Day 19 - Delhi and home
The train was comfortable and clean, but due to "fog" we were delayed almost 4 hours. Instead of arriving at 7:30, we pulled in at 11:40 or so. Back to the crappy Hotel Sunrise we raced.
Now, I love revisiting the site of your arrival on any trip to see how your perspective has changed. Hotel sunrise wasn't looking too shabby! Plus, Delhi seemed quite organized and spacious all of a sudden. Ha ha!
With so little time and so much packing to do, Jill and I had to short list out Delhi activities. We quickly hopped the metro and headed for the India Gate. The gate is in the centre of four intersecting, perfectly straight roads. Ideally, you can see it from 2 kilometres away. However, the air quality was just terrible with thick white smoke/smog again. We had to get quite close to see the gate. It looks similar to the Arc du Triumph in Paris and is inscribed with a memorial message for fallen soldiers of several wars. The lower pillars are inscribed with the fallen battalions.
Back on the metro, we headed down to the Lotus Temple. Now, I didn't really know what the temple was about, but heard it was definitely worth a visit. When we saw the line to get in, I thought it had better be! It was more crowded than the Taj Mahal.
We learned that the Lotus Temple is a Bahá'í house of worship. They emphasize that the temple is a gathering place where people of all religions may worship God without denominational restrictions. There are no sermons or ceremonies, but just a large silent auditorium for prayer.
The building itself is quite beautiful. In Bahá'í architecture, the temples must have 9 sides. The Lotus Temple is so named as the nine sides are designed to look like an opening lotus flower. There are only eight Bahá'í temples in the world.
When we left the temple, we were approached by a few teen girls eager to shake our hands and chat with is. They asked for a photo. By now, I had learned to look around before the photos begin. Holy crap there were 30 of them! We were mobbed by a group of giggling smiling girls with a bajilliondy cameras. I felt like Justin Beiber or something!
We raced back on the metro with enough time for a quick shower and packing before meeting everyone for a final group dinner. I took a minute to thank our amazing guide before being whisked away to the airport.
Just as I said goodbye to India, I had one more classic Indian bureaucratic obstacle to overcome. I unloaded my bags and walked up to a door to find a couple security guards and army officials asking for passports and boarding passes. Now, I didn't have a boarding pass or ticket yet. I was fully expecting to walk in, go to the Swiss Air counter, checking in, and getting my boarding passes. But noooooooooo... In India, you have to have that done before you get in the door. I did not come prepared for this level of security! After quite a bit of arguing and convincing, a security marshal checked my passport, checked my name against a passenger manifest, and escorted me to the airline counter to watch my boarding passes be printed before leaving me be. Crazy!
Well, I was super excited to get on the first of three planes just to get some sleep. It was 2:00 am with 23.5 hours in transit to go. Zzz...
Now, I love revisiting the site of your arrival on any trip to see how your perspective has changed. Hotel sunrise wasn't looking too shabby! Plus, Delhi seemed quite organized and spacious all of a sudden. Ha ha!
With so little time and so much packing to do, Jill and I had to short list out Delhi activities. We quickly hopped the metro and headed for the India Gate. The gate is in the centre of four intersecting, perfectly straight roads. Ideally, you can see it from 2 kilometres away. However, the air quality was just terrible with thick white smoke/smog again. We had to get quite close to see the gate. It looks similar to the Arc du Triumph in Paris and is inscribed with a memorial message for fallen soldiers of several wars. The lower pillars are inscribed with the fallen battalions.
Back on the metro, we headed down to the Lotus Temple. Now, I didn't really know what the temple was about, but heard it was definitely worth a visit. When we saw the line to get in, I thought it had better be! It was more crowded than the Taj Mahal.
We learned that the Lotus Temple is a Bahá'í house of worship. They emphasize that the temple is a gathering place where people of all religions may worship God without denominational restrictions. There are no sermons or ceremonies, but just a large silent auditorium for prayer.
The building itself is quite beautiful. In Bahá'í architecture, the temples must have 9 sides. The Lotus Temple is so named as the nine sides are designed to look like an opening lotus flower. There are only eight Bahá'í temples in the world.
When we left the temple, we were approached by a few teen girls eager to shake our hands and chat with is. They asked for a photo. By now, I had learned to look around before the photos begin. Holy crap there were 30 of them! We were mobbed by a group of giggling smiling girls with a bajilliondy cameras. I felt like Justin Beiber or something!
We raced back on the metro with enough time for a quick shower and packing before meeting everyone for a final group dinner. I took a minute to thank our amazing guide before being whisked away to the airport.
Just as I said goodbye to India, I had one more classic Indian bureaucratic obstacle to overcome. I unloaded my bags and walked up to a door to find a couple security guards and army officials asking for passports and boarding passes. Now, I didn't have a boarding pass or ticket yet. I was fully expecting to walk in, go to the Swiss Air counter, checking in, and getting my boarding passes. But noooooooooo... In India, you have to have that done before you get in the door. I did not come prepared for this level of security! After quite a bit of arguing and convincing, a security marshal checked my passport, checked my name against a passenger manifest, and escorted me to the airline counter to watch my boarding passes be printed before leaving me be. Crazy!
Well, I was super excited to get on the first of three planes just to get some sleep. It was 2:00 am with 23.5 hours in transit to go. Zzz...
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