Delhi

After a 3:00 am departure from Rising Star, we arrived in Delhi and met our tour guide around 9:00 am to we started off the trip with a bang. We were first taken to Old Delhi, a trip that contained of many incredible experiences, including a bicycle rickshaw ride to the spice market, visiting a mosque, and seeing Ghandi's tomb.

At the mosque, being foreigners, we had to put on these goofy robes because of modesty regulations. Although, most of us were probably more modest than our Indian friends. The architecture was beautiful. There was a huge pile of bird food that was in the center of the grounds and birds flooded it. So, of course, I had to run through and watch them all fly up around me. I didn't even care that they were pigeons, rats of the sky. 

While we were there, all of a sudden, a huge crowd formed around the worshipping pool. So, our group ran to the edges and joined the crowd, trying to understand what was going on. A woman had jumped in the water and started wading around the middle fountain. You could clearly see that she was not all there. There was a look in her eye which was quite scary. A buff guy ripped off his clothes, jumped in and went to take her out of the pool. Of course, she was resistant, but strong, he soon got control of her. He seemed safe, but it is very scary to think of what happened to her after they took her away from the mosque. Delhi is known for having terrible mobs and a lot of violence. Curious, I followed and watched the man throw her over his shoulder and take her down the stairs.

After this, we hopped on a few bicycle rickshaws to go through the markets of Old Delhi. Being myself and overly social, I quickly made friends with our bike rider. He didn't speak any English, but he saw my enthusiasm and tried really hard. He told us about everything we were passing as best as he could. He took us to the spice market, which was SO cool. I got a bunch of Indian spices so I will be able to make traditional dishes when I get home. Along with some spices that are dear to my heart.

To end the long day, Ramish, our studly tour guide, took us to visit Mahatma Ghandi's tomb. He has an entire park dedicated in his honor with a forever burning fire. New flowers placed everyday, you can feel the respect from a mile away. I have so much respect for this man, especially after seeing the pride this country has for him and recently finishing Ghandi's autobiography. I felt so blessed to visit his memorial grave site.

We piled into the car and headed to Agra, gearing up to see the Taj Mahal. But all of us were so tired and ready to jump right into the hotel room beds. It was a 5 hour drive, and we all got a bit loopy. We danced in our "party bus" to Punjabi music and all got a little closer. The story of Agra, next.