New Delhi
Yesterday(1/4) I spent the day at the hotel while I awaited the arrival of my friend and travel companion Brenden. I slept until I woke up...which was so lovely:) Made some hot tea, ate an apple I had bought at the Amsterdam airport and then soaked in a nice hot bath. I had lunch in the hotel restaurant, a traditional Indian dish...vegetarian...cooked vegetables in a spicy sauce with a coconut chutney and some yummy bread that was much more dense than naan. It sure did taste great but was not very nice to my tummy:( Delhi Belli I have heard it called...the food takes some getting used to but luckily I brought some essential oils with me and just rubbed some DiGlaze on my stomach and it felt better within 10 minutes! I have used it twice now and has been very useful:) Other oils that I have been using so far: Purification to spray on my clothes to freshen up. Thieves on my toothbrush and the bottom of my feet to stay protected from germs. Lemon in my water (that I have treated with a UV light of course!) which is very cleansing for the body. I am happy to have internet at the hotel so I have been able to blog and check email, and was even able to talk to my Grandma, Mom, Sister, and my 2 nephews on Skype! It was so wonderful to see them and talk although it was just for a short while.
Even though I am staying in a 5 star hotel right now the slums can be anywhere in India...the view from my room...
Brenden finally arrived around 1am(1/5) and I was so happy to see him! He is a true friend of mine from California that will be traveling India with me until his departure on the 24th of January. It was really great to share our stories of our journey here with each other and catch up after over a year of not seeing each other. I think we went to bed at 430am but didn't get much sleep because of some noise in the hotel that sound like construction:( So we finally just gave up and got up and made tea and coffee then went down for a breakfast buffet that is included with our room. Really delicious...huge variety of both American style breakfast and traditional Indian, like a flat pancake (similar to a crepe) stuffed with a potato onion mixture served with tomato chutney, coconut chutney, mint chutney, and a yummy vegetable soup~mmmmmm! A unique selection of juices including fennel bitter melon, beet pomegranate, chinok apple, and many others...and maybe the best fresh squeezed orange juice I have ever had!
After breakfast we set up a car and tour guide for the day to see New and Old Delhi. Now this is where you say: "SENSORY OVERLOAD!" I was so glad to have the experience but would not want to have it too often! We were so so so glad to have a guide and a driver that knew what they were doing and where they were going! Our drivers name was Deepram, and our guide was Ajeet Singh Kasana. Ajeet speaks 5 languages including English and French! We spent the day seeing some very old historic buildings beginning with the Presidential Palace (Rashtarpatai Bhavan), The Red Fort...this is where the Prime Minister and the Emperor used to address the public twice a year...we spent almost 2 hours touring all the old buildings and hearing stories of how they used to be so beautiful decorated with gold and paintings, the floors covered with beautiful handmade rugs. From there our guide walked us across the street through the madness that they don't even consider "traffic"...I tried to get pics of what the streets are like and they don't seem to do it justice! The street is full of cars, toktok's (the worlds cheapest "car" ran on clean energy, rickshaw's (bike pulled buggy), Indians on all sorts of bikes transporting all sorts of things, and people everywhere walking right in the middle of all of the chaos! It is defenatly a learned skill just to walk around, much less drive around! We took a ride in a rickshaw for about 30min then walked through a bazaar (market). The bazaars are outside winding through very narrow streets with tons of little tiny shops and places to get food...but watch your toes! Even through the bazaar people are riding their motorcycles...way scarier than California! Hung somewhere above or around the doors (more like a wide opening...you cant really walk into the shops) to each shop you will find a decorative gathering of a whole lime and chilies...said to protect and keep evil spirits away.
We also got to see the biggest Mosque (Jama Masjid) in India. A Mosque is used only for prayer, this one holding 25,000 people on the inside and 35,000 around the outside! Can you imagine how powerful that would be?! Then energy cultivated by 60,000 people!!! So awesome:)
Ajeet then took us to lunch for out first true Indian meal outside of the hotel..it was soooo delicious! I ordered a ginger ale...it was yummy but looked nothing like any ginger ale I have ever had! Then we felt the urge to sit and hang out with a snake charmer! A little scary but come on! When do you get to do something you have probably only seen in the cartoons! After that we tried to make it to the Minuret before it closed but we were too late! We got to see it from a far which was still cool...the tallest structure in New Delhi. It was supposed to be even taller but the man who began building it died before it was done, his son wanted to finish it in honor of his father and died in the process, so they decided it was cursed and stopped building but never tore it down!
What a day! We got back to the hotel around 730pm, Brenden passed out as soon as he layed down...I tried to blog but ran into some issues with loading pics (which is why you haven't heard from me in a while!) so I took a nice hot bath instead (I have to take advantage of those while I can!) read some of the book I brought with me (Shantaram...so good so far!) and hit the sack around 10pm:)
I keep running into to problems when I try to add pictures:(
I will try to add some later...I got some really cool ones!
But for now I need to get off this computer! I will continue my adventures of New Delhi but I have arrived in Rishikesh as of today, January 8th...I am already in love with this place and can't wait to tell you all about it!
I love you all so much and miss you so much too but am doing fine, eating well, and drinking plenty of water:)
Many blessings~Q
XOXO
Yesterday(1/4) I spent the day at the hotel while I awaited the arrival of my friend and travel companion Brenden. I slept until I woke up...which was so lovely:) Made some hot tea, ate an apple I had bought at the Amsterdam airport and then soaked in a nice hot bath. I had lunch in the hotel restaurant, a traditional Indian dish...vegetarian...cooked vegetables in a spicy sauce with a coconut chutney and some yummy bread that was much more dense than naan. It sure did taste great but was not very nice to my tummy:( Delhi Belli I have heard it called...the food takes some getting used to but luckily I brought some essential oils with me and just rubbed some DiGlaze on my stomach and it felt better within 10 minutes! I have used it twice now and has been very useful:) Other oils that I have been using so far: Purification to spray on my clothes to freshen up. Thieves on my toothbrush and the bottom of my feet to stay protected from germs. Lemon in my water (that I have treated with a UV light of course!) which is very cleansing for the body. I am happy to have internet at the hotel so I have been able to blog and check email, and was even able to talk to my Grandma, Mom, Sister, and my 2 nephews on Skype! It was so wonderful to see them and talk although it was just for a short while.
Even though I am staying in a 5 star hotel right now the slums can be anywhere in India...the view from my room...
Brenden finally arrived around 1am(1/5) and I was so happy to see him! He is a true friend of mine from California that will be traveling India with me until his departure on the 24th of January. It was really great to share our stories of our journey here with each other and catch up after over a year of not seeing each other. I think we went to bed at 430am but didn't get much sleep because of some noise in the hotel that sound like construction:( So we finally just gave up and got up and made tea and coffee then went down for a breakfast buffet that is included with our room. Really delicious...huge variety of both American style breakfast and traditional Indian, like a flat pancake (similar to a crepe) stuffed with a potato onion mixture served with tomato chutney, coconut chutney, mint chutney, and a yummy vegetable soup~mmmmmm! A unique selection of juices including fennel bitter melon, beet pomegranate, chinok apple, and many others...and maybe the best fresh squeezed orange juice I have ever had!
After breakfast we set up a car and tour guide for the day to see New and Old Delhi. Now this is where you say: "SENSORY OVERLOAD!" I was so glad to have the experience but would not want to have it too often! We were so so so glad to have a guide and a driver that knew what they were doing and where they were going! Our drivers name was Deepram, and our guide was Ajeet Singh Kasana. Ajeet speaks 5 languages including English and French! We spent the day seeing some very old historic buildings beginning with the Presidential Palace (Rashtarpatai Bhavan), The Red Fort...this is where the Prime Minister and the Emperor used to address the public twice a year...we spent almost 2 hours touring all the old buildings and hearing stories of how they used to be so beautiful decorated with gold and paintings, the floors covered with beautiful handmade rugs. From there our guide walked us across the street through the madness that they don't even consider "traffic"...I tried to get pics of what the streets are like and they don't seem to do it justice! The street is full of cars, toktok's (the worlds cheapest "car" ran on clean energy, rickshaw's (bike pulled buggy), Indians on all sorts of bikes transporting all sorts of things, and people everywhere walking right in the middle of all of the chaos! It is defenatly a learned skill just to walk around, much less drive around! We took a ride in a rickshaw for about 30min then walked through a bazaar (market). The bazaars are outside winding through very narrow streets with tons of little tiny shops and places to get food...but watch your toes! Even through the bazaar people are riding their motorcycles...way scarier than California! Hung somewhere above or around the doors (more like a wide opening...you cant really walk into the shops) to each shop you will find a decorative gathering of a whole lime and chilies...said to protect and keep evil spirits away.
We also got to see the biggest Mosque (Jama Masjid) in India. A Mosque is used only for prayer, this one holding 25,000 people on the inside and 35,000 around the outside! Can you imagine how powerful that would be?! Then energy cultivated by 60,000 people!!! So awesome:)
Ajeet then took us to lunch for out first true Indian meal outside of the hotel..it was soooo delicious! I ordered a ginger ale...it was yummy but looked nothing like any ginger ale I have ever had! Then we felt the urge to sit and hang out with a snake charmer! A little scary but come on! When do you get to do something you have probably only seen in the cartoons! After that we tried to make it to the Minuret before it closed but we were too late! We got to see it from a far which was still cool...the tallest structure in New Delhi. It was supposed to be even taller but the man who began building it died before it was done, his son wanted to finish it in honor of his father and died in the process, so they decided it was cursed and stopped building but never tore it down!
What a day! We got back to the hotel around 730pm, Brenden passed out as soon as he layed down...I tried to blog but ran into some issues with loading pics (which is why you haven't heard from me in a while!) so I took a nice hot bath instead (I have to take advantage of those while I can!) read some of the book I brought with me (Shantaram...so good so far!) and hit the sack around 10pm:)
I keep running into to problems when I try to add pictures:(
I will try to add some later...I got some really cool ones!
But for now I need to get off this computer! I will continue my adventures of New Delhi but I have arrived in Rishikesh as of today, January 8th...I am already in love with this place and can't wait to tell you all about it!
I love you all so much and miss you so much too but am doing fine, eating well, and drinking plenty of water:)
Many blessings~Q
XOXO
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| Presidential Palace |
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| Presidential Palace |
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| Crazy streets! |
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| Rickshaw |
Wow, Susie! An epic adventure is underway. I'm SO proud of you. You're a natural blogger I guess! This is so fun to read And the pics you're posting are great!
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