The City of Delhi (As photographed by me when I wasn't being lazy).

Day One: Connaught Place

The photograph below is one of 3 photographs I took of Delhi's most famous shopping area Connaught Place. It's Delhi's Orchard Road, but somewhat larger in terms of land area. Connaught Place is uniquely shaped in concentric circles, with individual boutiques lining the faces of the blocks that make up the circular architecture.

The sports brands are all there, Nike, Reebok (surprisingly very big in India) and Adidas, with Adidas having opened its Originals' store just recently. And because CP is so big, each company has 2-3 stores in different blocks.

We arrived at the airport, got a pre-paid cab to Hotel BB Palace (which is trash), dropped our luggage, freshened up and immediately left for CP. We then walked around a little and made the mistake of settling for what seemed to be a good place for a celebratory lunch.

Zen restaurant is featured in The Lonely Planet Guide to India, and usually they're quite spot on about most eating places, but this place is a definite no-no. The supposed Chinese food is not even remotely close to being Chinese (I'm being a little harsh here, but when you charge this amount and masquerade as being authentically Chinese, well) and it was overpriced. We didn't mind so much paying a little extra, but the meal came in measly portions and tasted bad. So don't bother. Do note that I am saying this with the awareness that local flavour is incorporated into so much of the food here, but despite this the food was still a waste of money.



After that meal we spent the rest of the day walking around CP till late, getting good deals on sunglasses and if I recall, Fabindia products. Fab(ric)india sells handwoven clothes and cloths and textiles, it's a high-class bazaar shop.

This photo was taken outside Fabindia, while Leigh was in a shoe/clothes shop trying on stuff. A trio eyed me suspiciously as they walked past, then made a change in their direction to walk back, due to my paranoia about these things, I retreated immediately into the shop. And they disappeared.

CP's walkways are lined with book peddlers selling loads of knockoffs with a wide selection from Indian authors. There's a thing about Indian books and their bookstores - probably how Singapore would be as well had we such a vast population and good authors. I didn't get anything from these book peddlers because most of the stuff was fake or damaged. I'd rather pay for second-hand books (to me, they acquire a certain character when you search through an entire library and find a gem that's slightly worn but absolutely worth the cost).

Day Two: Agra Fort and the Tag Mahal

We awake super-early the next morning to prep for our 5-hour bus ride to Agra, ordering room service breakfast of odd puree-like scrambled eggs and toast. The coffee was good. We waited for the bus which was about 20 minutes late. As all things are in India.

During the trip there the bus made a stop for breakfast. We got off at a motel with an open-air dining area and I made a call to my dad who's in Chennai.

Me: Dad, Dad, can you hear me?
Dad: Yes son? Why?
Me: I'm in Delhi, I'm on my way to Agra to see the Tag Mahal.
Dad: Is that so? Who are you with?
Me: Just me and Leigh.
Dad: How are you going there?
Me: By bus.
Dad: Aiyoh, be careful ah son, is this bus old or new?
Me: It's new, I think.
Dad: Cause some of these old buses their brakes don't work, you better be careful. People always die.
Me: Uh, okay. Don't worry, this one the brakes work fine.
Dad: Okay, okay, mm, bye.
Me: Bye.

Don't you just love Singaporean father-son relationships? So. Leigh decides to order French Toast from the kitchen, and the guy taking our order seems capable of conversing in English, but he's insisting each time that the French toast is toast with an egg on the side, or wrapped around it or something, I think that he's capable of understanding what we're saying, because he's responding in alright English, and has the demeanour of the manager in-charge of the place. So Leigh goes on to ask him if the French toast is sweet like the way we have it in Singapore, and the dude nods his head in agreement that he can help her get it sweet. He assures us in simple English and we believe him.

If Leigh hasn't already told you the story (or uploaded the photo), the dish comes to us in the following manner: There is whitebread toast made into a triple-deck sandwich. In between the decks there is cucumber and tomato (two of my most favourite vegetables), and they're graciously lathered with pinkish jam. The egg comes on the side. She abandons the meal.

After a long long journey we reach the Agra Red Fort. I have no idea what it's really called, only because I've been the most horrid traveller and have not bothered in the least to find out the names of the historical buildings or commit any of their significance to memory. I don't know why, I suspect it's cause I'm lazy to make the effort to learn the stuff and be fascinated. Don't misunderstand, I am completely and utterly amazed at the stuff I manage to see here, but I'm just somewhat unfettered by the tedious perception that one is supposed to devour all these historical tidbits as a form of not wasting the experience. To me, being there and then and having seen what I've seen and thought what I'd thought in that moment is enough, I don't really need to be able to report to anyone that I've been here and there and I had this totally-cool epiphany about the ephemeral nature of the place and the surreal experience of standing on stones that are hundreds/thousands of years old. I mean I do get those sometimes, but the accurate reporting of place, deed and learnt facts is not what I'm here for.

I'm just here to throw myself into something entirely different and see what life brings me. And so we reach Agra Fort with the help of a Tour Guide who manages to convince everyone on board that broken English would still be dyingly acceptable as opposed to the incomprehensible grunting syllables he ventured. It was so bad that at one point we gave up trying to understand what he was trying to say, but the best part was when the other Indians tried asking him to speak in Hindi and he flatly refuses them in Ngrish.

This is just outside the gates leading into the Red Fort (I think).

This tree is outside the washroom area. The guide insisted that we keep off the grass. Workmen get it so much better than the tourists who have to pay premium entry ticket prices. Doesn't matter if you're a student in an Indian university.

In the distance you should be able to spot the Taj Mahal. This part of Red Fort is some sort of parliamentary meeting place/ harem, something.

There is a mosque built behind that gate. According to whatever I could scrap from the Tour Guide's Ngrish, it's still used as a place of prayer.

By the way, this place was built by the Mughals - which are Mongol-Turkish people who ruled over India during its Golden Age. Islam is probably from the Turkish side of the family. This would also explain to one why the Taj Mahal had Quran verses inscribed onto its gates, etc.

The walkway leading up to the interior of Red Fort. The place is massive, too bad we were being rushed by the guide in his Blitzkrieg 101 on the place. He wanted to show us "Taj Mahal in the moon is different from Taj Mahal in the sun, I will show you. Inside, I will show you." This was the most lucid thing he said the entire trip. But no one could comprehend how he was going to show us the Taj Mahal in the moonlight if we were leaving at around 7pm for the bus journey back. Albeit he repeated that same sentence (in different variations) several times in 20 minutes; thereby explaining how I could glean his intention, but still we were in the dark as to how he was going to perform his magic trick.

And it was revealed soon after. He brought us to a wholesaler of Taj Mahal "Real Marble" replicas. The place was dedicated to selling people these little versions of of the Taj that one could place a lamp beneath and light up. That's how the Taj looks like at night under moonlight. It's orange and glows from within. If you were looking at the fake Taj Mahal in the "moonlight", it'd sorely disappoint you because it's fake marble and doesn't have the same translucency that showcases the lamplight.

This is the Rs. 3 shuttle that takes you along the road leading from the carpark (for vehicles like our bus that emit harmful gases) to the Taj entrance.

We haggled and got ourselves a really entertaining guide. He had an entire script memorized and delivered by rote. How did we find out? The guy receives a phone call midway, excuses himself, then returns with "I'm sorry, where was I?"
"The Taj Mahal just got built."
"Oh yes..."
And he goes on to repeat the exact same line he was saying to me right before he picked up his phone call. In the exact same words. Something about the Queen asking the King to immortalise her though the construction of the wonder. He had an accent that made his enunciation and expressions particularly entertaining, like when he remarked to me
"His OWN son imprisoned him, his OWN son..." In reference to the Mughal emperor (?) who's own son imprisoned him in the building adjacent to the Taj.

The East Gate

Touristy shots as assisted by our favourite Taj guide.

Who decided that I wasn't taking good enough photos and proceeded to hog my camera for a good 5 shots from this angle.

Then moved me into position to take this shot.

Right before we abandoned him to go our own way for awhile. Then I managed to get this good shot in.

And another. The reflection in the water is a big thing. The fountains are also remarkable because they were not originally powered with electricity, but through some water-dynamo-like thing housed in another building.

That building over there is the guest house for the king's guests - they came from all over the world to pay homage to the queen's grave, or so I was told.

The now Infamous Twist.

This is where the King got placed under house arrest by his OWN son.

The Taj in sunset.

Precious stones were used to make up these floral designs on the passageway into the tomb. the guide gave a whole list of all the places around the world the stones were sent from. I cannot remember a single one now. But it is marvelous how far love will go.

The archway into the tomb. The wordings on the side are quotes from the Quran.

Opposite shot from the Taj.

This dude wanted Rs. 200 to bring us back in the opposite journey as the shuttle. We bargained for half because it was so short. Could have gotten it for less but we were rushing, we thought that we'd be the last ones to get back to the tour bus.

But we were the first. How stupid of us! They run on a different time scale here! It's always STATED TIME + 15 MINUTES.

The Room of Lesser Horrors at the Horror that is Hotel BB Palace. The Room of Greater Horrors was the one that faced the main road, had no access to the paid-for wireless Internet, and seemed to need calling for Hot Water to run through the taps.

We shifted rooms that same night we got back. We had a relatively good meal of Butter Chicken and naan. I think.

Day 3: Pahaganj aka Backpakers' Haven

This is the sight that greeted us when we came to Paharganj for breakfast. We wandered a little then decided to settle for Hotel Shelton's rooftop terrace restaurant. We were stumped a little by the sliding door elevator (but San Fran's experience served me well), but got up there unscathed. The sight of ang mohs armed with the same guidebook eating nice continental, delicious-looking brunches made us all the more ravenous.

SO we decided to move out of Hotel BB Palace after Leigh made enquiries and saw the state of the rooms. We also much preferred the atmosphere of the place. It's a fantastically alive place. Trawling the streets are all manner of travellers and tourists, from Koreans to bohemian ang mohs with young kids.

This is Leigh's face right after we decided to move out of BB Palace and into Hotel Shelton.

She wanted to put the sunglasses to good use, Rs. 150, 300 for 2, only at CP. If you can get it cheaper, don't tell me. She buys another one later on at the night market. I think she might have gotten it cheaper too.

The view from the first shop Leigh decides to shop at after our brunch. I had a grilled cheese steak sizzler. It was CRAZY GOOD after all that time in Ahmedabad, Chicken and Chocolate.

Day 4: The Lotus Temple, Khan Market and Tibetan Market

The following photos are not in order and should be viewed individually or taken as a whole only after the temporal order has been established on your own.

Chadni Chowk (?): The Tibetan Market

This was at Khan Market, which is my favourite place in Delhi because it reminds me a lot of Holland Village and because I like the things I can find there, namely, books, magazines, electronics and nice cafes. Not to mention cookies. And great food.

It should be mentioned though that the first shop on the inner stretch selling organic-body stuff should not be visited and razed to the ground. The salesgirl at the counter was f**king rude to Leigh and should be brought out to the back and shot.

Evening time at the Tibetan market. These lamps were very nice, but there's no where I can place it either back home or in my Silveroak room.

The billboards reminded me of America.

This is the Baha'i Lotus Temple. It is a temple that is open to all faiths for the worship of whatever they want.

The interior of the temple is astoundingly breath-taking. I was fascinated with how the rows and rows of chairs formed a semi-circle round a podium, but the architecture of the place draws one's vision immediately heavenward to the skylight. And the silence imposed on everyone before entering makes the experience all the more surreal. Time literally stops while you're inside.

But we had an auto waiting outside. 30 mins, he gave us.

Day 5: The Sundial

I can't remember the name of this structure, it's a super-large sundial in the city. It was a waste of money going to see it, because the structure from which one is supposed to tell the time from had locked gates. Not that being able to tell the time with your own shadow is terribly fascinating either, but we paid good money to come and see orange washed-out conrcete, the least we could do is fulfill the purpose of the place.

After we got back to Paharganj,
Leigh proceeded to begin her shopping spree. Beginning with this shop here where she got custom-made semi-precious jewellery for a steal. Her bargaining skills are unparalleled. Excepting of course, Romain.

This is Indian Colin Farrell.

That's Topher Grace from That 70s Show and In Good Company.

Whilst Leigh shopped at the store, I got a little restless and took a walk down Main Bazaar






Day 6: More Shopping In Paharganj (I want to chronicle our meals - best part of my days - but I was lazy and didn't bother with photographs, Leigh has them all).



















I think that's it. It should be noted that we went out to Ploof (also in the LP Guide) which is situated in an area that bears a striking resemblance to Greenwood Avenue. Incidentally, Ploof is a seafood restaurant, much like Fisherman's Wharf. I missed home that night. Ploof was good, even though we both had Beer Battered Fish and Chips (no beer), and it was an upmarket high-class sorta place. Having Johnnie Walker with Coke rocked my world. Having a cab ordered for you was a nice way to end the evening as well.

We had the best meal at The Big Chill on day seven. It's located in Khan Market and serves a wide-range of food. I had the fusili with cheese and pepperoni. Totally rocked. Leigh had the pasta-dumpling-thingies which for the life of me I can't seem to recall at this moment. Argh. They were good too. We had 2 chocolate desserts after that.

On day four or five we had dinner at the Metropolis Restaurant. This is the Paharganj-equivalent of upclass restaurant, fantastic food there as well. Great, great service. We had bad creme-brulee, though the chocolate dessert more than made up for it.

Club India in Paharganj was recommended to us by one of Hotel Shelton's staff. He secretly brought me to a side of the roof to point it out to me, after discovering that Leigh and I were planning to go somewhere farther for Japanese food. Club India's japanese food is alright, but really, go farther. We wanted to try one of the 2 guide recommendations but didn't have the time.

Sam's Cafe is pretty good too. Although Szechuan-tasting potatoes credited as hash browns on the menu is not my idea of a good meal, the other things are decent.

I don't think I've got anymore to write down. This has taken me 3 days to bother. 2 for the uploading of photos.

Well.