01/01/2025 to 01/02/2025 – Happy New Years from Delhi!!
The start of the New Year sees us heading back to Delhi to start a new adventure. Navigating the airport is always a new experience for us here. This time we decided we would head to the airport early in order to mitigate some of the prior experiences, thank goodness. Dave had his day pack searched three separate times; four if you count the first go-through of security. It is always an adventure with his packs but this trip has been a new experience for us. Finally, it was determined that it was the penlight in his EMT pack that caused all the issues. They asked Dave if he was a doctor. Just when we thought we had it down (and we do for MOST countries…India is not most countries, having the history with their neighbors as they do.) Some of the unique things about airports in India are:
1st – Men and women have separate TSA (or PSA here in India) separate security scanner lines, because of #2 below.
2nd — Everyone is searched with a wand (metal detector) and, if needed, patted down (and it is ALWAYS needed.)
3rd — Any, and all, electronics and cords, including ear buds, extra batteries, headlamps, computer mouse, any cameras, smart watches, phones, oh, and of course, any computer or IPad/tablet and their chargers need to be put separate in a bin to be viewed. This is double for penlights!
4th— You need to have a boarding pass to show to show to security before entering the airport.
5th – You can have several ticket and/or security checks, e.g. you can have your bag scanned for arriving at check-in, then take your bag to check-in where they will scan it again.
Kathy through it all did not feel more secure — sometimes all the show just breeds a sense of complacency. Once all this happens you need to navigate the chaos of everyone waiting for their flight. Normally this is not a big issue, but on this trip we have the flight here to India from Buffalo, six flights inside India and Nepal, and then the flight home. In total, 8 times we have to navigate the chaos with no set pattern with which to find familiarity on how it is done. Oh well, at least we had a helpful “please-pay-me” porter to help us today. Well worth the 1000 Indian rupees dollars in Kathy’s opinion. Next time though the airport, though, we might try it on our own.
Now that you are feeling some of the pain that we have gone through, how about some of our pleasure? The first full day in Delhi started out bright and early where our guide picked us up and we started our visit by going to the Jama Masjid. Jama Masjid a Muslim mosque built in the 1600’s and which is beautiful and well preserved. We wandered around admiring the structure and architecture and was amazed at the staying power of the craftsmanship.
After leaving the fort we were met by our next tour guide, an expert on the food in Delhi. The guide, a former chef, took us on a food tour of Old Delhi. Kathy was not too keen on this originally, as her previous experience with food tours was not very informative or good. However, this one wowed her. First stop was a small street vendor (they were all small street vendors) where we sampled several dishes. Here, we tried chole bature, dahi blalla, and chat alon with some lassi and sweet jalebis. (sorry, no photos) The first dish was potatoes in a curry sauce that is kind of spicy. We were guided through the steps of each bite. The first spoonful gave us a strong taste of cinnamon; with the second spoonful of the sauce, we tasted the nutmeg; and with the last spoonful, we started to feel the spicy taste of pepper in the back in our throats. Each bite apparently numbs your tongue further along and you taste something different with each successive bite of the same dish. Pretty interesting. Then we had different pockets of bread with various vegetables that we dipped in the sauce, again some more culinary explosions in our mouths. Next bite was to try the sweet tart that had a mango center but was not too sweet – just right to bring out the taste of both. The last thing we tried with this vendor was lassi, which left something to be desired. It is kind of sweet yogurt milk. Kathy took a small sip and pushed the cup aside with a grimace. Dave, who had already tried “sweet lassi” at a breakfast buffet at the hotel, was prepared for the taste and managed to take a sip without too much of a reaction. It was better than the hotel fare for sure.
Next stop on the food tour was a restaurant run by the same family for over 100 years. We tried the sweet jalebis, which is something similar to pavlova and takes them four hours to make. It was sweet and buttery and helped Kathy to get the taste of the lassi out of her mouth. Now on to try another dish which consisted of something similar to scones. You tear off a piece, put a spoonful of chickpeas on it, and then dip it in a sauce. It was good, but did not have the kick of the previous sauce. Are you tired now of reading this or have we made you hungry? It is not over as yet. We then went on to a sandwich and coffee shop owned by a Jain family for 100 years. The coffee, which Dave abstained from, was very dark and bitter. It was a perfect complement to our fruit-salad-and-cheese sandwich and was a sweet and refreshing bite to eat. Next on the list was ice-cream, but not your typical ice-cream. In this case they take an orange, hollow out the inside, mix the orange pulp along with other ingredients to make something similar to an orange sorbet and then freeze the orange half and “sorbet” together. You buy it and the cut it in slices. Delicious and refreshing. It was a good end to the tour. No tour though would be complete without a Tuk Tuk ride and then a bicycle rickshaw ride through the streets of old Delhi. Fighting for positioning on the streets with 30 million others in cars, trucks, motor bikes, hand drawn carts, and sacred cows is an experience everyone should enjoy at least once. This by far was one of Kathy’s favorite tours she has ever taken. The man didn’t just take us on a culinary journey, but also taught us and explained the cuisine. Both of us ended the tour with a greater appreciation of the food of Old Delhi.
Reuniting us back with our tour guide, we headed to Raj Ghat. This is a complex of memorials dedicated to the great Mahatma Gandhi, and later to other prominent people of India. There is a memorial at the site where Gandhi was cremated after his assassination in 1947. We were also able to drive by the 17th century Red Fort and stop near Rashtrapati Bhavan, the home of the President of the world’s largest democracy, and see the old and new Congressional buildings. We next visited India Gate, which is patterned after the Arc-de-Triomphe in France and is set in a war memorial park. Our final stop on the tour was Qutub Minar, an imposing tower of victory which was started to be built in 1199 and is the world’s tallest brick minaret.
Finally back and the hotel, we could chill for a while. We enjoyed our time to just take a break.
Deciding to brave the streets and traffic at dinner time, we found a city-within-a-city of shops and restaurants where we had a lovely dinner. We were pampered and cared for by a very attentive waiter. (Kathy has found a love of vegetable and noodles in a hot chili sauce.) The end of the day came early for Kathy as she sank into bed and fell promptly asleep, leaving Dave to just look at her and shake his head. Tomorrow sees us take another flight to Varanasi, India the holy city of India. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we navigate the airport again for our next flight.
Well, it is already morning and we made it to the hotel in Varanasi, and yes, we experienced similar issues. Today we had to show our ticket again just go to the gate to wait for our plane. No ticket? No going to the gate. WOW!! Oh well, Dave did manage to get his bag through on the first go-around so maybe we did learn something.
