23rd Jan Tour of Delhi – It was closed!
After making a good start from the hotel, it was discovered
that due to rehearsals for Republic Day, the centres of both New & Old
Delhi were sealed off. The coach took us
round and round for 2.5 hours before it eventually found somewhere for us to
visit. This was Humayun’s, the second Mughal
Emperor’s tomb, a magnificent building constructed in the 16th
Century. From there we went on to a
Kashmiri craft store to see carpets and have a ‘free’ lunch. At least there was beer! Carol bought a shawl and we exercised
restraint and didn’t buy a carpet.
The afternoon was more successful and we visited the Friday
Jama Masjid Mosque, the largest in India. It’s
square can hold 20,000 people at prayer.
Following this, and the highlight of the day, was a rickshaw ride
through the alleys of Old Delhi. Total chaos. People everywhere, shops selling everything
from wedding saris to second hand car engines.
The rickshaws just plough through it all while tuc tucs and motorcycles
continually try to force their way past while leaning on the horn. The streets are about a quarter of the width
of a UK street and as busy as Oxford St on the Saturday before Christmas!
We ran over a little girl.
She stepped out in front of the rickshaw, it was quite a nasty impact
but her father just picked her up, we didn’t even stop. No blame culture here. Our driver seemed quite ancient with a long
white beard, Carol felt sorry for him.
From here we picked our way out of Old Delhi and made a
final stop at a Ghat where Gandhi was cremated, now a memorial to him. We returned to the hotel, driving past the
India Gate, Parliament and the Presidential Palace. Back at the hotel we had an early dinner and
an early night to prepare for our 4am call and journey to Agra.
No comments:
Post a Comment