Good Delhi

At 9am sharp we had a guide waiting for us in the lobby of our hotel. He escorted us to the car and driver that were waiting for us and we were Chauffeured to the India Gate of Delhi where we met the rest of our tour group. The group that we joined could not have been any better. There were five tourists (including ourselves), an expert guide, a driver, and a helper. The other three tourists were a married couple, Mark and Helene, and a married woman traveling through India before her conference, Colleen. Helene is an emergency room doctor, Mark is the chief of surgery at a large hospital, and Colleen is also an emergency room doctor in her second year of residency. Our expert guide, Kami, has a master's degree in history and has been a guide for several years. Needless to say, we definitely felt we were in good hands.

Kami guided us around New Delhi, showing us India Gate as well as the other sites around New Delhi. After New Delhi, we were taken to the Qutab Minar complex. The Qutab Minar complex is home to several palaces and a 239 foot tower. It was all very interesting and we learned a lot.

We made our way to the Red Fort, which was built by the Moghul emperors in pre-British times and then was occupied by the British. It's a cool fort with great history and is packed with stuff inside of it. We walked out of the Red Fort and then hopped on bicycle rickshaws and we were taken through the bazaar in Chandni Chowk. The bazaar at Chandni Chowk is a packed outdoor market in Old Delhi with a multitude of different shops and incredible sights. The bicycle rickshaw ride was an experience neither one of us were expecting but something we will remember for a long time.

After the rickshaw ride our car was waiting and we were taken back to our hotel. The first day of our tour was fantastic and a complete reversal of what we had been experiencing in India. We decided to go out to dinner to a restaurant that had been recommended to us by some Canadian tourists in our hotel. We told the concierge at the hotel where we wanted to go and he waived down a bicycle rickshaw driver and told him where we wanted to go. We were told by the Canadian tourists that the restaurant was only two blocks away. After being biked around for eight blocks we told our driver to take us back to our hotel. Talking to our driver was about as productive as talking to a shovel. A security guard heard the conversation and attempted to translate for us, the driver said to the security guard he knew where to go and off we went. Four blocks later he stopped at a hotel that wasn't ours and said something. After lots of pointing he was able to figure out that we would just direct him. 5 minutes and one slum later we were back at our hotel. We had another dinner in the hotel's restaurant. At that point we both realized that signing up for the tour was the only way we could see India.