I was fortunate enough to be able to do some more sightseeing with the same driver and tour guide (probably because of my generous $10 tip) and our first stop was Purana Qila, which means Old Fort. It was built on the banks of the Yamuna River by Afghan rulers and covers a very large area. A mosque and a library are about all that remains besides the surrounding wall and the impressively fortified gates. I found it interesting that there were some wild dogs running around, but I’ve come to realize that’s pretty standard around here. Fortunately, they’re pretty benign. They don’t really seem to bark much nor do they have any interest in attacking people. That’s good news for a guy who never had a dog growing up, but was once bitten in the hinny as a kid while riding his bike. Not that dogs scare me or anything, but I do tend to check my six a lot if there are dogs around!
From Purana Qila we went to Old Delhi, took a lap around Lal Qila (Red Fort) and then dove into the madness. Unfortunately, Lal Qila was closed for security preparations as the President of India addresses the nation there on Indian Independence Day (August 15). The Jama Majid mosque is nearby, so we went there instead. Up until this point, I felt like my tour guide had been taking pretty good care of me. It soon became clear that he wasn’t exactly watching out for my financial interests. At the mosque, I paid 200 rupees for a camera fee and 100 rupees for an entrance fee to climb to the top of one of the minarets. Then an adolescent Muslim boy shows you to the top of the minaret and offers to take pictures of you. Of course he expects a tip, so I gave him 100 rupees. After returning to meet my tour guide, we walked into the central area of the mosque, which supposedly can hold up to 25,000 people during Friday prayer services. There was a fountain in the center of the mosque where people would wash their hands and feet. Supposedly, it isn’t holy water and if my observation gives you any idea, I think you’d have to be crazy to call that brown, murky liquid in the pool “holy water”. I walked thru the archways in the covered area where many people were just laying around while others shooting the bull—oops, is it sacrilegious to say that in India? You know, it’s probably okay since I was in a mosque, right? Well anyway, I neglected to mention earlier that I had to drop off my shoes before entering the mosque. My tour guide said I should give 100 rupees or something like that to the keeper of the shoes. Mind you, I’ve already paid 400 rupees, so another 100 brings the total to 500 rupees. With the exchange rate being approximately 46 rupees to the dollar, this stop would’ve cost me over $10! I decided 20 rupees would be sufficient since Lonely Planet recommended 5 rupees! Oh, it should have been only 50 rupees to climb the minaret. Total, I should have paid… 255 rupees plus the tip for the expert photographer. I’m not bitter, I’m just saying “beware” all you Daddy Warbucks types out there and by Daddy Warbucks, I mean potential tourists!
As if getting ripped off at the mosque weren’t bad enough, my tour guide then took me on an expensive cycle rickshaw ride through Changi-Chowk, which is something like a bazaar, but in reality is just a maze of narrow alleys lined with small shops. Our cyclist did a nice job avoiding the potholes and navigating the tight network of tiny roads in spite of all the distractions and obstacles. It was about a 20 minute ride and probably should have cost no more than 50 rupees or so, but my driver recommended 150. I obliged because our rider was pretty young and obviously had to work pretty hard to move my fat tush around. Also, I found out later that it was the first day of Ramazan and since he’s Muslim he wasn’t allowed to eat until sun down. Enjoy a nice meal tonight on me pal!
Our last stop was the Akshar Dham temple, which was on the east side of the Yamuna River. It is a Hindu temple that was built only in 2005. We just saw it from a distance because we didn’t have much time and then had to head back to the hotel. There were some large, newly built structures near the temple that I was told are part of a “Commonwealth Village”. For those of you who didn’t know this, Delhi is hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games in November. Apparently, it’s a pretty big deal and a number of areas in the city were being renovated to prepare for the upcoming event. Unfortunately, it seemed like much of the construction was well behind schedule, so that not even the most quixotic of people would expect it to be completed. If nothing else, at least progress is being made…
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