A quick Delhi update!

 

Had a wee wander around the Main bazaar yesterday, spent much of the day napping and hanging out with Patrick, catching up. Was feeling a bit overwhelmed by Delhi so ended up hiding at the hotel, which was still lovely. The hotel is in a dingy part of town and is in the process of being done up so is VERY noisy. Everyone is very helpful and friendly though. This is the view from our balcony!

Last night we went to the flashest bar I’ve seen in a long time. We met up with Patrick’s friend and ex-boss, Myank, who used to live in NZ. We thought we were going to a psy-trance party (quite Pat’s cup of tea) and at the last minute I decided to get out of my baggy harem pants and put jeans and a pretty top on. So glad I did! This bar was around a pool, looked like it was out of a movie, and psy-trance is not a hippy kinda thing in India! Drinks from the bar cost $20 and we got to experience a night out with India’s ‘new money’ kids. We danced all night and had to admit defeat at 3.30am due to jetlag (Patrick) and dodgy tummies. I’ve been feeling better since Friday, but not much of an appetite, much to my frustration because all I want to do is eat yummy Indian food, and gulab jamen, and pomegranates that are being sold outside the hotel!

Today we went to Old Delhi and checked out Jama Masjid – the biggest mosque in India.

   

I found it hard to deal with to be honest. It was very crowded, I was stared at most of the time and I got groped a few times much to my dismay. I’ve found Delhi much harder to deal with than Nepal, I think because I started setting myself up for London and the cold and back to my way of life that I forgot about Delhi.

The mosque was huge, very busy, and quite interesting, but what I really liked was Red Fort, just across the road from there.

It is HUGE, and beautiful, and I took millions of photos. It was constructed in the 17th century by the guy who built the Taj Mahal. It is a shadow of its original self, the British pulled down much of the inner buildings to make way for barracks after the Indian Uprising in 1847.

      

I love all the marble detailing that could be found everywhere.

There was one weird thing that kept happening – Patrick and I seemed to generate a lot of interest, though there were lots of tourists around. We had dozens of men asking for photos with us. Just me, just Patrick or both together. Young boys, men and even middle-age men. Does anyone know anything about this? We were used to being asked questions about ourselves, but the amount of photos we had taken of ourselves was ridiculous! I got pretty fed up with it, Patrick tolerated it really well.

Tomorrow all the tourist places are closed, but we’re going to Myank’s for dinner, so that will be nice! And Agra on Tuesday xx