A few words on Shanghai

Shanghai is a nice city. The Chinese seem to be very efficient in everything they do, and clean for that matter. Things that are noted when one travels from India. It resembled Russia a lot in some matters. I guess communism has its positive sides. The only annoying thing was of course that twitter, facebook and this blog were all blocked via regular internet access. And there India is miles ahead of China, an actual democracy, a bit chaotic, but free at least.

Ok, that's it. Here are some pictures of when I had time to do some sightseeing.

Skyscraper city

The Bund

Television Tower

World Financial Center (which i went up to)

View from 3rd highest tower in the world

On the skybridge

Shanghai by night

Elevated pedestrian streets above the highways

World Financial Tower is the one in blue

The Bund again

Delicious & Delirious Delhi - part II

My earlier post on Delhi covered one of the most famous bazars in the city, the one around Jama Masjid. That day I got a complete different and more accurate view of the Indian capital. But for a city this big (11mln people), much more was yet to be seen.

So, one fine day, I found myself on a very early Sunday morning (around 6:30 AM) in an area in Delhi named after Nizamuddin, one of the most famous Sufi saints buried here in Delhi in a large tomb. The micro-area itself, where we met up with other Dutch expats living in Delhi, was one of small houses, dirty muddy roads, cows, open sewer systems and, to counter all that I guess, flower stalls.
 

Amidst Delhi traffic

We set off around this part riding our orange bicycles. The company DelhiByCycle has been set-up by a former Dutch journalist who has been living here for 6 years. The tour was really amazing. We drove around the smallest possible alleys, of sometimes just 50cm width. The houses were crammed together in a chaotic way and we could see the daily life of the people around us in its purest form. A mother washing her kids hair, 8 young men brushing their teeth on a balcony while waving at us. Small barbershops, kids playing and the usual dirt & cows roaming around.

Area where we cycled

Unfortunately, I have no pics of these really small alleys and the people living within, since it was going up and down and there were bicycles coming from behind as well. But if there is one thing I would recommend doing in Delhi, it is actually take one of these tours. It is a great way to explore a part of Delhi, you'd otherwise not see.

Cycling through clothes lines

Small alleys

A goat

We finished the tour with a picnic in Lodi Gardens (on which more below) after which we cycled back and everyone went their own way. We decided to go to the Delhi Red Fort (we had seen one in Agra before also).

Red Fort

It turned out to be just on the other side of the Jama Masjid mosque, where we had been the day before. The Fort was imposing, with its big red-stoned walls. Inside, we could relax from the hustle & bustle of the bazar close by and the tour we had that morning. Many nice buildings were scattered on the grounds within the Fort, and lots of benches and grass to sit on. That's what we did. It did not take long before a some 4 young kids came and sit next to us. At first slowly and a bit shy they started to say hello and then laugh. But before we knew, we were surrounded by at least 30 Indian people from all different ages taking pictures of us (for a video scroll down below). And then, some foreign tourists started taking pictures, perhaps they thought we were famous?

Little kids (look at the one in te red shirt posing)

It was a bit hard to get rid of them all in the end, because now the friend of the friend of the cousin of the uncle of the grandfather of the neighbour also wanted to be on the picture. But we managed to get out, take a riksja and leave for Lodi Gardens once more.

Lodi Gardens

And Lodi Gardens is a real paradise within Delhi. This park is located in a richer area, hence less people, and it has some beautiful tombs from the 15th and 16th centuries lying within. It is the ideal place to relax after a busy Delhi day. Not in the least because it has a great garden restaurant next to it.

Lodi Gardens

All in all, Delhi has lots to offer!


Funny video of the boys at Red Fort:

Some flashy wedding!

Yesterday I was taken to one more wedding while in India. I've been to one before, which was fun, but not completely Indian (the couple was French/Indian). This one was and the difference was there as well (although I cannot comment if this was only due to the fact that this couple was Indian/Indian...).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, please see pictures below. It was quite the sight. Out in the open, at a so-called farmhouse, a former or still current house/villa that could have been an actual farm earlier. More on how this works, looks like, and what people can order at their wedding, you can find on this website, which is quite interesting...

So, everything was quite beautifully lit. The cars were taken care off with valet-parking, after which we walked through a palm tree lined entrance towards the big garden. A spectacular column-like roof was built, a professional stage with live bands and performers and of course lots & lots of food and very good drinks. The whisky was great and I tasted the best walnut-pie ever :)

It was not overdone I must say, nothing too "amusement park"-like, quite classy even, although to our Calvinist Dutch standards, it might have been a bit too much.... I had a good time anyhow.

The main area with the stage & video wall at the back

Most women were traditionally dressed in sari's

Nice details

Entrance way to main area

All custom built for the happy couple

The entrance way from the car-park

Lights with yellow roses along the way

Valet parking at the front

Delicious & Delirious Delhi

How do you describe a city? What words should I use to explain the beauty, chaos, filth, the people and what more of this strange yet beautiful city. Delhi. New Delhi. This is about both.

Driving once in a while through Delhi, doing some business, eating out in some restaurants and attending a wedding party was definitely not close enough for me to say that I got to know Delhi. I am afraid of saying it now also, although I came some big steps closer.

Delhi. What a strange strange city. Obviously it is overcrowded, something I noticed while visiting Jama Masjid, a mosque from where an enormous labyrinth of houses and markets (bazars) start. Entering from the Eastern side, we walked through small little streets, inhabited by Muslims mainly, and with quite the amount of goats, since they were preparing for some festival. They (the Muslims, not the goats) were looking at us as if we came from Mars.

It was a bit busy....

All nice little courtyards (and other tourists)

To capture the feeling of these bazars, one has to have visited one. The colours, the smells, the people, the architecture (or the lack of it), it all blends together into one big chaotic (for me), yet somehow efficient big market. Everything is for sale. Everything is a bargain.

Everybody has electricity at least!

 Coming closer to Jama Masjid, the crowd gets denser and we decided to walk inside the mosque-complex, situated on a small hill, just high enough to overlook the surrounding area. An oasis amidst people, shops & animals (we've seen camels, goats, pigs, cows, chickens - and we did not visit a farm or a zoo...).

Jama Masjid

It was time to get out of this chaos and see if we could find that one restaurant we read about somewhere on Chandni Chowk-road. By looking at the map, I had seen this was a broad road with many restaurants and I expected it to be a nice promenade. Ok, I did not come prepared. Chandni Chowk turned out to be one of the oldest and now definitely the busiest street in Delhi. With more markets, more colors, less dirt this time, but overwhelming for sure.

View from Jama Masjid

The police helped us find that nice little restaurant where we were the only guests and were stared upon while we ate our vegetarian dishes. It was good! And no, not too spicy, what the waiters and the owner and the friends of the restaurant kept on asking us...

Chandni Chowk

Next day we would go cycling through Delhi. That turned out to be something even more amazing. About that adventure you'll read in my next post....

Photo-document of visit to Agra - Taj Mahal & Red Fort

The Taj Mahal

Unidentified man at trainstation in Agra

1 out of 4 towers of the Taj Mahal

Me at the Red Fort complex in Agra

View from the Red Fort

Hold on!

Outside one of the entrance gates to the Taj Mahal

Street in Agra

Red Fort in Agra

Me again

Yet another one of the many beautiful buildings inside the Red Fort

It must be the color of the stone why they call it a Red Fort

Entrance building to the Taj Mahal

Marble area around the Taj Mahal

A Taj tower

The Taj & an Indian woman

Diwali celebrated or how I became Hindu

Lakshmi - goddes of wealth

Yesterday was Diwali, a by almost all Indians celebrated holiday - also known as the festival of lights. So many houses were lit by christmas-like colored bulbs, and lots of fireworks lit all day & night long.

My neighbour's house entrance, decorated for Diwali

In the evening we went to my employer's home to celebrate if. Before we could eat & drink we had to perform a ritual knows as Lakshmi Puja. According to tradition people would put small oil lamps outside their homes on Diwali and hope Lakshmi will come to bless them. Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped by those who wish to acquire or to preserve wealth. It is believed that Lakshmi goes only to those houses which are clean and where the people are hardworking. She does not visit the places which are unclean/dirty or where the people are lazy.

My appartment block, with decorated balconies

Outside the gate of the appartment block I live in

Entrance of a house lit with candles

As I was told when I left my flat, I should have left either the lights on or a window open, for then Lakshmi would also come and bless my home. Unfortunately, I did neither, so chances are this is going to be a bad year for me!

For this ritual we lit many candles and placed them around the house and in front of a small shrine where small statues of the goddess were placed. Then we all got a red dot on our forehead and a sort of lace tight around your right arm. All the time we were supposed to sing or chant a song, but here we had a laptop with the correct song playing during the ritual.

Fireworks!

After this ritual we sat, ate and drank and started lighting fireworks on the streets. No one lost any fingers or got burned. At least, not anyone I was with....

Me, a converted Hindu (with what's left of the red dot)