Day 3 - Training Day

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Day 3 began slightly differently to yesterday in that we were up early enough to sample breakfast. We did only have toast to be fair, although there was an Indian dish available we were both too cowardly in our tiredness to attempt. After a nice refreshing bucket wash, and full of optimism, we headed out for a pre-planned day of metro madness and sightseeing.



Let’s get this out of the way. Yes mum, I am aware that you poked and prodded us until we took those ponchos. Yes mum, it did rain for ten minutes on the walk to the station. Yes mum, we wore them. You win. Let’s get on with it.



First stop, Old Delhi, via the Chandni Chowk metro station, which was... interesting. I can now see where people are writing to trip advisor about being intimidated by tuk tuk and taxi drivers. As you step out of the station you are confronted with dark alleyways which would have been fairly crammed to begin with, without the tuk tuks lining the walls. We were approached hastily by 3 or 4 who attempted to be slightly more intimidating than any we had met before. It was quite unnerving even if the physical implications weren’t all that great from slender 5 ft 4 men.



The market itself was like the India you see in movies, with long streets clad in stalls. I’m not saying it wasn’t nice and that there are probably many avenues that we left unexplored, but it was just a bit too overwhelming for the pair of us. The hassling for souvenirs was persistent, there were a lot more people than we had previously seen, and when a gentleman walking alongside me vomited on the floor right next to me then just kept on walking, I decided that was that from my end. We opted for a “head down, eyes on the bag” mentality and snuck to the end of the road where we were greeted by the Red Fort.



The Red (well, slightly terracotta) Fort was the main headquarters for the emperors of the Mughal reigns of India, spanning from the early 17^th to the mid 19^th century. You can google the red fort and look at it but it doesn’t really do it justice. I had vastly underestimated the size of the structure as it watches over nearly all of Old Delhi. As it was close to 11.30 the place was starting to swarm, so we thought best to make our way to the ticket booth. Remember yesterday when I said it gets worse? Local – 50rupees. Foreigner – 600 rupees. Come on, don’t take the piss now.



We headed inside, muttering something that rhymed with “bucking croak”. At this point it’s worth mentioning wherever you go in India you pass through a security sensor and receive a pat down. Inside we navigated a smaller market with only the occasional pocket of hassling, before entering the tourist area. It was impressive, a largely gardened area joined with mostly intact structures, such as a music hall. In the centre lay pools of water, and marbled pathways dictated the flow of traffic. For the most part we were quiet and unnoticed, however 2 more groups had headed for a game of “photos with foreigners”. Having googled this, I discovered that this is done by fellow holidaymakers, who travel to Delhi from more remote, less touristy parts of the country, where interaction with non-Indian people is rare. That put my mind at ease, at least I will become a dinner topic as opposed to a sub-continental meme.



After this we attempted to get lunch at Hauz Khas metro stop. This was a disaster. We had no idea where we were going, hadn’t checked the area properly and effectively just wandered around a fancy district for 45 minutes in an area that we are pretty sure was off access to anyone except locals. Whoops. Hungry and downtrodden, we continued on.



We travelled to Kalkaji Madir train station, where we were to see the Lotus Temple. Opened in 1986 and costing 10 million dollars to make, this Baha’i place of worship for all religions is designed in the shape of a flower (don’t guess I’m presuming you can put 2 and 2 together). After stopping off for lunch, which was a fried samosa that was good (although my least favourite thus far) and only 10 rupees apiece. A 20 minute queue later and we were inside the grounds of the temple, where we then queued for a further ten before being instructed to put our shoes in a bag which we carried with us to the temple. We were given a brief talk about being completely silent and not using our phones inside, before we entered to find what inside was standard religious fare. An alter, a large amount of chairs, and a couple of families completely neglecting any rules about not talking. After 5 minutes of silence, which admittedly was spent looking at the birds which had somehow managed to wrangle their way in, we left and returned to the hostel via the metro. After a small relax, we then walked back to our local market for dinner. We went for another Kathi Roll (start as you mean to finish) from a different vendor. This one was equally as tasty although substantially more greasy, resulting in myself stereotypically dropping it on my shirt (standard). We also had a vegetable samosa each, which was as delicious as you’d expect. After this we pillaged some water from the store and trotted back to the hostel. Luckily, a couple of our roommates have left, which was ideal, as tomorrow we will be braving the beast that is the Indian Railway system. This could be where it all goes south…

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