Day 22:

We spent the day traveling on Ethiopian Airlines. One oddity about Ethiopian. Every time I picked seats for us, they or their software changed our seats. I even bought exit row seats with one on the aisle, and they moved us to the center and window. We had to give up the exit seats with Faith’s broken arm. Nevertheless, we assigned ourselves seats at least 5 times and they changed them EVERY SINGLE TIME. That isn’t an exaggeration.

The last change happened just hours after I had reassigned our aisle seats. We had a layover in Addis Ababa that was just 1 hour 10 minutes after a 5.5-hour first flight leg. I wanted to get off the plane quickly to ensure we didn’t miss our connection. I assigned us seats near the front of economy DURING CHECK-IN. They changed it to be way back in the sphincter of the plane when we dropped off our bags at baggage check. Pardon the crassness but it still rubs me. I didn’t notice until we were boarding. When we got on the plane, I firmly requested that we be moved back to the seats we had during check-in. We got moved to almost the same spot I had selected.

I think most of my friends who have travelled have their own stories about airlines. Airlines generally suck. There are a few good ones. But they cost so darn much…I guess they can afford to be good.

Day 23:

We arrived in the New Delhi airport at about 12:30 AM. It took about 30 minutes to get through customs and another 30 - 40 minutes to get our bags. There were bags piled on the floor everywhere around the baggage carousels. Hundreds of them. We started to worry that our bags had preceded us, got laid out in the middle and walked off on their own.

The carousel had an automation that wouldn’t allow a bag to come out if there was already a bag anywhere close on the belt. And the belt was about 20% the size it needed to be to accommodate all the bags. Okay, okay, I’ll stop b****ing about the woes of airlines and airports 😉

We got to our hotel around 3 AM. The staff at the Wood Castle Hotel were so accommodating. It was a good choice for a hotel. It is near the Karol Bagh shopping area. The hotel was super clean and had a nice vibe to it.

I have been to India three times, now. The first time, I went to Hyderabad. The second time was to both Hyderabad and Mumbai. Going to Delhi was high on my bucket list, predominately for its accessibility to Agra and the Taj Mahal. My experiences with Hyderabad, Mumbi and Delhi were all quite similar. They were all fun and interesting in their own unique ways. They were also a bit overwhelming. The best phrase I can use to explain that is “sensory overload.”

Most folks who have never been outside of the US to a developing country may not understand the challenges that India faces. India was essentially robbed by the British for centuries beginning with the East India Trading Company. In the mid-1800s the robbery became formalized when India became an occupied “British territory”. This lasted until 1947 when India gained their independence.

Indians were treated as second class citizens throughout the British rule. They were generally kept in menial jobs with very little education provided. To my British friends, it wasn’t you guys. You guys are great, and I mean that with the utmost sincerity. It was a bunch of folks from back when. The point I am making is that India started their independence at a huge disadvantage in terms of national wealth, education, skills and training to manage their own infrastructure.

Add to that the highest population, and among the highest population density in the world. The result is that India takes a very pragmatic approach to things like driving, housing, business, etc. If there is a spot for a car, a tuk-tuk (auto-rickshaw), a motorcycle, a bicycle, a cart pulled by a cow, a cow, a goat or a human being on any given road, it will be occupied and the occupant will be traveling in whatever direction is convenient for them, the rest of the traffic be damned. Traffic rules? Phishaw! Those are for people with the luxury of countries with 1/10 the population density and number of vehicles on the road.

If there is a spot for a house or a business, it will have a house or a business, even if the business is a tiny little subsistence slot in the wall among a thousand other tiny subsistence businesses. The infrastructure has not kept up with the population growth. It’s not surprising given my notes above about British rule.

Given how early we arrived (or technically how late), we slept in and took it pretty easy the first day we were in New Delhi. We walked around Karol Bagh with Javeed, one of the leadership team members from the Wood Castle Hotel. He had some free time and offered to show us around a bit. We went to a really nice lunch and walked all around Karol Bagh. It was as relaxing as is possible in the otherwise near insanity that is New Delhi. It can be very intense with all the people, all the cars and all the horns.

Here is a video to give you a feel for the traffic. I imagine my friends from India can attest. It takes three things to successfully drive in India. 1, LUCK. 2, courage. 3, a good horn. One of the taxi drivers we had was the master of the horn. He had honking the horn down to a fine art. Changing lanes? Honk. Somebody comes close to the car? Honk. Merge coming up? Honk. Lanes splitting? Honk. Stop light? Honk (and then run the stoplight). Bump in the road? Honk. Going around a corner? Honk. If he honked once, that fellow honked 300+ times in a 20-minute ride.

Day 24:

Agra! The Taj Mahal! I have seen pictures perhaps a thousand times or more in my life. The real place lived up to my every imagination. A driver picked us up at our hotel to take us to the train station. We took a train from New Delhi to Agra with breakfast on the train. It was edible and kept the hunger bug away. That’s the best I can say about the breakfast. The train was quick and stayed mostly on-time which I understand to be one of the challenges sometimes with the train to Agra.

We were met in Agra by another driver and by our guide, Chirag, who was with us throughout the day in Agra. Chirag was terrific. He was knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. The Taj Mahal was built by in the 1600s by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan as a tomb and memorial for his wife. Its symmetrical design and implementation using white marble drew some of its inspiration from the nearby Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah also called the Baby Taj. We visited that one later the same day.

The white marble that was used to construct the Taj Majal is said to be the hardest, least porous of any marble. Having worked with marble myself for years when I was an installer, I can attest that marble is generally quite porous and soft. I was mesmerized to think that any marble could be built into such a massive domed structure.

Chirag told us about one of the interesting construction details that is frequently overlooked. The four minarets at the corners of the domed mausoleum lean outward away from the tomb something like one or two degrees. The idea was that if there was an earthquake and one of the towers fell, it would fall away from the tomb and the tomb would be protected.

We spent a couple of hours at the Taj Mahal taking pictures all around the grounds and going inside for a brief walkthrough. It was simply breathtaking in its grandeur. Everywhere we turned there were such amazing details from the frieze carvings on the marble face to the marble inlay to the precise symmetry of the structures and the grounds.

My one pet peeve for the day was that, as with most of the guides I had in India in the past, Chirag took us to a kickback store after the Taj Mahal. Under the pretext of showing us how marble inlay is done, we went to a “demonstration” of the inlay by “the last living descendants of the original marble masters who built the Taj Majal.”

Maybe they were. Their work was exquisite, and it was fun to watch. And when they were done, the curtain was pulled back (there literally was a curtain behind them that they opened up) and we were shown all the glorious inlaid marble we could purchase for hundreds apiece in USD. “This is the last generation that will be carving the inlays. The children haven’t learned to do it. In a few years, this will all be gone forever. We can ship the exact piece you choose to the US. Trust us.”

Read reviews on the Taj tours and other tours for that matter. The tour guides get a piece of whatever you buy. If you take it with you, you will get a decent piece for a moderate to high price. If you have them ship it, you are rolling the dice that you may get what you chose, or something they broke the week before, something that was carved by some half-assed hack, or something carved from cheap-junk marble. We didn’t fall for it.

We did, however, enjoy the tuk-tuk ride to the Taj from the car and back again. And lunch after the Taj was marvelous. I wish I could remember the name of the place. It was a smaller, intimate, moderately upscale place that was not a tourist gimmick.

After lunch, we headed over near the Agra Fort. We spent a lot of time at the Taj and had a comfortable, unhurried lunch. Chirag proposed that we could simply drive by the Fort versus a tour to give more time for the Baby Taj. We were going to have to sacrifice time somewhere. We did the Fort drive-by, took a couple pictures from outside and headed to the Baby Taj.

It was a good choice. One interesting detail about the Fort. Shah Jahan was imprisoned there for the last years of his life by his greedy, power-hungry son. The tower he was imprisoned within had a view of the Taj Majal. He is said to have spent his days sitting outside, watching the Taj.

The Baby Taj was next. This is the tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah that was built just a few years before the Taj Majal. It was similar in its strongly symmetrical design, and its use of white marble instead of the traditional red sandstone for the tomb.

The best part about the Baby Taj for us was the monkeys. We spent over an hour roaming the grounds and taking pictures of everything. It truly is a lovely place right on the Yamuna River. As we were heading back toward the car, monkeys came flooding into the grounds. Scores of them. Little ones. Big ones. Happy ones. Angry ones.

And quite honestly, horny ones. Yes indeed! Right there on the sidewalk in front of us. Although he wasn’t even a two-minute miracle of a fellow. More like a two-second miracle. Poor little monkey gal. She was probably like, “What? That’s it? That’s all you got? And now I gotta carry your stupid brat for seven months? What a rip-off!”

Okay, back to the family friendly portion of our show. We left Agra with wonderful images of palatial grounds, massive sandstone walls, white marble domes, and a grey monkey’s bald red test..... Oh, yes. The family friendly portion of the show.

Day 25:

The day before our Taj tour, Javeed booked us a driver for the day that would follow—Day 25. The driver was a nice fellow who was quite sparing with the horn for a New Delhi driver. He must have had a double portion of luck. He took us first to the Red Fort.

Holy smoke! That place is huge. The walls must have been 50 feet tall and 20 feet thick.

I could look it up, but it might spoil the memories. It was gi-normous. It was going to be the new home for the same emperor who built the Taj Majal and may have been for a while. He wanted something more impressive than his Agra fort for his new administrative capital.

His son had other ideas. He let dear-old-dad build the walls and the palace which were completed in 1648. Then he deposed him. Imprisoned him. And lived happily ever after in his dad’s new fort. Something like that, anyway.

After the Red Fort, we went to Humayun’s Tomb, the tomb of one of the ancestors of Shah Jahan. It is a large, symmetrical, red sandstone building with a white marble roof. The tomb is of Persian design and was completed in 1572. The Mughal emperors were themselves of Persian and Mongol descent. Some of the inspiration for the Taj Mahal, particularly the gardens, came from the grounds around Humayun’s Tomb.

Some of the tombs within the grounds pre-dated Humayan’s and were included to enable the impressive size of the monument grounds. One tomb we visited was the tomb of Isa Kahn Niyazi. A sign posted on the tomb said it was completed in 1547. There are several other Mughals buried around the grounds, as well as a barber. We didn’t see the other Mughal tombs. We did see the barber’s tomb. I guess being a barber was a royal profession back in the day. Faith might say it still is.

Leaving Humayan’s Tomb, our last stop with our driver was the Qutab Minar, the tallest brick minaret in the world at over 235 feet (72 meters). It is a deep red and orange-red color with five separate “floors”. It was started around 1200 and took around 20 years to build. It has a set of pilasters that make up the outer edge that are shaped in alternating semi-circles and half squares. At the base and in repeating levels above, the structure is ringed by Islamic inscriptions. Apparently, there are stairs on the inside though we regular folk are not so privileged (or punished?) to climb them.

All around the minaret are ruins of the mosque for which the minaret was a key component. It is probably the most impressive structure we saw in Delhi. It stands like a great red finger pointing the way to heaven."

After we got back to the hotel, we took an Uber tuk-tuk back downtown to the India Gate. The gate is an arched memorial to the soldiers who died in WWI. It was started in 1921 and takes inspiration from L’Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The structure and the pools and fountains that surround it are lit up at night. It is a fabulous location for night photos. The names of around 13,000 soldiers are inscribed into the memorial (about 15% of the soldiers who died).

Our last stop for the day was to add to our collection. Yes, the Hard Rock Café. Traffic was abysmal. We took another tuk-tuk and negotiated the driver down to 150 rupees from his request for 200 rupees. He warned us about the terrible traffic. After 30 to 35 minutes, we abandoned the tuk-tuk and driver about three blocks from the Café in a gridlock of downtown traffic. We gave him his 200 rupees plus a tip for his troubles.

In one last nod to our American heritage, we ate at Taco Bell after leaving the Hard Rock. We were both super hungry and didn’t want an hour dinner. Taco Bell was right there, and it beckoned to me—“Mr. John,” it said to me in dulcet Latino tones with a modest Indian accent. “Mr. John, eat some yummy Indian-style Americanized imitation Mexican food. It will be so very fast. And it will be reasonably tasty and filling. Why pay 3000 rupees for a lengthy downtown dinner production when you can get your fill in minutes for less than 300?”

Hey, I heard that comment in the back!!! I am not a tightwad. Not a connoisseur of fine foods either, obviously. It was efficient. Besides, I worked at Taco Bell two separate times in my life solely because I like the food.  

Day 26:

We decided to give Uber Tuk-Tuk another try. It works pretty well with one key oddity. Most times that we ordered a driver nobody would accept the ride until we added a prepaid tip to the fare. At first, I had a hard time with it. We were paying for a service, and the pre-paid tip options were in the range of 20% to 40% of the fare.

It is a funny thing, how the brain works. I took this “violation of the rules” of tipping for services that should have been already rendered with a good bit of umbrage—at first. And then I let that part of my brain chill out and I did the math. A given fare was 120 rupees. That is about $1.50 for a 20-minute ride. Yes, that is reasonably accurate. For the exchange rate while we were there, it was actually a little less than $1.50. I was frustrated because I was being required to tip $0.30 to $0.60…for a ride lasting 1/3 of an hour. I was paying a whopping $5 per hour including tip to cover Uber’s cut, the driver’s personal cut and the driver’s cost to fuel and maintain his tuk-tuk.

Once my brain started to function again, the Uber tuk-tuk method was really quite productive. We started our day with a 35-minute ride from the hotel to Paranthe Wali Gali. This is a street within the Chandni Chowk market area in the core of Old Delhi. It is a seedy, sometimes dirty, occasionally scary, and wonderfully Delhi rabbit-warren of tiny streets (little more than pedestrian width) absolutely crammed with shops. And it is, perhaps, the most authentically Delhi spot we visited. Tourists can shop there. But it is not geared toward tourists. It is a place where Old Delhi locals get their goods.

There was a tire store in a stall eight to 10 feet wide by maybe 20 feet deep. They had around 30 tires in the whole store. There was a tuk-tuk used engine parts store a few stalls down with a fellow working on a tuk-tuk engine right there on the sidewalk. There were blocks of clothing, particularly for wedding outfits. Blocks of various groceries. Stationary stores. Fabric stores. Furniture stores. And most of the stores were not more than ten to twelve feet wide little mom-and-pop businesses. These streets are hundreds of years old. Generations after generations have sold wares there.

We worked our way through the streets from north to south. We emerged from the area near the Jama Masjid Mosque. The mosque was built in the 17th century. Across the street from the mosque, we paid 20 rupees each for a couple bottles of water to drink before heading up the mosque’s stairs. That’s less than a quarter for a chilled bottle of water, folks.

We removed our shoes, kept our heads covered with our hats (it wasn't required, but we did it anyway) and entered the mosque. It is a lovely sandstone and marble structure within an enclosed sandstone square. The inner sanctuary has three white marble domes flanked by a pair of red sandstone and white marble minarets. In spite of being neither Muslim nor Indian, we were welcomed with friendly smiles and inquisitively curious gazes.

We caught another Uber tuk-tuk and made or way over to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, a Sikh temple. Guru Har Krishnan, a Sikh healer, lived there back in the 1600s. He helped to heal people of cholera and smallpox. The main building is constructed of white marble with golden domes. Inside the temple grounds is a square pool that looked to be close to 100 meters by 100 meters. The pool is used for ritual bathing and spiritual cleansing.

The floors surrounding the pool and elsewhere within the complex are polished marble in great while slabs with black and brown accents. The main entrance has two structures that resemble bull or ram horns laminated with white marble that arch over the gate.

We wanted to get some pictures of the Akshardham temple. It is a newer Hindu temple and is humungous. It is the second largest Hindu temple in the world after Akshardham in New Jersey. We took a tuk-tuk across the Yamuna River to check out the temple. When we got there, we found that we were not allowed to bring our cameras, cell phones, or any other electronics into the temple grounds. There was one option. We could go inside and pay roughly $20 USD. They would take our picture and develop it within 20 minutes.

It was getting quite late into the evening. We still wanted to see the Lotus Temple. The grounds are so large at Akshardham, we figured it would take at least 10 or 15 minutes to navigate the throng of people into the temple. Then perhaps wait for the photo line. Then wait for a paper photo (nothing digital was also a detraction). I was expecting that it would cost us an hour to do that.

We decided to skip it and head back across the river. We grabbed another tuk-tuk and started heading back. We asked the driver if there was a spot outside the temple grounds where we could get at least one photo of Akshardham. He took us up onto a bridge and took our pictures. Then he took us on over to the Lotus Temple.

The Lotus is a Bahá’í faith temple. It was constructed between 1977 and 1986. The building is aptly named as it is in the shape of a lotus flower with pools at its base. It was getting to be evening when we arrived, just before 5 PM. We got into the temple grounds with about two minutes to spare before they closed the gates. I hustled through the traffic of people, snapping pictures all the while, and got into the line to enter the temple. The group I was with was the last to be let in for the evening.

For my friends who are familiar with larger Christian churches, the inside was extremely similar. The room was arranged into a 1/3 circle of long bench seats with no back. The benches were on gradually elevated platforms up toward the back. On the floor in the very front of the hall was a platform and a podium, presumably where a speaker would deliver their speech/sermon.

Faith was outside. I felt a bit awkward making her wait for the 10 minutes or so of the ceremony inside. So, after sitting for a minute or two, I left with the last of the prior service’s crowd. I exited stage right, took more pictures and headed back to find Faith.

We took our leave of the Lotus temple to take in one more temple before finishing our trip to India. We took a tuk-tuk to the north side of the Lotus temple grounds where there is a Vaishnava temple (Hare Krishna) called ISKCON Temple East of Kailash. The Vaishnava faith focuses on the deity Radharani and her consort, Lord Krishna.

The temple has a strong feel of pop-culture. The comment isn’t intended to denigrate the faith. It is simply an expression of the feel of the temple. The colors are bright and cartoonish. Cameras and cell phones are allowed anywhere in the temple. The Hare Krishna chant was playing in the background as people danced in the main sanctuary and took selfies with the priests. In most places in India, taking pictures in main sanctuary was prohibited. Here, it was perfectly okay, though selfies were discouraged.

Looping around the back of the altars was a corridor that told the story of Krishna and Radharani in paintings. The paintings were fabulously colorful and absolutely gorgeous. It was super-fun seeing the story unfold and comfortably snapping pictures without worrying that we would give offense.

In the courtyard just outside the temple sanctuary is a statue of Krishna in water surrounded by cobras. I think it represents Krishna subduing the serpent Kaliya in the Yamuna River. Again, a colorful, almost cartoonish representation versus the stone or bronze statues found elsewhere.

When we left the temple, we started walking down the street at its base. Just a little walk, we thought. It turned into a kilometer of one of the sketchier areas we walked through. The street was busted to pieces in the middle and had turned into a mud puddle from a broken or leaking water pipe. It was an awkward and nerve-racking walk, if I’m being honest.

When we finished the walk, we caught a tuk-tuk back to the Wood Castle Hotel. It was super nice to be greeted one more time by Javeed. We had a cup of chai (we had several over the preceding days) and talked about our plans for the ride to the airport and for our travels beyond. Javeed has a place up in Kashmir and we talked about the possibility of taking a trip there with Javeed as host at some point in the future. It sounds awesome. It was a nice, positive counterpoint to that last bit of walking we did and a really pleasant way to wrap up our time in New Delhi.

- See you all in Bangkok -