Last day in Delhi today and I have to say that this was actually one of my favourite trips/experiences of all time; I'd hate to get all sentimental on the crowd but it was truly incredible seeing Delhi. Words cannot describe the fun I've had over here and I am so sad to leave. All good things must come to an end (including Aditi's side notes as I'm writing this one while she's asleep). Also, do excuse any bad grammar/spelling, my proof-reader is currently snoring.
We'd planned to see Chandni Chowk and Red Fort today, along with the Jama Masjid (I swear every time someone named this place they said "jam and mustard"). We ended up only doing one of those things - and three guesses which one it was.
Chandni Chowk is an area of town in Old Delhi which is basically just this huge market which most people associate with food (as you assumed this is the one we ended up doing). Before we left we googled and narrowed down the list of places to see in Chandni Chowk and we ended up with 3 major ones: Gali Paranthe Wali, Ghanteewala and Karim's. We ended up seeing all three, which considering our track record was pretty good.
Gali Paranthe Wali is a street (gali meaning street) which has about a billion paranthe restaurants along it, and has in fact become a culinary destination in its own right. Paranthe is basically fried bread with filling. Aditi and I got two different paranthes: banana and mixed veg, and shared them. They were so good! We were both a little bit apprehensive about trying to food because it was essentially street food but all was well. The banana paranthe was sweet but they still put chilli in which was a little weird but still way better than I expected it to be and the mixed veg was fairly standard.
Next was the Ghanteewala which is basically a sweets place. We bought some sweets (sorry, I can't remember the names!) and then had a fight over who would pay for them. Aditi won it only because she spoke hindi to the shopkeepers and they laughed at me; a lot of people in India seem to laugh at me.
After Ghanteewala we pottered around a bit and decided to do some shopping so we went to Pahaganj which is a cheap hippy-infested market area (really good if you're on a backpacker's budget). I continued my streak of buying random things by buying some door knobs in the shape of roses to put on my wardrobe doors and then some normal boring stuff like anklets that jingle and some nice earrings; I also bought an Indian flute, which if you know me well actually isn't as random as it seems.
At this point we realised that all we had done in the past couple of days was eat and shop so we thought we'd try to be cultural and see the Jama Musjid, which coincidently was right near Karim's (more to come on Karim's), but that was irrelevant. Jama Musjid is in the Muslim Quater of Old Delhi and is the largest mosque in India. Unfortunately, because we have awful planning skills and forgot to check prayer times on google we arrived just at the start of prayer time and when the mosque closed to visitors for the day so we didn't get a chance to see inside, which is a shame but I enjoyed the rest of the night.
Next on the list was Karim's. Being the smart and cultural people we are we ordered butter chicken and 3 plates of naan, which I ate 5 out of the 6 pieces. For those who know the story from Aditi's family about the butter chicken this was a repeat of that. For those who haven't had the pleasure of eating good butter chicken with me then let's just say that you have never seen a person my size eat this much. I have to say that although we didn't order what we ought to have ordered (some of their good muslim-style food) that was still potentially the best meal I've had since being here.
Having eaten basically a full meal we realised that we were going to Aditi's Subroto-uncle's house for dinner, so we thought it'd be a good idea to walk it off and maybe do some more shopping, however when we stood up and waddled out of Karim's we agreed that we wouldn't be able to walk far and if we did end up doing more shopping then we'd be out after dark which we, sensibly, thought would be a bad idea. The metro and Subroto-uncle's it was for us.
At Subroto-uncle's we chatted for a bit with the family, who turns out, have known Aditi's family from before Aditi or her sister were born. Food was the next logical step so we all went down to the table to eat some dinner, which was also so yummy. It was mutton curry, which was gorgeous and I ended up eating a whole plateful of it (by the way this was only 3 hours after we had been at Karim's). For desert we had ladoos, which are these Indian sweets consisting of basically sugar and flour with some nuts in them, really nice but super breakable as I found out: I squashed the ladoo too hard and it exploded everywhere. At this point more people in India started laughing at me.
Subroto-uncle's son, Mihir, then took Aditi and I out to see a little bit of the area around where he lives, told us some history about the 'hip' places and how they formed right near a deer park and then we called it a night.
So, this will be my last post from the India trip which will include writing. Just want to give a huge thank-you to everyone who let me stay at their place/fed me/gave Aditi and I advice and anyone else who helped us at all. You guys really made the trip enjoyable as there was always a sense of family and support in case anything went wrong; not to mention the wealth of knowledge about the areas in Delhi and what to do. I got almost everything done that I wanted to do, the only thing I can think of that I didn't get a chance to do that was important was the elephant ride. I really want to ride an elephant or at least see a live one, alas it was not meant for this trip. I guess that just means I'll have to come back! I throughly recommend Delhi and India in general to anyone and everyone; it's a great place with some great people. I even got my photo taken with an entire family today for no apparent reason (this happened while in line to wash my hands at Karim's).
The next post will just be one full of pictures and videos that Aditi and I took on the trip including ones that I didn't get a chance to include in the blog because I didn't have space or just random things that I saw that made me giggle. I'd best be off because I have a flight to catch in the morning.
We'd planned to see Chandni Chowk and Red Fort today, along with the Jama Masjid (I swear every time someone named this place they said "jam and mustard"). We ended up only doing one of those things - and three guesses which one it was.
Chandni Chowk is an area of town in Old Delhi which is basically just this huge market which most people associate with food (as you assumed this is the one we ended up doing). Before we left we googled and narrowed down the list of places to see in Chandni Chowk and we ended up with 3 major ones: Gali Paranthe Wali, Ghanteewala and Karim's. We ended up seeing all three, which considering our track record was pretty good. |
| Some of the choices we had for the paranthe, we really wanted to try the raddis and kauliflower ones. |
Gali Paranthe Wali is a street (gali meaning street) which has about a billion paranthe restaurants along it, and has in fact become a culinary destination in its own right. Paranthe is basically fried bread with filling. Aditi and I got two different paranthes: banana and mixed veg, and shared them. They were so good! We were both a little bit apprehensive about trying to food because it was essentially street food but all was well. The banana paranthe was sweet but they still put chilli in which was a little weird but still way better than I expected it to be and the mixed veg was fairly standard.
Next was the Ghanteewala which is basically a sweets place. We bought some sweets (sorry, I can't remember the names!) and then had a fight over who would pay for them. Aditi won it only because she spoke hindi to the shopkeepers and they laughed at me; a lot of people in India seem to laugh at me.
After Ghanteewala we pottered around a bit and decided to do some shopping so we went to Pahaganj which is a cheap hippy-infested market area (really good if you're on a backpacker's budget). I continued my streak of buying random things by buying some door knobs in the shape of roses to put on my wardrobe doors and then some normal boring stuff like anklets that jingle and some nice earrings; I also bought an Indian flute, which if you know me well actually isn't as random as it seems.At this point we realised that all we had done in the past couple of days was eat and shop so we thought we'd try to be cultural and see the Jama Musjid, which coincidently was right near Karim's (more to come on Karim's), but that was irrelevant. Jama Musjid is in the Muslim Quater of Old Delhi and is the largest mosque in India. Unfortunately, because we have awful planning skills and forgot to check prayer times on google we arrived just at the start of prayer time and when the mosque closed to visitors for the day so we didn't get a chance to see inside, which is a shame but I enjoyed the rest of the night.
Next on the list was Karim's. Being the smart and cultural people we are we ordered butter chicken and 3 plates of naan, which I ate 5 out of the 6 pieces. For those who know the story from Aditi's family about the butter chicken this was a repeat of that. For those who haven't had the pleasure of eating good butter chicken with me then let's just say that you have never seen a person my size eat this much. I have to say that although we didn't order what we ought to have ordered (some of their good muslim-style food) that was still potentially the best meal I've had since being here.
 |
| The remnants of our meal (they kept taking away plates so imagine another 2 plates for the extra naan. |
At Subroto-uncle's we chatted for a bit with the family, who turns out, have known Aditi's family from before Aditi or her sister were born. Food was the next logical step so we all went down to the table to eat some dinner, which was also so yummy. It was mutton curry, which was gorgeous and I ended up eating a whole plateful of it (by the way this was only 3 hours after we had been at Karim's). For desert we had ladoos, which are these Indian sweets consisting of basically sugar and flour with some nuts in them, really nice but super breakable as I found out: I squashed the ladoo too hard and it exploded everywhere. At this point more people in India started laughing at me.
 |
| Just 'cause |
So, this will be my last post from the India trip which will include writing. Just want to give a huge thank-you to everyone who let me stay at their place/fed me/gave Aditi and I advice and anyone else who helped us at all. You guys really made the trip enjoyable as there was always a sense of family and support in case anything went wrong; not to mention the wealth of knowledge about the areas in Delhi and what to do. I got almost everything done that I wanted to do, the only thing I can think of that I didn't get a chance to do that was important was the elephant ride. I really want to ride an elephant or at least see a live one, alas it was not meant for this trip. I guess that just means I'll have to come back! I throughly recommend Delhi and India in general to anyone and everyone; it's a great place with some great people. I even got my photo taken with an entire family today for no apparent reason (this happened while in line to wash my hands at Karim's).
The next post will just be one full of pictures and videos that Aditi and I took on the trip including ones that I didn't get a chance to include in the blog because I didn't have space or just random things that I saw that made me giggle. I'd best be off because I have a flight to catch in the morning.
Laura, that was a truly splendid travel diary -- informative, engrossing, amusing. And each day's report posted each night -- awesomely disciplined. Just awesome.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed your few days in the madness called Delhi, food, buses, metro, cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws and all. Do return soon, for the elephants will not wait for ever.
Aditi's dad.