New and Old Delhi

On our last day we had a tour of New Delhi and Old Delhi. We drove through some beautiful neighborhoods where parliament members live in “bungalows” built by the British. They are anything but bungalows, more like mansions in a bungalow style. Then we went by Embassy Row with huge buildings and compounds. In this part of the city there are flowers and manicured lawns. The streets are wide and tree lined. The areas are very clean and traffic is pretty normal. It’s not at all what I expected and I was very impressed.
‘Then we went to Old Delhi. On the way there we drove down a street that had remains of an old fort and the old wall of the city. We stopped and got into pedicabs for a tour of the old city. It was like Mr Toads Wild Ride. There were 2 of us in the pedicab and our driver was a very skinny man. He had some problems keeping up with the group. We went through narrow alleys where the shops were right next to us. We passed Tuk Tuks and even some small trucks. There’s no traffic rules there. It was scary at times. We saw monkeys on an overhang and a white cow painted with orange spots and legs. It was pulling a wagon and not happy about it. We saw every kind of shop imaginable, saris, paper, meat, fruit and vegetables, barbers, you name it. The streets are very narrow and pot holed so we were bumping around a lot.
‘From there we went to a memorial to Mahatma Ghandi. It was actually the place where he was cremated. I didn’t realize he was trained as a lawyer and worked in South Africa on human rights causes for many years. Then he went to India to do the same work and ended up leading a non violent peace movement that led to India’s independence. He was assassinated in 1948. It was a beautiful place. Very peaceful. As we walked in there were 3 women sitting under the trees hand cleaning the flower petals that had fallen from the trees.
‘From there we went back to the hotel for lunch. The we were off on another tour to an old minaret. It was never used as such because it had over 200 steps to the top.. too far to climb 5 times a day calling people to prayer. It was once a village but now in ruins. It was called Qutub Minar. Luckily it wasn’t hot and there was a nice breeze. From there we went to a shop selling rugs and pashminas. We looked but didn’t buy. They were beautiful but very expensive. We went back to hotel for dinner. Before we went to dinner we had to revisit the shop we’d stopped in earlier. Of course we ended up buying cashmere pashminas. They were so beautiful and well done. After our last buffet dinner we went to the room to get packed up.
It was a very short night. We went for breakfast at 3:00 and on the bus at 3:45. We drove to the Indira Gandhi Airport arriving around 4:30. We got in a huge line to get boarding passes. Then another long line to go through security. We couldn’t have any electronics in the checked baggage so I had my iPad in my backpack which made it very heavy-especially with the two pieces of marble I’m taking home to make jewelry with. It took us almost 2 hours to get thru all that and to the gate and that was with a cart ride from the shops to the gate. Our flight was at 8:00 AM. I didn’t know what to expect on Air Mauritius. It was a big plane and pretty full. We got little bags with a toothbrush, Meyer mask, comb. It was in a nice little zippered bag with a carrying strap and had a dodo on it. There were almost 200 of us plus other Indian people. We had a long flight, long enough to get breakfast and lunch before we finally landed. We were met by a representative who directed us to our busses. It was very overcast and cloudy and rained on the way to the ship. It took an hour to drive from the airport to the ship so we got to see a little of the island. As we exited from the terminal we were greeted by the whole housekeeping staff. It was really something to see. Our steward Tedhi called our names and we each gave him a big hug. It was nice to be back “home”. The room was so nice and clean when we got back. Then we unpacked and littered it up the way it was when we left! Now for a good night’s sleep and usual at sea day activities.
‘Photos:morning in Delhi, old fort, old city wall(in the background, not the brick one), us in the pedicab, our driver, 4 scenes of the old Delhi ride, unhappy cow, monkeys, Gandhi memorial.