Getting Our Bearing. Day 1

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Sorry for the late post from a few days ago. I realized, I saved it, but never published. We arrive in India safely after our long flight from Newark, NJ. Uneventful, long flight. I am glad I am spoiled and can travel in premium class. It does make a difference. Immigration and customs was easy. We were met by a facilitator and driver who took us to our hotel, The Lalit, New Delhi. We checked into our lovely room and met with our faciltator to go over our itinerary for the remainder of our trip. Everything looks great.



This morning, we had a lovely buffet breakfast with many international choices. (Don't ask, but I chose some Miso soup). I did try something called a parantha. Basically seasoned fried bread of some type. (mine had onions). Leo headed off for his first business meeting and I hung around the hotel getting acclimated and then joined our driver (DP Singh) for some touring.



Having just me and DP in the car, I was able to ask lots of questions and eventually actually began to understand some of the answers (their accents are quite thick). I am a good student, eager to learn, because I know so little about Indian culture to begin with. One important fact. . .You need three things to drive in India, 1. a good horn, 2. good brakes, 3. good luck! The roads are wild, filled with cars, bikes, motorcycles, auto rickshaws (tuk-tuk) and pedestrians.

First stop, the Lotus Temple, A Bahai, house of worship. Shaped inside and out like a giant lotus flower. Bahai is a relatively 'new' religion focusing on the oneness of mankind. This was the first of many times I will likely have to take off my shoes to enter a house of worship. Wow, the ground gets hot!

Next up was a visit to Safdarjang's tomb. The grounds hold the tomb, so other historical places and a mosque. We arrive just after the lunchtime prayers, and watch as a large stream of people exited. Good thing, the skies had opened up and the rain poured down.



We picked up Leo and made for our last attraction of the day. The Shrilakshmi Narain Temple. A large Hindu temple in the middle of Delhi. Our driver was a hindu and shared his knowledge and passion with us. We learned about the trinity of Hindu gods, Brahma Vishnu & Shiva; the creator, the operator and the destroyer. Way too many names and reincarnations for me to even begin to keep track of. A really interesting visit to a place so culturally different than home.



Our last stop was a bazaar, where extremely over zealous sales people, tried to sell us extremely overpriced stuff! $140 for a pashmima!



Headed to the lounge for drinks and dinner.

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Photos

Welcome to India
The arrivals hall in immigration

The Lotus Temple
Before I took off my shoes. Wow, that ground is hot!

Safdarjang's Tomb
After the downpour.

Shri Lakshmi Narain Temple
No photos were allowed inside. However, we caught a nice shot on the way out.

Comments

[Arnette]

your trip
Love this Michelle! I get to travel through your eyes - thanks! Great stories and pictures - going to follow your road while you blog.

[Anna]

Fun day!
So glad you guys are having fun! Keep posting...great pics! Glad you have such good neighbors at home......no worries here! Looking forward to your next post.

[Johanna]

The Baha'i
The Baha\'i temple in Chicago is the most beautiful building in the world, but this one looks pretty cool too.