I slept hard last night for about three hours and then I woke up feeling like I had slept all night. I was finally able to go back to sleep for a couple of hours but got woke up with a phone call. Never did go back to sleep. I think the call came in around 4:00 am here.
We went down around 6:30 and had breakfast. They serve a very nice breakfast buffet. I do get surprised with how spicy things are though. Certainly lots of different flavors for this food challenged person.
We left on our bus this morning at 8:00. Our first stop was Humayun’s Tomb. Lots of high steps and lots of walking. The tour guide gives us lots of history about what we are seeing but unfortunately I am not into that type of history and I tend to tune him out. Not sure I remember what the deal was with this place.
After that we went to Old Delhi and went to Jamba Masjid, the largest mosque in India. It was a beautiful set of buildings with lots of open space. Built for 2,000 people but they now can have over 25,000 people show up on special holy days. Grateful it was almost empty today.
The funnest part of the day is we got to take a rickshaw ride through a market. Our driver was a tiny man that had strong legs. The market was sensory overload for me. Such a mix of wealth and poverty – mainly poverty. The electrical wires fascinated me as they were haphazardly strung over the streets. No wonder our hotel had a couple of black outs during the night. The ride was a bit bumpy at times as the road had some good sized potholes in it. There were people everywhere and it is amazing that most get through it all without running into each other.
We had lunch at a nice restaurant that served us family style. Lots of different flavors and dishes. Most were too spicy for me. There was a lentil dish that at first taste was delightful but then it exploded into spice after a bit in my mouth. We ended the meal with a small dip of ice cream that had just a touch of chocolate sauce on it. That helped calm my mouth down.
After lunch we went to a Hindi Temple. That was my favorite site we visited today. The energy in the place was incredible although I sensed some sadness in the energy. Attached to the temple is a Hospice that people come stay when they are soul sick. They fast, pray, eat limited amounts of very healthy food. They can stay for up to 14 days.
Our last stop of the day was at the residence Gandhi was living at when he was assassinated. He had so many good quotes and I took pictures of them to remind myself of how to live.
We got back to the hotel around 4:00. We rested in our room until our group meeting at 6:00. The meeting was an introduction to everyone on the tour and then the tour guide did a sales job trying to get us to go on additional excursions. After the meeting we had a buffet dinner at the hotel. Again the food was plentiful but I struggled to find the foods that weren’t so spicy.
India is a fascinating country but the mix of wealth and poverty is striking. We went down a road that had the wealthy people’s houses and out in front of the fences that gated the houses in were people living on the streets. It caused a bit of a cognitive dissonance within me. My heart hurts tonight seeing how so many people live with nothing while others have so much.
Tomorrow we check out of this hotel and travel 250 kilometers or 155 miles to another town. We are stopping at another temple and also some shopping places. It will be fun to get out of the city and see the countryside.
There are only 11 people on this tour which makes it nice. Most all are friendly and fun to talk to. Most have done lots of traveling and we have that in common with them.
Still haven’t adjusted to the 11:30 time difference. I’m tired this evening so hoping I will be able to sleep all night and not just take a nap and wake up again two hours after I fall asleep.
If I don’t sleep, at least I will have a long bus ride and maybe will be able to sleep then. I would rather stay up so I can see the sights though. We shall see what happens.
Grateful for all the sights I saw today, grateful for all that I have, and grateful for this time with Nicole.