Yearly Archives: 2012

We had 2 full days in Delhi for touring.  What’s nice about having your own tour group is you can be flexible and choose your start time and make changes easily.  So we sometimes swap itineraries, eliminate some and we can squeeze in shopping if there is time 🙂  It’s foggy in Delhi which explains the blur in the photos and in the background.  The weather was very pleasant, it was not hot and humid, it was just right and comfortable to be walking outdoors for sight seeing.  Again, no experiences of any unpleasant odors throughout the tour  

Delhi is beautiful.  I guess I had little or no expectations which is why when I got there, I was surprised to see what India had to offer.  Delhi reminded me of Europe – having been occupied by the British.  The structures and monuments are so beautiful 

Sonia Gandhi lives in Delhi and we passed her residence several times while going around the city 

More European influence reflected in their version of the Arc de Triomphe

They had a like a Burnham Park ( Baguio ) type lake with boats 🙂 Notice how clean it is in the New Delhi area compared to the Old Delhi

Humayun’s tomb which inspired the construction of the Taj Mahal.  I am just so amazed at how beautiful and how vast a land was used just to build a tomb in those days!  

When now it is so expensive to build even small mausoleums, even a box in a crypt is prime real estate!  I truly appreciate such a structure and a gesture to commemorate and bury a person, something you will probably never ever see anymore in any lifetime

Looking at the tip of the dome ( a bit hard to see due to fog ) – as you walk nearer to the arch structure, you will see that it disappears 🙂  

At this angle, Almost the same stretch towards the Taj and a similar shape 🙂

Beautiful gardens surrounding the tomb

Playing around 🙂

The same type of tree which enlightened Buddha 🙂

View from the side of the garden

The tomb

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Ravi our tour guide probably saw that we were not into shopping since we were not buying anything!  I guess we were still trying to assess and see what was available and was not ready to buy.  But anyway, he changed the itinerary and he decided to take us to Old Delhi.  This was scheduled for the next day but he advanced it.  This was one of the highlights of our visit to Delhi!  What an experience!!!  That rickshaw seemed to be very flimsy yet we rode it through the Indian traffic – a bit scary yet loved the adventure!  Be careful to keep your hands and arms inside or you could really get hurt.  The bumps were rough, but we were just glad we survived the trip!  🙂  These rickshaw drivers are such experts that everything seemed so easy to them when we were so tense inside the rickshaw! I took a short video and you will see how it is in the streets of India – horns blowing left and right, everyone and everything is in the road- animals, bikes, people, motorcycles, cars and pedestrian all in the same road!  Watch how the police is there yet there seems to be no order 🙂  

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James dressed up thinking we were just shopping and going to have dinner at a friend’s place!  Little did he know we were going to this adventure 🙂  

What an experience!  I am so glad Tito Joe and Tita Mary Ann and Dad and Mom were so adventurous too!

 We went down Chandni Chowk which means Moonlight Square.  According to our tour guide, it’s a way to get a feel of the Old Delhi.  He said that all the vendors in this area are all very rich even if it does not seem so

Source:  Windhorsetours.com

Most trucks and buses have this sign at the back – it is acceptable for them to use their horn at all times

Took some shots along the way – a bit hard because it was a rough ride and I was scared my camera would fall or I would lose my balance, so bear with these photos.  Up to this point, I did not have to apply anything to mask any unpleasant smell

Many wires above us just criss crossing each other

Side streets full of shops

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