Monday, January 23, 2006
Weekend in Delhi
My 3rd weekend in India I decided to head up to Delhi. A friend of mine from New York who is originally from there happened to be in town at the same time so it was a great opportunity to visit a new place after hanging around Hyderabad for a couple of weeks. When some of the other expats heard I was going they decided to come along so it ended up being the 4 of us traveling together.
We left on Friday night after work, and with the flight being delayed a bit didn't land in Delhi until after midnight. My first impression of Delhi was that it was fairly similar to Hyderabad, except much more polluted. The air pollution in Hyderabad is noticeable when you first arrive and the haze is always visible in the distance but Delhi was much worse. I could taste the difference in the air and developed a cough that stayed with me the entire time we were in town.
When we got off the plane a driver was there to meet us and take us to the hotel, which should have been only 5 minutes away. The reason it's a good idea to arrange for a driver through the hotel is that if you pick one at the airport they will often try to scam you and take you to the wrong place in the hopes you'll stay there instead and they get some sort of kickback from their friends running the other place. This is pretty common behavior for both taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers, they will try to steer you toward all sorts of places where they have arrangements with the owners, including hotels, restaurants and shops.
Although our driver was hired by the hotel it actually turned out this guy had some alternate plans than taking us to our destination. As we were driving down one of the dark roads we noticed a huge Krishna statue (which I unfortunately never photographed) and right beside it the sign for our hotel. We told the driver that we had arrived but he continued going saying this was the wrong place and our hotel was further down the road. We ended up driving around for another 20 minutes or more, stopping by to ask directions from some pretty shady looking characters, before finally convincing him to turn around and take us back to the big Krishna statue where we saw the sign earlier.
We finally managed to get back to the right place without further incident and got settled in at the hotel which turned out to be really nice. The showers in particular were fantastic. The water was HOT and the pressure just right, it was the best shower I had taken since I'd gotten to India. However, before going to our individual rooms we decided to end the night with a couple of beers which turned out to be trickier than expected. Apparently, room service only had 2 bottles of Kingfisher for the four of us but, luckily, these were the large 16oz bottles so it was just enough for 4 glasses of beer after all. After drinking our half-beers and chatting a bit about the weirdness with the taxi we finally split up and headed for bed as we had lots to do the following day before meeting up with my friend that Saturday night.
We got up on Saturday around 9am to figure out what to do for the rest of the day since we hadn't actually made any specific plans. After noticing an area called Connaught Place in our guide book my traveling companions, who were all from Dublin, decided we'd have to go check it out (Connaught is apparently also a province in Ireland). Driving through Delhi that weekend was actually a bit interesting because it was the weekend before Republic Day so there was a lot of extra security and you could see military guys with big guns lined up along many of the streets.
When we got to Connaught Place we let our driver go since there were many points of interest within close proximity and we'd all been dying to try out one of the auto-rickshaws. Connaught Place turned out to be kind of a large plaza of Western style shops and restaurants with plenty of tourists idling around and local street vendors selling various junk, most notably little round chess and backgammon sets. God knows why anybody would want one of these but there were literally dozens of very pushy guys trying to sell them. We decided to regroup at one of the cafes in the area and figure out what to do with the rest of the afternoon.
Our initial plan was to visit the National Rail Museum but then we noticed there was giant astronomical observatory called the Jantar Mantar nearby. The others had already actually seen the one in Jaipur but we decided to go check it out anyway. We could have probably walked as it wasn't terribly far but this was a perfect opportunity for all of us to finally get a ride in an auto-rickshaw. We actually ended up spending quite a bit of time in one that day riding back and forth from one area to another and it was quite an experience. My companions were cramped into the backseat while I was hanging on for dear life in the front seat, one arm around the driver while the other was holding on to the frame where door would normally be on another type of vehicle. Jantar Mantar was a pretty interesting experience, I took lots of pictures so I'll skip any further impressions.
After we got through looking at the giant astronomical observation structures we decided it was time for lunch so we went in search of another auto-rickshaw to take us to some place to eat. The guy we ended up hiring was pretty insistent about taking us to a particular restaurant he greatly recommended and since we didn't really know of anything in the area we went with his suggestion. As it turned out he took us to a complete tourist trap area where he obviously received some sort of reward for bringing more customers. The food turned out to be pretty good however so we weren't too upset in the end and let him take us to a temple he recommended after lunch.
This turned out to be a Sikh temple which allows any and all visitors, provided they cover their head and take off their shoes. After leaving our shoes at the reception area and getting a little orange head cover we proceeded inside. Our guide/driver told us it was even ok to take pictures though none of us actually felt particularly comfortable with acting like obnoxious picture-taking tourists inside the temple itself. It was very interesting to see the inside of a real Sikh temple with people sitting around on the floor, presumably praying, and the "altar" area in the middle with musicians playing and chanting, according to our guide without stopping the entire day. After checking out the insides of the temple itself our driver led us to the adjacent kitchen area where people were being fed for free every day. Sikhs don't believe in caste or class differences so everyone was welcome and would be seated on the floor together and served the same food, prepared in the same large room by volunteers.
The trip to the Sikh temple was very cool and completely unplanned, I don't think any of us knew anything about that religion before we went in so it was a learning experience as well. Afterward we still had some daylight left so we took the auto-rickshaw over to the Gandhi cremation garden. The garden was pretty but nothing of too much interest for sight-seers, and we had to once again take off our shoes and walk around barefoot in order to get in. After taking some pictures and walking around for a bit we decided to head back to the hotel as it's been a pretty long day and we were still going out that night to meet up with my friend.
When we got back to the hotel the others decided to rest up for a bit while I went to check out the hotel bar/lounge. This place turned out to be more of a club, with strobe lights and a DJ playing various Indian dance music, though it was fairly empty and not many people dancing. There was actually one group of about 20 people (only 3 or 4 of them women) who would get up periodically to dance so the dance floor went from crowded to completely empty depending on the song. I stood around sipping my beer for awhile until a good song came on and most of them got back on the dance floor. I really wished the ratio was a bit better since it was a little weird dancing along with so many guys but I figured this was as good as it was going to get so I got out on the dance floor as well. I ended up jumping around to some funky Indian music for the next 30 or 40 minutes until it was time to go back and get the others so we could head out again.
Two of my companions actually decided to stay in that night so it was only the two of us that went out to meet up with my friend at a lounge he recommended called the "Laid Back Waters" which was located at the Qutab Hotel across town from where we were staying. This place turned out to be very cool and a great place to hang out and have a couple of drinks. We were both wishing we had a place like this back in Hyderabad, or even New York, since I don't think I know a place like that back home either. My Delhi friend also brought along another friend of his, who turned out to be very cool as well, and the four of us ended up having a great time just sitting around and talking over some drinks.
The next day we planned on going to the Red Fort. We had actually planned on going there on Saturday but our driver told us it would be closed due to the preparations for Republic Day but should be open again on Sunday. When we finally go there, however, we were disappointed to find out that it was closed again so we were only able to see the fort's outside wall. Luckily, there was a huge bazaar right outside and my friend recommended a really good restaurant called Karim's the night before which was supposed to be right nearby. After consulting the trusty guide book we found where we had to go and took off in what we figured should be the right direction.
We ended up wondering around for a bit, stopping by at the Tibetan refugee market, and walking past all kinds of little shops, from spare auto parts to butcher shops with sheep heads layed out in the front. After awhile we finally found Karim's which was hiding inside a little alley off of one of the smaller streets near a large mosque. The food at this place was excellent just like my friend said and the layout of the place so unusual that it was worth the long walk just to see it. To get in you had to go through a little alley as I said before, which opened up into a larger alley and the restaurant had seating areas in a few of the buildings surrounding the open space, with the kitchen located in another of the buildings completely visible from the alley, so the whole place had a very open feel about it.
After we finished our meal and got back out to the street we decided to check out the mosque that was right across the street. The admission wasn't free however, and once again we had to remove our shoes in order to go in, but the space inside was very impressive and it was well worth it. I also managed to get a few more shots of the Red Fort which wasn't too far away. We walked back to our car through the huge bazaar sprawled out between the mosque and the Red Fort and headed back to Connaught Place for some tea at the cafe we went to the previous day before taking our flight back to Hyderabad that evening.
All in all, it was a pretty successful weekend trip, I got to see a lot of sights and experience an Indian city besides Hyderabad. It was also great to see somebody from back home half a world away.
We left on Friday night after work, and with the flight being delayed a bit didn't land in Delhi until after midnight. My first impression of Delhi was that it was fairly similar to Hyderabad, except much more polluted. The air pollution in Hyderabad is noticeable when you first arrive and the haze is always visible in the distance but Delhi was much worse. I could taste the difference in the air and developed a cough that stayed with me the entire time we were in town.
When we got off the plane a driver was there to meet us and take us to the hotel, which should have been only 5 minutes away. The reason it's a good idea to arrange for a driver through the hotel is that if you pick one at the airport they will often try to scam you and take you to the wrong place in the hopes you'll stay there instead and they get some sort of kickback from their friends running the other place. This is pretty common behavior for both taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers, they will try to steer you toward all sorts of places where they have arrangements with the owners, including hotels, restaurants and shops.
Although our driver was hired by the hotel it actually turned out this guy had some alternate plans than taking us to our destination. As we were driving down one of the dark roads we noticed a huge Krishna statue (which I unfortunately never photographed) and right beside it the sign for our hotel. We told the driver that we had arrived but he continued going saying this was the wrong place and our hotel was further down the road. We ended up driving around for another 20 minutes or more, stopping by to ask directions from some pretty shady looking characters, before finally convincing him to turn around and take us back to the big Krishna statue where we saw the sign earlier.
We finally managed to get back to the right place without further incident and got settled in at the hotel which turned out to be really nice. The showers in particular were fantastic. The water was HOT and the pressure just right, it was the best shower I had taken since I'd gotten to India. However, before going to our individual rooms we decided to end the night with a couple of beers which turned out to be trickier than expected. Apparently, room service only had 2 bottles of Kingfisher for the four of us but, luckily, these were the large 16oz bottles so it was just enough for 4 glasses of beer after all. After drinking our half-beers and chatting a bit about the weirdness with the taxi we finally split up and headed for bed as we had lots to do the following day before meeting up with my friend that Saturday night.
We got up on Saturday around 9am to figure out what to do for the rest of the day since we hadn't actually made any specific plans. After noticing an area called Connaught Place in our guide book my traveling companions, who were all from Dublin, decided we'd have to go check it out (Connaught is apparently also a province in Ireland). Driving through Delhi that weekend was actually a bit interesting because it was the weekend before Republic Day so there was a lot of extra security and you could see military guys with big guns lined up along many of the streets.
When we got to Connaught Place we let our driver go since there were many points of interest within close proximity and we'd all been dying to try out one of the auto-rickshaws. Connaught Place turned out to be kind of a large plaza of Western style shops and restaurants with plenty of tourists idling around and local street vendors selling various junk, most notably little round chess and backgammon sets. God knows why anybody would want one of these but there were literally dozens of very pushy guys trying to sell them. We decided to regroup at one of the cafes in the area and figure out what to do with the rest of the afternoon.
Our initial plan was to visit the National Rail Museum but then we noticed there was giant astronomical observatory called the Jantar Mantar nearby. The others had already actually seen the one in Jaipur but we decided to go check it out anyway. We could have probably walked as it wasn't terribly far but this was a perfect opportunity for all of us to finally get a ride in an auto-rickshaw. We actually ended up spending quite a bit of time in one that day riding back and forth from one area to another and it was quite an experience. My companions were cramped into the backseat while I was hanging on for dear life in the front seat, one arm around the driver while the other was holding on to the frame where door would normally be on another type of vehicle. Jantar Mantar was a pretty interesting experience, I took lots of pictures so I'll skip any further impressions.
After we got through looking at the giant astronomical observation structures we decided it was time for lunch so we went in search of another auto-rickshaw to take us to some place to eat. The guy we ended up hiring was pretty insistent about taking us to a particular restaurant he greatly recommended and since we didn't really know of anything in the area we went with his suggestion. As it turned out he took us to a complete tourist trap area where he obviously received some sort of reward for bringing more customers. The food turned out to be pretty good however so we weren't too upset in the end and let him take us to a temple he recommended after lunch.
This turned out to be a Sikh temple which allows any and all visitors, provided they cover their head and take off their shoes. After leaving our shoes at the reception area and getting a little orange head cover we proceeded inside. Our guide/driver told us it was even ok to take pictures though none of us actually felt particularly comfortable with acting like obnoxious picture-taking tourists inside the temple itself. It was very interesting to see the inside of a real Sikh temple with people sitting around on the floor, presumably praying, and the "altar" area in the middle with musicians playing and chanting, according to our guide without stopping the entire day. After checking out the insides of the temple itself our driver led us to the adjacent kitchen area where people were being fed for free every day. Sikhs don't believe in caste or class differences so everyone was welcome and would be seated on the floor together and served the same food, prepared in the same large room by volunteers.
The trip to the Sikh temple was very cool and completely unplanned, I don't think any of us knew anything about that religion before we went in so it was a learning experience as well. Afterward we still had some daylight left so we took the auto-rickshaw over to the Gandhi cremation garden. The garden was pretty but nothing of too much interest for sight-seers, and we had to once again take off our shoes and walk around barefoot in order to get in. After taking some pictures and walking around for a bit we decided to head back to the hotel as it's been a pretty long day and we were still going out that night to meet up with my friend.
When we got back to the hotel the others decided to rest up for a bit while I went to check out the hotel bar/lounge. This place turned out to be more of a club, with strobe lights and a DJ playing various Indian dance music, though it was fairly empty and not many people dancing. There was actually one group of about 20 people (only 3 or 4 of them women) who would get up periodically to dance so the dance floor went from crowded to completely empty depending on the song. I stood around sipping my beer for awhile until a good song came on and most of them got back on the dance floor. I really wished the ratio was a bit better since it was a little weird dancing along with so many guys but I figured this was as good as it was going to get so I got out on the dance floor as well. I ended up jumping around to some funky Indian music for the next 30 or 40 minutes until it was time to go back and get the others so we could head out again.
Two of my companions actually decided to stay in that night so it was only the two of us that went out to meet up with my friend at a lounge he recommended called the "Laid Back Waters" which was located at the Qutab Hotel across town from where we were staying. This place turned out to be very cool and a great place to hang out and have a couple of drinks. We were both wishing we had a place like this back in Hyderabad, or even New York, since I don't think I know a place like that back home either. My Delhi friend also brought along another friend of his, who turned out to be very cool as well, and the four of us ended up having a great time just sitting around and talking over some drinks.
The next day we planned on going to the Red Fort. We had actually planned on going there on Saturday but our driver told us it would be closed due to the preparations for Republic Day but should be open again on Sunday. When we finally go there, however, we were disappointed to find out that it was closed again so we were only able to see the fort's outside wall. Luckily, there was a huge bazaar right outside and my friend recommended a really good restaurant called Karim's the night before which was supposed to be right nearby. After consulting the trusty guide book we found where we had to go and took off in what we figured should be the right direction.
We ended up wondering around for a bit, stopping by at the Tibetan refugee market, and walking past all kinds of little shops, from spare auto parts to butcher shops with sheep heads layed out in the front. After awhile we finally found Karim's which was hiding inside a little alley off of one of the smaller streets near a large mosque. The food at this place was excellent just like my friend said and the layout of the place so unusual that it was worth the long walk just to see it. To get in you had to go through a little alley as I said before, which opened up into a larger alley and the restaurant had seating areas in a few of the buildings surrounding the open space, with the kitchen located in another of the buildings completely visible from the alley, so the whole place had a very open feel about it.
After we finished our meal and got back out to the street we decided to check out the mosque that was right across the street. The admission wasn't free however, and once again we had to remove our shoes in order to go in, but the space inside was very impressive and it was well worth it. I also managed to get a few more shots of the Red Fort which wasn't too far away. We walked back to our car through the huge bazaar sprawled out between the mosque and the Red Fort and headed back to Connaught Place for some tea at the cafe we went to the previous day before taking our flight back to Hyderabad that evening.
All in all, it was a pretty successful weekend trip, I got to see a lot of sights and experience an Indian city besides Hyderabad. It was also great to see somebody from back home half a world away.
