Long entry. Great day!
It was a beautiful Saturday in the 70s. Chris just arrived from the States. A perfect day to check out Delhi… and we even got an unexpected tour out of it!
We took an autorickshaw (everyone calls them “autos” here, so I’m going to call them that the rest of the entry) to Vaishali station. The guard at our hotel gate said the price was 50 rupees ($1) like there was no room to argue so we just went with it. Station was packed. We stood in the long line at the ticket window until we saw the sign that we could buy SmartCards at the Customer Care window behind security. I got in the men’s security line, but was corrected quickly enough by a random dude. We stood at the Customer Care line and I got a 1,000 rupee SmartCard. Considering every ride costs between 30 to 40 cents, I’m thinking $20 should last me some time. Then we put our bags through the machine (yikes, seems like it could be easily snatched, but there is a guard), grabbed them out from the other side and off we went!
The Delhi Metro
(not Do Not Enter)
Photos Taken from the Metro
Connaught Place Delhi has a big circle in the middle of it! The city center is “Connaught Place”, a circular square with concentric roads rippling out from it. The metro station under it, “Rajiv Chowk”, is twelve stops down from Vaishali on the Blue Line. In the station, we stopped at a Cafe Coffee Day (the Starbucks of India as far as I can tell) and it was almost like I was back home. I expected Connaught Place to be crowded and claustrophobic, full of tightly-packed shops and people, but when we surfaced, it was surprisingly spread out with a huge, relaxing park in the middle (that we had to pass through a metal detector to enter).
Chillin’ at C.P.
We wandered out from the park and lots of people stopped to talk to Chris (instead of me; selfish bonus to traveling with a guy) engaging in conversations starting with “Where are you from?” and usually ending with directions to a government emporium shop (where I guess they sell goods at low, no-haggle prices. Like John Elway.) or a tourist information center. One guy was like “don’t go that way, there are only banks that way.” We went that way anyway. There were indeed only banks. But who says I wouldn’t need a bank? One man said he loved America. I love America, too, but that phrase always makes me extra suspicious. One thing I noticed about the center of Delhi – there actually are crosswalks with green ‘walk’ lights. And traffic (mostly) respects it! None of that in my neighborhood.
An autorickshaw circling Connaught Place.
(They all look like this. You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.)
Small market we found several blocks from the park.
After we walked a few spokes, we consulted my map. Map meaning 300-page book accurately titled Map of Delhi. And we decided to hail an auto – so easy to do – to India Gate.
From inside the auto, on the way to India Gate
India Gate This was as cool as it looked on TV. Like an Indian Arc de Triomphe. I saw more white people after five minutes wandering around the 100-year-old monument than in my previous three weeks combined. Lots of people there. One group wanted us to be in their photo. I’ve been in stranger’s travel photos, no big deal, but then things got just slightly weird. First both Chris and I were in the photo, then just me. And he wanted me to stand closer to one fellow. Then that fellow reached out his hand as if to shake mine, but didn’t quite let go. Then the man with the camera seemed to be focusing at an odd angle, like perhaps down to the guy’s ring-filled hand. No idea what the harm actually was (maybe he was going to show everyone photos of his new American girlfriend?), but it was adequately unusual that I said it was too weird and we walked off.
At first we were wondering why there were not more beggars, touts, and people selling trinkets… then one found us.
India Gate. Me. Random Guard.
The 2-Rupee Girl So, we were a bit of ways from the Gate when a girl – maybe 7 or 8 – approached us. She had a shoebox filled with little beads with letters on them and embroidery thread. She did not speak much English, but we got the idea that she would make a bracelet with our names for 2 rupees. Four cents. We’ve been generally trying to do as we heard, and not respond to people like this (we earlier ignored the girl at Vaishali station with her hands cupped in front of her, saying “money, money, money” in the cutest voice.) But, dude, 2 rupees.
So she started making the bracelet – a bit of a process as she actually created it right there, knotting the beads in, checking the spelling of our names – and Chris was thinking we should tip her and give her 10 rupees for all this hard work. Only when she finished and Chris handed her 10 rupees she said “No, no, no…”
“It’s 2 rupees a letter!” she started counting out the letters. Then she wrote “100” as the cost of the bracelet on top of that. Hilariously sneaky. I was shaking my head. She was very persistent. Chris gave her another 10 at first, then said never mind and tried to take the money back, but she held those two 10-rupee notes in her hand with a death grip (holding the bracelets in the other hand.) After a lot of back and forth, we finally got the one bracelet for 20 rupees (forty cents). I’m sure she made a profit. Very devious. I’m sure I’d do the same in her shoes, though.
Another girl approached us later with an identical box of beads and identical opening line: “Two rupees, two rupees.” We were like, “Yeah, we’ve heard that before.”
Our Tour Guide! (But we didn’t know it yet.)
Delhi Tour Walking away from the Gate, we saw a cool-looking building in the distance with domes. (You can sort of see it in the above photo.) We decided to head in that direction and see what it was, so we grabbed the first rickshaw on the corner going the same way. The man took us a little ways, then pulled off, turned, and asked where all we were going that day. His English was very good, especially for an auto driver. Auto drivers seem to have very little English beyond greetings and prices. We had no plans other than “exploring Delhi”, so we shrugged. “Not sure yet,” we said. So he pulled out a map and then offered to take us wherever we wanted to go that day, suggesting some places. He looked at Chris, then looked at me, and asked who was in charge. (I loved that!) Chris said I was in charge. I pointed to a couple places I heard were interesting. He nodded and mentioned a couple other places. He said he would take us wherever we wanted and tell us the full price – including everything, like parking – up front, suggesting a four-hour tour.
Although I was still a little disillusioned by the 2-rupee girl, I got a very good vibe off this guy. We picked some places and he told us the price (approximately $25) and he did not ask for anything up front though made sure to remind us that we could give him a good tip if we liked the tour. We agreed and proceeded to have an awesome personal tour of Delhi!
President’s House The cool building turned out to be the president’s house. (India has both a president and a prime minister. But the prime minister has most of the power apparently.) It was not super exciting, except for one thing. One thing not mentioned at all in that Wiki article I linked to.
The monkeys!
President’s House. Ho Hum.
President’s Monkeys! Woo Hoo!
The monkeys were just hanging out on the lawn, occasionally climbing a tree or escaping to a nearby lawn, though generally staying in this one square area. There was no explanation.
Gandhi Smriti On our tour guide’s suggestion, we went to this museum dedicated to Gandhi in the place where he spent his last days before being murdered. It was free (though souvenirs were being sold somewhat persistently in front of the door.) It was a very lovely, peaceful place. We could have read Gandhi’s whole story (in English or Hindi). And followed his final footsteps. And knelt in his prayer spot. Instead, we glanced at the story boards. Followed his footsteps backwards by accident. And took panoramic photos in his prayer spot.
The sign on the right says, “For the last time Gandhiji went to the prayer meeting through this path.”
We found the sign following the footsteps back from the pillar at the Place of Mahatma Gandhi’s Martyrdom.
Mahatma Gandhi’s Prayer Spot
(An excuse to use the panorama setting)
Humayun’s Tomb Tourist time! Gandhi’s spot had a few tourists, but not many. That’s because all the tour buses came to this World Heritage Site instead apparently. A co-worker told me I should check it out, though, so we added it to the itinerary. Our tour guide described it as “Delhi’s Taj.” This is the only place we went with an entrance fee.
Is it more curious that foreigners pay twenty-five times what locals pay?
Or that the original price was clearly scratched out.
On the whole, it was worth the five bucks. The grounds were extensive (we spent quite a while there and did not see it all) and the buildings pretty impressive. This tomb’s style was a pre-cursor to the Taj Mahal.
Not called the Delhi Taj for nothing
Tombs and Shadows
(Not pictured: the 16 people trying to get the same cool shadow shot on the left)
Lunch Break Our tour guide and his autorickshaw were patiently waiting for us when we left the tomb grounds. I told him I was getting hungry. And, not sure whether I should trust an auto driver to choose a place to eat for me, I let him lead on. We ended up at a perfect little spot, a mini shopping center with restaurants. So convenient (and full of touts and beggars) that I wonder if it is the official “tourist stop-for-lunch spot”. There was a snake charmer there (!) and as Chris spent quality time with a cobra or two, a man tried to sell me a fan made of a peacock feather and a book about the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur Golden Triangle.
Our guide recommended “Chicken”, saying it was “clean.” Kind of suspect that this was part of his schpiel. But the only other option I immediately noticed was “Ichiban”, a Japanese/Chinese restaurant that also looked pretty decent. But we’re in India, so we went with the Indian food. And, hey, it is a restaurant called “Chicken”, how can you go wrong? The waiter was polite, friendly, and spoke good English. Yep, definitely a tourist place. The waiter all but insisted I order two dishes which turned out to be too much food, but it did seem like if I was going to a restaurant called “Chicken” then I should at least order some. The food was tasty enough, but I suspect this is the most expensive lunch I will eat here, coming in at $20 for the two of us (and Chris just ordered garlic naan.) Chris discovered that there is no beer served here, or in this area.
Outside the restaurant, a woman with an infant poked me. I had heard about the mother-with-baby beggar type in one of my books (i.e. it is not her baby, just her baby for the day to beg) and tried not to look at her. She eventually gave up. As we got back into the auto, a different woman pushed her arm inside the auto, holding a note in her hand to read. I tried not to look at this either. All I read in a glance was printed text that said, “I cannot speak. I have no tongue…” She seemed to have this grunt. At least until the driver said something to her in Hindi. And she said something back, also in Hindi. Hmmm… She eventually left us alone and we headed to our next destination.
Sikh Temple Our next stop was the driver’s idea. Gurudwara Bangla Sahib is the most prominent Sikh house of worship in Delhi. It’s so big that it has its own underground parking garage. (And his little auto in a parking spot was too cute.) He then led us inside. and I’m glad he did because I would have not had the slightest clue what to do.
Barefoot and Bandana-ed at Bangla Sahib
The tour guide led us inside the complex, down some stairs and into what appeared to be a large, glass waiting room. Here, we took off our shoes (and socks) and our tour guide tied an orange bandana around both of our heads. I realized we were in the relatively empty “foreigner area” for leaving shoes. Then we walked back out to the entrance. (I felt better when I spotted someone else in an orange bandana.)
There were so many people, I did not even see the outdoor sink at first where the guide said to wash our hands. Well-used bars of soap were provided even. As we walked up the stairs, there was a little dip in one with a pipe spewing out what appeared to be fresh water to step in and cleanse our feet. I stepped in after Chris. Trying not to think about how I was now walking on a surface where thousands of people in wet feet had walked before me, we followed the guide up and into the temple.
Chanting played through speakers and everyone was focused on the gold part in the center where a guy was waving a big feather around and people were making coin donations. I only took a photo when I saw someone else doing the same with their iPhone. We then walked around clockwise (people sitting in various places, facing the center) following the crowd, until we reached the other side and back outdoors. Then we went down to a reflecting pool that was filled – filled – with koi.
On the whole, I found it a pleasant cultural experience. I might start carrying a headscarf for future need. I do appreciate that both men and woman cover their heads (unlike Russian Orthodox churches). It’s uncomfortable when only one gender has to do something obscure.
The next stop was not such a pleasant cultural experience. It appeared to be the obligatory “tourist shop” stop. The tour guide was not too pushy about it. Neither of us were interested. But we walked in anyway. It was all really, really high-end stuff like oriental-style rugs, marble figurines, textiles, and jewelry. We walked out pretty quickly. Hope the dude got his commission anyway.
Hindu Temple Our final stop (about time, you’re thinking) was Laxminarayan Temple. I picked it because it had a pretty mini-drawing on the map. We had to take our shoes off (but not our socks if we didn’t want) and leave our cameras and belongings at the door. (Like at the Sikh temple, we did this in a special room for foreigners only. I suspect they do this to make us feel more comfortable.) It wasn’t super crowded, but we did spot a Chinese tour group and quite a few non-Indians sitting cross-legged in the temple. We could not take any photos inside the temple, like of the cool room in the corner with mirrored walls and a blue statue but luckily, the extensive gardens beyond the temple were not restricted, so we took all sorts of photos on the outside as the sun set and our guide patiently waited.
We saw statues of elephants and cobras primarily. Also spotted a bunny and a monkey statue eating a banana. The fountains were turned off, but the place on the whole was nicely laid out and kid-friendly. Well, kid-friendly meaning fun-for-kids, not necessarily safe for kids. We had a running joke this day: Safety Last. So many places with no railings or signs.
Laxminarayan Temple
I wonder if Capris count?
Got some hiking in!
As we left, on our way back to our auto, there was a guy with a carpet laid out on the sidewalk full of trinkets. One of them – a little plastic autorickshaw – was tempting. A man walked alongside me and tried to interest me in a book on the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur Golden Triangle. The exact same book from the lunch tout!
Last Auto Ride So we asked our tour guide to drop us off at the nearest Blue Line station. He attempted one last “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the tourist information office?” but then dropped us off. We gave him the agreed amount and a nice tip, shook his hand, and he seemed perfectly pleased. The metro was jam packed Tokyo-style, my face almost against the door, surrounded by bodies. But only for one stop. Everyone got off at Rajiv Chowk (I guess to start their weekend partying as we were finishing.) We did a little bargaining at Vaishali as the first guy offered 70. We at least got down to 50. This ride was the most harrowing – and kind of most fun – auto ride I’ve taken so far. He swerved left and right on narrow streets through cars, people, and bicycles. When he spotted a traffic jam ahead, he just drove on the wrong side of the road for a while, no problem (at least following another auto doing the same). Then we pushed our way back in the jam.
We ended up tipping this driver too since he showed Chris where to find beer, cheap and close by. The important stuff. The driver was startled by the tip.
And that was our extremely enjoyable Day In Delhi!
(By request, I’ve taken some more photos of autorickshaws:)
Autorickshaws Galore