India.  32M people in Delhi. 1.4 billion people in the country and growing.  Click here for a live population count. That’s a lot of humanity in a country with land area only 40% of the continental US.

They say you need three things to be a good driver here:  A good horn, good brakes and good luck.  We experienced all three.  Horn honking is encouraged here when passing vehicles.  Upset drivers also honk, so there is lots of honking. Lane markers have no meaning.  There are trucks, cars, bicycles, pedestrians, tuk tuks, tractors pulling carts and some horse carts in the streets.  And cows.  Cows wander freely, sometimes just standing in the middle of the road.  

There are many fantastic things to see here but that is countered with a lot of poverty as well.  Our time living in Cambodia and visiting other less developed countries made this not so much of a shock for us.  Same same, but different. 

We visited three cities in northern India (Delhi, Agra and Jaipur) lying in a triangle about 5 hours drive from each other.  This is just a small fraction of the country. We opted to have a driver and guides for seven of our 10 days, to see the sights in those three cities.  The base rate was $370 to cover car and driver for seven days and guides for five days.  Entrance fees, lodging, tips not included. This turned out to be a smart decision. 

Our driver picked us up at our lodging each day, picked up the guide and navigated through traffic effortlessly, getting us to and from each destination.  The guides knew what to see, the best way to visit, explained everything, knew places to eat and shop.  Granted, the restaurants were tourist restaurants, and I think there is a side deal where guides and drivers eat for free.  The prices might have been a bit higher than other restaurants, but we also did not get sick.  I’m very happy to pay for that.

The median income here is about $350-$400/month.  In the service industry, tipping is a big thing here, especially from foreigners, who are uniformly assumed to be wealthy.  Bathroom attendants turn on the tap at the sink, hand you paper towels, open the trash can to dispose of said towels and open the exit door for you to leave.   Servers in restaurants always point out when the bill does not include a service charge, but are silent on the matter if a service charge is included on the bill. We tipped our guides and driver a bit above $10/day which was probably a large portion of their actual income for the trip.

Street vendors are aggressive but will eventually leave you alone if you say no (repeatedly).  We visited carpet factories, textile factories, and jewelers.  Each provided some interesting thing to see, but then move pretty quickly to sales mode.  “No problem ma’am, you are our guest ma’am, just one more thing to see ma’am, no cost to look ma’am, how much do you want to pay ma’am, just try this on ma’am, it’s my job to show you ma’am, no problem ma’am”  as a team of assistants unrolls carpet after carpet or grabs stacks of packaged textiles and opens bag after bag to show you options.  Susie is an expert bargainer for the few things we bought.  After selecting items and some haggling, she set her price and stuck to it.  Often the shop owner had to get involved to approve on the price.

We avoided taking photos of the truly poor, and declined to give money to the many street beggars calling out or tapping on the car window.  It is really hard to not feel saddened by their plight, especially the children sent out by adults to beg.  We were told repeatedly to not support those efforts. So instead, we made a donation to a Sikh temple in Delhi that runs a food-for-all soup kitchen.

So what did we see?  Waaay cool things in all three cities.

In Delhi:

Jama Masjid

One of the largest mosques in India, built in the 17th century by Shah Jaha (same Mughal king who built the Taj Mahal).  Still in use today, it can accommodate 25,000 worshipers.

Gandhi Memorial

Humayun’s Tomb

16^th century tomb, the grandest built at the time for Mughal kings, the first built with a garden around the tomb to emulate paradise. Also an inspiration for the Taj Mahal.

Qtub Minar

Started in the late 12^th century, and improbably tall for its time.  There are ruins of later buildings, arches and and a madras (school) around the area.  An incomplete tower stands nearby, started by a later king and intended to be twice the size of the original tower. He died before the tower was finished, so the work just stopped. The tower and surrounding buildings were damaged by earthquakes. That is why the 4th section of the tower is a different style.

There is also an iron column from the 4th century, moved to the present location in the 11th century. Metalurgy geeks take notice: It is noteworthy due to its resistant to corrosion because of the manufactuing method.

Lotus Temple

This Baha’i temple was built in 1980 as a place for universal worship.  Pre-pandemic, it received upwards of 5 million visitors a year.  Many are locals, partly because the free entrance and large beautiful grounds.  The number of visitors is growing again. 

ISKCON temple

This is a Hare Krishna Temple.  Lots of music and chanting while we were there.  A slightly creepy full scale wax replica of the founder is prominently displayed.  For more information on joining, follow this link here.

Bangla Sahib Sikh Temple

A site of significance to the Sikh religion.  The pools are considered to be healing water.  There is also a large “soup kitchen” that feeds any who come needing food.  We saw people serving and eating, and another group patiently waiting for their turn.  It was Impressive and inspiring.

In Agra:

Taj Mahal.

We viewed the back side of Taj Mahal from across the river around sunset on the first evening, and then visited it from inside the compound at sunrise the following morning.  Over the past few years we have seen a lot of things all over the world.  Each has been amazing in their own right.  We have seen mosques, synagogues, churches, mausoleums, museums, famous buildings, both ancient and modern.  But the Taj Mahal, viewed at the entrance, is truly stunning.  It is seen at its best from afar, with its beautiful symetry and lines. But the close up details are stunning, as well, with beautiful inlay and crystals reflecting off the marble.

Clearly a reason it is on everybody’s short list of the wonders of the world. Waaay too many pictures included below…

Agra Fort

Similar to the red fort in Delhi, but larger.  A combination of military fort, royal residence and seat of government.  Built in 17^th century.  Shah  Jahan wanted to build a black tomb across the river from the Taj Mahal for himself.  His son thought the expense would be too great for the people, so he deposed Jahad and placed him under house arrest in the royal residence at Agra fort, where he lived the last 8 years of his life.  The Taj Mahal is visible from the royal balcony. 

Itimad-ud-Daula (Baby Taj or Jewel Box)

This was a new style of tomb when it was built.  Instead of red sandstone with white accents, this was white marble with black inlay.  Built about 80 years before the Taj Mahal, it could be considered a “first draft” of the Taj Mahal.

Chand Baori (Step Well) on the way to Jaipur

I’ve never seen anything like this.  A deep 4-sided inverted pyramidal hole, with a myriad of steps down 3 sides to the pool of water at the bottom. The fourth wall is a subterranean palace.  First built in the 8^th century as a way to have consistent access to water in an area otherwise dependent on monsoons for water. The scale is just massive.

Jaipur

Amber Fort

Another military fort, royal residence, and seat of government for the state of Rajasthan.  This is in a hilly region, with a Great-Wall-Of-China styled 16km long defensive wall ringing the palace, connecting to a fort on the top of the hill.

Palace of Windows

While it looks like a large building, it is actually just a façade, one room thick for the top three stories.  900+ windows allowed the women of the palace to watch every day life and festivals without being seen by outsiders.  It still seems like women in India are rarely seen in public, except when they are shopping. Access is from the City Palace, on the back side of the façade.

City Palace

The royal family built this palace in early 1700’s in the city of Jaipur and moved there after water shortages at the Amber Palace became a problem.

Observatory

Adjacent to the city palace are 19 celestial observation tools, including the world’s largest stone sundial.  Raja Jai Singh had an interest in astronomy and astrology and stated building the observatory in 1723. Dave completely geeked out walking around this compound.

Including some shopping, eating and long car rides, this was a pretty full 7 days. Here are some other interesting things we saw on the streets an highways:

Next up, 3 weeks in Vietnam….