If 1 Picture is Worth 1000 Words, Then What Are Several Pictures With a Few Words Worth? ... Delhi

We left for Delhi on Saturday morning.

And arrived late at night.  This is what you see when you get to the baggage area.  

Lockey was trying to write an essay while we were flying, but this guy in the navy jacket behind us had decided to strike up a conversation w/ us just prior to boarding the plane from Bangkok to Delhi, and then when we were seated he all of a sudden showed up and asked if he could sit in the empty chair next to us.. How do you say no?  Having an empty chair means more room to try to sleep, which is basically impossible for me to do on flights, or car rides, or train rides... or anywhere where I can't lay down.  Anyway, this guy was a complete anarchist, drug addict, and was trying to tell me that the world should legalize all types of drugs, supply them to addicts and make them super cheap, and the world would be a better place.  I couldn't handle listening to him, but I knew Lockey needed to write his essay, so Lockey took my iPod (literally out of my hands) and my seat next to the window, and I took one for the team and somehow tolerated this loser for 4 hours... He NEVER stopped talking.  (Good start to the trip)

So at night time in Delhi it gets REALLY smokey.  We got off the plane and thought something was wrong, but apparently that's normal, though no one could explain why to us.  We did see people burning garbage, and burning incense and offerings, and fields... so maybe the combo?

Also the other strong smells that NEVER go away are 

1. Urine

2. Feces

3. Garbage

4. Meat

5. Incense

6. Indian Food

7. Body Odor

EVERYWHERE you go smells like something NASTY.  (Which wasn't good later on in the trip!)

When we got to our hotel there was a festival outside.  

view of the party from the top of our hotel

Hotel Krishna (and that's a picture of Krishna)

There was dancing, and singing, and acting, and everyone was very welcoming to us.  The sprayed water at us, and threw bananas at us, and told us to come sit right in the action.  The music was BLARING, so there was no possible way we were going to get any sleep even though we had already been up for 23 hours, so we joined in with the clapping and such.  There was a man who danced w/ a cobra, he wrapped the cobra in his hair.  And a blue monkey (which we saw lots of statues of the blue monkey).  It was a neat way to enter Indian culture.  

Lookin a little worse for wear! 

Cobra on the fork

The next morning we got up and had breakfast at our hotel.  This was the view.  It was pretty unbelievable... It just looked like dilapidated buildings everywhere you looked!

Just down the street we saw a marble carver carving marble.  There is a lot of marble sculpture and art in India. 

Someone also explained to us how they make their rugs and showed us on a loom. 

This was a temple that we were able to walk around in, but couldn't take pictures inside.  

Afterwards we took a tuk tuk (the cheapest and easiest way to get around Delhi) to see Parliament and India Gate.  The buildings aren't used anymore according to our driver, but they were huge and very spectacular.

India gate

And this is where the adventure begins... If I could take back this moment...  These "Chaats"  were everywhere on the street and I commented to Lockey that they must be a popular snack and I wondered what they were, an Indian man who had been trying to pay for henna told this guy to let us try one for free.  They were so dang friendly, I forgot the first rule to being in a foreign country... DON'T EAT OFF THE STREET!  (Although I'm not going to lie, in Delhi it was hard to come by a "real" restaurant....)  

Then we continued on to the Childrens park... do you see the child in this picture?

I was going to go to the washroom, and I held my breath as I walked in to the bathroom, but every squat toilet was atrocious, so I opted for holding it, and while Lockey was in the washroom I made a new friend... Who knew that ferrets actually ran wild somewhere? 

So after seeing some sights we decided to take the metro to Akshardham.  The metro was surprisingly efficient, easy to navigate and not too busy, it also smelled less than I thought it would.  It got us to where we wanted to go to and that's the point!  This is the line up outside of Akshardham to do your bag drop.  No Camera's or electronics etc aloud.  Apparently there was a terrorist attack here in the summer, so they are really careful, but also in most temples you just aren't aloud to take pictures.  

They also had security checks after you already dropped off your bag.  There is always a girl line and a boy line, because girls can't get groped by the men I guess.  And in most cases the girls go in a curtained room to be checked so that no one gets to watch... It's bizarre to me.  

So you can't take pictures, but I found some online, and it is SO gorgeous.  The amount of detail that went into this temple is phenomenal.  Completely unbelievable.  

We first entered just before the sun went down, so this is quite accurate to what our first impression was. 

There were stories about why they believe that Elephants are sacred, these sculptures were at the base of the entire structure, I think it was 148 elephants were carved out of marble.  We read all of the blurbs by the elephants, it was really nice.

This was the Lotus Garden, each "petal" was filled with plaques that had famous quotes on them. If you look to the left of the path at the top left side the second plaque in said this: " When you laboriously accomplish your daily task, go to sleep in peace.  God is awake"  Victor Hugo.  I loved this quote.  That's how I feel sometimes.  When I've done all that I can during the day, don't sweat it at night, Heavenly Father is watching over me while I rest.  It's a peaceful and comforting thought, and I don't know if I ever consciously thought of this before, but as soon as I read that quote I thought, "I get that".  

They have a 15 minute musical fountain/lights show at night also, and Lockey really likes fountain shows, so I thought this would be enjoyable, and it was a nice way to end our day. 

The next picture is the one and only picture that we got of Akshardham from the train station.  

Day 2 in Delhi.  It was Monday, their holiday if you recall from the previous post.  It is to remember Abraham's (almost) sacrifice of Isaac... although they think it was Ishmael... So they sacrifice goats, and cows and camels, something for each household... So while we were on our way to see Jama Masjid (one of the largest mosques in the world) we saw lots of people guiding animals around! 

I had to wear a cover, because my knees were showing.  Lockey got to wear a sweet sarong.  Notice my enthusiasm at this point... T minus 1 and a half hours till barf off... 

Lockey in a sarong and bare feet in Jama Masjid (you always had to take your shoes off before going into the temples, which I get, because we do the same thing, and also in Japan you do the same thing.  It doesn't generally bother me... except for maybe when I was really little and we went through the Cardston open house before they rededicated the temple and they made me put on those booties and it ticked me right off... But NOW it doesn't bother me... except in India..... the ground is not cleaner because of a lack of shoes...  there is still dirt and garbage everywhere...)  

The kids LOVED to stare at us and try to talk to us (most of them weren't even begging or anything which we found impressive) people asked to take our pictures, and we had a whole group around us at one point when a little indian boy was speaking english with us, and it wasn't just kids, there were adults too... It was so bizarre.  (and even though it has happened before in other countries we visited it's still a strange phenomenon... I wouldn't like to be famous I don't think!)

Climbing up to the tower... very sketchy staircase w/ hardly enough room for people to go up and down at the same time

Then once you are at the top the stairs are basically just a whole at your feet that you could fall down any second b/c of all of the pushing.  It's not very big for all those people... I got down quickly after seeing the view, and Lockey was very sure to keep me safe. 

View of Chandni Chowk area from the tower

I"m unsure if this is a religious custom or if people really are just washing their feet because they get so dirty in India (I wore sandals the first day and regretted it almost instantly when I saw several men peeing on the streets and walls, and saw human feces and garbage all over the street... one time I saw 3 men peeing all at the same time in one garbage dump.  Lucky me.)  But Lockey decided he was going to wash his feet too.  (I told him this would only make them dirtier b/c more dirt sticks to your feet when they are wet... )

So then we moved on.  This is a street outside of the mosque.  We decided to walk to Chandni Chowk, and the Fort area.  There was supposed to be a big spice market to see!  

Cows and camels to be sacrificed. 

These camels looked in pretty rough shape... the one at the back didn't even really have a hump... And who knew that camels legs looked SO incredibly uncomfortable when they are laying on the ground!

This is the Red Fort, b/c of the holiday it was closed, but we got a picture so NBD! (That means no big deal mom and dad! )

We then found the Birds Hospital, which was on the trip advisor list of things to do, I wasn't really sure of what it was, but it was literally just across the street so we went...

It is literally a hospital for birds... Here is the story about the Bird Hospital

The story of Delhi's Jain Bird Hospital begins, as all fairytales should, with a king in his palace in the East. The king, a follower of the Jain religion, is a pigeon fancier with a thousand birds, but one in particular has his heart: it is the most beautiful and most clever of all his pigeons. One day when the king is flying this favoured pigeon it is attacked by a hawk. The king is beside himself, distraught at the thought of losing his friend, and begs the hawk to take a piece of his own flesh in exchange for the life of the bird. 

The story now moves inside the palace. The courtiers wait with baited breath as the king places his pigeon on one end of golden scales and then prepares to cut off his hand to balance the weight of the bird. Engrossed by the scene everyone watches on as the severed hand is laid on the scales, hoping that will be the end of the king's ordeal, but the end is not yet in sight: the pigeon is too heavy and the scales do not balance.

Panicked and fearing he will lose both his hand and his pigeon, the king looks around for his sword. Unease ripples through the spectators: what will happen next? Gritting his teeth the king raises his sword above his head and, with a single swipe, takes off his own leg. Bleeding profusely and suffering from excruciating pain he leans forwards and places his leg beside the hand on the scales. Still the scales do not balance. Determined, the king raises his sword again and, as the onlookers gasp in horror, plunges it into his chest, falling forward onto the scales. Finally, they balance and the bird is saved.

Fortunately for the birds of Delhi, the story does not end here, for the eagle is in fact a god in disguise. His attack on the pigeon was intended to test the king, to see how much he cared for all the living things in his kingdom, and to decide if he was fit to rule over them. The king's willingness to sacrifice himself for the bird has exceeded even the god's expectation and his reward is resurrection. The king is raised to life, his limbs restored, and his favourite pigeon returned to his grasp. The story provides guidance for followers of Jainism; just like the king they should care for all living things and protect in particular the birds that surround them.

... The birds here looked SO unfortunate, ones head was turned upside down, so he was literally seeing the world upside down... There was a big Peacock that couldn't use it's legs and looked like it was sliding around in it's own filth... And they expect you to take off your shoes here!!! Look at how I'm trying not to touch my feet to the ground!  If only I could master levitating! 

And a picture to show that there are random men sleeping EVERYWHERE on the streets.  On the sidewalk you walk by them, but this was funny b/c they are all spooning... Men are SO touchy and cuddly in India.  (I mean men w/ other men, they remind me of little school girls skipping and holding hands.... )  I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing for guys to show their affection, to one another... to a certain degree (although when they show their "brothers" more love than their wives that may be excessive to me) I'm just not used to it!  We met some teenage boys at Akshardham and Lockey shook their hands and he said "Do you shake hands here?"  And the kid said "Of course!  Or we can hug!"  And so they did... 

This guy had a whole pail of honey... and honeycomb, and dead bees that he wanted to show us... I think he wanted us to try it, but I knew better than that... Don't eat off the street!  (Oh wait too late, I already did that yesterday...) 

Then in the middle of some alleyways in the middle of markets we saw this girl!  Holy Moly, she can slack line!  Take notes Jeff!  She was bouncing, and then she made the bottom half of her body like a pendulum, and kept her top half still and just swayed the line back and forth really fast, you can kind of see it in the next picture.  (Although she didn't do any double back flips...)

We were the only people who clapped for her.... And people looked at us like we were crazy.. or just like we were white... and had just drawn attention to ourselves... We just laughed.

Lockey was starting to get hungry, but I wasn't... but we had seen a McDonalds, and that sounded like "safe" food... sad isn't it?  So we got a water and some ice-cream.  I had about 2 bites of the ice-cream, Lockey left me the chocolate dipped parts (ya that's right, they do dipped cones in India!)  

So I decide I don't feel right all of a sudden.  I'm not hungry, and I feel a  little lightheaded. So I try to find shade.  I found shade next to a man urinating on a wall, so I clearly continued walking.  We saw this ox before crossing the street to sit in shade....

Oh and we also saw this.

AND THEN...  I sat feeling nauseous, Lockey thought it might just be the sun (It was over 30 degrees out)  and then all of a sudden I vomitted... Twice... And if being white and a female in India doesn't make people stare, vomitting in public will!  They were pretty weak sauce vomits though, but we decided it would probably be best to go back to the hotel anyways... Thank goodness we did... And thank goodness we got an open sided tuk tuk and not a taxi....

This is a funny picture b/c you can see the bustling crazy street, lots of noise, lots of smells, and it's hot, and then you see my face in the side mirrors... complete unease....

And then we saw bloody animal skins (and smelled) and these people were holding them out to us as we slowly moved through the crowds in this tuk tuk.  And then we saw this merry go round... last straw... I spewed out the side of that tuk tuk w/ vigour!  I meant business... I don't think I have ever heaved like that... And Lockey was so sweet with the water bottle pouring water into my hands so I could rinse my nasty face!  (He even rinsed the vomit off the floor of the tuk tuk... Good man! 

And then I got to see all of the garbage and animal innards from the sacrifices lying on the street... (LOTS of innards)

This ox was very cool looking, and even in my state at the time I appreciated that he was very well decorated!  (I think they use henna). Oh and he was just on the regular highway, it aint no thang.

Camel on the highway... normal?

Lockey took this picture when he had dinner at the hotel.. I was preoccupied w/ being sick every few minutes.  And to add to it I was actually SO ill that I would actually sit on the toilet with a bucket in front of me... Sorry for being gross, but I need to remember this to help me not take my health for granted ever again... Have you ever been so sick that you wake up in your own poop?  I have.  And again... I have the best husband ever, he stripped the sheets while I showered... Brave man... Especially considering that within the hour he would join me making frequent trips to the bathroom... side note, there were 2 beds in our hotel room, so we were covered!  (But I did feel really bad for whoever had to clean up after us!)

This is the water that we tried to ingest (but threw up w/in 3 minutes of drinking it every time)  and the roles of toilet paper that we used w/in less than 24 hours... We tried club soda... It seemed to sit a little better, we just knew we needed to try to stay hydrated.  We had antibiotics given to us by the travel clinic before we left, for just in case, but I couldn't keep them down!  Lockey luckily by the next morning just felt out of sorts, but wasn't vomitting anymore, and seemed like he could stay hydrated... I had a much worse time of it... and ended up in the hospital in Delhi...