TOURING NEW DELHI AND THE ORIENT EXPRESS:
Last night we had a very nice meal and service at the Captains Kitchen. We thought about dining at the Spicy Duck but they opened too late for our liking. Our server understood that we did not want a lot of food and we would split one order of the fish and chips. He actually added addition fish portions, then brought us a very nice desert of a sponge cake with lemon filling topped with a gold dusted chocolate. The fish was battered with a corn meal based batter and reminded me of how we cooked catfish as a kid.
Back at the room, we discussed making plans for tomorrow. We found a 1/2 day New Delhi tour with Viator. Private car and guide for 4000 INR. We set a late pick up time of 1000 and this will keep us busy before our dining experience tonight.
Soon off to breakfast and the prepare for the day.
DEHLI TIPS: Make sure you have What’s App on your phone as it seems to be the preferred method of tour and ride share drivers for contacting you.
Another tip is to pack some toilet paper with you daily as some public facilities may not have this necessity available.
We arranged a 1/2 day New Delhi tour basically as an activity to keep us from staying in our hotel room.
We have used Viator to book such tours in other cities as they are of good quality and easy to book.
We met our driver Henry and drove to the Parliament building to pick up our guide Ali.
The streets were very crowded and traffic moved very slow with horns blaring. I did learn some of the horn etiquette, basically couple beeps of the horn lets the other driver know you are passing.
It is Monday and many of the places we would normally visit were closed.
We made three stops after driving past India Gate.
India Gate is a prominent war memorial in Delhi honoring Indian soldiers, designed by Edwin Lutyens, featuring an eternal flame (Amar Jawan Jyoti) for fallen soldiers, surrounded by gardens, and serving as a backdrop for national events like the Republic Day parade. It's a sandstone arch, inspired by Roman triumphal arches, with names of over 13,000 soldiers inscribed on it.
The first stop was the Ugasen ki Baoli, a step well. There are a few of these in Delhi. Simply put, they are water reservoirs with steps to allow access to the water.
The date this well was built is uncertain but many think the 14th century.
As we drove about we talked about the form of government in India with 534 elected seats in their parliament. This number will grow with the next census.
Our next stop was the Lodi Gardens. Here in the middle of the hustle and bustle of New Delhi we find this green oasis of calmness. we find Lodi’s Tomb in this botanical park.
Lodi Garden is a comparatively recent (in terms of India’s history) addition to Delhi. The area, ruins and tombs were once dotted around the village Khairpur on the periphery of New Delhi. The area was cleared and the people moved in the 1930’s and the park was built connecting the ruins together and planting native trees and flowers. This being the era of British rule, the park was originally named Lady Willingdon Park after the then Viceroy’s wife. As India gained Independence the parks name was changed to the Lodi Garden. Strolling along the paths, one does not realize you are in the middle of a large city. There were many stray dogs stretched out sleeping on the walkway. We were advised to avoid petting them as they are not that clean and have been know to bite. There are reports that the Lodi Gardens are a good bird watching location, we did spot a common myna bird along with several playful chipmunks. On the way out we did spot a rhesus macaque. Later we saw several of them sitting on fences here and there.
The next and final stop was a craft shop, somewhat high end. Here the sell was on for Pashmina goods. Lynn did find a scarf she liked and I bought it for her.
The tag said 100% Kashmiri Pashmina. The scarf is often called a dupatta, or chunni, chuari and chundari. I have also seen many spelling variations.
Back to the hotel where we are trying to stay awake and get hydrated.
I think I will do a separate blog entry on our Orient Express dining experience.
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