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Published: January 14th 2007
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Jama Masjid, Old Delhi
largest mosque in India So 2006 (aka Tom and Liz's year of Adventure) is over, rather strange to think what 2007 might bring but nice to look back on all the wicked things that we have done this year.
We spent the big night up in the Indian capital Delhi. Our experience of Delhi interesting as it was a bit of a shock arriving in a big northern city after the laid back atmosphere in Kerala and Goa but perhaps the biggest shock was leaving the warm tropical weather of SE Asia and South India for a cold and foggy Delhi night. Having booked accommodation it was easy to find our way across the city and our taxi driver only tried to take us to three different hotels on the way which was a bit of a result, he kept optimistically flashing business cards of various hotels at which he could collect commission but having booked (and paid) for our cheap room on the internet we weren't having any of it. Perhaps we should have taken him up on his offer when we arrived at our hotel in the Paharganj district to find that they were in the midst of renovations and that they had
removed the entire front wall and glass entrance doors. Living up to our record of always managing to book rooms which are next to or part of building sites we took this in our stride and figured at least there would be good security to make up for the lack of wall onto the street, wouldn't there?
Anyway our room turned out to be fine - except that it has no window facing out to the street which is always a bit disorientating. Having marble floors, not much blankets and no heating was a bit of a shock to the system having to cope with our first cold night in months. This was helped by ordering room service from the helpful man in the corridor outside. Some of the best curry we've had, watching tv and washed down with Kingfisher.
Being a Sunday and New Years Eve, the next day we thought we would do some shopping. Nay luck the big shops around Connaught Place were all tightly shut that morning. In a bit of a panic - we really needed some new and warm 'western' style clothes to bring in the New Year - we drifted around
for a few hours until they opened. A really annoying experience as we were hastled every 30 seconds of the way by rickshaws and passers by to go and visit their family's shop or bazaar on the other side of town, test out their English. All we wanted to do was take in the sites of Connaught Place (the centre of New Delhi, an Edwardian circular plaza of posh shops and restaurants with a big park in its centre) and random backstreets with their flower markets and stuff. Stressed out and fed up by the whole experience, the shops were finally open at midday and we found ourselves in the Levis Store buying cheap jeans. Result, we had stylish trousers which didn't smell of Indian street sewerage.
Heading back to our hotel we took a detour through the Main Bazaar and all the crazily cramped, noisy, colourful, busy and dirty streets between there and it. We gourged ourselves on a few really cheap pakoras fried fresh on the side of the road, squeezed our way through impossibly small and windy streets and stumbled across a whole street lined with stables containing white horses and carriages (they're used for Hindu
weddings).
Back to our room, quick scrub to get rid of the grime, a rummage through our bags to find the cleanest most respectable clothes and then we were on our way back to Connaught Place. The road between our hotel and CP was closed off to traffic, and like a match day they was a bit of a party atmosphere with pretty much everyone walking in the same direction and in high spirits. As usual in India, as soon it is dark there was virtually no women on the streets and Liz being a blond haired white female stood out in the crowd. No worries, everyone was friendly and we soon found ourselves in a mexican restaurant of all places warming ourselves with a few fancy cocktails. Out on the street, in the mist and cold most people seemed to be in the central park making as much noise as possible. By 1145pm we were wondering around the streets again and got invited to another upstairs restaurant. What a stroke of luck - a full on party was going, with a disco, friendly waiters and party hats. From what we remember it was a good night!...
New
Years day was again another room service meal and TV, just what the doctor ordered. So the final day in Delhi was a sightseeing mission before we go the night train to Rajasthan. We used the swish new underground metro to get to Old Delhi Station, dumped our bags and then headed off to the Red Fort. The Red Fort was until recently the main army barracks of India and the army HQ for the British army in India. An impressive load of Mogul palaces inside, though all the best bits have been stolen over the years (or probably used as target practice!). We then had a nose in the Digambara Jain Temple, it was closed for prayer but we thought better of seeing their bird hospital (don't ask!). On a bit of a religious mission we thought we'd check out the Jama Masjid mosque, the largest mosque in India. An impressive, beautiful place with fantastic views of the city including the Red Fort. After that we strolled through the impossibly colourful streets of Old Delhi, passing a million and one little shops and tasting the odd bit of street food as we went. To round off Old Delhi we
dropped into a really famous Sikh Temple on Chandni Chowk (sorry forgotten the name). A really sweet guy, full of God's love I suppose, explained his religion and then looked after our stuff while we had a look around his temple. Like everyone else, we covered our heads out of respect, went barefoot, cleansed our feet in the water pool at the entrance steps and headed into the temple. A real soothing place, full of chanting and very inclusive, particularly as it happily fed anyone a free meal (we declined as it didn't seem right fair that we should line our stomachs for free).
The afternoon was drawing to a close so we took the metro back to New Delhi to check out India Gate. Taking a long walk along the Rajpath (a bit like the Champs Elysee - a wide boulevard for parades), the familiar monument of India Gate loomed ahead of us while the sun set behind our backs.
To finish up our day we grabbed a rickshaw and drove for what seemed like ages until we got to Majnu Ka Tilla. This amazing place is little colony within the north of the city for Tibetan
refugees. The sense of community here is really strong with Tibetan friends and relatives sitting and playing in the streets like in a village, Tibetan temples, Tibetan shops and of course we had to try out a popular Tibetan restaurant. Tasty food, just what we needed for the long train journey ahead...
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Naval
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Awsm Blog
THe entire Blog list is one of the best, i've came across on Net. I',m and Indian and it's really amazing to see that how perfectly you hv descibed culture of each indian city. Morover the life of Delhi narreted by u is really closest to reality one can read..(me a Delhi guy;-)....Gud Stuff.. Keep it up and do let me know if you have any other Bolg list of ur ... Cheers!!! Keep Rocking. Naval. (nvlsharma@gmail.com)