Getting There Was Half the Fun

We did brave the Metro today. And survived. In fact I think if I am ever forced to live in India I'm going to spend my time there. It's fast, efficient, cheap, clean and quiet. No tuk-tuk's and taxis and trucks honking there horns, no cows wandering the tracks, no excrement fouling the walkways - it's an amazing contrast to the above ground.

We started our day by attempting to find out what stop to get off at for the Red Fort, but the staff didn't seem too knowledgeable about where we would get off. We finally decided we'd chance it anyway and walked to the nearby stop we had checked out before. It was an easy walk, but the aforementioned excrement was rather too plentiful on the way. However, the metro itself was a model of decorum. Everyone goes through a metal detector and if it beeps gets frisked. We are frisked everytime. I suppose I could take off my belt. I don't have a hip replacement so it can't be that.

We had to transfer lines on our way, but the route is as well signed as one needs. There are also announcements for every stop in Hindi and in English, and also electronic information boards that say the same thing in both scripts. We had no problem getting to our desired location although it was a little disconcerting to come up in Chowndi Chowk with no directional signs, just an alley leading off. We took it anyway and were finally brought out to a broad and very busy roadway, where we reconnoitered and decided that we should walk to the east. Where indeed we found the Red Fort.

More security there, but not like yesterday at the Modern temple where it took almost an hour to get in what with dropping off our stuff at the cloak room (not a single cloak left there I'm sure) and then the wait to be frisked at the real entrance.

The fort is indeed red, or at least it's walls are. It has also been a royal residence so there are marble palaces which were once richly decorated as you can imagine. The Peacock Throne was removed from here and taken to Iran by the Persians. Some of the inlaid tiles are still decorating the marble walls and are very beautiful. (I think the flowers are poppies.)

After wandering, we headed out and stopped at a shop where I bargained for a shawl to ward off the early morning chill. It's red at the ends (about a foot) and the rest is black, but it has an allover woven pattern in Paisleys. Comes from Lahore apparently. I bargained it down from 400 rupees to 250, so paid a princely 6 dollars for it.

Now for confession time. We didn't see any coffee shops, but we did pass a MacDonald's on the way so we went back and had a cappucino there. It cost 60 cents for each one, and we had to wait for it because there was a power outage while we were in there. It came back on in a couple of minutes so we got to enjoy our nice hot coffee. We have seen no other coffee shops yet, (I think the Indian Coffee Shop chain is more South India - I hope we do find them soon, though.) Then horrors, I had a soft serve icecream in a fresh made thin walled waffle cone - delicious and 20 rupees or 50 cents.

Ok, now Geordie thought he should drag me through the crowded streets to the Jama Masjid, the Moslem Temple nearby. That was an adventure as we walked down narrow alleys full of people and cycle rickshaws (the human powered ones), as well as a few goats and sheep and many many stalls. He even dragged me down a narrower side alley which twisted and turned then deposited us back on another street from where we had to get back to the one we needed, Did I mention that we have seen no street signs since we arrived? Seems the only way you know what street you are on is if a business shows its address on its building.

Along the way we passed brick sellers, seems it's their street for a bit, cloth sellers, and we think not a few homes under tarps along the side of a wall. We couldn't visit the Jama until about 1:30 (service at 12:00) so we went looking for a restaurant we had read about in Gourmet magazine. And we found it, after going much too far, turning around and then finding the name of the restaurant gracing many businesses nearby. We were finally directed to the Karim's we were looking for by a guy in a shop who must be used to all the foreigners in the area.

This restaurant may have been mentioned in Gourmet but it's not for the decor. Formica tables and a kid on his haunches cleaning the floor with a rag. But the food was good (Gourmet? I don't think so). We had Chicken Tikka, chunks of chicken with onion and peppers grilled and yes very tasty. Plain Dal (yellow split peas), mutton qorma (a stew with a rich gravy made with yogurt and wonderful freshly made naan - very eggy in flavour which is not the usual, but oh so good. We had one, then as the waiter went by later with a plate of them he offered us another which of course we took - it was better than the first- really piping hot and so fresh. Delicious.




(I took pictures of the Tikka and the naan, but I have yet to see the USB link on the computer -it's at the back and I'm not crawling around on the floor to find it. Sorry bout that.)

There was still 3/4 of an hour before we could officially visit the Jama so we decided to skip it - what would we do during that time - there was no coffee shop after all. So we went walking looking for another metro stop, along a street that first was all paper suppliers, with men carrying reams of the stuff on their backs, every shop with its samples displayed, lots of fancy papers available. Then the street became the place to buy door hardware, many varieties of door handles, knobs and other door paraphernalia, then it was the motorbike repair shops with men filing bushings, selling ball bearings, greasing things with pots of grease. And finally the Metro stop - which by the way is not marked on our map so Geordie is using dead reckoning to find things.

Down into the merciful peace and quiet of the subway. And a guess as to where we might need to go to find the National Museum. We guessed right again, and got off at the end of the line and found the Rajpath above us - a broad swath of greenery where the lovers hang out to get away from family I'm sure. We walked about half its length and found the museum.

Here's a wierd bit - the first display we saw in the museum was a small exhibit of walrus ivory with some lovely NW Coast First Nations designs. Who knew? Then we walked through the pre-Columbian exhibit with Mayan sculpture, a codex facsimile, and some pottery. Not what we had been expecting.

We did finally find the Indian heritage stuff, some great Buddha sculptures. some tetxtiles, a whole display of armour, a room full of Indian miniatures but also full of a gaggle of girls - seems Saturday is the day the schools do the museum tours. The museum was designed to amplify every syllable of every girl's conversation - it was deafening. And in the midst of them we also found two of our fellow hotel guests who will be on our tour with us. They too were trying to find away through the crowds and out.

We'd had enough, our legs were tired, and we were thirsty so we decided to head back to the hotel. Another Metro trip, another transfer of lines and we were back. Easy as pie.

Tomorrow we meet our tour group for the first time. We will find out who our other travellers are and meet our tour guide. Aparently if we get Rudy we will be very lucky. He guided the tour of the people we met the first day and they liked him a lot. You'll get our opinion soon, I'm sure.