dehli dehli

this weekend i got to tour around delhi with a few colleagues. saturday's adventure began with a stop at jantar mantar, which was quite impressive (though boring, i think, to my colleague). these gigantic things were built to measure time and astrology... it's like the 1700s version of tarot.com. (shout out to jewel!)




then on to the jama masjid, the largest mosque in asia. in order to keep me proper for the muslims, they gave me a muu-muu to cover my short-sleeved shirt (not even sleeveless, i swear!). considering recent attacks in india, i honestly don't mind the extra modesty. and check out how gorgeous i was - hard to resist. there was a high tower to climb (tough with a muu-muu always getting stuck underfoot) - from where we got some amazing views of old delhi. you could almost not hear the horns below...almost.

then to lunch at a delicious place called karim hotel - a couple of comments about this place. first, the hindus seem to leave it mostly to the muslims to butcher the animals, so chances are good that you'll find the best meat dishes in muslim neighborhoods (since we were near the largest mosque in asia, you can probably guess that this was a mostly muslim neighborhood). second - what is up with all of the restaurants called "hotel" in india. i don't get it. third...my first run in with no western toilet option. not fun... very smelly hole in the floor in a 2ft x 2ft space, i swear. ick. the rickshaw ride through the teeny alleys of old delhi was...exciting! i also got to experience my first taste of holi - we had several water balloons thrown at us! thankfully it was not colored water...not yet anyway! the ride was full of people staring at me, drivers throwing up their tobacco/betel leaf mixture in front of us, crazy traffic jams, near fights with other rickshaw drivers...pretty interesting!

then we went to the red fort of delhi - made by the same emporer as the taj mahal and the agra fort. some pics:

my tour guide for saturday was my colleague gaurav, who told me some interesting stories about his last job in a call center, doing "MI" - marketing intelligence. you know those telemarketing type people who cold call you, trying to get personal information? yep, there were people at his company doing that. interesting...