After returning to Bangalore on the overnight train from Hampi, we headed straight for the Bangalore airport to fly up to New Delhi. Big travel day! We were at the airport at about 9am, and after wandering the airport shops a little, decided to get some lunch. Since we were on the early side, we ended up having to convince the man behind the counter to give us a veggie thali plate (combination meal; often the best value and freshest food). He finally gave in, and let us eat lunch early, including an Indian donut hole drenched in syrup, called gulab jamun:
The flight itself was pretty uneventful. We arrived in Delhi very tired, and excited to see our hotel. We stayed at the Le Meridien (affordable to us thanks to Indian prices!) and were looking forward to a solid night's sleep not on a train. Here's the lobby:
And a shot looking up at all the rooms from the middle of the lobby:
And our room (unexpected upgrade to the club level, which was pretty great for the free breakfast and snacks)!
After some much-needed sleep, we got up the next morning ready to seize the day! Instead of formally booking a driver through the hotel (at a fixed daily rate, exorbitant by local standards), we went for the more economical option: get a random taxi driver out front, and if you like him, ask him to drive you around all day on the meter.
Our first experience contracting our own driver was pretty funny. We wanted to go to a popular outdoor market for tourists called Dilli Haat. This market is state-sponsored and known for having high-quality products and pretty good prices. You also pay a small entry fee (a few rupees), which helps make tourists like us feel more comfortable, since there aren't any people inside asking for money or trying to take advantage of you.
We told the cab driver to take us to Dilli Haat, and he started driving in the wrong direction. Will had a map and was following along (of course!), so pointed out to the driver that we were headed the wrong way. Our friendly neighborhood driver was taking us to "the second Dilli Haat" because, even though our guide book didn't tell us this, "there are two in the city." We tried to refuse and have him immediately take us to the real Dilli Haat, but of course, we were "almost there."
Turns out, the second Dilli Haat is actually a Delhi Haat, and is not an outdoor market, but a small store selling cheap scarves, trinkets, and other goods. We assumed this place wasn't what we were looking for, and don't like being jerked around, so we refused to get out of the car. We later found out that these cab drivers get a hefty kickback just for having tourists walk inside. Even if tourists don't buy anything, the cab driver still gets something. That explains why he awkwardly sat there for about 5 minutes while we refused to go in. Had we known, we might have just walked inside and asked him to knock a little off the cab fare... ;-)
As a testament to how incredible and surprising India can be, this cab driver turned out to be really cool, despite this rocky start. After leaving Delhi Haat, he turned around and started driving us to the real Dilli Haat. On our way, we passed a beautiful Sikh temple. We noticed he was wearing the Sikh turban, and commented on how beautiful the temple was. Even though it was partly under renovation, the white and gold exterior was gleaming in the sunlight:
As soon as we started talking about the temple, our driver asked if we wanted to stop to go in. I'm pretty sure there was no kickback here. I honestly think the dude wanted to go to the temple to pay his respects, and decided, what the heck, I'll take these two with me. He took us down to an area to store our shoes and put on head coverings, and got us a couple pamphlets about Sikhism. Then he walked us through the entire compound, showing us all the different parts of the temple, and praying along the way.
The outside of the temple was beautiful, and included a big pond with fish. Outside this temple, we also got a lot of attention for being foreigners. We had a number of people come up and take photos with us, and our orange head scarves.
One of the best parts of this stop was seeing the industrial soup kitchen operation. Our driver explained that anyone can come here for a free vegetarian meal (apparently every Sikh temple has one of these kitchens, called a langar). This is the kitchen with the giant pot of lentils, and an automatic roti maker (kind of like a factory tortilla machine) on the left.
Just outside the kitchen there was this giant room full of people enjoying the food:
After about 45 minutes at the temple, we went back on our way to the market, and the driver refused to let us pay the parking fee for the temple lot. After only buying a few things at the market (I know, you're surprised and proud of me, right?) we went to an attraction that was certainly one of the highlights of the city for us: the Qutub Minar.
The Qutub Minar is the tallest minaret in India, towering at about 238 feet. Construction on this bad boy started in 1192, and it is made of red sandstone and marble. The base is about 47 feet in diameter, and it narrows to about 8 feet at the top story. It was originally supposed to be just one tower in a gigantic mosque, but this is as far as they managed to get. (Will's nerdy geography note: there is an even older tower in Afghanistan that served as a model for the Qutub Minar called the Minaret of Jam, which is probably the coolest name ever, but since it's located in such a war-torn region we're not likely to make it there anytime soon).
When we visited the Qutub Minar, there were a lot of Indian tourists on the premises, many of whom wanted photos with both of us, but especially with WP. This is one of my favorite photos from the trip; WP's famous (look at those serious photo faces)!
In a spectacular finish to a day of visiting religious monuments, we ended up at the Bahá'í Lotus Temple. This temple was completed in 1986 - just 794 years after they started on the Qutub Minar, only a 10-minute drive away even in Delhi traffic!
The Lotus Temple had a very organized shoe storage system that involved people who move your shoes from the drop off window to the pick up window, giving you a ticket to retrieve them after taking your tour of the structure. After navigating the shoe system, we were ushered into a tour group where some very patient guides gave us a 10-minute lecture about the importance of not taking photos inside the church and staying silent. They also gave us some background on the Bahá'í faith, including the fact that silence inside the church is key to letting each individual have a direct conversation with God.
Not knowing a whole lot about Bahá'í I was interested to learn their three core principles:
- The unity of God, that there is only one God who is the source of all creation.
- The unity of religion, that all major religions have the same spiritual source and come from the same God.
- The unity of humanity, that all humans have been created equal, and that diversity of race and culture are seen as worthy of appreciation and acceptance.
The inside of the temple was very plain compared to a lot of Indian structures, with bare walls, wooden pews, and high ceilings. I still liked it though, and it reminded me of being in a Protestant church at home (Hindu temples felt more like Spanish Catholic churches in their ornamentation and use of color).
After leaving the Lotus Temple, our driver bud who'd been with us all day made one last valiant effort to get us to yet another Delhi Haat market. He drove us to another store selling trinkets and "pashmina" scarves, and standing out front were a bunch of guys waving us in, offering us tea, and coming up to the windows with samples of the goods inside. Once again we refused, and had the driver take us back to the hotel. I'd still give him a A for effort, despite his failure to lure us into any of the stores.
On our second-to-last sightseeing day, we decided to take a day trip to Agra to see the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal. We arranged for a driver to pick us up at 5am at our Delhi hotel, and set off on the 4-hour trip. We wanted to leave earlier, but our driver refused due to heavy fog. We also asked the driver to take the fancy new toll road instead of the "old road," which I think was a good move since there was no traffic and we made great time. It was a little weird to be on a road that felt like an abandoned German autobahn, after having been constantly surrounded by vehicles, honking, and dubious roads for the past couple weeks.
Driving into the city of Agra was not what we expected. The Taj Mahal, by far India's biggest single tourist attraction, is in Agra, so we figured there would be a ton of tourist infrastructure, but beyond a few discrete areas it didn't seem to be that built up or designed for Western visitors. As we exited the recently-paved toll highway and came into the city, we saw much of what we saw all around India: small houses, lots of stray dogs, and pedestrians, motorcyclists and people everywhere. Among the many vehicles, we saw several of these music-makers on wheels:
Since our time in the northern part of India coincided with record cold temperatures hovering around freezing, we also saw a lot of really cold people, using makeshift ways to warm up, including roadside piles of burning boxes, trash, and tires. Combine that with the ever-pervasive fog and a large monkey population, and it felt a little bit post-apocalyptic at times.
As serendipity would have it, two San Francisco book club friends of WP's who were with us at the Bangalore wedding and in Hampi, happened to be in Agra the day we decided to visit. They already had a hired guide for the day, and we had the car, so we combined forces. After some chai at Vanessa and Kate's hotel, we set off for our first stop: the Agra Fort!
The fort is on 94 acres of land, and its outer walls are 70 feet high. It was still extremely cold and foggy by the time we got to the fort, but we were still able to see all the major sights.
Towards the end of his life, Shah Jahan (who built the Taj Mahal for his wife Mumtaz Mahal) was imprisoned by his son in the fort. It is rumored that Shah Jahan died in Muasamman Burj, a tower with a marble balcony with a view of the Taj Mahal. When we visited the fort, it was too foggy to see the Taj Mahal from this famous tower:
One of the truly beautiful aspects of the fort that we also saw on the Taj was the pattern of inlaid stones and marble on the walls. Our guide let us know that the whole place used to be covered in valuable stones, but over the years many pieces have been stolen and eroded away.
The fort had a bunch of courtyards with nicely manicured lawns and impressive arches. Here's what we jokingly referred to as our family Christmas card photo:
To get between Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal, the guide had us ditch the big car, which wasn't allowed close to the Taj, and take this little three-wheeled cab instead:
This was tourist trap central, so we got a healthy dose of T-shirt, magnet, and snack offers. Here's WP driving a hard bargain... so what if we bought that magnet eventually (he did bargain down from $2 to 25 cents...)!
One thing you never hear about is how intricate and imposing the entire Taj Mahal complex is, including the outer walls and gates. The Great Gate is the main entrance to the Taj, and was pretty impressive on its own!
When we first arrived at the Taj, it was early afternoon and still pretty foggy. Here are a couple of the first photos I took:
To go inside the Taj Mahal, you have to put on shoe covers, and then proceed to fight your way through the crowds to get through the main door.
The inside of the Taj was beautiful - so much white marble, with more inlaid jewels and stones:
Here's another one of the amazing outlying buildings that surrounds the Taj Mahal. In this photo we're standing right next to the main Taj building, and looking out towards the Taj Mahal Mosque:
This view is from inside the mosque, looking back at the Taj:
While the interior of the main building was extremely crowded, the actual courtyard areas were pretty open, so we spent about an hour or so walking the grounds, and exploring the area.
On our way back out of the complex, we found these crazy doorways, which reminded us of a M.C. Escher illustration with the afternoon shadows being cast:
On our last day in India, we decided to see a few things in the new part of town, and then spend some time exploring Old Delhi, which we hadn't seen much of yet.
Our first stop was to Humayun's Tomb, which was commissioned in 1596 (85 years before the Taj Mahal was started) by the Mughal Emperor Humayun's first wife. Despite its importance as one of the clear architectural forerunners of the Taj Mahal, and its location directly in central Delhi, there were only a few other tourists at the tomb, and we got to take our time checking out the inside rooms and outer courtyards.
Someone set out some water for the squirrels and birds; cute!
Next we went to the India Gate, which was built in the 1920s as a monument to Indian soldiers who died in the first World War and in the Anglo-Afghan Wars of the 1910s (well before Russia and the United States were entangled in their own wars in Afghanistan). Unfortunately there were a bunch of police officers guarding the entrance, so we couldn't get an up-close view.
Our driver was able to take us around the sights in the newer part of the city, but when we told him we wanted to go to Old Delhi, he let us know that his car would be too big, and that we'd have to continue on foot or in a pedicab. He also gave us some strict warnings about how this is where we would get our pockets picked.
In addition to the normal craziness of a crowded city in India, it was also market day, so there were extra stalls selling all kinds of food, clothes, CDs, DVDs, and other goods and extra people everywhere. While walking may have been faster due to all the pedestrian traffic clogging the tiny roads, we opted to get in a bicycle-powered pedicab to put a little extra space between us and any potential pickpockets, given our cabbie's warnings about my camera and purse.
The only monument we ended up having time for was the oldest and most important mosque in Old Delhi, Jama Masjid. Jama Masjid was built in the 1650s, and is in regular use up to this day (despite the mass exodus of Indian Muslims to Pakistan during Partition in the late 1940s, there is still a significant Muslim presence in India, especially in historically Muslim areas like Old Delhi). The building is notable for having no real indoor component. There was a huge courtyard with lots of families and kids running around, and a covered hallway of sorts with rugs for praying. You can see the praying corridor in the background here:
Our time in Northern India was very different from the time we spent with the wedding party in the South. The cultures and religions we experienced in our short time in India were so complex and varied, it cemented the fact that we've really only scratched the surface of what India has to offer. I can't wait to go back someday and visit some of the other amazing places in this massive country (Rajasthan, Kerala, Mumbai, Chennai, the islands, and many more places...).
Here's one last Taj picture to end on a high note!
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