Days 1 & 2, Flights from LA to India

A very long two days of flying from, first, Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, 5 1/2 hours, a layover of over 3 hours, then to Delhi, India, over 13 hours. The time difference between Los Angeles and India is 13 1/2 hours (the 1/2 hour has been added to allow more sunshine later in the day). I arrived at the beautiful airport in Delhi at night. Two other people on my tour were on my plane and we all were driven from the airport to our hotel.

This map shows where our India and Nepal tour would be taking us.

Delhi

The photo is the view from my hotel window––that is serious air pollution! I knew about the extreme air pollution in both India and Nepal before I left, so no surprises here. Delhi and Katmandu, Nepal, on are on the top of the list of the most air–polluted cities in the world. And the air did not get that much better anywhere on our trip.

In this album, I will give a quick description of the major sites that we visited our first tour day but most of my photos are on three slide shows:

http://www.peggysphotos.com/day–1a–delhi/

http://www.peggysphotos.com/day–1b–delhi/

http://www.peggysphotos.com/day–1c–delhi/

(Slide Shows, Asia, India, Day 1A, Day 1B, and Day 1C, Delhi)

However, there are two movies included in the album.

Baha’i House of Worship

My Gate 1 tour group met in the hotel lobby and our tour guide, Lailit, put us on our tour bus. There were 29 on the tour, with 20 going on to Nepal after India. Gate 1 is a North American tour company, so everyone on the tour except for four women from Colombia were from the United States.

Our first photostop was of the Baha’i House of Worship, completed in 1986. There are over 2 million Bah’is in India, which would be a small percentage of the total Indian population of 1.252 billion, a population surpassed only by China. Eighty–five percent of Indians are Hindu, 13.4% Moslems, 2.3% Christians, 1.9% Sikhs, 0.8% Buddhists, and 0.4% Jainists.

Raj Ghat, Memorial to Mahatma Gandhi

Our next stop was at Raj Ghat which has a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. The black marble platform marks the spot where Gandhi was cremated on January 31, 1948, one day after he was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist. An eternal flame burns at one end of the platform.

Jama Masjid

Our next stop was at the Jama Masjid mosque,  the largest and best known mosque in India, completed in 1656. It was commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. The Mughals, Central Asian Turko–Mongols from present–day Uzbekistan, conquered much of Northern India in the early 16th century and ruled until about the mid–18th century. The mosque is in the section of Delhi called Old Delhi.

Rickshaw Ride Through Chandi Chowk

Right after visiting the Jama Masjid mosque, we climbed aboard bicycle rickshaws (two to a rickshaw) for a ride through Chandi Chowk in Old Delhi, a series of souks along what was once an imperial avenue.

Our Rickshaw Ride-1. MOVIE

I took movies of our rickshaw ride through Chandi Chowk, quite an unforgettable experience.

Our Rickshaw Ride-2: MOVIE

The second part of our ride. That is my rickshaw mate Betty talking.

New Delhi

The British moved their imperial capital to New Delhi (a part of the bigger city of Delhi) in the 1930s and built many impressive buildings, such as this one, the Central Secretariat. New Delhi has wide streets, parks, stately buildings, and upscale housing but you can see homeless encampments at the end its alleyways.

Gurdwara Bangla Sahi

Our next stop was back in Old Delhi, at the Gurdwara Bangla Sahi Sikh temple, dating back to 1783. We also visited its kitchen that feeds the hungry.

Humayun’s Tomb

Our last site for the day: Humayun’s Tomb. The 2nd Mughal emperor, Humayun, is buried here. It was built in 1565 and served as an inspiration for the Taj Mahal.

Delhi

To get from one site to another, we often were in awful traffic jams.

Delhi

We passed many street vendors: ones selling fruit and vegetables and others selling cooked food. There were also many vendors, completely ruthless to the tourists, selling tourist items.

Delhi

Add numerous beggars to the mix, including many children, and you will begin to know what traveling in India is like.

Delhi

Also, you will see many homeless camps and piles of trash and poverty that will break your heart.

Delhi

While at the same time you will see the elegantly dressed Indian women, even dressed so while working in the fields or herding goats. The women bring color and beauty to India.