This entry is for Wednesday, June 3.

I was up early but Ash slept in a bit. This photo was taken on our walk at 6:11am. We didn’t walk as long as we’d planned because we wanted to get back before 7am and the restaurant got too busy.

Today we focused on me getting a more complete taste of Delhi and some history, which I love.

As I said in an earlier entry, it is the 2nd most populous city in the world, with Tokyo as #1. It’s the capital of India, which as of 2023 overtook China as the most populous country on the planet.

We started our day in the Red Fort. It was built by the same emperor who built the Taj Mahal.

This is the other side of the security entrance once we got through. It was similar to Taj Mahal and I took this to remind me to write about this part: things are quite segregated between males and females. It’s related to religion and protecting women. At the ticket counter here, there were separate lines for men and women. And also through security. Men aren’t supposed to touch women so if you’re going to get patted down (which we are multiple times a day here, even every time we enter the hotel), there are women security officers available to do it.

Approaching the entrance.

The main courtyard. Through the center door there are lots of little shops. This was one of the first 2 story markets in the world and where the Indian royal court in the 1600s did their shopping.

And there are still shops there today.

It’s a huge complex with lots of buildings and beautiful open green spaces in between. And some 3 story buildings for various purposes which are still standing. And so high they are really like 5 stories. It reflects how rich the empire was since this type of construction at the time was restricted to the uber wealthy.

We made our way to the museum.

There was a lot of great history here and I walked out a little depressed and maybe angry. It reminded me of the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. Once again, white people came in and destroyed a culture just because they believed they were entitled to rule.

The fort was built in 1639. It was also a palace as Shah Jahan had moved the capital here from Agra. It was even more extravagant than the Taj Mahal. It had many of the same elements such as lots of adornments with jewels and silver. Once the British got there they used it for their own lavish purposes then looted it which helped fund their occupation of India for the next hundred years.

This map shows how extensive India’s lands were at the time, including parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the west, and Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and even Thailand to the east.

The British arrived in the mid 1600s via the East India Company, Originally a spice-trading venture, it aggressively expanded into a colonial powerhouse, monopolizing trade in Asia and conquered vast portions of the Indian subcontinent.

This museum was focused on the war of 1857 which I had never heard of. Very long story short: through secret communications, Indian state leaders across the country had united and were prepared to get the British out. It might have worked were it not for Indian traitors who sabotaged the plans. The British brutally wiped out thousands of Indian families in horrific ways. The Indians did not have the weapons the British had – literally taking a knife to a gun fight. Not even going to get into all of that here. But it set them up to continue to rule India until Ghandi in the 1900s. They completely destroyed a rich and thriving empire. Some of that which they looted sits in British museums, which remains a sore spot with many Indians even today.

Enough of that.

We meandered through markets on our way to a mosque.

The red building is a Jain temple.

Next door to it is a Hindu temple.

Across the street, shops were selling flowers to use as offerings at the Hindu temple. Lots of bright orange marigolds.

The next few photos capture some of the market known as Chandni Chowk which means silver corner. Back before the British looted it, these streets were gilded in silver.

Cars aren’t allowed. Only pedal powered rickshaws and bikes of all varieties.

This is a bodhi tree. There was sign in it that claimed Buddha was here at some point.

Vegetable market.

The poverty here is hard to describe and it felt exploitive somehow taking photos of some of what we saw, so I didn’t. But heart breaking to see.

We made it to Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in Delhi. Note the white guy in shorts on the left.

Looking back from the steps. That aisle of tents is more market, very crowded. We skipped that.

The inner courtyard.

I was just capturing more of the courtyard. Notice the guy again on the left. A local was accompanying him and we thought it was his guide. Ash overheard some of what the local was saying which was incorrect. Ash being Ash, he corrected him. At which point the white guy says “maybe you can be my guide.” Turns out the local had just latched on to him at the entrance, the sort of thing which happens a lot here. Ash explained we were tourists ourselves but he has spent a lot of time here so knows some things, and he’s welcome to join us if he liked.

So meet Erik from Estonia. He is 23 and this is the end of his 6 week trip traveling alone, mostly in China, South Korea, and Nepal. Delhi is a layover for him but he booked it to give himself a day here and this was it. The Indian in the photo had approached Erik and asked if he could take a photo with him. We saw this happen to him throughout the day – some fascination the locals have with tall, blond, white guys. I saw the same thing happen at the Red Fort earlier with another guy and thought it was bizarre. So after the photo of the 2 of them we asked for a foursome and the local (who was super handsome himself) was happy to oblige.

So we had a 3rd. Erik hung out with us the rest of the day and we had a great time.

This was the entrance to the mosque if you’d forgotten while you were here.

This boy had approached Ash for money, something that also happens a lot. Ash refused the money but said he would feed him. We encountered the father at some point who said we could take him home with us.

Ash treated him to some street food which he was happy to get it. You can’t see it in the photos but there were flies everywhere including all over the food. I have read many stories about Americans getting very sick on their trips to India. So far we have managed to avoid that by eating mostly in the hotel or in higher end places where we trust that the water is drinkable and food is prepared in clean environments.

We got out of the market area and hired a Tuk-tuk to take us to the Ghandi memorial.

All 3 of us barely fit.

I tried to capture some of the ride.

Outside the entrance of the memorial was a guy selling fresh pineapple juice. We figure this was safe enough.

Top is the walkway to the memorial, and bottom is some of the lawn.

The Ghandi memorial itself. If you don’t know who he is, look for the movie of the same name with Ben Kingsley in the title role.

Camel along the road on our way to the next destination.

Next we went to the largest Hindu temple complex in the world. All electronics had to be checked in to security so no photos. A double edged sword for sure. Everything about it was spectacular, but everyone taking photos would have been super annoying. We were there probably a good hour.

It was about 2pm. And hot hot hot. We took an Uber back to the hotel to rest up a bit. I immediately changed into shorts and a Tshirt. Tea time in the lounge was at 3pm so we invited Erik to join us since none of us had had lunch. No one blinked that we brought a guest with us.

We talked about doing some more shopping and headed out again.

We were out about 2 hours and it was still very hot – I remained in shorts this time around – so we took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel. This one didn’t have 2 seats in the back so Ash squeezed into the front.

We cooled down in the hotel room for a bit then went out again after sunset to see the lighting of India Gare which happens every night.

This is the congessional end. Lots more people than we see at 6am! This was about 7:45pm.

Final selfie of the day.

We took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel and waited with Erik in the lobby for his Uber to arrive. He is staying at a hotel my the airport, flies to Istanbul Thursday and then home.

While we were sitting there we were notified that we got our free upgrades to business class the 16 hour Delhi to JFK flight. Woo hoo! That’s a $6k value for free. And a lot more comfortable for the flight where you want that. Sweet.

Erik’s car arrived so we exchanged hugs and social media profiles and hope to see each other again. He was a super nice, interesting guy and we enjoyed sharing out afternoon with him.

I was so tired I couldn’t get more than a few paragraphs into this before I gave up and went to bed.

We have a bit more site seeing to do today then head to the airport for our 11:30pm flight.