New Delhi Part 1 of our 10 day trip in India
We arrived late evening on a Tuesday at New Delhi International airport on our air Indigo flight, clearing passport control quickly and no issues with our visas, we grabbed the luggage and was outside the terminal within the hour and we soon spotted by our tour company rep.
Blimey the drive to our hotel was an eye opener, on first impressions it’s bonkers on the New Delhi roads it’s soooo busy, when the traffic slows they make what is a 3 lane road into 5 lanes, with very little room between the sides of the vehicles, they don’t stop at roundabouts they just continue out onto them, and in places along the road if they really can’t be bothered to wait they just travel the wrong way against the flow of the traffic and if you thought our roads were bad, in some places the roads suddenly just go into a rutted dust track.
Somehow though it all seems to work because as there is just so much traffic if you went by a highway code it would all just be a constant standstill, and apart from a lot of horn blowing, which is really just to warn the adjacent driver they are beside you, no one appears angry or frustrated with the traffic and we never once felt unsafe, just mesmerised and astonished by it all. Just to add our driver didn't drive the wrong way down the road.
Our first two nights were to be in New Delhi, our hotel was nothing special, quite different to what we have been used to the last 7 days, but it was adequate and had a colonial feel about it.
In the morning our driver picked us up at 9am, as today was the start day of our 8 day golden triangle tour, and today was a guided tour of some areas around Old and New Delhi. The traffic and driving was just the same as last night, stopping on route to pick up our guide for the day, and after introductions we were off in the car to our first stop.
Jama Masjid, which is the capital’s largest mosque and it can hold a mind-blowing 25,000 people. After exploring the mosque, we met backup with the guide and on the outside of the mosque there were lots of rickshaw owners, after some negotiation by our guide we were soon off on a rickshaw ride through Chandni Chowk (meaning Moonlight Square) which is one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi, the market stalls are full of spices and dried fruits and the narrow side streets are crowded with tiny shops selling essential oils, stationery and traditional Indian sweets. We stopped at the centre of the market, left the rickshaw and went off on foot to explore, then it was back onto the same rickshaw who had waited, who then took us back through the market alleyways dropping us back at the mosque where our car was waiting.
Next stop, Rajghat Memorial on the banks of the Yamuna River which is located in a very well maintained park. You have to go through security screening to get into the park and you cannot take food or cigarettes in, and within the park it contains a simple black-marble platform marking the spot where Mahatma Gandhi who lead the successful campaign for India’s independence from British rule, was cremated following his assassination in 1948.
It was now nearly 1pm and apparently it was time to stop for lunch !! raising a smile here as the guide is obviously not aware that on a robandann's itinerary, lunch stops are not included, anyway off we went down a narrow street to the Cedar Club Restaurant, a really nice place and not to over priced.
After lunch we drove to Humayun’s Tomb. This mausoleum is the first example of Mughal architecture in India and its construction was finished in 1572, and after a century on from its construction it inspired the construction of the more famous Taj Mahal.
Throughout the whole day from 9am until 17:00 we were either driven past points of interest in Delhi or stopped at them allowing us to visit them, and our guide was very informative. This all was included as part of our internet booked tour package we had made with World Travel Experiences (WTX).
We did get the obligatory gift shop tour stop, the carpet making we found interesting, the free bottled water refreshing and Ann enjoyed the cup of spiced Indian tea, but we’re not really gift shop people and they soon gave up on us.
Our car driver is with us for the whole 8 days, and tomorrow he picks us up at 8am as we’re off to Agra.
#robandann
