delhi-agra (part 3), 7 january
the next day we woke up early and tried to cover as many sites as the heavy traffic allowed us to cover in a day. we first stopped at the baha'i temple, a huge edifice, all in white shaped like a lotus flower. the baha'i is a strange religion, kinda hippie, i remember hearing about it years ago in monterrey... anyway, they asked us to remove our shoes and to keep absolute silence inside. the experience was not precisely mystical... it was just strange.
from there we went to some of delhi's main attractions: the red fort and jama masjid. i won't write much about these sites because it will simply take too long and whatever i write won't do them justice. i will just say briefly what these are and focus more on what happened around this neighborhood. the red fort is just a huge fort built by the emperor shahjahan in the 17th century. the whole thing is very big and beautiful and if you ever visit, make sure you hire one of these authorized guides outside, because it makes all the difference to understand why this fort was built, why it was constructed the way it's built, etc. a few blocks away (although i don't think the concept of a block truly exists in delhi), another imposing construction stands: jama masjid. this is, i believe, the largest or second largest mosque in the world. we had trouble going in, first because it was prayer time, then because we had to cover our heads, then because of other reasons we didn't understand. we went for a bite and came back, and we were a bit annoyed because we had to take off our shoes to get in but the whole place is very dirty. we still went in only because we were already there but this place didn't really impress us much.
the best part of our stroll around this area (and here "best" isn't necessarily employed as a superlative for good, but rather refers to an educating/enlightening experience) was to be a part of the unbelievable chaos the streets in this area are---the wildness of the rest of delhi pales in comparison. cows, donkeys, pigs, dogs, rats, pedestrians, cyclists, rickshaw-drivers, cars, ... they all come and go in the same narrow road. there are no sidewalks or lanes... no sense of direction. people stop by to pee right in front of you and nobody seems to notice---or care. and people here must have the strongest stomachs in the world because, even in the middle of this filth, street vendors sell everything, from pani puri and samosas to chai and chaat.
it was almost unbelievable to realize there are actually some excellent places to eat in the area. we went to a small restaurant, karim's, a muslim place which seems to be an institution in delhi. we had the best lamb kebabs there and rafa claims that's the best naan he's had so far. in the evening, we went to some bar with perro, rachita and four of their friends, had a few drinks and went back home, exhausted.
on our last full day in delhi, we visited a few tombs, the most impressive of which is humayun's. the place is supposed to be a taj mahalito, although i'm sure that this is nothing in comparison, but not having seen the taj, this place is absolutely gorgeous and very well preserved. the last sight sightseeing stop was a new "temple", only opened in 2005, and a bit far from everything else---on the other side of the yamuna river. the place is called akshardham and you must see some of the pictures here or in the official site, and look it up in the internet when you have time because it is truly impressive. the place is massive and every part of it is marvelously carved... it actually holds the world guiness record for the largest hindu temple in the world... although, i must say that pipi was truly disgusted because it seems that the different stories that they portray throughout the temple are very biased, with missing information, etc. plus, everything in the temple is to adore this swaminarayan sanstha (some sort of saint) and there is not much reference to the typical hindu deities. i don't know much about that, but what i do know is that the place doesn't feel like a temple at all. instead, it feels as though the whole thing is about showing off how much money these people spent in the construction of this place. also, there seems to be some controversy going on, apparently there are some temples, like the meenakshi temple in madurai (which i will visit in this trip) which claim to be bigger... especially because this akshardham place takes into account some restaurant and different non-temple-like things they have inside the whole complex... anyway, irrespective of all these buts, the place is indeed beautiful and majestic and it is a must see in delhi.
after akshardham, we went to some random bar in defence colony. it was not too good at the beginning---i think rafa hated it because they ahd no music. but all of a sudden they started playing something and the atmosphere improved a lot. i had my first indian "scotch" here, antiquity blue, and it was surprisingly good. rahul's mom and sister joined us later for drinks, and it was really cool---rahul's mom is so young and chill, i almost forgot she is my friend's mom! to cap off the evening, we had dinner at a nearby seafood place, swagath, and it was just divine. by the end of the evening, we were incredibly tired (and lame), and even though it was our last night in "the center," as perro loves to call delhi, we went home and slept.
from there we went to some of delhi's main attractions: the red fort and jama masjid. i won't write much about these sites because it will simply take too long and whatever i write won't do them justice. i will just say briefly what these are and focus more on what happened around this neighborhood. the red fort is just a huge fort built by the emperor shahjahan in the 17th century. the whole thing is very big and beautiful and if you ever visit, make sure you hire one of these authorized guides outside, because it makes all the difference to understand why this fort was built, why it was constructed the way it's built, etc. a few blocks away (although i don't think the concept of a block truly exists in delhi), another imposing construction stands: jama masjid. this is, i believe, the largest or second largest mosque in the world. we had trouble going in, first because it was prayer time, then because we had to cover our heads, then because of other reasons we didn't understand. we went for a bite and came back, and we were a bit annoyed because we had to take off our shoes to get in but the whole place is very dirty. we still went in only because we were already there but this place didn't really impress us much.
the best part of our stroll around this area (and here "best" isn't necessarily employed as a superlative for good, but rather refers to an educating/enlightening experience) was to be a part of the unbelievable chaos the streets in this area are---the wildness of the rest of delhi pales in comparison. cows, donkeys, pigs, dogs, rats, pedestrians, cyclists, rickshaw-drivers, cars, ... they all come and go in the same narrow road. there are no sidewalks or lanes... no sense of direction. people stop by to pee right in front of you and nobody seems to notice---or care. and people here must have the strongest stomachs in the world because, even in the middle of this filth, street vendors sell everything, from pani puri and samosas to chai and chaat.
it was almost unbelievable to realize there are actually some excellent places to eat in the area. we went to a small restaurant, karim's, a muslim place which seems to be an institution in delhi. we had the best lamb kebabs there and rafa claims that's the best naan he's had so far. in the evening, we went to some bar with perro, rachita and four of their friends, had a few drinks and went back home, exhausted.
on our last full day in delhi, we visited a few tombs, the most impressive of which is humayun's. the place is supposed to be a taj mahalito, although i'm sure that this is nothing in comparison, but not having seen the taj, this place is absolutely gorgeous and very well preserved. the last sight sightseeing stop was a new "temple", only opened in 2005, and a bit far from everything else---on the other side of the yamuna river. the place is called akshardham and you must see some of the pictures here or in the official site, and look it up in the internet when you have time because it is truly impressive. the place is massive and every part of it is marvelously carved... it actually holds the world guiness record for the largest hindu temple in the world... although, i must say that pipi was truly disgusted because it seems that the different stories that they portray throughout the temple are very biased, with missing information, etc. plus, everything in the temple is to adore this swaminarayan sanstha (some sort of saint) and there is not much reference to the typical hindu deities. i don't know much about that, but what i do know is that the place doesn't feel like a temple at all. instead, it feels as though the whole thing is about showing off how much money these people spent in the construction of this place. also, there seems to be some controversy going on, apparently there are some temples, like the meenakshi temple in madurai (which i will visit in this trip) which claim to be bigger... especially because this akshardham place takes into account some restaurant and different non-temple-like things they have inside the whole complex... anyway, irrespective of all these buts, the place is indeed beautiful and majestic and it is a must see in delhi.
after akshardham, we went to some random bar in defence colony. it was not too good at the beginning---i think rafa hated it because they ahd no music. but all of a sudden they started playing something and the atmosphere improved a lot. i had my first indian "scotch" here, antiquity blue, and it was surprisingly good. rahul's mom and sister joined us later for drinks, and it was really cool---rahul's mom is so young and chill, i almost forgot she is my friend's mom! to cap off the evening, we had dinner at a nearby seafood place, swagath, and it was just divine. by the end of the evening, we were incredibly tired (and lame), and even though it was our last night in "the center," as perro loves to call delhi, we went home and slept.
posted by adrián at 02:42
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home