Sightseeing in Delhi on foot !? (Day 35 of the world trip)

09/10/2019

The night was a bit restless today. The man sleeping downstairs kept moving in his sleep and the not-so-stable bed shook with every movement. A bit annoying but oh well. If we ever sleep on a ship, I'm prepared now ;-)

We woke up around 7 o'clock or so and we were the only ones awake, just like yesterday. Thanks to Anti-Brumm, we were able to enjoy our breakfast on the terrace (this time I skipped Nutella and tried our new jam! It wasn't as good without butter :( Oh well. The bread was delicious and we had bananas^^).

Shortly after breakfast, we set off. We found out that we needed to take bus number 604 to get to the metro station. No problem! Unfortunately, this thought was immediately clouded as soon as we left the hostel because it was significantly more crowded than the previous two days :O And of course, our bus stop was on the other side of the road, so we had to bravely cross the 6-lane road without traffic lights and with participants who consider traffic rules optional.

I always think of the movie "Mulan" where the grandma crosses a busy road with her eyes closed because she believes in the power of the cricket she carries with her. It looks similar when Jonas and I cross a road here :D

It would be so much easier if the rickshaws, motorcycles, buses, and cars just stayed in their lanes. But no. With three lanes, they prefer to drive five abreast. They would never accidentally let someone pass, that's a no-go :p So they'd rather drive on two lanes and block them until someone honks loudly from behind. We're starting to recognize patterns here ^^

Next to us, there was a middle-aged man in dress pants and a shirt waiting for the bus and when I realized that he wanted to take the same bus as us, I was a little relieved. So we could simply imitate him ;-) The bus arrived pretty much on schedule and we got on. Since our role model simply sat down, we did the same and the bus started driving. It wasn't until a few minutes later that we noticed other passengers going to the back to buy their tickets. Oops! We don't want to be fare dodgers :O (our "role model" by the way, did exactly that. He got on the bus with us and got off at some point without paying. Hmm...). The ticket cost 5 rupees (less than 10 cents), but at least we had one and we calmed our consciences.

After about 15 minutes, we arrived at the metro station. The metro was built in Delhi retrospectively and is still being expanded. The metro network is quite convenient for tourists since many sights are near a metro station and yeah. So we decided to buy a 3-day ticket that reportedly costs 250 rupees according to the internet. With high spirits, we headed into the metro station.

Just before the entrance, there were two queues and we wondered what the difference was until I realized that men and women stand in separate lines here. The reason is the security at the entrance, where women are scanned by a woman in a small makeshift room with a curtain, while men have a male officer. So we stood in separate lines, but when we were almost at the security gate, we realized that we needed our tickets afterwards :O

Great :D So we left the line and went to the ticket counter. The employee there seemed annoyed and referred us to another place. Since we didn't see anything else and didn't want to ask, we went to a ticket machine. Maybe that would be the solution? I had a déjà vu to Istanbulkart for a moment :D

Of course, the ticket machine couldn't help us either. There, like at the counter, existing cards could only be topped up. Well. Tough luck ;-) So we went back to the ticket counter, this time to a different employee, and he told us that we had to go to Customer Care. That's where we can buy those 3-day tickets we saw online. And now guess where Customer Care was? Exactly, BEHIND the security...

By now it was shortly after 10 am (normal working hours for authorities, etc. in India is 10 am) and it was rush hour. In any case, the queues in front of the security were significantly longer than ten minutes ago, but we had to go through there ;-)

After about 30-45 minutes at the station, we finally managed to buy our two metro cards, each for 500 rupees (about 7 €). The fact that it was twice as much as what we read on the internet didn't matter anymore. The price for unlimited travel for 3 days is unbeatable :)

We had two directions to choose from and of course we went to the wrong one first (but at least without getting on^^). Then we finally made it to the right platform and when the train arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. We had already seen a metro when we arrived, so I knew that the trains looked modern and chic, but when we got on board, I was also surprised how clean everything was! There was no rubbish lying around and although it was super crowded (I held onto Jonas because I had no way to grab onto a pole until the first stop), the air was fresh and cool. Real luxury! :)

We had already downloaded the metro map to our phones yesterday and the orientation was really easy. When we got off at Kashmere Gate, where we had to change from the yellow line to the purple line, there were footprints on the ground in different colors of the metro lines. Since we wanted to go to the purple line, we could follow these footprints from getting off to getting on the next train. Wow! I was thrilled (especially because the footprints were really cute^^).

Our first stop outside the underground was Jama Masjid, a huge mosque. On the way there, there were small vendors on the right and left, and to our surprise, no one approached us. So we could just walk around and enjoy the impressions. Behind some fences, people lived in makeshift shelters, but everything was calm and super peaceful. Maybe it was also because of the time, but it was really not crowded :) Jonas was wearing shorts and I didn't have a headscarf, so we didn't go into the mosque, but we took some photos from the outside, which was also nice!

Next, we went to the opposite Red Fort, the main attraction in Old Delhi, as I would say. It's at least pretty high up ;-) Unfortunately, the entrance fee is 500 rupees per person, so we "only" looked at everything from the outside. It was still quite impressive. What amused me the most were the Indian men who wanted to take photos with Jonas. We attributed that to his new haircut ;-) :p

From the Red Fort, you can see the Jain Temple and a shopping street (Chadni Chowk??). As always, there was a construction site there, so we couldn't take proper photos :D We seem to have a knack for that^^ Several rickshaw drivers also approached us, claiming that we couldn't see all of Old Delhi without them. They were probably right. A tour with them would have given us some information instead of just passing by. However, such tours are somehow not our thing. I can't explain it, but unspokenly, we both were against such a tour. We wanted to do it on our own and, quite incomprehensible to everyone else, on foot :D

We wandered around a bit lost for a while before we went back to the metro station to visit our next sightseeing spot: Raj Ghat, a park with a memorial for Mahatma Gandhi. The metro ride went smoothly again, and we got off at Delhi Gate. From there, it wasn't far to the park, but of course, we were offered rickshaw rides again. Unintentionally, we also stumbled upon an archaeological site, which we also only looked at from the outside ;-) Thanks to Maps.Me, we somehow made it to the park we were looking for :)

The facility is large and really pretty. A lot of effort is put into making the flowers bloom (at least that's what I suspect because there are sprinklers everywhere) and there are stones with quotes from Gandhi, which is really cool as an experience! At one point, where you go to Gandhi's tomb, you have to take off your shoes and then you can walk barefoot there. Even though Jonas and I haven't read much about Gandhi, it was nice to be there, if only because it seems to mean something to some Indians, and that was beautiful to see :)

When we put our shoes back on, two families with babies approached us and this time I was the subject of the photo, and one of the babies even held on to me for the photo. Okay. If it makes them happy, we're happy to take these photos, and so far we have always been asked politely and kindly instead of just being taken^^

After visiting the park in 34°C and sun (without the expected smog :O), we longed for our metro again :D On the way there, we had to bravely cross streets again, up to 8 lanes... Somehow it always works out, even if it might be creepy that I'm not afraid at all. Jonas is even more cautious than I am, but I always think that the vehicles will somehow stop :D

Our last stop for today was India Gate. When we left the metro, we were approached by two ladies collecting donations for disabled Indian children, but we politely declined... It wasn't a big surprise that we were approached because we were in an affluent neighborhood again. There were gated communities and fancy cars, even more extreme than in Vasant Kunj!

Getting to India Gate was not that easy :D Besides the road, which apparently pedestrians don't cross very often, the main problem was that some entrances were closed. Maybe today is also a public holiday that we don't know about or something, but in any case, even large entrances were closed. We could have taken the main entrance at some point, but by then we were both so tired, thirsty, and hadn't sat down for 5 hours, so we just took a few photos from the outside until the police looked at us suspiciously from a police car...

We walked around the square where India Gate is located. It's circular but has a really big circumference... At some point, we came to another barrier and an older man approached us to ask where we wanted to go. Jonas probably couldn't even say his "No, thank you," anymore, but I was also glad because maybe it was necessary to give in this time. Because of all the barriers, it wasn't as easy to walk as it might have been otherwise...

Our destination was the restaurant Gulatni, recommended by our three trekking friends, and the older man who approached us at India Gate turned out to be a rickshaw driver, of course. For a price of 30 rupees, he wanted to drive us the last kilometer or so, and since we were both exhausted, we agreed ;-)

First, we had to figure out how to pay because our smallest bill was 500 rupees. The rickshaw driver assured us that he could give change, but when we got to his rickshaw, that wasn't the case. Jonas said that we wouldn't get in if we couldn't be sure that he would give us the change afterwards, but the driver insisted that he would do that at the drop-off point. We could have fallen for it, but luckily we were lucky! :)

Our driver was an honest guy (at least for us in that moment). When we arrived at the restaurant, he gave us the 500 rupee note so that we could change it for him at the restaurant, and when Jonas brought him the change, we also gave him an additional 10 rupees, simply because we wanted to reward our driver for being so honest :)

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were treated like kings. We were escorted to a table, given a menu, and at the same time, we were informed about the buffet. We had a waiter who was only responsible for our table and he explained the dishes at the buffet, poured soup for us, and even got me a band-aid :D So the service was top-notch, almost a bit intrusive but not quite yet :)

The food was also delicious, but everything was too spicy for me. There was "only" Indian food and somehow my stomach is still not ready for it because I quickly got stomachaches and then filled up on dessert (ice cream, fruit salad, and some kind of quark balls. Hmm <3). But the butter chicken that our friends had recommended was really good, and so were the starters and the bread and yeah. We can definitely recommend eating there, especially the buffet :) You just have to like spicy food :p

After dinner, we just wanted to go back to the hostel, relax, take a shower, and write the blog/chill. Jonas was sure that he didn't want to eat anything else for the rest of the day (we finished at the restaurant at 4 pm). But after showering, he immediately asked me for chocolate :D

Unfortunately, the nearest snack store is about a 15-20 minute walk away :( We still have to see if it's worth it^^

Tomorrow is part 2 of sightseeing (as I said, there are plenty of options!) and in the evening, we will meet up with Gaurav, which will also be super cool.

Oh! And we had our laundry done here, professionally, after the mule smell^^ And everything worked out great and wasn't even expensive. Another success. Yay!