Delhi Power Tour

Our last full day in Delhi. Today's Itinerary:

"Start your exploration of India with a city tour of Old Delhi that includes visits to the Jama Masjid (1650 AD) which is the largest mosque in India, and the amazing Red Fort (1639-48) which was the seat of the Moghul Empire for more than 250 years. Enjoy a rickshaw ride along the alleys of the ancient bazaar at Chandni Chowk. You also visit the cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi (Raj Ghat). Enjoy a city tour of New Delhi that begins with a drive past Safdarjang's Tomb (1753 AD) while driving to the Qutab Minar (1193 A.D.) which is a striking medieval tower of victory of Persian architectural style and is 239 ft high. Within the Qutab complex, amidst the ruins of Quwat-ul-Islam mosque, stands the Iron pillar which has stood the vagaries of weather and has not rusted over 1500 years. Later, visit the Tomb Moghul Emperor Humayun and then drive through Lutyens New Delhi which includes the Embassy area (Diplomatic enclave), Government buildings, India Gate, a golden domed Sikh Temple (Bangla Sahib Gurudwara), Birla Temple and Connaught Place, which is New Delhi’s main shopping area."

Our guide Shurveer must have wondered about the the number of sites on the day's itinerary. He diplomatically asked whether we wanted to spend more time at any one site or just see how much we could get it. Sigrid opted for the "get as much in as possible", and we were off and running. I am familiar with the "Power Tour" concept, but am usually on the "giving" rather than "receiving side".









Editors Note: A lot of these are on "must see" list for tourists, so we knocked them out in a day. I am running behind on the blog, so posted a selection of pics, and will add captions later.

Editors Note 2: I am actually posting from Varanasi - I woke up at 4:00 AM to watch the Superbowl. It is not on. Soccer, tennis, cricket and basketball are all on, but no Superbowl. Go figger. I can see from the Intertubes that the Colts are winning 10-3. I'd miss the second half anyway. Heading out for the dawn rituals on the Ganges River.

Old Delhi

After breakfast, we meet our guide Shurveer (pictured in the Rickshaw above) and a driver for a day long tour of Old Delhi. The description of the morning activity from the itinerary:

"Start your exploration of India with a city tour of Old Delhi that includes visits to the Jama Masjid (1650 AD) which is the largest mosque in India, and the amazing Red Fort (1639-48) which was the seat of the Moghul Empire for more than 250 years. Enjoy a rickshaw ride along the alleys of the ancient bazaar at Chandni Chowk."

It was a power tour covering a lot of ground. The Rickshaw ride through the market was amazing. I'll add another post later to cover the rest of the tour, but that ride deserved a post of its own. We felt sorry for the guy who got the short straw, and had to pull the two big ass Americans through the frenetic market.

I was fascinated by the chaotic spaghetti-like maze of electric power lines filling the narrow overhead space between and crawling up the sides of the old buildings.

It reminded me of this old etching from turn of the century New York City.


Delhi time: 06-Feb-2010 12:00 PM

Red Fort at Night

On the recommendation of a local, we arrange to attend the Sound and Light show at The Red Fort this evening. Our cab driver Lala gets us there and back. There were a few glitches - the concierge told us the show was at 7:30, but actually the English Show started at 8:30 while the Hindi Show started at 7:00. We were late for the Hindi show, and early for the English. Since Lala was waiting to meet us at 8:30, we decided to catch the Hindi.

It was not what we expected, although I am not sure exactly what we were expecting - maybe lasers and music. The actual show comprised of sitting in a courtyard inside the Red Fort compound, among a variety of buildings and structures. The buildings surrounding us light up in various colors and talk to us and each other from around the court yard.

Since it was all in Hindi, we had no idea what the buildings were telling us. At one point they seemed to be laughing at us.


Still, the cab ride over and back was worth the price of admission,. Lala got us there and back to the hotel without incident. I would never attempt driving in Delhi.

A Hendricks Martini at Rick's Cafe helped settle the nerves.


Delhi Time: 05-Feb-2010 11:30 PM