Blogs from National Capital Territory, India, Asia - page 20

Today we decided to start our tour by 9:30 am. After shower, we headed to buffet breakfast. Pretty good spread. Highlights were idli/sambhar, yogurt, coffee, fruits, ajwain paratha and omelettes. Driver and guide Raj were ready by 9:30 am. first stop was Juma Masjid. Since it was Saturday, it was open to public. It is in Old Delhi. The roads were narrow and congested. This mosque is a beautiful place. Since P1, P2 and myself were wearing shorts they provded us lungis to cover your legs. We were able to climb up the towers for a panoramic view of the city. After that, we took rickshaw tour of Chandni Chowk. This part of the city consists of spice, nuts and other types of wholesale markets. we hired two rickshaws. It is sad to see these human ... read more

Having a down day to recover from a bit of Delhi belly. I've been somewhat fortunate, escaping any sort of troubles so far. We think it is because the malaria medication I take is also an antibiotic, while E's is only for malaria. Anyway, it always good to have day to relax. To read books, to write and to reflect on all that we've seen and experienced so far. Next up, the temple of love over in the eastern part of the country, will update in a couple of days.... read more

This place is Frickin crazy my peeps. Having said that, its pretty awesome too. Still jetlagged and groggy, we got ourselves up and squared away travel arrangements for the week before we hired a driver to take us around the city. Yes....I know.... I'm a big proponent of public transit and there is a metro stop ten minutes away...However...there are just certain ways to do things in 115 heat (100 and effing hot as I like to describe it). We had a/c (ish) and a nice driver to take us to several sites. And we employed him for the day. We experienced a Buddhist temple, Humayan's tomb, governmental square (aka somethin official named here), the Indira Gandhi museum, the India Gate and the Lotus temple. Nearly everywhere people asked to take their pictures with us. I'm ... read more

India is a land of contrasts (hence the clumsy metaphor above). I'm sitting in a hotel room in Delhi, thoroughly enjoying Inglorious Basterds on one of the English movie channels on Indian TV, before our very early plane tomorrow morning. Now reflecting on my experience of India, it has been across a spectrum of enjoyment, highlighted to me rather conveniently by our journey today from Jaipur to Delhi. Approaching Delhi from the south, we passed through the commercial district, full of shiny new high rise offices and apartments, familiar names adorned the top of the façades. Deloitte, Panasonic, KPMG, Toyota, all the same names as one would see in any major capital city, however it felt like a lie. If I was coming to India on business, doubtless, I'd get to the big BA jet to ... read more

Our driver picks us up at 6:45am to usher us out of the hell that is Delhi and off to greener pastures. I didn’t realize it at the time but I was signed up for an 11 hour car ride. Surviving off of about 6 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours I was exhausted and my head rolled from side to side as I tried to sleep in the front seat. Sleep was impossible, even when I started to drift off to sleep I was thrust back into consciousness when the driver (who I called Ted in my head) laid on the horn. In India, the horn is almost constantly going! I have noticed this in the previous taxi/tuk-tuk rides but I wasn’t trying to sleep in those vehicles and this was going to ... read more