Howie here...
We checked into the Hans Plaza on January 12th and were off to a full day of adventure on the 13th. The Hans Plaza was kind of a letdown - snooty staff, a scary elevator (scarier than Oxy's) and an average building. We were fairly high up, and the first thing I saw from our room was a pigeon who was resting on the side of the building. All of a sudden, the pigeon jumped to one side, nearly avoiding an untimely end at the claws of a giant hawk who apparently loves to feast on little birds.
We had a passable breakfast and set off to explore Delhi.
First, we went to Janter Mantar, a site that was built in the 1700's to measure the height of the sun, tell the time, and make other astrological observations. It was here that I first learned the difference between a Resident Indian and NRI (non-resident). Arifa's dad bought four RI tickets for about 10 rupees (less than 20 cents). The ticket guy took one look at me and forced him to purchase a separate ticket for me, which cost over 200 rupees (cheap, but still...). This experience was replayed several times during my stay.
Next we piled into an autorickshaw and headed across town to the Ghandi Samadi (Ghandi's memorial park). Autorickshaws are basically three-wheeled taxis that (in theory, at least) replaced traditional bicycle rickshaws in India in an attempt to improve traffic and reduce bicycle fatalities. Driving in India is truly democratic - everyone just does whatever they possibly can to arrive at their destination alive. Pedestrian activities are fairly high-risk in India, followed in degree by bicyclists, rickshaws, autorickshaws, animals of all varieties from donkey to elephant, small cars, big cars and finally government busses. Autorickshaws are designed to hold one driver and a couple passengers, but we fit four to a car. Later, I saw as many as eleven people in a single autorickshaw, but at the time four seemed impressive enough.
At any rate, we were off to Ghandi Samadi. It is a very quiet park in Delhi and has an eternal flame memorializing the Man. Oddly enough, there were several soldiers or cops running battle formations in the same area, but this is India after all:) The park was very peaceful and I'm really glad that we took the time to see it.
Next was the Meena bazaar, located near the park. Meena bazaar is an open-air market that sells everything in India in some form or another. I happen to adore the chaos that occurs in these markets, and had alot of fun walking around with Arifa and her parents. We saw little kids chasing and catching baby goats, adult goats dining on plastic bags, children left unattended at the edge of a big fountain, and other things typical to countries with too many people. We tried to check out a really beautiful mosque near the bazaar, but afternoon prayers were taking place and it was closed to non-muslims.
After that, we went to see the Red Fort, a famous structure in India. The first thing you have to deal with when trying to enter the fort is security checks that rival American airports. Everyone has to go through a metal detector and an extensive search/groping while in the midst of officers with some very large rifles. The fort itself was massive and contained barracks, an irrigation system, several mosques and other buildings.
We then took another autorikshaw to Akshardham temple on the other side of Delhi. On the way, we were very nearly killed when our autorickshaw became wedged between two busses (see degrees of danger while driving above). This was the first of several scary driving stories while in India. The temple itself was unbelievable. It is a hand-carved structure built by over 7,000 craftsman and took five years to complete. If you ever find yourself in Delhi, you must check this place out. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed in the temple, but you can see some photos at http://www.akshardham.com.
While inside the temple, I realized that the stardom I found in China had spread to India as well. A guy walked up to my father-in-law and asked him if he could speak to me in english. We chatted for a little while, and then he said that his female friends wanted to talk to me, too. They introduced themselves, and after a rather awkward conversation, we parted ways. Later, I was hanging out beside the food area and noticed that they were staring at me from afar. They noiced me looking at them and started to walk over to me, but suddenly stopped and disappeared after Arifa joined me in the courtyard.
This adventure took all day, and we were eager to return to our hotel (via autorickshaw, of course).
