm trying to accomplish such a feat (then again who am I to say this, I can barely shut up when I am asleep, and even then sometimes…). After some very peaceful moments in the stunning innards of the temple, where light played splendidly off white marble, and natural cool-air vents from below made the whole chamber an oasis in the heat, we exited back into the hot Delhi sun and after a quick conversion attempt (no thank you religion!!!) we hopped into our waiting rickshaw.

We were dropped off at a park which housed more Mausoleums, lakes, fountains, and many Upper-Middle class Indians jogging and walking their dogs (a rare sight, as pet dogs are a rarity; what a backwards culture, right?!). Our favorite to see were the women in their gorgeous, colorful Saree’s wearing tennis shoes and listening to an iPod (should have gotten a picture). Afterwards we stopped by Subway of all places to put some western food in our upset stomachs. Instead of pork and beef, they only had lamb, which was delicious on our Spicy Italian sandwiches. Oh man, did that feel good going down as we enjoyed the food in the comfort of our room.

18.May.08

We did the final thing one must do in Delhi, visit Qutb Minar, the first mark of Mughali Muslim influence. To mark the victory over India, the Mughal emperor built a MASSIVE pillar and a gorgeous mosque out of scraps of Jain and Hindu temples which his army ripped apart. The deep carvings in Islamic were beautiful in the red stone and white marble. If the pillar had some white smoke billowing out of it, it would not seem out of place, however even for a “smokestack,” it was stunning!

The complex was rather large and we wandered around amidst the many other Indian visitors (who, once again, payed a fraction less for entrance). At some point we noticed a man trying to take a picture in our direction, so to be polite we moved out of his way, however, this seemed to strangely disappoint him. Then again Jessica noticed this man taking a picture in her direction when we were apart, and she did the same as before, again to the disappointment of this man. Soon enough we realized he was trying to take sneaky pictures of Jessica. For maybe ten minutes we wandered around trying to avoid this creepy guy, and anytime he brought up his camera Jess turned her back and I glared at him. You’d think he’d get a clue, but finally he simply came up to us and asked for a picture, which maybe we would have said yes if he’d not been so creepy about the whole thing. We refused, which only made him work harder to get a picture, weaving in and out of the crowds, and sneaking from behind monuments when we weren’t paying attention, until I got some pictures of him trying to take pictures of us (there is one on the Flickr page, he’s holding a camera down the aisle of pillars in a yellow shirt). Here’s a picture of the gorgeous white girl I’m sure he wish he could have taken…

Anyway we left the monument, stopped by two shops for 10 minutes to slice the cost of our long taxi trip in half, and strapped on our bags to make our way to the train station for a 20 hour overnight ride to Jaisalmer. The train ride was comfortable and we met a really nice Australian girl, Michelle, traveling alone who we chatted a bunch with. We slept well in our upgraded Air-con, blanket provided, curtained sleeper bunks (it was worth the extra cost for such a long trip (and by extra costs I mean $50 for both of us instead of the usual $15 or so we would pay for dirty, fan cooled, crowded bunks)!