Tuesday 10th February: Delhi

Today we had another day of sightseeing around Delhi but this time with no guide so we were braving the craziness of Delhi on our own. Our first stop was the Akshardham Hindu Temple which is the largest Hindu Temple in the world! Although the temple looks old, it was actually opened in 2005 and took over 5 years to build it.

Security is VERY tight to the point that you can't take cameras, phones or bags in with you so we left everything with our driver apart from our wallets. We then had to go in different queues so that we could have our bodies frisked - it was even more strict than in an airport! As we didn't have our camera we don't have any photos - apart from the one below which is one of their professional photos that we bought and I have taken a photo of it (hence the odd colour!).

The Akshardham Temple

Whilst inside the temple some music started playing and we were asked to go to the big Buddha at the front of the temple. When we got there, everyone was sitting cross legged in front of the Buddha so we joined in (not really knowing what was going on) and then everyone started clapping along and singing with the music - it was obviously some sort of worship and everyone was really getting in to it and there was us right in the middle of it all - it was very interesting to see and quite an experience!

We also took part in a couple of the exhibitions there - one was an animatronics show telling us about Hindu values, and the other a boat ride about India's heritage, which were interesting but very Disney-esque or, as Peter called it, Hindu Disney! We also went to the canteen there for lunch - it was vegetarian (obviously!) but really cheap - Peter had a mini pizza that cost 50p and I had samosas which were 25p for two - bargain! In total we were there nearly 4 hours with our poor driver waiting for us in the car park!

We then went on to the Gandhi Smriti, a museum dedicated to the final 144 days of Mahatma Gandhi's life, and where he was assinated in January 1948. Sounds a bit depressing but it was quite interesting!

The footsteps show Gandhi's last few steps

The spot where Gandhi was assassinated

And our final destination was the Baha'i Lotus Temple in South Delhi which we thought looked like a cross between a lemon juicer and the Sydney Opera House!

It's behind you!

This evening we went to dinner in a local restaurant - we had mutton rogan josh and a prawn gassi which was prawns in a spicy coconut sauce. Poor Peter tried to order a beer but was told that Tuesday's are dry so he had to have a coke instead!

 

 

 

 

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