Since I had to work yesterday, today was my day to get out and see Delhi.  Although I’ve been in India for a week, I haven’t seen much except for the slums along the way from the hotel to the office.  The only other thing I’ve seen is the same route at night

Needless to say I was excited to get out and see some of the sights of Delhi.  Luckily one of my coworkers – Sahil – was annoyed enough with my begging and volunteered to show me around.  Not so much to help me find the sights (the Driver knew most of those) but to make sure I didn’t get treated like a typical tourist.  I figured having someone native to the area would go a long way to prevent some of the typical tourist scams.

First Stop: Akshardham Temple

This was by far the highlight of my day.  The Akshardham Temple was built in 2005 out of beautiful pink sandstone and white marble as a tribute to Bhagwan Swaminarayan, a “torchbearer of Indian culture.”  The temple occupies about 100 acres and includes gardens, sculptures , fountains, and of course the Akshardham Monument.  The monument sits on a pedastal of 148 incredibly life-like sculpted elephants weighing over 3,000 tons! Before climbing the steps to the monument, everyone is required to remove their socks and shoes.  It was such an awesome experience to walk barefoot on the cool marble on a warm day and walk into such a beautiful place.  The monument contains around 20,000 carved deities, 234 carved pillars, 20 pinnacles, and 9 domes.  The domes were amazing – each one was carved using a different technique giving them a unique texture and pattern.  For example, one dome’s intricate pattern is carved up into the ceiling – making you wonder how they did that.  Oh, and the entire structure is made without steel to preserve the traditional Indian construction methods.

Unfortunately, security is VERY tight (no cell phones, purses, cameras, etc.) and no pictures were allowed – so I grabbed a few pictures from the internet to show you some of the highlights.  If you want to see more pictures, the English Brochure has some great ones.

Second Stop: Connaught Place

Connaught Place (or ‘CP’ as the kids call it) is a huge traffic circle in the heart of New Delhi with seven streets that radiate from it, which are divided into blocks. Originally built by the British during the occupation it has an architecturally uniform series of colonnaded buildings filled with shops, banks, restaurants, hotels and offices.  Although I didn’t do any shopping (sorry Lanie) we did stop here for lunch.  After taking a death-trap of an elevator up to the 2nd floor, we ate at a place called QBA.  The place was set up as a lounge downstairs with couches and comfy chairs so we ordered some appetizers and drinks and we chatted.  But in order to order some real food we had to move upstairs where all the tables were.  We had some decent Chinese food, which of course had an Indian spin on it, but after lunch we stepped out on the balcony where I was able to take a few pictures of CP and the central park in the middle.

Third Stop: Red Fort

After lunch we headed over to the Red Fort in Old Delhi.  The ride there was almost exciting as the Red Fort itself.  I had thought the streets of Delhi were crowded and dirty – but Old Delhi took it to another level.  The narrow roads were full of twice as many rickshaws and the sidewalks were full of people selling everything from textbooks to Nike shoes.  I was told that most of the items for sale on the streets of Old Delhi are stolen – and that every time you enter the market to buy something, you will most likely lose something as well.

The Red Fort itself (called Lal Qila in Hindi) was originally the residence of the royal family. During the British period the Fort was mainly used as barracks and even after India’s independence, a significant part of the fort remained under the control of the Army until 2003 when it was turned into a tourist destination.

We spent about 1 1/2 hours walking around the fort, checking out the spots where the royal family would greet guests, take baths, and play in the yard.  These old forts always just make me imagine what itwould have been like to own a place like that – to own a home so large that you’d need a golf cart just to get around.  I had to pay the “tourist” price to get into the fort, and even had to stand in a separate line for foreigners – but I figured that $6 was a fair price to see the fort.  On our way out of the fort we saw a large crowd gathered near the street and stopped by to investigate.  Turned out there were two large elephants that were just walking down the road carrying a bunch of tree branches.  The elephants stopped at the crowd to pose for pictures, and the bus of British tourists just went crazy… it was pretty funny to watch.  It was just one more thing to add to my list of “things that are on the road in India but shouldn’t be.”

Final Stop: India Gate

India Gate is one of the largest war memorials in India – commemorating the members of the British Indian Army who lost their lives fighting for the Indian Empire in World War I and the Afghan Wars. Following India’s independence, India Gate became the site of Indian Army’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

India Gate turned out to be an anti-climactic end to our day.  Not because India Gate is boring, but because we really couldn’t see it.  India Gate is located on the road that leads through the city to the parliamentary houses – think of the area between the Washington Monument and Congress.  The entire path is clean, green, and full of policemen.  Unfortunately the entire area has been roped off and is under guard due to the upcoming India Independance day on January 26th.  We could only walk up to the temporary gate – and even then the sky was dark and gloomy (or smoggy) so the pictures didn’t turn out that well.  I’ve added one picture to the gallery below so you can see what it really looks like.

India Gate

3 Photos

CP

3 Photos

Red Fort

19 Photos