Spirit of India Day 2 Delhi

Sunday April 10^th

Today was the official start to our Discovery/GAP tour. We started out about 9am and boarded a mini van for a trip to the Jama Masjid Mosque. This is a huge red sandstone mosque built by Shah Jahan who also built the Taj Mahal. I forgot the legs to my shorts and had to wear a skirt to cover me legs. The weather this morning was cool with low clouds and while we were there it sprinkled for a bit. The courtyard could hold 30000 people with another 50000 outside the walls. It is a very impressive old mosque.

After our visit we all buddied up and went on a bicycle rickshaw for a ride through the narrow streets of Old Delhi. The streets are packed with little shops on the ground floor and and apartments above, people selling on the street and thousands of people. The are very dirty, and bumpy with potholes. Really fascinating area but it reminded me of the favellas in Rio, including the chaotic wiring as people were obviously pirating electricity from the main wires. We saw several monkeys climbing the fronts of the buildings.

Then we went to the cremation site of Mahatma Ghandi. I was surprised that the site was fairly simple with just a flat square table, an eternal flame and low brick wall around it, but maybe that is because his whole life was based on simplicity.

Next on the list was the Sikh Bangla Sahib Temple. This is one of the oldest Sikh temples in Delhi. Large white Temple with a large square pond in the courtyard that the faithful can wash themselves in. The temple was a very busy place today with lots of worshippers and bathers.

The last stop was Qutub Minar which is a large collection of ruins dating back to the 11^th century. The tower is over 200 feet and very impressive. There are a couple of tomb here and some beautiful carvings on the sandstone facade. There is a large iron post that was created 1600 years ago and hasn't rusted. Scientists are still examining it to figure out why it hasn't rusted.

Then is was back to the hotel for an early evening and some down time to relax before an early morning start tomorrow.