Home again

I made it home!  I figure that I slept about a total of five(ish) hours in a little over fifty, but I made it.  And I even got to see my parents and Ryan, Sara, and Calla for lunch.  It's good to be home.  

A little catching up...

February 5
Woke up late and got started late.  It was about noon before I left Karuna's house and headed to see Parliament and walk down Rajpath toward India Gate.  Parliament was pretty hard to see through the bars, but it's a super cool circular building with columns all the way around it.  I inadvertently saw the President's house, Rashtrapati Bhavan, that I was looking for the other day.  On the way to India Gate, I had a nice chat with a random Indian guy.  People seem to want to talk to anyone that's white.  Sometimes that doesn't creep me out as much as others.  I saw those later in the day, but still just wandering the streets of Delhi.
I walked past India Gate to Purana Qila, which means "Old Fort."  It was bulit in 1533 by Humayun, but the spot has been inhabited since 1000-500 BC.  The walls are 20 meters high and it used to be surrounded by a moat that connected to the river that's on its east side.
After Purana Quila, I took an auto to Dilli Haat for lunch.  It was a pretty young driver, so I had to tell him where to go using the GPS on my phone.  That was odd.  I ate some good food, then took the Metro to the Garden of the Five Senses.  It was pretty cool.  I didn't know going in that it was totally the makeout hangout spot for teens, but aside from that, it was pretty cool.  Then I went back to Karuna's.  We went to Karim's for dinner (a second location of the place I couldn't find near Jama Masjid yesterday).  Then I just chilled and watched a Hindi movie.

February 6
ETHEL'S BIRTHDAY!
February 6
Karuna and I got up early today and headed for the train station. Since we booked our tickets so late, we were in second class, which was interesting. It may have been one of the worst benches I have ever had to sit on. We got to Agra and her cousin, Rajan, picked us up. We got to his house around 11:00, just in time for breakfast. Then his driver took us to the Taj Mahal. It was pretty cool. Though one of my favorite parts was probably just watching other tourists take pictures. We drove past Red Fort, which was pretty cool, then stopped at the family rice shop in the commercial center of town.  Then we went back to Rajan's for lunch at 4:00. I took a short nap, then played some cricket in the house with Gudik and Luksh, Rajan's sons. We sat and chatted for a long time, then finally went it for dinner at 11:00. Easily the latest I have ever eaten a meal. After a quick call to Ethel for her birthday, I was super ready for bed.

February 7
Woke up around 8:00 and had some tea. Chatted with Rajan and his wife some. Then had tea again with Karuna's aunt and uncle downstairs. Waited around for a while. Had breakfast around 11:00. Went to Fatehpur Sikri, an old fort/castle from 1569.  Went back to Rajan's house for some lunch, then headed to the train station to get back to Delhi. The train was an hour late, so we had some time to kill. Luckily some monkeys provided some entertainment.  The real excitement of the evening though was not getting off the train in Delhi because Karuna and her family thought there was a second stop.  So we ended up about 45 minutes past Delhi at the next decent train station (we got off on one before that, but some Indian guys told us that we really, really didn't want to get off there).  We then had to catch a train back to Delhi and ended up arriving at 11:00 rather than just after 9:00... so we missed one of the wedding functions for Karuna's cousin.

A little more Delhi

February 4
I went to Akshardham, which "showcases the essence of India's ancient architecture, traditions and timeless spiritual messages. The Akshardham experience is an enlightening journey through India's glorious art, values and contributions for the progress, happiness and harmony of mankind." It was pretty cool. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, which bummed me out. Then I hopped back on the metro and went to see the sights of old Delhi.  I tried to go see Delhi Public Library, but it scared me.  Then I went to Red Fort, built in 1638 to keep out invaders.  Across the street from Red Fort was Sri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir, which is the oldest Jain temple in India, built in 1656.
After Red Fort, I took a cyclorickshaw to Jama Masjid. Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in India.  The courtyard can hold as many as 25,000 people. It was built in 1644.
After Jama Masjid, I tried to find Karim's, a famous food spot, but struck out.  I ate at Pizza Hut instead.  Fail.  Then I walked to Rajghat, Gandhi's memorial.  It was closed.  Fail.  I decided to go see Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, a the most prominent Sikh house of worship in Delhi.  I took a wrong turn.  Fail.  Then I could only see it from outside.  Fail. But I saw some cool things on the way... I saw a whole row of rickshaws.  I saw a tree that was busting through a wall.  I saw a couple hospitals, one of which had a tent city outside.  I saw a random building with elephants on it called Kali Manor.  And walking on the sidewalk is overrated, right?  After 8.5 miles of walking, I went back to Karuna's for a bit to chill before going to dinner at Alice's house again.  An Indian night club owner came to dinner too, which was pretty hilarious.

Normal sidewalk conditions

Rajghat was closed. Kate was unhappy.

So many tuk-tuks!

Trees will make a way

Elephant building!

Sikh temple

http://www.delhitourism.gov.in/delhitourism/tourist_place/akshardham_temple.jsp

More wandering in Delhi

I woke up at 5:00 so I could watch the Super Bowl online.  WORTH IT!  Then I spent some of the morning trying to figure out what is open on Mondays.  I decided to start in Connaught Place and head to a recommended lunch spot.  Then I walked over to Jantar Mantar.  It was constrcted in 1724. Maharaja Jai Singh of Jaipur who built this observatory went on to build other observatories in Ujjain, Varanasi and Mathura. Jai Singh had found the existing astronomical instruments too small to take correct measurements and so he built these larger and more accurate instruments.

Teddy at Jantar Mantar

Then I walked toward the President’s Palace.  I saw a cool-looking school, Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib.   I didn’t actually get to the President’s Palace because I needed to show ID and didn’t have mine on me, so I kept walking.  I saw the Cathedral Church of the Redemption, which was pretty.  I saw a random garden called Talkatora, which had a pretty herb garden.  I saw a statue “in memory of the countless Indians, who generation after generation, struggled and sacrificed against foreign rule. Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership of the Indian National Congress finally won independence and Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of free India on 15 August 1947.”  I finally caught a glimpse of the Presidential Palace on my way to not seeing where Gandhi was assassinated (because it was closed on Monday).  I didn’t even get a picture of the outside of the place.  But I did get a picture of my reaction to not getting a picture. 

Gudwara Rakabganj Sahib

Cathedral Church of the Redemption

Herb garden at Talkatora

Presidential Palace

Statue dedicated to Indian who fought for independence

Kate not seeing Gandhi's assassination spot

Then I walked to Safdarjang’s Tomb.  It was built in 1753-54 by Shuja-ud-Daluah as a tribute to his father.  Shuja-ud-Daluah was a nawab, which is a title given by the reigning Mughal emperor.  The tomb is considered the last of the great Mughal architecture in India.  Then I got on the Metro and headed back to Karuna’s.  I walked over 9 miles on my random tour of the city.  Then I sat on my bum and watched a movie until Karuna came home.  We went out for some North Indian food and just chilled.

to Varanasi

Yesterday Karuna and I flew to Varanasi (the train was full).  We got in around 10:30, took an hour long taxi ride to the hostel we were staying at, and wandered town.  There were wild monkeys just kinda hanging out all over.  It was kinda funny.  

funny little monkey

I spent a lot of the day trying to get good pictures of holy cows :)

holy cow!

 We walked a little over a mile upriver and then took a boat ride back down.  I like being on the water.  Then we walked around a bunch more looking for a bathroom and got a little on the lost side, but eventually found our way back to the river.  We had some afternoon snacks at a cool rooftop restaurant, where we stayed until it got dark.  People set lit candles into the river, which was cool to see from up high.  Then we went to the nightly ritual aarti, that uses fire as a means to remove darkness.  It's also an offering to Shiva.  After the aarti, we walked back toward the hostel and ate at a random restaurant on the way.  We got back to the hostel and headed to bed early, so we could get up for the sunrise.
This morning was pretty foggy, so we didn't get a boat ride right at sunrise.  We did the same walk and boat ride we did yesterday, then walked farther downriver.  We ate breakfast at a different rooftop restaurant and enjoyed the peacefulness of morning.  We wandered around some more and headed back to the hostel for checkout at noon.  Then we took an auto-rickshaw to the airport.  It was a fun ride.

boats on the Ganges

 We flew on Spice Jet Airlines

Teddy went on Spice Jet

When we got back to Delhi, we went to Karuna's, unloaded, then went out to dinner and to the market for some breakfast food.  It's early to bed so I can wake up in time for the Super Bowl!!

Varanasi history/Hindi importance:
There are a bunch of different myths about why Varanasi is important.  Some of them say that there was a battle betwene Vishnu and Krishna there, in which Shiva came out as the winner.  Some say that "Varanasi is the city of the Lord Shiva, who walked here with his wife Parvati at the beginning of time.  It could also be the battlefield were the god Krishna set fire to a duplicate but imposter Krisha, or the place where the Lord Rama came to do pennance after slaying the demon Ravana."  At any rate, most of them agree that the River Ganga will wash away human sins.  "According to Hindu legend, those who are cremated in Varanasi will achieve enlightenment and be free of hte cycle of death and rebirth.  Nearly 300 bodies are cremated there every day."
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-holy-city-of-varanasi-42862228/?page=2
http://www.newgrowthdevelopment.com/node/29
http://www.spiritualjourneys.net/Venues/varanasi.htm
http://www.varanasi.org.in/ganga-aarti