On Day2 we took a trip to the Qutb Complex in southern Delhi. This is the site of the first Mosque built in India - in 1192. The center piece is the massive 5 storey Minar built a little later in the early 1200's. It's 2010-11.... and this stuff is still standing. Along with the Mosque and Minar are several tombs and incredibly carved gateways. From the 1200's the tombs and gateways were added throughout time - 1400s, graves added in the 1700's. There's only so much history that guide books can give, and Wiki is an excellent source.
Our adventure started off with a Tuk-Tuk to the Race Course Metro and a train ride to the Qutb Minar complex. Now, I have mentioned the Metros before as being new, clean and sleek. But, I have failed to mention that they are potentially the safest place you could be in Delhi. To enter a Metro, and the same with the large monuments, you have to pass through a metal detector, sometimes a wand detector too, and have your bags x-rayed. Just like at the airport screenings. Makes sense, there can be terrorist-type of violence in India.
Once at the Qutb stop, we had to take a Tuk-tuk to the complex. We didn't know how far of a ride it would be. Could be just a short ride, or a long one. So we asked a couple drivers the cost to the complex.... knowing that we could potentially get screwed. In addition, we really didn't know were we were going and with the 6 of us, we didn't want to get separated. We asked 2 drivers and got 10Rs and 50Rs - okay, cheap and Really cheap. But, It was MY idea to at least go out into the road to see how far it would be. Someone pointed down the road and said in relation to - "Over there ...and cross the road" .
Cross the road..... The road is Anuvrat Marg - at least 3-4 lanes of constant traffic and movement. Not a break in sight. And NOT safe to pull 2 kids with you across it. If there is a crosswalk, as I pointed out earlier, it's only "paint on the road". So we go back to the tuk-tuk drivers, and we still didn't want to get our group separated. We talked a driver into one ride - ALL OF US, 6 PEOPLE - for 40Rs ! The drivers KNOW that to have this many people on one ride is not safe... a dumb thing to do..... and usually drivers in India are not cautious. Heather sat on my lap, Julia on Martie's and Josh on Wayne's. You can only exit onto the Marg to the left, you can't cross traffic, for a good reason. It's a very busy road....... So we speed out into traffic; to a driver time is money. And after a short distance at an intersection, he suddenly does a u-turn out into the on-coming traffic. We have 1/2 of the Lucas-Foster lineage here. Cars, buses, motorcycles, tuk-tuks are flying at us; And everyone, maybe except for Julia, was thinking the same thing - "OH SHIT". Now, I'm laughing just thinking about it. As a side note - I do believe that traveling in India requires a lot of luck. Kind of like how a cat has 9 lives. We just used 1/2 of a life here. Later, we will use 2-3 lives in a vehicle..... but that's later - This is only Day2 in Delhi.....
The kids are jet legged and up way too early in the morning. So at 6:30am, sunrise, we took them for a walk to Nehru Park, just a couple blocks from the embassy compound. It was cool out, almost cold. Officially, Julia hates to walk anywhere. Nehru Park is spacious, almost 80 acres. Running paths, paved and dirt, course throughout the park. They users try to keep it clean. Garbage cans are around the park, but they are mostly over-flowing. There's a small, stagnant looking pool that looked to be part of a waterfall. Walkers and joggers are enjoying the park, along with badminton and soccer players. There are lots of birds - bird food is scattered throughout the park. An occasional Kite will swoop down to disrupt them, or sometimes get a small bird to eat. Large hawks, I think they are Kites, are everywhere in the city. They are usually in packs and circling overhead like buzzards.
In this part of town there are no traffic lights. Just a round-a-bouts every block or so. So when walking anywhere you have to watch out on the right, that's where the traffic is coming from. When it gets really busy, you have to cross the road to an island and wait for the road to clear to cross the other side. Typically, the crosswalks are placed where its hard to see the on-coming traffic. And sometimes the crosswalk will lead to a large barrier...... for the most part, the traffic circles have greenery or a garden in it.
One thing that really stood out on our first day in Delhi, all of the trash. Few trash cans are available. Those that are, were not used. And you really have to watch out were you walk. As the previous pictures have shown, there's not a lot of walking space in Old Delhi. Obstacles are everywhere. Dogs and dog crap; chai and food wallahs have their open fires between the road and the shops. Despite all of this filth and auto exhaust, I was surprised that Old Delhi didn't smell all that disgusting. And for the most part, Old Delhi didn't have a smell to it, not even spicy - except for the spice market. However, Wayne pointed out that we were here at a good time of the year..... add another 40 degrees in the temperature and then lets see what it smells like. Yet, we did sniff a bit of body waste occasionally. The sanitation in Old Delhi is really bad. If you gotta go, you GOTTA GO. So there's several "closets" around that are basically.... closets. A place where a guy can just pull it out and pee. And if there's no closet available, as in New Delhi, taxi and bus drivers would just find a wall to go on. So walking along the roads near the Parliament you would smell.. and see....spots along the wall that were "frequented" by people needing to do their stuff. And that's even with "Free Public" restrooms in the area. So the restrooms must be really bad. Along Chandni Chowk there were restrooms available that were basically a bathroom without a ceiling and the outer walls around butt-level high.
Fortunate for us, after a VERY LONG first day in Delhi, we had the embassy compound to retire to. The embassy is green, clean and quite. Joshua was physically exhausted. After spending the day in all that noise, he was probably the most relieved to make it back to Grandma's.
We're not out of Old Delhi yet. Heading back to the Chawari Bazaar Metro we walked in Lalkuan Bazaar road. This is where pots, pans, paint and raw metal beams were manufactured and sold. Merchants were walking along with paint all over themselves.... and looking a bit loopy. Naturally someone would put all of this metalwork to good use. Kid-rides, small man-powered ferris wheels, were on the side of the road. School kids, that looked fresh out of class, were on the rides.
The rides were not the only attraction. The kids were starting to follow us... saying "hello" trying to say some limited amount of English. They then started pestering us to take their pictures - especially from Joshua. Kids everywhere were attracted to him. This is when I started to notice that just as many people were taking pictures of us as we were of them..... I can imagine that they probably didn't want pictures taken of their lifestyles. But we're really not interested in them, just the way they live. When we were in Singapore, or even Budapest, there were a lot of interesting things to take pictures of - but they were mostly relics, old buildings, your family in parks. In Delhi, I took over 700 pictures. Anywhere you look you see something fascinating and unique. And it's still our first day in Delhi.
So who gets to carry all of those heavy sacks along those narrow lanes ?COOLIES ! They will carry anything and everything. If you go to the market areas, there are coolies walking around with laundry baskets wanting to carry your packages for you. Here are some amazing pictures that Wayne took. Notice the guy pulling the large cart full of sacks.
You'll never know what's around the next corner in Delhi (it's still our first day in India). We rounded a corner somewhere in the Kinari Bazaar and the traffic got really thick. Motorcycles were turning around. Bulls pulling long carts were stuck in front of a large barrier at Candri Chowk road with nowhere to go. We passed the barrier to find Chandri Chowk amassed with people. Police and military guards were keeping watch over the crowd with guns and gas grenades. A long parade filled the street. The music was loud. Drum beats, chanting, and people inside, on top and out of trucks. Loud speakers were on every light pole along the route.
Kids were play-fighting with swords. Loud firecrackers and jumping jacks were firing away. Large stalls were set up along the route with free food. The crowds were thick, hands full of aluminum and leaf-made bowls of dal, chickpeas and rice were fighting for handouts. We were offered some, but refused. Large pots of chickpeas, chapati, cauliflower were brewing on the side of the road. Assembly lines were balling and rolling out dough for chapatis. Trash was everywhere. The empty, or sometimes full bowls of food were just tossed aside. In a country full of starving people, we were walking in food. What was going on ? We never figured it out. Looked like some sort of a Sikh procession. Mary had a good idea - They may have been politicians trying to buy votes. Chandri Chowk ends at the Fatehpuri Masjid and the parade snaked to the right and continued onto Khari Baoli road - The Khari Baoli Bazaar. THIS was why I came to India. This is said to be the home of the BIGGEST spice market in the world. The street is lined with spice shops selling from large burlap sacks (50-100lbs?). What did I see and smell ? Whole cumin, cardamom, coriander, cloves and dries red peppers were out in the open for merchants to feel, taste and smell. The atmosphere was overwhelming and with the peppers, suffocating. Wayne lead us into a dark and narrow alleyway that opened up to a courtyard. Large carts of burlap sacks were filled with dried red chillies. The second floor had more chillies and also people sorting out nuts and vendors were selling large containers of cooking oil. A chai wallah was selling chai from a large stove. Thefloors above looked like apartments.
We still didn't have our bearings straight on Day 1. It was the early afternoon on the day of our arrival, Julia was ready to pass out for the day. However, we only had 2 weeks in India and Heather and I were ready to see the city ! Wayne took us out into Old Delhi. You couldn't get a better tour guide. He had everything planned out for us to see the parts of Delhi that is in the guide books, but not really the places for tourists. The places that the locals use everyday to buy their goods. And that's what we came to Delhi to see. We paid a tuk-tuk driver 50rs to take us to the Secretariat Metro station. What is a Tuk-Tuk ? It's a covered auto-rickshaw...... ? It's a motorcycles with a back bench and 3 wheels. Okay- here's a picture. It's one of the cheapest modes of transportation - just as long as it's not raining. Along the way we went past the Raj Path and the Parliament / Presidential grounds. The Tuk-Tuk are great for the views.
The Metros are relatively new - and built for the recent Commonwealth Games that were held in September and really cheap; around 10Rs one-way. They are very crowded. You usually barely have enough room to get on and you have to fight your way to get off. You are packed body-to-body like sardines. It's not always like that. There were special "Ladies Only" cars - wonder why - and the men stayed out of them.
Wayne had a great plan to get us out into the Old Delhi bazaars. We got off the Chawri Bazaar stop and hit the pavement. With all of the rickshaws, tuk-tuks, people and animals there isn't a whole lot of room to move. People just flow along the shops. This area of Old Delhi is broken down in to different districts - or bazaars. And it forms somewhat of a triangle with the Chawri Bazaar Metro, Red Fort and the Chandni Chowk Metro. There are the wide roads - Chandni Chowk and Chandni Bazaar Rd where you can fit people and rickshaws and tuk-tuks; Then there are narrower side street where the buildings get closer together, people really cramp in, motorcycles are constantly honking to get people out of the way; Then there are the very small alleyways the would lead into strange courtyards and dead-ends. This was a lot of fun, and a bit scary at times, but Joshua held up like a trouper and never ventured away from arms length. There are rumors that children have become lost and orphaned in Old Delhi...
The Bazaars are streets lined with specialty marketplaces. Chawri Bazaar has paper goods and books, copper and brasswares, and bathroom fixtures. We then turned onto Nai Sarak Marg where books and textbooks and Saris. Saris are traditional Indian wear - you mostly see women in them. They are draped dresses that can be very basic to extremely elaborate with mirrors and embroidery. When the women entered the shops they would sit down for tea and a sales person would present to them the fabrics that they had available. Shelves were lined with rows of different colors and materials. Some vendors had women packed in their shops desperate to get in, while others were empty... a Sari sale ? We then turned onto a smaller side street that was selling jewelery. Real or costume - I wasn't sure.
But then we hit the parade at Chandri Chowk.........
Our first day in Delhi. The embassy complex is quiet, clean, green and huge. There's a market, bowling alley, baseball field, pool, gym, 2 restaurants, a coffee shop, book store, library, curios shops - everything. Plus clean water and reliable electricity. SO why leave this safe-haven where the kids can play and ride bikes freely ? We decided to take a small walking trip to the local market. The typical Indian neighborhood in this area has lots of open garbage and heavy traffic : Bicycles, walkers, cars, tuk-tuks, and motorcycles that are constantly honking. The electrical grid looks dangerously over burdened - an electrical/fire hazard put together by clowns. Some electrical poles are falling over by either hits from autos or by the weight of the wires. I'm a tall guy by Indian standards. The transformers are at eye level and exposed wires are everywhere, so you have to watch the kids closely. We walked down a side street to one of the local neighborhood "strip malls" There were several passport facilities, shoe and bicycle repair guys, lunch wallahs, 2 pharmacies, post office, and a chai wallah. There was a wall that the barber set a mirror and 2 chairs in front of with clients waiting for cuts. And there was a fresh fruit and veggie strand loaded with all sorts of goodies - the only problem with that is you have to soak the produce in a bleach solution before putting it in the fridge. Dogs are everywhere. In the street, in the parks, near the vendors. None of them looked threatening - also, unlike most dogs in the US, did they look interested in human contact. We often saw small packs of dogs eating out of the garbage.
Well, not really. We got in at 2:30am and everyone was excited to get off. The flight from Dubai was on United Arab Emirates - a great company with a really good selection of Indian food. As the plane hit the ground passengers were unbuckling and rushing to the overhead compartment to retrieve their luggage.... the Stewards didn't like this at all. They were constantly yelling at people to sit down until the plane pulls up to the exit ramp. They put people with kids in the very back of the plane, so we knew that we would have a long wait to get off... and besides, we had a lot of lines ahead of us. The airport was a zoo. It looked like 15 planes landed at the same time. Immigration was packed. The typical immigration booth has 2 officials checking passports with lines going to each official. They check over your passport, scan it, and make sure that the immigration documents that you have filled out to get in are correctly done. Luck would always have it that I would enter in the "Slow" line. The line next to us was going at lightning speed. I don't even think the official was looking at their passports. The official in our line would stare ahead at the crowd, look off in the distance..... then another official came over to "chat" with him...... then we would chew on something, look away and slowly stamp the passport. One American in the line next to ours was in a group of 3, the others in his group got through. Apparently he didn't have his forms filled out properly and the official told him to "GO Back, Fix it, then come back..." Well, he fixed it, but then suddenly the official in the line next to ours LEFT. He just walked away. No explanation. SO, the people in the line next to ours started butting into our line.... then the American with the improper form harassed his way to the front also. We were tired, unsympathetic and pissed. However, if you can't fill out a form to properly get into a foreign country, you probably won't do well in it. The official in our line unexpectedly got irritated and testy. He threatened to stop his work until a proper line formed - and straight - and forced the line next to ours to go somewhere else. And they probably still made it through before we did. It felt like this was taking forever, but when we got through immigration our bags still hadn't made it to the baggage area..... :0.
YES - the exchange was open, and why wouldn't it be ? We found our way to the taxi station and for 350Rs got a taxi lift to Heather's parents. The driver was either falling asleep or partially blind. He leaned on the steering wheel, squinting ahead. Not so good considering that there was a very dense fog that night. At least he kept the speed slow - we found out for the first time that trucks, or other vehicles, DON'T use their taillights. They're disconnected to save GAS. The trucks were typically filled to the gills with people, appliances, building materials, gas canisters, or a combination of people+explosives. In addition, there are people walking on the side - or in - the road, auto-rickshaws (Tuk-Tuks), bicycles(loaded with stuff and people) : all of this is either moving on the road, or sometimes not. Finally at 4:30am we made it safely to Delhi and safely to sleep.... for 3 hours when the kids woke us up.
My first morning in Delhi: The air was calm and cool - and not as stinky as I thought it would be.
With less than two weeks to the travel date, and no passports, we bought our tickets to India.... fortunately, the passports came later and before our trip. On Wednesday November 17 we picked up the kids from school to make the 6:30pm flight out of St Louis. It takes a long time to fly around the world. About 24 hours total flights+layovers. StL to Dalles to Dubai to Delhi. Total flight time : almost exactly 18hours. When we get into Delhi it will be 2:30am on Friday. The kids will miss eight days of school. But both are doing really well and the teachers are just as excited that they are making the trip. Most flights these days are cramped and crowded - especially for someone over 6ft. Everyone has to bring massive "carry-alls" onboard and the typical rush to get onto the plane is to get a spot to put your bags overhead. I try to help the kids out by packing coloring books and crayons for Julia and DS and the new Whimpy Kid book for Josh. The international flights have small TV screens on the seat back and a media player loaded with dozens of music CDs, films, TV shows and video games. So, I don't think the kids were ever bored. Leaving StL the line at the Dunkin Donuts was long and I couldn't wait to get away from the fast food life of America. But what would I be flying into ? What would the food in Delhi be like ? What would the city smell like ? Will there be load and loads of people everywhere ? Will there be trees ? Noisy ? We live in a very quiet and peaceful town. No traffic noise, just the sound of birds. Will there be dogs, cats, birds ? The flight from DC to Dubai takes off at 10:30pm. Julia is fast asleep. The flight to Dubai takes 13hours and we got in around 9pm (10amCST). I suspected that the airport would be clean and modern - but it's really sterile; loaded with every high-tier shop. Only the Muslim dressed women made it feel like an international airport. Otherwise with the McDonalds and Starbucks and Duty-free shops you would never know that you were in a foreign country. I wonder if a person could go around the world without a clue as to which country that landed in. Everyone speaks perfect English. But, we are not in Delhi yet. We still have a 3hour flight and Joshua is the worried that we will miss the flight. As I sit in the Dubai airport I wonder what Delhi will be like at 2:30am. Will we be able to exchange money ? The official rate is 44rupees/$1. In Dulles it was 36/1. Here in Dubai it's 40.32/1. I hope we can exchange in Delhi at 2:30am, I'm tempted to get some Rs now. Julia is starting to get crabby and the traveling to starting to wear on us.
We have always wanted to go to India and fortunately Heather's parents got the opportunity to work there this year.
Before flying to India, we had a couple things to do concerning our passports.
Step 1 : Renew Passports. Heather and the kids had passports that were nearly expired. The photos of the kids were really old. The old passports were made when Julia was an infant and Joshua was only 5 years old. This would be his 3rd ! We got the passports replaced in September, so far so good.
Step 2 : Obtain the Visas to India. Visas ????? We have never had to do that before. Question: What is a visa? Answer: Visas are the permission that are granted by a sovereign nation to a traveler permitting entry into that country for a specific purpose. This entails sending the passports to "India Visa Center - Travisa Outsourcing"... gasp.... for a nominal Consular Fee.Okay, I don't mind paying a fee to have this done or a "Tax" to get into and out of the country. However, I do have an issue with sending my families passports to Chicago to have this done...., All Consular Fees and Processing Fees are NONREFUNDABLE, even if a visa is denied or if a visa is issued for a shorter period of time or otherwise issued or returned at a time or on terms and conditions that vary from those sought by the applicant. Because : Travisa Outsourcing does not issue visas or in any way determine or control the issuance of, or terms and conditions of, visas, all of which is determined and controlled solely by the Consulates of the Embassy of India. Sounded curry fishy to me.
BTW, please return our passports before our flight........
We've been back from India for less than 2 weeks and already I've made some sort of Indian dish most nights. The kids don't complain - openly. Then again, they don't dig in like they would McDonald's fries. Mary taught us a few good recipes, but more so, she taught us some great techniques. Have you ever tried to make samosas ? The whole thumb-thing-fold takes a bit of trial and error, and maybe a bit of mental calculus. And they don't have to be fried either - we bake ours at 450 until browned. Once I filled them with a sweet potato recipe I found in a cook book and added peas before filling the dough. Those things tasted just as good as cookies and were great for breakfast and snacks straight from the cold fridge. Yum. We had a great time in India. However, we couldn't have done it without Wayne and Martie. They know all of the tricks of getting around a massive metropolis. How the transportation works, where to see the best sites, what food to eat and avoid... ... ... For example, there are a lot of very friendly looking dogs around Delhi - You really can't touch them ! It's best to leave them sleeping in the middle of the road. We have many unbelievable memories from Delhi. I say unbelievable because you never know what you'll see out on a simple walk around town. And that's why I can't wait to make it back - you won't see anything you've seen before. And such, I knew that I would have to have a better way of remembering our trip. So I filled in nearly an 80-page journal with stuff that I had seen on our 2 week trip. Thanks to Martie and Wayne we have been all over the world. S.Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Budapest, Greece (can't forget the wedding :)..), Vienna, Prague, Zimbabwe.... and I never wrote anything down, except for Greece (We spent Christmas STRANDED on Santorini feeding stray cats in our Hotel room overlooking the Caldera - I feel your pity). So should I write some of my favorite parts and include pictures ? I guess so. Will anyone read it ? Maybe. I almost signed up for a Facebook page and may still. Even though I wanted to be the last person on earth to sign up.... turns up I already did ? The blog is difficult to get pictures downloaded to and formatted. I think Zuckerburg has made it such - the facebook thing may be the easiest way to do this.....Another issue I have with blogs is that they read Friday to Monday - it's like walking backward - the posts will read from the end of the trip to the beginning - or else I would have to post from the back to the front and its harder to read than a very lengthy run on sentence. Conundrums.
In the mean time..... Veggie Curry
Start with one (1) large bowl of cauliflower, baby bella mushrooms, baby carrots, peas, green beans, green bell pepper... you get the picture. Cut the shrooms, carrots and pepper into bite size chunks. Fill bowl with water and let them soak until needed.
Heat some oil in a fry pan big enough for your veggies. Add a Tablespoon Garlic/Ginger paste and 2 diced green sarrano chili peppers - include veins and seeds to taste. Give it a minute or two to begin aerating.
Add the veggies by the handful. Leave out the water. Fry until softened a bit. Then add a couple teaspoons of your favorite curry powder. I used 6. Mix together until the curry powder is incorporated.
Mix in one can of Coconut Milk. Heat covered or not until completely warmed.
