Yesterday we traveled around New Delhi and saw the Parliament Building, India Gate, took a tour of the Purana Qila, walked around a market, and went to pray at the Bahai Temple. The Purana Qila was magnificent with its large stones and marble decorations. It was built by Humayun in the 1530s and finished by Sher Shah when he invaded. Humayun was able to regain the lands but died a year later after falling down the steps of the Purana Qila (TRAGIC!).
It was so interesting to see such an old piece of history that far surpasses anything in the United States. It was slightly off-putting when we were walking around and people started taking pictures of us and filming us walking. I feel uncomfortable with any attention most of the time and the Indian men tend to flock to us. I can't count on my fingers how many times people tried to get me to stop and either buy something, take a picture of me, or want to talk to me yesterday. Frankly, all the attention is a little weird and if you want to stare at a blonde haired, blue eyed person, I have two words for you...THE INTERNET!!!
The market was beautiful with all its colors and gorgeous clothing. I didn't buy anything yet so I can save my money for some postcards and buy clothing in Kolkata. As soon as I stopped to look at anything, people would be shouting at me to come over and look at what they were selling. I told Erik that its quite hard to even shop when people are constantly shouting at me. Oh well, I will probably get used to it!
Our last stop was the Bahai Temple. I was so excited to see it because I asked Sucharita if we could go there and she put it on our itinerary. I think the Bahai faith is extremely interesting because they are accepting of all other religions. The temple is mainly a place where all faiths can congregate and meditate/pray. We had to take our shoes off before going in and had to stay silent while in the temple. The inside was extremely tall and the people working there were quite friendly. I love lotus flowers and it was interesting to see the temple that is also called the "Lotus Temple" because it is shaped after the beautiful flower. I was glad that I got to see the temple, especially because Sucharita was almost going to have us skip it and go back to the hotel so we could sleep, but I told her that I would rather see as much as I could with the time I was given, so Kingshuk and I eventually convinced her (haha, my powers of persuasion).
After the temple we drove back to the hotel and ate a nice Indian dinner. It was a little disconcerting to most of us that drinks were not included so we either had to pay or bring our water bottles with us (they tricked some of us into buying water yesterday...thankfully I was not one of these people). After that Erik and I walked around the mall that is attached to our hotel. Apparently it is the biggest shopping mall in Delhi, but it only took us about 45 minutes to walk around because we didn't know any of the shops and everything looked more expensive and non-traditional. I think I will just stick to the traditional clothes at the markets. After shopping I came back and fall asleep in 2 minutes according to Brenna, who is rooming with me in our hotel. She was having trouble sleeping and was on her computer when I woke up so I decided to do the same and write a blog for today with all the cool things I did. Well, it's about 6:30 am, and I'm going to go back to sleep for an hour or two. Knowing me, I will probably be writing again about my impressions of Old Delhi so...stay tuned!
It was so interesting to see such an old piece of history that far surpasses anything in the United States. It was slightly off-putting when we were walking around and people started taking pictures of us and filming us walking. I feel uncomfortable with any attention most of the time and the Indian men tend to flock to us. I can't count on my fingers how many times people tried to get me to stop and either buy something, take a picture of me, or want to talk to me yesterday. Frankly, all the attention is a little weird and if you want to stare at a blonde haired, blue eyed person, I have two words for you...THE INTERNET!!!
The market was beautiful with all its colors and gorgeous clothing. I didn't buy anything yet so I can save my money for some postcards and buy clothing in Kolkata. As soon as I stopped to look at anything, people would be shouting at me to come over and look at what they were selling. I told Erik that its quite hard to even shop when people are constantly shouting at me. Oh well, I will probably get used to it!
Our last stop was the Bahai Temple. I was so excited to see it because I asked Sucharita if we could go there and she put it on our itinerary. I think the Bahai faith is extremely interesting because they are accepting of all other religions. The temple is mainly a place where all faiths can congregate and meditate/pray. We had to take our shoes off before going in and had to stay silent while in the temple. The inside was extremely tall and the people working there were quite friendly. I love lotus flowers and it was interesting to see the temple that is also called the "Lotus Temple" because it is shaped after the beautiful flower. I was glad that I got to see the temple, especially because Sucharita was almost going to have us skip it and go back to the hotel so we could sleep, but I told her that I would rather see as much as I could with the time I was given, so Kingshuk and I eventually convinced her (haha, my powers of persuasion).
After the temple we drove back to the hotel and ate a nice Indian dinner. It was a little disconcerting to most of us that drinks were not included so we either had to pay or bring our water bottles with us (they tricked some of us into buying water yesterday...thankfully I was not one of these people). After that Erik and I walked around the mall that is attached to our hotel. Apparently it is the biggest shopping mall in Delhi, but it only took us about 45 minutes to walk around because we didn't know any of the shops and everything looked more expensive and non-traditional. I think I will just stick to the traditional clothes at the markets. After shopping I came back and fall asleep in 2 minutes according to Brenna, who is rooming with me in our hotel. She was having trouble sleeping and was on her computer when I woke up so I decided to do the same and write a blog for today with all the cool things I did. Well, it's about 6:30 am, and I'm going to go back to sleep for an hour or two. Knowing me, I will probably be writing again about my impressions of Old Delhi so...stay tuned!
