Namaste from group one!
Our super fantabulous scavenger hunt day began with our trek through the white land of tourism. Delhi wrapped us in its arms with overwhelming sights and smells. We wove in between the stalls of fruit vendors and rickshaws (automatic and wooden and horse-drawn and water buffaloed) in order to begin our first task of calling Greta and Dan (the leaders!) They answered with loving care and concern in hearing that we had made it out of the hotel safely. The next task we took on was to compare prices of guest houses. We decided to try three different places, of three different luxury inclinations. The first, Hotel Cama, was a single with a fan and hot water. This was 740 Rupees. (Woah!) The second was not as memorable, but started with a V, or something. It was a triple with air conditioning, a ceiling fan, AND hot water. Oh snap. This was R 1000 but we got it down to R 800. The third was our luxury 4-star dream suite at Jai Mahal. Upon entering, we were greeted with a beautiful courtyard. Each floor was decorated with a different picture of typical Indian culture and Gods. The room could haveĀ easilyĀ and comfortably fit our entire group complete with a separate seating area and a lovely balcony overlooking the more well-to-do area of the city. The room was decked-out in hot pink andĀ chartreuse curtains and beading. This hotel was R 5000, a real steal!
The next section of our as-we-go itinerary was going to the Ramakrishna metro station. Metro kaha hai? Metro kaha hai? Metro…? The metro was R 30 for all three of us. We waited until the third came train, because the first two were extremely packed. The third was light and open and amazingly air conditioned. These light rails are superior to the ones in Portland, Minneapolis, and D.C. They are brand new and complete with mobile charging stations (and shiny). We went one stop down to Rajiv Chawko to transfer to the yellow line which was infinitely more busy (and has separate compartments for females, though we are coed and chose to stick together) then continued to Ugydon Bhawan where the President’s House (more a 340 room palace) was, as well as the finance, agriculture, parliament and arts and crafts society are. This section of New Delhi is absolutely breathtaking! The lawns are well-manicured beauties filled with happy monkeys and pigeons playing in the fountain.
We began our tuktuking with a driver who said he would take us to the Mughal Gardens for R 60. Outrageous! R 30- still so high but okay. He dropped us off literally around the corner. Hmmph. Saved us a stretch of highway to walk, but not the most honest transaction of the day. Luckily, because of this man dropping us off, we were able to then be propositioned by a lovely Sikh man named —- but we learned to call him Papa. He offered to take us around the city for the entire day for R 500 a PIECE! Whaaat. We promptly embarked on a savvy negotiation with this new tuktuk driver, and smartly got the price reduced to R 350, total! His first stop for us was a batch of monkeys, swiftly followed by a history of the President’s House. We went down the street to the India Gate, which is a 42 meter high arch across the road, built as a memorial.
We drove south, to the wealthy, luxurious part of town, where all the diplomats and well-to-do folk live. It was kindred to the Indian Beverly Hills. We made a quick stop at a shop, where we couldn’t afford anything, but it was all very pretty. On our way to our next location, we learned some new useful Hindi phrases and words. We went to the Gandhi memorial museum, where Gandhiji spent his last 144 days of life and where hisĀ assassinationĀ occurred.Ā Ā This was extremely fascinating and incredibly depressing. There was a very gorgeous gong with most of the world’s country’s flags. We moved on to a post office, buying up 30 stamps for R 450, so you all should be hearing from us soon. Next was another shop, with a lovely man with delicious cardamom tea, who we plan to see upon our next arrival in Delhi, in three months. Ā We were ravished by then, so we stopped to eat. We had a basic Indian lunch of naan and various sauces, followed by a dessert akin to a doughnut hole that had been soaking in honey.
The Sikh temple was our final important destination of the day, rounding out our adventure. The temple is beautifully sculpted of marble and capped with gold domes. We first needed to become decent and went into a special room to take off our shoes and and socks as well as adorn ourselves with headdresses and head-coverings. We recapped the Sikh religion, making sure we knew the customs. Our first step was to get on of the five Kaskars of Sikhism, which is the bangle/bracelet. Ā We then washed our hands and feet in the holy water, and went into the temple, which was beautiful! The ceiling and most of the walls were adorned in gold. We finished up and went for postcards and then another shop. We drove back to the hotel as the sun went down and Delhi was still bustling.
Sincerely,
Sarah, Sterling, and Tully.