Noise, traffic, smog....

Thursday, December 15, 2011
New Delhi, India
Staying in Old Dehli is definitely an assault on the senses but it is exciting and interesting and definitely not for everyone.
We got here very late Wednesday night and got a good nights sleep . Spent all day Thursday 15th wandering around the area of the hotel.
Tara Palace is off the main street - you have to walk down a narrow alley of cycle repair places to get to it. At night of course, these shops are all closed but during the day it is a very busy place. Bicycle parts are used for many forms of transport here.
We walked all along Chandi Chowk, and many of the side streets/alley ways. This area of Old Dehli is like many market/shopping areas in ancient cities, each 'category' has it's own concentration of shops/stalls. So, you go from sari shops and clothing stores to shoes to pots and pans, to nuts and dried fruits, fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and then spices! The spice market is fascinating and the vendors are all very happy to explain what's what and having you taste different things. I am going to stock up on some hard to get spices when we come back through at the end of the trip.
I have never seen so many varieties of pepper and sugar and they are gorgeous to look at, let alone taste.

We visited the Jama Masjid, which is a guargantuam mosque build of the red clay brick that is everywhere here. It has great views of the old city. I had to wear a very birght, very large caftan to 'cover up' - you will love the photos of that!

The food has been excellent. Breakfast at the hotel is either American or India - I am sticking with Indian. We ate lunch and dinner at a muslim run restaurant near the mosque - Kalim's. It is super clean and always busy with both locals and westerners who work in Dehli so we feel good about it. I had 'real' tandoor chicken for lunch - yum! And for dinner we had a chicken curry - hot, hot and a version of naan that was yummy. It was pressed with a veggie filling.

 Not ready to try a street lassi yet - maybe after a few more days I will feel braver about buying one. I have heard that they are the best in Jaipur.

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