Getting around New Delhi

A sleep and a shower since my last post, and we were ready to start exploring. We stuck with the ‘western’ breakfast – I had an omelette and Deb found the pancake station. A few pastries to complete the healthy options and then it was time to meet our driver for the next few days. His name is Samson and he is very pleasant and helpful and had enough maniacal streak about him to negotiate the Delhi traffic.

Our first stop was Qutub Minar, which incidentally is the tallest brick minaret in the world. It was built in the 13th century and the surrounding grounds contain the ruins of what was a much larger temple. We spent some time wandering around the grounds.

Then it was off to Delhi Haat, a well-known market for buying all sorts of handicrafts. It is apparently important to know that this market is run by the Indian Government so they don’t pay taxes and will give you the very best price!. We learnt all about Kashmiri rugs … there are 3 kinds – Silk from the Mulberry bushes, wool from the sheeps and wool from the Yak. A yak wool rug will last 200 years!

Then we did ‘sit down’ shopping as we progressed from Sarees to scarves to Punjabi dresses before going upstairs to the Jewelry and other handicrafts. We had some laughs later in the day as we dissected the selling technique of ‘which one is your favourite?’ and then ‘Would you like to see some more like that?’. In the end we bought a few scarves – a cheap escape I would say.

We had lunch in a restaurant recommended by the driver, which was clearly aiming to catch all tourist markets with their menu of pizza, burgers and indian food. We weren’t really sure what to make of it when Samson drove up this backstreet and directed us to level 2 in what was clearly a 2 person lift. Anyway, we stuck to the indian fare and it was a great meal.

Then it was off to the India Gate, which is a bit like the Arc de Triomphe in that is is to commemorate the ‘glorious dead’. There is a fountain nearby that was full of kids cooling off from the Delhi heat. I think it was definitely high thirties with stinking humidity.

Near India Gate is the Presidential Palace and all the Government buildings, most of which were built post-independence in 1948. To me, they illustrate the great divide in India between opulence and poverty.

The gates to the Presidential Palace…

Another of the government buildings…

The National Museum is nearby, so we visited that next. It has many magnificent exhibits of Archeological findings from all over India. While the individual pieces were very interesting there wasn’t really a coherent journey through history. In saying that, there was probably the finest collection of Sitars and Lutes I will ever see.

The final event for today was our visit to ‘Kingdom of Dreams’, a Bollywood themed venue. We been advised to buy tickets in advance and as it turned out, tonight was the 2000th performance of Zangoora – now the most performed Bollywood musical in the world. So… my thoughts? I didn’t understand any of the dialogue, but the dancing and costumes certainly make up for that. I do however think that the Bollywood musical is probably more targeted at the girls, given the prevalence of half naked men, including the most ‘ripped’ midget I have ever seen… even better than Peter Dinklage. The cast jumped into the audience at the end of the show and I do believe I briefly mastered the art of the Bollywood dance.

Well… midnight here… Until tomorrow