Welcome back to day two of my Indian adventures!
update: I have photos for this day, but can't seem to add them all...They have their own gallery, if you can find it :)
now on with the day!
At about 7:30 I pottered downstairs to the breakfast buffet in the hotel's restaurant. Most of the group was there, eating toast, eggs and fruit, as well as some 'breakfast' curry and this delicious Indian bread called 'puri'.
After breakfast, Arpi led us through some back streets to the local metro station. We collected our tokens (instead of cards or tickets they have little round chips) and went through a metal detector. There are metal detectors absolutely everywhere here, but you can never be sure if they're even working. We found our platform, and split into two groups. All the girls got on the women only carriage, and the guys got on the next one. The first train was completely packed, but the second one we transferred to was only about half full, positively roomy by comparison. We got off in old Delhi, and Arpi took us to see an old mosque. It could hold up to 25 thousand people at a time! It was raining by this point, which was actually rather lovely as to enter the mosque you had to remove your shoes. Walking on the cool wet stone was very calming. You also had to be sufficiently covered, and so most people in our group were given smock-like gowns to wear.
The mosque had a large central courtyard, surrounded by walls and buildings. It was virtually empty when we went, and it was hard to imagine 25 thousand people all squeezing in at once.
Next we walked further into old Delhi, to a spice market. On the way we bought samosas from a street vendor, and Arpi taught us about how wedding cards work in India. We went into a little spice store where a man talked us through all the different spices on offer. They were all sealed in airtight bags, so I bought some to take home. Hopefully I'll be allowed to take them through customs...
The next stop on the tour was a Sikh temple. Arpi took us down some stairs, to a little information room. She told us to leave our shoes there, and offered us scarves to cover our heads (it's mandatory in Sikhism). She told us that to enter the temple, we had to wash our hands and step through a trough of holy water, first with the right foot then with the left. We did this, entered the temple and were immediately greeted by opulent gold decor and live music from a band in front of the worshipping area. A carpet around the edge of the room led us past a holy book in a glass cabinet and out onto a balcony. Arpi explained that the Sikh community is very well-connected and very charitable, and so every day they cook an enormous amount of food and feed anyone and everyone who comes to eat it. We were led into a kitchen area, walking past a man stirring an ENORMOUS pot of something that smelled like béchamel sauce (some concoction of ghee and grain?) and out onto a second balcony where volunteers were peeling a mountain of vegetables. We went into a small room where some women and a man were rolling out chapatis, and we were invited to sit down and try it. I rolled out a couple, but then we had to move on.
We had lunch at a chain restaurant, but because I was still full from breakfast I just had my second samosa of the day. We were all pretty pooped by this point, so we headed back to the hotel. I had yet to get to get cash out, and tried a couple of ATMs before finding me that a) actually had money in it and b)bwould take my card. There was a scary moment where I had to contemplate what I would do if neither of my cards worked, but fortunately I found somewhere to get money before dinner.
I bummed around the hotel for a couple of hours, before meeting Gabby and Tye at 6 as we had arranged earlier. Debbie and her mum, and the two English women came too. We wandered the streets for a while, looking at stores and buying snacks for tomorrow's long train ride, then went to a little vegetarian food court for tea. Even the little run down touristy restaurants serve such delicious food, it's hard to ever stop eating. We went back to the hotel, pottered around some more and went to bed.
