Old Delhi

Originally posted April 18, 2010 on our other blog.

Yesterday, I went with Donna and the girls down to their favorite jewelry shop in Old Delhi. The Wikipedia entry sure doesn’t do this part of the city justice. Old Delhi used to be the capital, until New Delhi was built. We took the subway down to Chandi Chowk, and walked a short distance to the shop. I didn’t take many pictures, but the Wiki entries all show these broad streets with few people. The reality is you can almost touch the shops on each side of the little lanes if you stretch your arms out. This is a more accurate representation (although there weren’t many people yet).

We were there before most of the shops were opened (only about 10:30 or so). Note the wiring. Somehow I don’t think that it meets whatever safety standard there is in the US. Down these little alleys you have people, motorcycles, scooters, and peddle rickshaws all squeezing by each other. The sights and sounds can be overwhelming.



Then, off the busy alley, there is a quiet little dead-end lane. You step through a door, and it gets really quiet. The lane is lined with these small little apartments (I can’t remember the real name). There is a Jain temple (the one in the Wiki is not the one in the lane) all carved in marble down at the end of the lane. Apparently, when the capital moved to new Delhi (sometime around 1945 I think), many people locked their apartments and moved south. Inside many of these little places, it is still 1945.

Biking In Delhi

Originally posted on April 18, 2010 on our other blog.

I went on my first bike ride in Delhi last week. We left early one morning, and headed out to the “bush”. From Marty’s house, it is amazing how quickly you get from city to no-city. Here’s an example of a little green valley we rode by.



On the way we saw a lot of people walking to work or just out for a morning walk. Everyone greeted the two westerners with a hearty “Good Morning”. We also saw a lot of peacocks, which I gather are pretty common in the area where we were riding. Everyone was carrying a two-liter bottle of water, which Marty said was their ‘bathroom’ (in other words, no toilet paper, use your left hand and wash when you are done). That is why you don’t handle food or anything with your left hand here.



We also met a bunch of workers, who were apparently hauling sand for construction of some sort. You can’t really see it in the picture, but they are bringing their donkeys up the trail. They had a shovel attached to each one and they would (apparently) load the donkey and use them to haul the sand.



You don’t ride over any branches in the trail and this is why. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such large thorns. Tire liners and tubes with sealant inside are a definite must! I wonder if any tire/bike/liner manufactures would like to use us as testers for their products?



Out in the middle of nowhere is Sultan Ghari's tomb. Apparently this is one of the first Islamic tombs and was built in 1231 AD. Marty said that there is usually a guard sleeping on the top of the tomb inside (the real tomb is down underground). He said that if you want to go in, they will charge you. Sometimes it is Rs 100, sometimes only Rs 30, you never know what they will ask for. We didn’t go in, but maybe I’ll go back someday.



Just so you know that I was really there. By this time, it was probably around 7:00 a.m. and I was starting to feel the building heat. It is hard going from very cool Seattle weather to the hottest April on record. While I’ve been here we’ve hit around 43 or 44 degrees C (109-111 F). By the time we got back to the flat, I was really struggling



And for Rebecca, who loves cows, we saw this one out back of the tomb.

The Beginning of a Long Month

Originally posted on April 11, 2010 on our other blog.

So the month of April will be a long month for me. As I write this, it is Sunday afternoon (April 11) and I’m sitting in my hotel room at the Hyatt Hotel in Delhi. I’ve been in Delhi for about a week (I left Seattle last Monday) and will be here through next week. After that, I’ll head to Japan for a week, then home for a couple of days, and then back to Delhi with Michelle for a house hunting trip. Whew! It will be a busy month and I’m tired just writing about it.

It is HOT in Delhi and it is only April. I left Seattle to the normal rainy weather with a temperature of about 45 F (7 C). It has been about 100 F (38 C) while I’ve been here. I can’t wait to see what it is like when we move in July!

I was chatting with Marty, the person I’m replacing, and he said that his family took every chance they could to get out of the city and into the hills. The British used to move the capital from Delhi to Shimla in the summer. Based on what I’ve seen of Delhi in the summer so far, sounds great to me!

Since my last trip to India, the traffic hasn’t improved, so I guess that I have this to look forward to for the next several years. When I took this picture, the traffic was in neat, orderly rows, a very unusual occurrence! Usually, it is cars and motorcycles and buses and people and everything else all over the road. It seems that the marked lanes are only vague suggestions. There are usually at least three cars and several motorcycles across in a two lane road. I just ignore what is going on and leave everything to the driver. It all seems to work out.