Tour of Delhi

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On the first day of our organized trip, we took a bus tour of Delhi and New Delhi. We had a private air conditioned bus for the 9 of us. Our first stop was Jama Masjid Mosque, one of the largest mosques in Inida built in 1656 AD. To enter, we had to remove our shoes and leave them at the entrance. 2 of the people in our group were wearing shorts and had to put on a cloth around their waist to cover up their legs. Inside was a huge courtyard where up to 25,000 people can come and pray.

Next we took a half hour tour on a rickshaw, a bicycle with a cart in the back with room for two people. This allowed us to see some of the smaller alleys and places our bus couldn’t get to. We even saw rhesus macaques on the roofs of some of the shops in the back alleys.

We spent the afternoon touring various historic sites around the city. There are 1200 historical sites in the city, so about everywhere you look, you see something that was built hundreds of years ago.

At this site there were several spots where Muslims had removed the artwork depicting humans, since this is forbidden in their religion.

We saw a big difference between rich and poor on the tour. We saw several crippled people, maybe from polio or leprosy, literally crawling on the streets and begging.

We ended the day at a shop that sold Kashmir rugs. They gave us a demo of how the rugs are made and then put on a little sales pressure to buy some. The rugs cost anywhere from $300 to $12,000 depending on the size and materials.

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Photos

Jama Masjid Mosque Entrance
We had to leave our shoes at the door. People wearing shorts (like Bob here on the left) had to wrap a cloth around their waist to cover their legs.

Jama Masjid Mosque
25,000 people can pray in this courtyard.

Snack shop
These shops where you can buy snacks, bottled water, etc. were everywhere. Also everywhere were "STD/ISD" booths where you can make local and international phone calls.

Rhesus Macaque on the roof
A bunch of these guys were living on the roofs of the shops.

Chicken cages
I count at least 7 chickens in the top cage, and that seems to be the roomy one.

Raj Ghat Memorial to Mahatma Gandhi
This is where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated in 1948. Dignitaries customarily lay flowers in front of the perpetual flame. There were several people praying in front of it when we were there.

Humayun's Tomb
This World Heritage Site built in 1562 AD is an example of Mughal architecture.

Qutub Minar
Tallest brick minaret in the world. Built in 1193 AD and 1368 AD.

Pillar in Qutb complex
Chiselled out part in the middle of this photo was an image of a person, but was removed because images of people are forbidden in Islam.

Cricket
We saw people playing cricket in parks all over the place.

Comments

[gina]

Rickshaw
We have something similar called pedicab (it's a cab you pedal :). The cart is attached on the left side of the bicycle instead of the back. There's another one that's faster, we call it tricycle (3 wheeled motorcycle). It's a motorcycle with a cart on the side that can accommodate 6 people inside and 1 person can ride at the back of the driver. Vance loves to ride on one of those. It could be a struggle going uphill tho esp if the load is heavy.