Red Fort and Sikh Taxi Driver

Wednesday April 6^th

Today I decided to go to Delhi's Red Fort. Took a tuk tuk for the long drive from south Delhi to the north. Admission to the Fort was 10 rupees for Indians and 250 rupees for tourists. Gives you some idea of the disparity between our lifestyles.

The Red Fort was built by the Moguls in the 16^th century. It's a huge walled area containing the palaces of the kings and temples as well. This one was used by the British for years and the Indian army up until the 1950's, so it's been abused and allowed to fall into disrepair. Much of the fort is being restored, slowly. As I was walking around the inside wall, I came to any area where a few men were working with hammers and chisels to make replicas of the original latticed stone work. The one man carefully measured and drew the lines that the other man chiseled out. Watched them for awhile, and tried to talk to them, but that was difficult.

Spent a couple of hours wandering around the buildings, exploring the two museums (one to the struggle for Indian independence from the 'Britishers' and the other to World Heritage sites of India).

When I left I crossed the road and wandered into a market area. The roads were narrow, traffic congested and at times totally clogged the streets. It turned out to be an electrical market, wires, bulbs, etc. hardly touristy. I had to watch to make sure my toes didn't get run over. Dropped into a McDonald's to get a bottle of water (couldn't find one anywhere else) and bought a bottle of orange juice and an ice cream as well).

Decided to take a tuk tuk to another recommended site, the India Gate. This is an arch that looks like the Arch de Triomphe and it's set in a large park. I sat and watched a group of young boys playing in the water fountain. From there I decided to walk the three kilometre road through the park to the President's Palace and the government buildings that I could see from the India Gate. As I was walking a number of tuk tuk drivers offered their services and didn't seem to understand I wanted to walk. Then a Sikh in a taxi drove slowly along side me. He too wanted to drive me there. He was very persistent, charismatic and funny. When I told him I didn't want a ride and I wanted to walk, he told me that he would drive me there for free!, just because he thought that I was nice. So I got in and he drove me the rest of the way, for free. Then he said he'd be around if I wanted to go somewhere after. I wandered around the buildings but was not allowed in any of them. I did however, see a small troop of monkeys on the grounds.

When I wanted to leave I spotted my taxi friend. So, I tried to negotiate a price for the ride back to the hotel. It turned into a strange ride. He would take me there for a good price if he could take me to two shops. I told him I didn't want to go to any shops, I hate people trying to force me to buy things, and I wasn't going to buying anything anyway. He was very persuasive (if he took me to the shops he'd get a gas coupon and probably a cut of whatever I bought) and as I said funny (he told me to look around the stores and then tell the sales people that I was interested but I would come back tomorrow with my wife!), so I said I'd go along and see what developed. Well, the two shops he took me took were both excellent (the second one was very up scale), with lots of beautiful things, and no sales pressure. But, I didn't buy anything... I have to find a wife first. He also told me that there are 17 million people in Delhi and 1 million motorcyles! I saw a few parking lots that looked like Sturgis! I asked him why the law that says helmets are mandatory, but Sikhs don't have to wear them? He told me that God gave them a helmet already! Then true to his word he drove me to the hotel. Another adventure.

When I got back I talked to my parents and then had dinner here. Their food is very quality and reasonable. Blog and bed.