Welcome to the North

After an enjoyable flight Nagina and I arrived in Delhi in the evening around 7 or 8 pm.  We got our luggage and met our new driver Dinesh.  He drove us from the airport to our hotel where we checked in and settled into our hotel room.  We had dinner on the plane so after settling in we sat and I journaled a bit and watched an Indian singing competition which was very entertaining even if I didn't understand half of what was going on.  We went to bed relatively early in preparation for a full day of sight seeing.

We were up bright and early and dressed.  It looked a little dismal outside so I opted for a long sleeve shirt.  Quite a change after the warm weather of the south.  We headed up for breakfast at the buffet on the roof and ate.  After we headed downstairs and met out tour guide for the day and headed out.

Our first stop was a Hindu temple by the name of Birla Mandir or Birla House.  We dropped off our shoes and camera as no pictures or camera were allowed in the temple.  We walked through the temple and received some explanations from the guide regarding the iconography.  It was a pan Hindu temple with pictures and alters to Siva, Vishnu, Laksmi, Sarasvati, Kali, Rama, etc.  This temple was a newer more modern temple not like the ancient ones we had seen in the south.  But that did not detract from it in any way it was just different from what we had seen.  When we left we pulled out our cameras and got a couple of pictures of the outside of the temple.

From the Birla Mandir we drove to the government center area and saw the various Ministry buildings and the President's house.  Although that was hard to see due to all the haze in the air and the gates which were closed.  Then it was off to see the Gate of India.  Unfortunately due to the city preparing for Republic Day on January 26th the Gate  was blocked off so we couldn't get very close.  But we got some pictures from afar which is better because you can actually get the entire thing in the picture that way.  It is a monument for several things one being as the Indian "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier".

Next it was off to the Indira Ghandi Museum.  On the way I was looking out the window and was really taking in the craziness of driving around Delhi.  The actual driving seemed more normal and orderly to me in Delhi but it was what I saw out the windows that surprised me.  I mean, I am no stranger to seeing  extreme poverty and people living in shanty or tents from my travels through South East Asia and Egypt but even so Delhi surprised me.  I had been warned and would warn future travelers not to be afraid by any means but to accept that poverty is there in abundance and not be surprised by it.  I had already been in South India for 2 weeks and gotten used to Indian standards but in Delhi even I was surprised by the filth and trash on the streets and the poverty that jumps out at you.  People living on patches of dirt in tents by the side of the road and bathing from buckets of water on the sidewalk.  Kids running around in grimy clothes attempting to sell you flowers or random junk or just begging.  It really is heart breaking to see and quite sobering when I think about the money I've spent on myself not only for this trip but for everything I have at home.  Staring into the forlorn eyes of some grubby kid begging really makes me feel guilty about spending money on frivolous things like my 80 pairs of shoes sitting in my closet at home.  If anyone ever needs a realty check about how lucky we are and how nice we have it in the States they need to travel to India and no matter how bad they have it they can see some people have it worse.

Well, all that being said I will turn back to the Indira Ghandi Museum.  I found the museum really interesting to walk through.  It was filled with pictures and information about Indira Ghandi and her life and the life.  She was a great woman and did a lot of good for her beloved country.  Unfortunately she was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards during a dispute with the Sikhs after ordering the Golden Temple (their most holy temple) searched for weapons.  She was shot on the pathway in front of her own home (her home is now the museum).  The walkway is now covered in glass and he spot where  her body fell is  marked with red glass flowers.

After our visit to the museum we dove to Qutab Minar which is a bunch of ruins of a palace.  I say loosely a bunch of ruins because it's debated whether the ruins are from the earlier Hindu rulers or the later Muslim rulers.  The current hypothesis is that it was started by the Hindu rulers way back when and then taken over and expanded by the Muslim  rulers that followed.  But regardless they were fun ruins to walk through and we got some great pictures.  In the compound we visited the Iron pole which is pure iron and is dated back to the 9th or 10th century.

When our walk through Qutab Minar was complete we headed out and had lunch at a decent restaurant then headed to the Bahai Lotus Temple.  This is a modern temple as the Bahai faith is a more modern philosophy.  But by far this is one of my favorite temples in India.  It is white stone and was built in the shape of a giant lotus blossom.  The inside which we had to stand in line to get in was all white expect for a beautiful stained glass window at the top.  It was one of the most soothing and peaceful places I have ever been and wish I could have spent hours there meditating.  It was filled with palpable energy you could feel all around you.  It reminds me of some of the churches I visited in Europe like the Cathedral for St. Francis of Assisi in Italy and Inseldin outside Lucerne in Switzerland.  Even with the temple packed with people it was calming and such a sense of serenity came over me while I was there.  I sat down on a bench and did a mini meditation as we couldn't stay long.  I hope if an when I go back to Delhi that I can spend more time at the Lotus Temple and would definitely recommend it to fellow travelers that need a spiritual pick me up in India.

Once out of the temple we visited the Bahai Visitors Center to learn a little more about the Bahai faith.  I find it very appealing as it is a pan religious place of worship.  You can be anything and also be Bahai as they believe think that all religions have value and support the same basic principles.  Which is exactly what I have always believed.  I grabbed some additional information to peruse later on and we rumbled off to the next stop which was a Hari Krishna Temple not far away.

Unfortunately the temple was closed during the afternoon and would not reopen until 5pm for the evening services.  So we just walked around the outside of the temple which had no shortage of people milling around.  We didn't spend long there as there was not much to see or do.

From there we headed into old town and visited the mini red Taj Mahal built by King Humayun as his tomb.  It's looks like the Taj but is smaller and built of red sandstone instead of white marble.  It was great to see and I looked forward to comparing it to the actual Taj.  Now that I've seen both King Humayun's is a pale comparison to the actual Taj Mahal which is overwhelmingly beautiful.  Then we walked along  the path to the tomb of Isakhan which was more or less of miniature of King Humayun's tomb.  Apparently Isakhan was one of Humayun's greatest generals.

Next we ventured out into crazy Delhi traffic and made some drastic moves to avoid it.  Such as jumping the curb and going over the center divider and onto the highway going the other direction with on coming traffic honking at us.  Yes, it's crazy and definitely a "kids don't try this at home" type of maneuver.  Amazingly I survived and have lived to tell of my driving experiences in India.  Leon, India makes Egyptian driving look orderly.

Well, we drove into old town to Rajpath and walked through the park there to see the memorial for Mahatma Ghandi - aka- the father of modern India.  The memorial is treated like a temple, meaning no shoes allowed but offering of flowers are common.  An eternal flame shines from the marble memorial.  It was really amazing  to see as Ghandi is and was such an inspiration to so many people.  The guide followed me around and told me stuff I already knew about Ghandi, as if I hadn't seen the movie staring Ben Kingsley.

Next it was back to old town and to the Red Fort for the sound and light show as it was starting to get dark.  We bought our tickets and hit the bathroom then ended up power walking to the seating area where the sound and light show was.  Unfortunately for me it was all in Hindi (so I was lost as to what was going on) and it was kind boring.  Pretty much the light part  consisted of different buildings being lit up different colors at different times in the script.  It was not all that entertaining but Nagina translates some of the story which at least was interesting.  We left early to get ahead of the crowd and walked back through the fort to the street where we met our car and were driven back to the hotel.  Once back we were both so beat we ordered room service for dinner and sat and watched TV and I journaled a bit too.

The next morning we were up early and dressed and had breakfast and repacked our bags.  We met Dinesh at 8:15 to drive to the airport for our flight to Khajuraho.  Once at the airport we said goodbye to Dinesh as we would see him again in Agra.  He would be our driver for all the Rajasthan tour too.  We checked in and went to the waiting room to hang until our flight.  I journaled while Nagina read.  Our flight was delayed a little and when they called our flight we got in line and when they saw that our destination was Khajuraho they asked us to move to the side and wait.  It was a 2 stop flight and the stop in Khajuraho was canceled due to bad fog or clouds or something.

We were not the only ones in this boat and we were all collectively pissed that the airlines waited until boarding the flight to tell us that it was canceled.  As a group we started coming up with all kinds of alternatives and Nagina called the travel agent and they got us some information that another airlines was flying at 1:00pm and we should try to get on that flight.  Long story short it took forever to get our flight refunded and even longer to get our luggage.  I'm talking 2 hours to get our luggage back from them when they said they never put it on the plane.  I was seriously irritated.  A recommendation for future travelers to India - don't fly Jet Air!!!!!

We finally got our luggage and grabbed some guy who walked us to the Kingfisher terminal which was a good 10 minute walk away along the street.  We got there just in time to find out the gate was closed on the 1:00pm flight and we couldn't get on.  So it was now on to Plan C which involved a train.  We sat at the airport while the travel agents worked some magic and got us on a train to Khajuraho.  We jumped in a taxi to the train station and were met by Dinesh and his boss who got us some sandwiches and put us on the train.

It was a little sticky but it worked out in the end.  We spent the train ride talking which was really fun.  I got to learn a lot about Nagina and her childhood in India and her graduate education in Indian Archeology which I found immensely interesting.  We got into Jahnsi (a city near Khajuraho and the best we could do) at 9:45 and were met by a guide who escorted us to a hotel outside the city in a smaller village called Ochra.  We checked into the hotel and got into our room and ordered a room service dinner.  We ate and went to sleep.  It was a long and stressful day.  But at least we made it to our destination.  Well, almost.

Up next is Ochra and Khajuraho so stay tuned...