Delhi #Day3

Day 3: Friday the 8th of November

This morning we met our group at 8am and met our guide, Manu!
Today we are having a tour of Delhi. 18 million people live in Delhi! The oldest part of Delhi is New Delhi and the newest part of Delhi is Old Delhi!
Pronounced 'Delie' it means, the gateway to your heart.

The air pollution has cleared up a lot today after the rain yesterday. Manu said that 1 week ago the pollution was about 90% worse then it is now. We are coughing from it slightly and my eyes are really sore.

First we visited the Red Fort. It is built from Red Sandstone. The great fort was built by the same King who built the Tai Mahal.

The entry: 

Inside: 

We jumped on some rickshaws and closed our eyes as we took a U-turn into on coming traffic and thought we were definitely going to be hit! We had a little tour through some small alleyways at Chandni Chowk.

Then we went to the largest Mosque in India called, Jama Masjid. It fits 25000 people inside to pray. We got to dress up!

We visited the Ghandi memorial.

We drove past the Indian Gate and Parliment house. The India Gate was built to commemorate the soliders or World War 2.

The Presidential palace/and Parliment is the largest in the world. The palace takes up 700 acres of land and has 1060 rooms but only the president and his family live in there!

We stopped for lunch at a westernised restaurant that was quite expensive but the food was delicious! We had a mango laski drink, garlic nann and butter chicken. The spices were incredible.

Outside we saw cobras and a man playing a flute!! Then there was a monkey in the tree!

The Lotus Temple built from marble. It is beautiful and reminds us of the Opera House.

We went to a place of Sikh faith. They offer free schooling, free food and a free medical centre. The kitchen feeds 25000 people everyday!!

We had to cover our hair so I purchased a scarf but they had them to wear for free.
This was the highlight of my day. The community here is beautiful. They are accepting of everyone and anyone. They live by that no one should go hungry. We went inside their temple and sat and listening to singing whilst people prayed.

Then we went to their enormous kitchen! It was huge! I got to help roll out some roti bread. I sat on the floor next to this lovely and kind old Indian man who showed me how to roll the dough. First the dough is rolled into a small ball then stretched out into a flat circle with your fingers. Then you use a small rolling pin to make it flat, adding flour as you go. It was such a beautiful experience.

We headed back on the bus to the hotel.
I thought I was in for an early night, but then...
Some people from my tour went to take photos of the venue downstairs of our hotel because it was so beautiful. The manger invited them and said please come to the wedding. Weddings go from 10pm-4am, I will meet you at 10am to take you in. So we went and had a rest in our rooms then got dressed up and went back down. We were waiting outside watching the wedding party dance and then a lady grabbed my hand I danced with them all with trumpets and drums playing around us!
Then we were invited insides as special guest and were told to please eat dinner. So we had all this incredible food! Everyone was sooo friendly. We were asking where the bride was and they took us to a special room to meet her!

We went across the rode to look at another wedding from the outside and the brides father insisted we come inside and that we stay for dinner. It was just the most awesome experience!
At first I thought this manger guy was dodgey trying to get money but then he said he owns all the venues so he was genuinely just being so kind! He said only 4 other tourist had come to take photos of the venue like my friends had and he always invited them but no one actually goes!
I'm so glad we did!!