Chad’s Blog

In Delhi there’s an ancient tomb that was a predecessor in style to the Taj Mahal. It was actually incredibly spectacular.

This dog found the best spot to be on a hot day. I was considering joining him.

I was very surprised to see a six pointed star like the Star of David on many of the buildings. It seemed very odd to me because the architecture was Persian and very Muslim in design. So far, Wikipedia holds no useful information.

I really enjoyed seeing Indian families out and about. The grounds were possibly the best picnic spot in the city.

Transporting people is another incredible exercise in Delhi. While the city is graced with a brand new subway system that continues to expand and was clean beyond compare, our method of choice quickly became the three-wheeled auto rickshaw.

This means negotiating, and often navigating, your trip.

As a side note, Indonesia bought tens of thousands of these creatures when they first started being produced in India and named them Bajai. While all the ones in Delhi have been upgraded to run on CNG, those in Jakarta still spew thick clouds of black smoke that could only come from a 40 year old two-stroke engine.

I was in Delhi for a conference and tacked on a couple of days at the end to visit the sights. The best, and worst, part of India was the food. I had been looking forward to eating Indian food in India since the conference was first announced, and I was not to be disappointed.

Three days later, my body reached its limit as I started suffering (horribly) from what is euphemistically known as “Delhi Belly.” I went through this on several occasions during my first year in Jakarta, but not quite like this. Clearly all Asian food-borne bacteria is not created equal.

Two shots of something in the ass, and twenty-four hours later, I was good to go. We wandered around the city for two days. It was a great experience that left us thirsty and tired by 4:00 pm without fail.

The guy in front of Jeff was incredibly confused by our presence in the post office.

The headline in the Hindustan Times summed it up pretty well.

I read in the Hindustan Times earlier in the day that ‘stray’ cattle are a serious problem in Delhi, and police were being called in to round up some of the 50,000 head in the city. We definitely passed some that were grazing in the middle of the road, but most animals were being put to use transporting goods.

It isn’t just animals that are beasts of burden. We stopped at a main intersection in the old city market area and watched a steady stream of goods being pushed, wheeled, and cajoled in all directions.

We got ourselves turned around several times in the maze of narrow streets that lattice Old Delhi. Our logic ran along the lines of, “If we make enough left hand turns we might end up where we want to go. If not, at least we’ll end up somewhere we might recognize from a few hours ago.”

One of the highlights was visiting the huge book section of the market. Chapters has nothing on this place. Where else could somone be negotiating the price for a four inch thick obstetrics textbook while the next stall sells colouring books. All three of us were a little leery of the guy buying the obstetrics textbook.

I am always amused by English signs that take a wrong-turn when written by non-English speakers. To my immense pleasure, India was full of them.

Panicker’s Travel is a great name for the owner of a bus that is hurtling down the road weaving through traffic.

Indonesia’s airlines are bad, but I don’t ever want to be at 37,000 feet in a plane run by a beer company. The star that follows the claim to being India’s favourite airline is not explained.

On the food front, Pizza Hut’s “happy ending” leaves me wondering.

McDonald’s menu which features the Maharaja Mac and a Paneer Salsa wrap was off limits to photography as was kindly pointed out to me by a security guard. “Photos of people OK. Photos of menu No,” he explained quite succinctly while placing a hand over my lens.

I tried the Paneer Salsa Wrap with no immediately alarming side effects. The salty fries were delicious, mostly because I was craving salt. My McCombo came to about $3.50.

Every bus, truck, and camel seemed to have a sign painted on the back saying, “Horn Please!” Absurd horn honking plagues Asia, but in India it’s encouraged. Seems it’s easier to assume that if nothing’s honking you don’t need to look before switching lanes.

My friend Jonathan has pointed out the role that public service messaging has in creating social norms on several occasions, largely after observing life in Jakarta. Here’s a few from New Delhi that seemed worthwhile.

The fort is where the Emperors ruled from. It’s a huge fort that’s still in use by the Army, but tourists can visit the portion which includes the emperors’ suites. It’s from this room that the Emperor who built the Taj Mahal was imprisoned by his son for trying to build a second even more expensive Taj Mahal that would bankrupt the treasury.

Somewhere along the way our guide felt compelled, as most guides do, to bring us to a tourist trap shop. In this case, it sold marble. The craftsmanship was excellent, but the prices were even more phenomenal.

Our guide left a little to be desired in conducting tours, but he was a pro at taking photos. Here’s his personal favourite.

Mopping the Taj Mahal is more sweeping with water, but it seemed to be effective enough.

The detailed inlaid marble work was incredibly ornate. I can see how it took 22 years of working 24 hours per day to build the building.

I was actually disappointed by the size of the Taj Mahal. Photos always make it look much bigger than it is. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not small. At the same time, it wasn’t as massive as I had thought.

It’s also a difficult subject to photograph in the middle of the day. White marble on a bright sky is blinding to the camera as much as to the human eye.

Jeff was deemed to be a likely camera repair many by a visiting family who asked for help. They were disappointed with the results and blamed poor quaity foreign labour as the cause of their woes.