Destination Delhi Day 3

Day 03 (1-3) - Wednesday, October 30, 2019 - Arrive in Delhi; Meet with Tour Director; Welcome Meeting; Explore New Delhi

We had a short night, but tried to wake up at our normal time to start getting a routine going and adjust our internal clocks to function on Delhi time. We discovered that our shower was clogged and not functioning.

When we went down to breakfast we reported the issue and by the time we returned, there was a gentleman from the maintenance department who cleaned the fixtures and restored the water pressure.

Our buffet breakfast was excellent with a variety of international foods. We tried to stick to fruit and bread. The spicy Indian options smelled enticing but it was a bit early in the morning for curry.

Gennie asked for a cheese and bacon omelet and the chef told her that the bacon would be served on the side as they would not cook the bacon in the same pan for dietary and religious reasons.

At noon we gathered on the 28-floor restaurant and Balbir, our tour director, welcomed each of us with the traditional greeting, “Namaste”. There are 14 people on the tour, with 11 women and three men.

After hearing a bit about Balbir, we introduced ourselves and gave a little history of our travel experiences. Balbir also gave us more of the OAT philosophy of being travelers instead of tourists. He emphasized the cultural experiences as well as the idea of including controversial topics of the counties we visit in the next 19 days.

In addition to giving us an overview of the Delhi portion of the trip, he also added information about Bhutan and the limited services such as laundry, Internet, cash machines, and central heating. We will give our readers a heads up before we get into situations when we will not have the ability to upload our daily journal.

After our briefing we had 15 minutes to gather back in the lobby and walk along the congested streets to the Bengali Sweet House for lunch. Balbir offered to order for all of us, selecting traditional foods from Northern India.

Included in our meal were Samosa, Paneer Pakora, Chole Kulch, Shahi Paneer, Dal Makhani, Butter Naan, and Garlic Naan. The two desserts or sweets he suggested were Jalebi and Gulab Jamun.

This was a perfect introduction to more Indian cuisine. Not only did we get a chance to try small portions of many different foods, but we were also treated to a real local experience, as we were the only Americans in the restaurant.

At 2:45 we walked back on the streets to the sounds of cars, buses, and trucks with horns blaring and bicycles darting in and out of traffic. We boarded a large 36-passenger OAT bus that took us to the Gandhi Smriti.

Now a museum, this garden commemorates the site of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. We were able to spend about 45 minutes exploring the grounds, listening to the music, and contemplating the life and death of this remarkable Indian man and world leader.

Our driver took us on a short excursion in New Delhi so we could see many of the government buildings and the iconic India Gate. We were able to return to the hotel and then walk a few blocks to use the ATM to have a few Indian Rupees on hand for our next two days in Delhi.

We walked back to the hotel, did a little laundry, and then worked on the journal and sorted photos from our Day in Delhi.

Meals included: B & L

Accommodations: The LaLit New Delhi