Greetings from Delhi, where I have been reunited with Joanna and Leanna, my co-conspirators. Joanna had already been here at a week-long conference when I arrived. Seeing someone who I know after only seeing strangers for 6 weeks made me nearly cry. Leanne joined us the following morning at around 5 AM. She claimed to feel energetic, and off we went on our first adventure! J had befriended the managers at a local 7-11. We stopped by to buy some breakfast food (the local cafes and restaurants didn't open until 10 or 11), and they offered to take us out to breakfast at their favorite "street food" cafe, a few kilometers away. Multiple flavorings of chana masala, paneer, aloo gobi, fried bread, a lassi, and gulab jamun later, the three of us no longer felt like moving. We checked into our guesthouse, and crashed for the rest of the day.
First impressions of Delhi: STOP HONKING. IT WON'T MAKE YOU MOVE FASTER. That the three of us have managed to cross a street at all is nothing short of miraculous. Delhi is so averse to walking that autorickshaws accost us every time that we step more than two feet from our guesthouse, and won't listen when we insist that, no, we actually want to walk. There is open-construction and dust everywhere, and lots of smog. My lips have been constantly dry since arriving. However, the food is delicious.
Later that evening we went to India Gate, a monument to Indians who dies fighting in World War I. Clearly this was a hotspot for local folks along with tourists. Touts sold bubble makers, cotton candy, and light-up, spinning toys. We also went to Khan Market, where we got more delicious (though slightly lighter) food--I had a veggie burger made from beetroot, walnuts and feta cheese. So yummy!
On Friday, after early morning yoga with Leanne, we went to Old Delhi, and visited both Humayyun's Tomb and the Red Fort. Humayyun's is so gorgeous, and it whet my appetite for the Taj Mahal. In order to enter the tomb you have to walk through the gate to the original city of Delhi, which obscures the view of the Tomb. When you cross the gate, all of a sudden you're face-to-face with the enormity of the Tomb. Like the Taj Mahal, Humayyun's Tomb marries Mughal architectural influence with Persian (Islamic) influence, so it's perfectly symmetrical, with large bulbous domes. I also found a knotted tree to climb (pictures exist).
Before lunch, we went to an adorable tea-shop for a tea-tasting. Each different kind of tea came in distinct tea cups -- white china cups for black tea (with different shapes for English Breakfast and Darjeeling), tiny glass cups for White and Green teas, and colorful ceramic cups for chais.
The Red Fort was much more crowded than Humayyun's Tomb, probably because it's absurdly cheap for Indians to visit (they jack up the prices for foreigners). Once again I found a knotted tree to climb, but this time time I had an audience of about 30 Indians. Apparently climbing trees isn't such a common thing in India, as people were quite spellbound. After my first (failed) attempt, a teenager asked me to climb again so that he could take a picture. I declined. This was not our first experience of being local celebrities--at the Red Fort a few locals stopped Joanna and me and asked to take a picture with them. This also happened at the Lodhi Gardens.
I had pre-paid for shabbat morning yoga with Leanne, which was significantly more challenging than the Friday's yoga. I should mention that I have never done Pranyama, or breath-control yoga before. It's really hard! The instructor had us inhaling through one nostril for 4 breaths, holding for 16 counts, and then exhaling through the opposite nostril for 8 counts.
Following a shabbat nap and lunch, Joanna and I walked to the Lotus Temple and surrounding gardens. Not quite as impressive as the Bahai Gardens in Haifa, but spacious and green with colorful flowers and shady trees. Delhi is interesting because there seems to be absolutely no urban planning when it comes to roads or sidewalks, but every neighborhood has at least one green space. Unfortunately, even the green spaces are covered with dust. The temple is one enormous hall with phenomenal acoustics that could probably seat 500. There were Bahai monitors in charge of keeping people quiet. They weren't so successful with the two-year-olds.
This morning (Sunday), the three of us attempted to get a 3 AM start and head to Agra to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. Unfortunately, our cab driver had other plans. He had not gotten the necessary paperwork that would have enabled him to drive between states in advance, so he was driving around at 4 AM trying to get the requisite paperwork. After an hour and a half of this, we told him to take us back to our guest house. The new plan is to head to Agra this afternoon, spend the night, and see the Taj Mahal at sunrise tomorrow.
A couple of concluding thoughts from Thailand...
I spent Tuesday doing an organized hike of the Erawan Waterfalls, and a tour of the Hellfire Pass. The Erawan Waterfalls were pretty, though not quite as impressive as the Khou Se Waterfalls in Laos. There was a shallow cave that you could climb to behind one of the levels of the falls. Once again, at the Hellfire Pass, there is so much more infrastructure dedicated to sites commemorating European/Australian suffering than anything at all relating to Thai history. The Hellfire Pass had an audioguide detailing every deprivation suffered by P.O.W.s who built the Death Railway.
*Quote is from Ecclesiastes "A threefold cord is not easily broken!"
First impressions of Delhi: STOP HONKING. IT WON'T MAKE YOU MOVE FASTER. That the three of us have managed to cross a street at all is nothing short of miraculous. Delhi is so averse to walking that autorickshaws accost us every time that we step more than two feet from our guesthouse, and won't listen when we insist that, no, we actually want to walk. There is open-construction and dust everywhere, and lots of smog. My lips have been constantly dry since arriving. However, the food is delicious.
Later that evening we went to India Gate, a monument to Indians who dies fighting in World War I. Clearly this was a hotspot for local folks along with tourists. Touts sold bubble makers, cotton candy, and light-up, spinning toys. We also went to Khan Market, where we got more delicious (though slightly lighter) food--I had a veggie burger made from beetroot, walnuts and feta cheese. So yummy!
On Friday, after early morning yoga with Leanne, we went to Old Delhi, and visited both Humayyun's Tomb and the Red Fort. Humayyun's is so gorgeous, and it whet my appetite for the Taj Mahal. In order to enter the tomb you have to walk through the gate to the original city of Delhi, which obscures the view of the Tomb. When you cross the gate, all of a sudden you're face-to-face with the enormity of the Tomb. Like the Taj Mahal, Humayyun's Tomb marries Mughal architectural influence with Persian (Islamic) influence, so it's perfectly symmetrical, with large bulbous domes. I also found a knotted tree to climb (pictures exist).
Before lunch, we went to an adorable tea-shop for a tea-tasting. Each different kind of tea came in distinct tea cups -- white china cups for black tea (with different shapes for English Breakfast and Darjeeling), tiny glass cups for White and Green teas, and colorful ceramic cups for chais.
The Red Fort was much more crowded than Humayyun's Tomb, probably because it's absurdly cheap for Indians to visit (they jack up the prices for foreigners). Once again I found a knotted tree to climb, but this time time I had an audience of about 30 Indians. Apparently climbing trees isn't such a common thing in India, as people were quite spellbound. After my first (failed) attempt, a teenager asked me to climb again so that he could take a picture. I declined. This was not our first experience of being local celebrities--at the Red Fort a few locals stopped Joanna and me and asked to take a picture with them. This also happened at the Lodhi Gardens.
I had pre-paid for shabbat morning yoga with Leanne, which was significantly more challenging than the Friday's yoga. I should mention that I have never done Pranyama, or breath-control yoga before. It's really hard! The instructor had us inhaling through one nostril for 4 breaths, holding for 16 counts, and then exhaling through the opposite nostril for 8 counts.
Following a shabbat nap and lunch, Joanna and I walked to the Lotus Temple and surrounding gardens. Not quite as impressive as the Bahai Gardens in Haifa, but spacious and green with colorful flowers and shady trees. Delhi is interesting because there seems to be absolutely no urban planning when it comes to roads or sidewalks, but every neighborhood has at least one green space. Unfortunately, even the green spaces are covered with dust. The temple is one enormous hall with phenomenal acoustics that could probably seat 500. There were Bahai monitors in charge of keeping people quiet. They weren't so successful with the two-year-olds.
This morning (Sunday), the three of us attempted to get a 3 AM start and head to Agra to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. Unfortunately, our cab driver had other plans. He had not gotten the necessary paperwork that would have enabled him to drive between states in advance, so he was driving around at 4 AM trying to get the requisite paperwork. After an hour and a half of this, we told him to take us back to our guest house. The new plan is to head to Agra this afternoon, spend the night, and see the Taj Mahal at sunrise tomorrow.
A couple of concluding thoughts from Thailand...
I spent Tuesday doing an organized hike of the Erawan Waterfalls, and a tour of the Hellfire Pass. The Erawan Waterfalls were pretty, though not quite as impressive as the Khou Se Waterfalls in Laos. There was a shallow cave that you could climb to behind one of the levels of the falls. Once again, at the Hellfire Pass, there is so much more infrastructure dedicated to sites commemorating European/Australian suffering than anything at all relating to Thai history. The Hellfire Pass had an audioguide detailing every deprivation suffered by P.O.W.s who built the Death Railway.
*Quote is from Ecclesiastes "A threefold cord is not easily broken!"
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