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September 22, 2007
Delhi Day 2: Tombs
Safdarjang's Tomb
We tried to get to Humayun's Tomb, but through poor understanding, we somehow ended up at Safdarjang's tomb, partway across town, but in a reasonable location given our path for the day. We explored around this tomb for a bit, finding that it seemed to be the top makeout spot for young Indian couples.
Lodi Gardens
We then walked to the Lodi gardens and saw a few more trysters and more tombs (lots of tombs!), and went to the Tibet House, which is a tomb of itself in a way.
Khan Market
Then we walked to Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! Market where we passed the midday rain at a super stoosh thai/indic/random cuisine restaurant (super pricey, $15USD for us both!) and Audrey bought some indian-looking clothing to reduce the stares (unfortunately, she didn't put in on...)Humayun's Tomb
Then we risk-shawed, er, rickshawed, successfully (yay!) to H. Tomb which was huge and nice and Audrey got her ass grabbed by a young Moslem guy who wanted his picture with her. We won't fall for that one again (Unless it's me doing the grabbing). This tomb is like a miniature Taj Mahal, and rumored to be by the same architect even. The first few photos are from other tombs in the same grounds.
Muslim Quarter
Then off to a Muslim shrine which was very very bizarre. We rickshawed down a series of narrow, packed lanes in the Niz. Muslim quarter to a poorly signed but humongous shrine/temple/mini-city where we had to again barefoot it and I was forced to buy roses on strings (and cover my head as well). We wandered in through beggars and sellers to a central courtyard with a shrine in the middle, where the men could go inside to pray; I peeked in to drop my roses on the tomb there and dodged out ASAP, when I was asked to donate. I parted with 100Rs ($2.50) (the previous donor gave over 3000Rs)New Delhi Train Station
Our rickshaw driver thankfully waited for us and took us to the first of many new delhi train station stops, where we waded through first the domestic/Indian only terminal, then ended up in what might have been a tourist office (but was probably just an elaborate scam), then back to the first office, still not right, then wandering further down a road until we finally came upon something that actually looked and sounded like a train station; found the international ticket (AC'ed, calm) room and bought our tickets to get to Agra. Despite the massive hassles, this ended up being one of the simpler ticket buying experiences...Dances of India
Then we got a prepaid autorickshaw (the first time we've avoided full whitey tax tourist fare!) (downside: the prepaid stand is where dying rickshaws go to rust and putter there way, waiting for the great junkyard in the sky - new riddle: How many lever-a-la-lawnmower-tugs does it take to restart an autorickshaw in Delhi traffic? Answer's still "One More")
As seems to be par for the course, between failed communications and drivers not having the faintest clue where they're going, we had immense trouble finding our next destination, a dance theater. After ~5 wrong directions, we finally got one that was almost right and then a kind elderly gent saw us looking lost, spoke immaculate Queen's English, and knew, finally, what the F we were trying to find and pointed us on our (down a long poorly lit forrested street) way. But, he was right and we got there and it was a nice little dance show. We sat in the second row, by the fan...
The dances were fascinating, and I found an excellent setting on my camera that let me take crisp shots without using the flash.
We then negotiated our way home with a surprisingly competent driver who not only knew of our hotel but also gave us a fair price to drive us around tomorrow before our train. This driver turned out to be AWESOME. He came to Delhi many years back to study philosophy, but his parents couldn't support his studies so he started driving rickshaws and has been since. His name's Amogh, and if you ever need transport in Delhi during the day, he is an awesome driver, knows lots about Delhi, politics, and history, is well-spoken (he has a bachelor's in philosophy!) and all in all saved Delhi from being a poor taste in our mouths. He has a mobile, 9911709140, and just tell him that Jon and Audrey recommended him :)
We still hadn't gotten cash for our hotel bill, so rickshawed back down to Connaught Place/Circle and withdrew that, and then (drumroll) took the metro back. Wow. No photos, but it beats the DC metro; huge, clean, cool coin-like smartcard tokens and a full smartcard system as well. Why didn't we start out with this? Who knows. It was pretty crowded, tho, even latish at night, and there's no waiting for the exiting passengers before boarding silliness
Posted by griffjon at September 22, 2007 11:41 PM
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