The world didn't end with our later start but we quickly realised why going early was good. Firstly, it was cooler and secondly the madness was still asleep. The streets were forlorn with vendors only just starting to prepare for the day ahead. The street cleaners were out shovelling yestersays mess into piles then carting it into a dumpster to be taken somewhere for burning. It was like being in another world, and a nice one too.
Our short walk takes us to our spotlessly clean and well organised metro station where we wait behind perspex barriers for our train. The barriers are there to stop people being pushed onto the tracks and the barrier gates only open once the metro train arrives, lining up its doors with the gates on the barrier.
Our spick n soan metro ride takes us to a change over point where we change to another line and continue into Old Delhi. Our guide Bagirath Purohit aka Baggy is a hive of information and gives us an ongoing commentary throughout the day. He is amazing. Sadly with the cacophony surrounding us everywhere I could not hear a lot of what he told us but the snippets I did catch were really interesting.
I wont go into describing things or giving you background and history of places we will visit so as to keep my blogs short so I leave it to you to do your own research.
Our first stop was a traditional cake store with some delicious looking sweets available. But thats not what we came for. Our mission was to have a traditional breakfast; dahl, a potato curry and chapati. Standing around a small table, virtually on the street, we devoured the curries using our right hand, breaking off bits of chapati to scoop up the curry and take it to our mouths. I’m not a breakfast person but this was a damn good way to start the day. The only thing missing was a coffee, but then I’d already managed to have two in my room before I was late this morning.
As a bonus we get a glimpse of a monkey walking along the power lines.
Moving on the city starts to come alive. Baggy shows us many of the old buildings that have now been converted into flats/shops/offices. In their heyday they must have been beautiful. There are no regulations governing upkeep or otherwise of heritage buildings so most of them are falling apart. How sad.
The bulk of our morning was made up of wandering aound the Old City. We visit and old mosque, Jama Masjid, Delhi’s oldest and now clearly in a state of disrepair but at least it is being slowly fixed. Beautiful but after the mosques of the Middle East rather uninspiring. The guy in the bottom photo is sweeping the concrete, his broom made from strips of material joined onto a stick. Primitive but it works.
We wander down a pedestrian mall, cars not allowed but tuk tuks are. The incessant tooting has stopped but the chaos of the travel has not. I woukd have liked to just sat and watched but there was no time for that.
The spice markets again were rather uninspiring compared to those of the middle east but again good to see and view from the roof too quite an eyeful.
For me the highlight of the day was a visit to a Sikh temple where we firstly sat in on a serene service. A beautiful building adorned with chandeliers. Sitting on the lavish carpets with legs crossed although not understanding a thing was quite surreal. 
The Sikh community here provide food and shelter for those in need. Although we didnt get to see inside the rooms provided from the outside they looked homely and dry.
We were lucky enough to also sit in for one of the meals. Arriving in the dining halls we were given a stainless steel tray and a spoon. We found a spot on the carpet and with our legs crossed we sat and placed the tray in front of us. Men with large stainless steel buckets moved around the toom filling everyones trays with as much food as they wanted. We were told that we should not leave any food uneaten; that would make us seem ungrateful. I easily devoured mine; a delicious dahl, rice and chapati bread.
Later we got to see the production line making the chapati and the huge vats cooking the dahl. An amazing experience and so glad we got the chance to participate.
More wandering amongst the craziness, hawkers peddling their wares, the occasional beggar making me feel sad, the all pervading smog everywhere and the tooting. Toot. Toot. Toot coming from all directions and never stopping.
We took the metro back to our neighbourhood. This time it was a bit more frenetic as the trains by this time were filling up. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a shoe shine man who, within a few minutes, fixed the broken sandal of one of the tour group. A bit of glue here and few stitches there and its done. All for $1.00. Amazing.
Two of our group took off on another tour which we all had the option of doing but I was toured out. Looking at stuff isnt my thing, I’d rather people watch. But instead I returned to my room, had a nap, a shower and wrote my blog. A happy place for me.
Dinner was at a local restaurant “Hooter” which our guide recommended and I was keen to try. It turned out to be a tourist/ex pat place where the only Indians were tour guides or staff. Not what I wanted but for $20 had a very respectable tandoori type chicken. Very tasty but no raptures there. However the Kingfisher beer went down a treat.
Walking home we took a detour along a street a few blocks over from the hotel, lit up for Christmas and rather lovely. I would have loved to have taken a wander but its hard to leave a group in their tracks. I could have people watched for hours.
We stopped for Indian Ice Cream from a wee shop that had been there for years. The ice cream come in the form of a long skinny lollipop on a stick but they had kindly chopped them up for us. I didn’t partake. The yogurt on my dinner was enough for me today.
Bed was very welcome.
Great posts
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