The start of the Great Indian Adventure with the Commons family

25th December 2019

We arrived into Delhi at 10am having flown overnight from Warsaw, Poland. We didn’t even realise we had landed as the thick fog of pollution surrounded the aircraft. As we disembarked the smell of smoke hit us and we weren’t sure what we should be expected as we left the airport. Customs took forever but we met a fellow kiwi in the queue. His wife is Indian and he floats around Asia and India as he pleases. Sounded like he has life sorted! Once through customs we picked up our bags and found a smiling man with our names on a board ready to take us to our accommodations called Hotel Jivitesh. Averill, Paul, Alice and Eddie were waiting for us as we arrived. It had been over two years since we had seen Alice and Ed and October last years since we saw Paul and Averill. It was Xmas day after all so as soon as we opened up our bags we got some presents out. We got given some handy nick nacks including bamboo cutlery, knitted facecloth and merino singlets which were all going to come in very handy both on our travels and in London. We had 15 minutes to get ready for our tour around Delhi this afternoon so we had a quick cold shower and hurried to pack a bag full of essentials ready to explore.  

The Commons family had a private shuttle to take us to stop number 1 of the day which was the Qutb Minar which is the tallest Mineret in India. It was the first time we really realised that 12 hours ago we were in Europe and now we were plonked in the middle of a third world county. We had many photos taken with us from locals - Alice and Averill’s blonde hair attracting many interested photographers. We were the only white faces in a sea of colour. Our guide Gotham told us some of the history around Delhi as we stood in the sun warming ourself. We didn’t realise it would be this cold that’s for sure. Thankfully we had packed some warm clothes for when we were in Warsaw which we knew was going to come in handy. Some interesting facts about Delhi is that it is actually made up of 7 different cities and the main religion at 76% is Hindu. Hence the mother tongue is Hindi. But there is 29 different districts in India and each of the have their own local language. In Rajasthan the capital is Jaipur and the language is Dhundari along with Hindi and English.

The temple was beautiful with intricate details carved into the stone. The miner just popped out from the pollution clouds but it was still so thick you would only just make out the belly of the plane flying low overhead. The sunlight was streaming down painting the buildings with an orange hue. We took numerous photos from all angles as our guide was rather creative.

Next stop was the Humayun tomb which is an Islamic monument for the second ruler of the Mughal empire Humanyun. He unfortunately died young of a head injury at 48. The Taj Mahal is a bigger replicate of this building but it’s not built in red sandstone and limestone. We were able to wander around the gardens and inside where the tomb is also. 

On the way back to the van we hung a left and came to the Isa Kahn’s garden tomb which actually predates the Humayun tomb by 2 decades. It’s the only surviving octagonal enclosed tomb with the complex walls, gates and mosque intact. The building itself has recently been restored and it’s gorgeous blue domes and detailed archways I could imagine would have been quite something in its day.

Huuuuungry!

Ok so Lewis and I hadn’t eaten for over 12 hours when we first got on the plane to Delhi and we were definitely starting to hit the wall. Our guide Gigi promised to get us some tasty food and it really didn’t disappoint. It was Xmas eve and we wanted a big family meal to bring us all together. The name of the restaurant was “Pindi” And it served traditional Indian food and Chinese, a very different Xmas dinner to what we would usually have. We got some help choosing and I ended up with this amazing chickpea dish with roti, Lew went for a dahl as he usually does, Alice tandoori chicken, Eddie a paneer and Paul a tika masala. All super tasty and exactly what we needed. Fingers crossed we don’t get sick on this first meal like the trip to Morocco. Arriving back to the hotel we were exhausted and slept from 8pm -8am. 

Day two - Old Delhi - 26.12.19

Good morning. We slept so soundly for 12 hours it was crazy… other than a bit of reflux as my body certainly isn’t used to such spices. Breakfast was of course curry of a different sort and green tea. Alas a little different to the protein shake we are used to in London. We were loaded up into the van at 9.30am and headed to the Chandni Chowk market. We were dropped off in amongst chaos of locals going about their usual morning.Gigi showed us the front of a van which had 6 chillis and a lemon which is effectively a good luck charm and is changed every Friday. How random, could you image London black cabs with these on them? The streets were a mess of electrical wires, run down stores with all sorts of things being sold. We were told by our guide that this isn’t the place to buy anything as the quality is not good, if locals are buying things here they add their own tags into it and resell it. Stray dogs, beggars, scooters, rickshaws and a lot of people pushing carts or carrying items. We were overwhelmed looking left then right whilst trying to avoid the tooting vehicles. We’re stuck out like white thumbs that’s for sure. It was also very cold, my merino singlet, top, cotton top, merino hoodie and down jacket were just keeping me warm…just! To break up the walking we were loaded up into rickshaws with a few local men and driven down the frantic streets dodging potholes and even a funeral. Every street we went down was focused on selling certain things - one of the main streets we went down brought locals and Indian tourists from all over- this was Paranthe street. Everything was very spicy so wasn’t anything we were going to be able to handle. But the smell and watching the men make the deep fried items was fascinating. We stopped into a shop selling spices and tea and begun to sniff our way through the store guided by the store owner trying to entice us to make a purchase. We perhaps went a little crazy as I was very excited to use my mortar and pestle when we got back to London. We got two lots of curry powders - one for tofu and the other a green curry powder. Will be a lot more tasty than the paste we buy from the supermarket. We went for some chocolate and blueberry tea as well as some cinnamon bark and anise. It ended up being £44 ($91.60 nzd) worth which we thought was extreme but then Lew doesn’t usually buy the spices back home and they are usually expensive. Finally we emerged onto a corner and our stomachs were beginning to rumble. This was the perfect time for us to try some Samoa’s from a local street stall. Something I went to sleep thinking about yesterday wondering why we hadn’t seen any yesterday on the menu at the restaurant or being cooked on the streets. They were beyond amazing with the spices and vegetables in London or NZ so I can only imagine how much better they would be here. The shop didn’t look the cleanest but Lew assured me that it had to be deep fried so it should be ok. The spice caught Alice off guard as you can see by the picture!

At the corner of this road this was where the Islamic mosque nicknamed the Friday mosque was as situated. We took only one camera in as they charged for each one and us girls donned a gown - I made sure to pick a pretty pink coloured one. The worst part was having to take our shoes off and wander around this mosque in socks, I didn’t want to think about how filthy my socks would be afterwards and they would likely just be hand washed in a sink too. It was beautiful but not as intricately detailed as what’s we saw in Morocco. It has red and white stones with marble and was built in 1656. Lew took some fun photos for us with our gowns on

Mahatma Ghandi

His memorial was the next place we stopped of at. The Beautiful gardens almost looked stupid in amongst the clouds of smog. But it was clear that the father of India was well loved with an eternal flame and fresh flowers daily. He was shot due to the unrest between the Hindus and Islam’s.

Textiles emporium 

Of course we were told that we weren’t expected to buy anything but we knew that we were going to be given a good show by every stall owner who was hoping we would purchase something. The family run business did everything from pashminas, jodhpurs, rugs and jewellery. But first we were shown where to take a seat so that we could see how the rugs were made. Everything was hand made using small knots using a loom that people often have in their houses. We were shown just how much effort it was to make one small knot before rugs were opened up before us. They were also swivelled around like a magic show for us to see how the colours change depending where the knots have been made. Once it’s been knotted the wool is cut and then shaved down to the right height using scissors. This beautiful blue rug was thrown down and it instantly caught my eye as it was a lot more modern than the rest of them. It had blues and pinks and was basically the same colour as my ring. We ummm’ed and ahhhh’ed over it as we were shown more and more rugs as they had just got the hint maybe we would be interested in purchasing something. I was trying to work out where on earth this thing could possibly go as I really didn’t want anything tacky that we would take back and it wouldn’t work someday in our home. Many sizes and slight variations came out but still we preferred the blue one. Averill found a small intricate one for a table which was beautiful. It was difficult to decide as the men were really putting on a show having noticed we were seriously thinking about this rug. It came out in smaller sizes, runners and even other slight colour variations. There wasn’t really a moment of peace for us to really stop and consider it. But in the end we decided together it could be a really nice staple piece of our future home and we are aiming to collect bits and pieces along the way in our travels to make our house a reminder of what we have accomplished in the world. Alice, Eddie and Paul looked throughly bored at this point in time and were very pleased we had made a decision. Averill and Paul decided that this would be a lovely wedding present and wouldn’t allow us to purchase it after all. The paperwork was promptly brought out and we were encouraged to document our names and the date on the rug as a reminder of this moment. Although it was purely a scrawl in black vivid but we later thought it was so we had defaced the rug and couldn’t go back on our decision. We had a photo with our future lounge floor or rather our entire house if we choose to build a tiny home before being whisked away to other areas of the shop. Clothing, jewellery and pashminas were next and we feel a little bombarded. I did find a beautiful pashmina of intricate hand detailed flowers which I was told was £100 ($200 nzd) and my eyes almost popped out of my head. The lady later reduced it to £60 ($120 nzd) and I thought ok why not! I know it will look beautiful in photos throughout the trip at least. We finally escaped back our into the van and breathed a sigh of relief.

On the way to lunch we did a drive by of the India gate which is the national war museum honouring 70,000 Indian casualty’s in the WW1.

We also drove past the presidential palace which we arnt allowed to stop in front of which mean we did a couple of laps around the roundabout instead. It looked so out of place compared to the squalor of the rest of Delhi we had seen. Such a large gap between rich and poor. 

FOOD - one of our favourite times of day at present! I say that now as I remember how off food some of us got in Morocco and it certainly wasn’t our favourite time of day then but right now having curry is like a treat. We were driven out to a place called “Lazeez Affair” which was where all the rest of the tourists were also eating which made us laugh a little, or made us feel more comfortable about its cleanliness. It took awhile for our curry’s and naan to come out and we stared longingly as other people’s meals came up the stairs. At least they had clean toilets with toilet paper which one had come to appreciate. When it arrived the smell of fresh garlic naan was overpowering as everyone rushed to grab a piece of the buttery bread. We easily demolished multiple dishes which were a range of veggie and non veggie. Lew and I opted for the eggplant curry as well as a mushroom one deciding we were going to stick to veggie the entire trip. This was effectively lunch and dinner combined as we were finished for the day and taken back to the hotel to relax. We collectively checked out the gym to see whether some of us could do a work out but it consisted of a dusty room with one bench, a couple of weights and an unplugged treadmill that had seen better days. We figured it wasn’t a go. Instead we spent a couple of hours in Averill and Paul’s room sharing photos from the day and relaxing. Lewis and I called it a night at 8.30pm....yes can you even believe it? But the internet wasn’t working, it was cold and dark so what do you even do?