Delhi

Arrived at about 8:30 pm and were met by the IndoAsia representative; collected our bags and headed off to the hotel in light rain.  The Radisson Marina was a loooong way from the airport—or at least it seemed so in Delhi traffic, which ranges from horrific to terrifying.  Hotels in India (and perhaps in most of the world for all I know) have a different aspect than we are used to.  You pass through a metal detector at the entrance, and your bags and x-rayed, just like at the airport.  The Indo Asia rep got us all checked in, reviewed the itinerary and paperwork with me, and we dropped our stuff in the room.  Nice and comfortable, although it had the most bewildering electrical system I’ve ever seen.  India has the same voltage of electrical current that we do, but the plug configuration is different, so you can’t just plug in.  In Assam, Vineeta had given me an adaptor, but I left the part I needed in the wall-socket in Dibrugarh. When I looked through the hotel Service Book, I saw where it said “adaptor available from housekeeping on request’, so I for one and they brought it.  The adaptor fit into the wall,..but my plug didn’t fit into the adaptor—because it had a different configuration.  That’s why I needed the adaptor, ok?  However, a piece of Vineeta’s multi-part adaptor fit between the hotel’s adaptor and my laptop, so I could plug in and recharge.  The next day, however, when I went to  plug the hotel’s kettle into the wall socket in the ‘kitchen’…it didn’t fit.  It DID fit into the piece of Vineeta’s adaptor that fit my laptop—but when I plugged it in it cooked the adapter.  It seemed to fit into the hotel’s adapter WITHOUT Vineeta’s adaptor—but it didn’t work.  However, next to the bed I found an outlet that both the laptop and the' kettle fit without any adaptor, and they both worked…so I stopped at that point.  Huh.

Anyway, long before the kettle debacle, back to the preceding evening…we arrived to late to feel like ‘dinner’—it was about 10 when we got to the room.  So we just went to the bar (which was conveniently close—had a beer each and split the appetizer of the day—which was delicious and all we wanted.  Then, finally to bed…and sorely in need of it.

Up the next morning for a breakfast buffet before being picked up by our guide and driver.  Very tasty and plenty of it, although I have no clue what most of it was.  Well, there were some things we recognized,..the rest of it I had to taste first and tell Barb whether it was “hot” or not.  (Actually, as a sidebar, neither of us ever had any trouble at all with the food.  We ate ‘whatever’, enjoyed it, and suffered no ill effects.).  Picked up at 10 for the beginning of the tour.

Pouring rain.  Almost all day, with the occasional break.

Started with Jama Masjid—Friday mosque.  It lies directly opposite the Red Fort.  I’m going to have to upload a lot of pictures later!  This place was HUGE—it can accommodate 20,000 worshipers at one time, and does on some Muslim Holy Days.  Then India Gate (in the pouring rain), a monument to Indian military losses in WWI and  the 1919 Afghan War.  Barb and I weren’t too bad—we were wearing jackets—but our guide Prashant got soaked..for the first but not last time.  Then a photostop at the official residence of the President of India.

Next was a memorial and museum dedicated to Mahatma Ghandi, at the site where he was assassinated.  Very interesting! even in the rain…

Then the Lotus Temple, an enormous Bhai temple that looks somewhat like the Sidney Opera House, but more like a …wait for it…lotus.  Then to the Qutub Minar, a huge tower celebrating Akbar’s military victories.   Then to a craft ‘fair’ called Delhi Haat where we both spent too much money.  followed by a tour of a Hindu temple, with an explanation of all the different ‘gods’ and their significance and relationships.  Then back to the hotel to change clothes and dry out and grab a quick dinner—we opted for another beer and appetizer in the bar; a good choice because we had Tandoori Prawns while Prashant and our driver went to MacDonalds'.  By now the rain had stopped enough for the Sound and Light show at the red Fort to be staged, so off to the Red Fort for that…home again around 10ish.  The Sound and Light show is very interesting…it’s essentially the History of the Red Fort played out with sound effects and lights played on the different parts of the Fort.  Very effective.

Then to bed…being picked up early in the morning (8:30, after breakfast and checkout) to head to Agra.  You may have noticed this post is a few days late…I was kinda busy!

 

(Oh, by the way—in the middle of the horrendous Delhi traffic we saw an elephant packing a huge load of tree branches of some kind marching sedately down the road.  Saw a couple of monkeys, as well)