Delhied Out!!

We met the rest of our Intrepid travel group today, all were Australian and the total group size is 8. We also met our guide Narji who inspired alot of confidence that he would be able to get us to Kathmandu and see alot of amazing sights in the process.

We then went out with him on a sight seeing tour of old Delhi. First we had to get there which was by the train. It was very very crowded but all good natured. Very like London tubes only everyone formed orderly queues along the platform which we found quite bizarre. We walked down the lanes of the old town and saw lots of different streets dedicated to different professions. One was masonry, one was wedding cards, and one was food. The streets were really really crowded with people pushing and the constant danger of being run over by a cycle rickshaw. We went down some very narrow lanes and we did get stared at quite a bit (but apparently this is to be expected as the people are very curious about us). We were amazed by the overhead power lines that looked highly dangerous.

Typical Delhi street scene

At one point we stopped to try some street food which was a stuffed paratha. I had potato and Chris had a non spicy banana. Both tasted very nice.

Enjoying some street food

Man who cooked our food

We visited India’s largest mosque (Jama Masjid). For this Chris had to wear a sarong and I had to wear what can only be described as a pink dressing gown. It was a very large complex made out of pink sandstone which we walked round.

We then visited Delhi’s largest Sikh Temple called the Sheeshganj. For this visit we had to wear a bandana tied round our heads. The temple was very interesting as we saw the parts that cook the food that feed all the worshippers and the accommodation blocks. We also met some Sikhs who invited us to have our pics taken with them.

Again the temperature was extremely hot (about 37 C) so walking around really took it out of us. We have an early start tomorrow (5AM) to get the train to Agra. Not sure how much internet access we will have from now on.