Amazing Day, Thursday, January 11

Our official tour started today.  So far we have been on our own.  We were all over Delhi, old and new, all day.  Just a few highlights of the day. This is a construction sight we walked by.

We visited a very  large Sikh temple.  Amazing place.  Sikh turbans are ones with the point in the front.          .  We had to wash our hands here before entering.  Also we were barefoot.

Every Sikh temple has a soup kitchen. Because of that the area around the temple had large numbers of homeless.  The soup kitchen is manned totally by volunteers and uses donated food.  Here is the dining hall of the soup kitchen.

We went into the kitchen to see the food preparation and also to take part in the preparation.  Here I am making bread with other volunteers in the kitchen

We were offered Karan parishad which is a sweet semolina pudding of simolina flout, sugar and butter.  Was actually delicious

The whole experience at this temple was an amazing experience. Another amazing part of the day was our ride in a bibycle rickshaw. We were told several times about how Gate 1’s main goal is our safety, but I’m really glad they threw that idea to the wind by putting us in the rickshaw.

A view of the electrical grid from the rickshaw. We rode through a part of town that had roads so narrow, vehicles really didn’t fit.  We also road on busy streets   

The really serendipitous event of the day happened as we returned to the hotel from the nearby atm machine.  We came into the hotel through a side entrance and at the elevator, the hotel chef held the elevator door for us.  He invited us to his office where he provided us with a bag of food and visited for almost an hour.  We toured the kitchen and met many of the cooks.  At the end of our visit, the chef painted a special greeting for each of us.

View from the rickshaw

In the chefs office

To market, to Market, to buy a fat chicken in Delhi

This morning we decided to cancel our Tuk Tuk driver and get a car.  The concierge got us a car and driver.  8 hours of driving us around and waiting for us for $24.  We first threaded our way through traffic to get to the INA market.  I have no idea what that stands for.

Because jane and I were ready so early we decided to look around the hotel.  We found the ballroom and saw that an event was being set up. We talked to several Indian men who were working for the Saudi Arabian government to recruit Indian doctors to work In Saudi Arabia. Hey were ok talking with us because no doctors had shown up yet

The INA market was way colorful!  Complete with live chickens being butchered to baby goat heads being sold

We liked the spice department 

After lunch we went to another market which specialized in Indian art and craft.  We each got hand woven wool/silk hand woven scarves dyed with indigo, flowers and tree bark

When we got back to the hotel, the man who had sewn our saris made his delivery and has taken the saris back for alterations 

(Backup) Did we just get to Delhi this morning

It was still dark as we got to Delhi, but the views on the seat back screens were interesting.  I wasn’t expecting all these places to be on our path
The spelling is Turkish as we were flying on Turkish Air

Below is the view from our room in the Eros Hotel. In the distance is the Lotus Temple which we visited later in the day. 

We napped till noon and then went to a market area near the hotel to find our lunch.  

Lunch was quite spatacular  and cost above it $5. Tangy, but not too spicy.

After lunch we started walking to the lotus temple.  We were offered several tuk tuk rides and finally decided to take one.  Our driver Mr. Singh charger us 40 cents for each leg of our trip.  He took us to the lotus temple, waited for us, took us to a couple textile shops, waited for us, took us to a grocery store, waited for us and finally dropped us at the hotel where we ate snacks in our room for dinner.  We have arranged with Mr. Singh to pick us up at 10 am tomorrow and move us around till about 4.   This is Mr. Singh by his tuk tuk, a three wheeled open taxi.

The shopping was fun.  Among other things we all bought saris which will be delivered to the hotel tomorrow.  My Ascics shoes really show up the sari cloth

Jane got measured for her sari.  

(Backup) Did we just get to Delhi this morning

It was still dark as we got to Delhi, but the views on the seat back screens were interesting.  I wasn’t expecting all these places to be on our path
The spelling is Turkish as we were flying on Turkish Air

Below is the view from our room in the Eros Hotel. In the distance is the Lotus Temple which we visited later in the day. 

We napped till noon and then went to a market area near the hotel to find our lunch.  

Lunch was quite spatacular  and cost above it $5. Tangy, but not too spicy.

After lunch we started walking to the lotus temple.  We were offered several tuk tuk rides and finally decided to take one.  Our driver Mr. Singh charger us 40 cents for each leg of our trip.  He took us to the lotus temple, waited for us, took us to a couple textile shops, waited for us, took us to a grocery store, waited for us and finally dropped us at the hotel where we ate snacks in our room for dinner.  We have arranged with Mr. Singh to pick us up at 10 am tomorrow and move us around till about 4.   This is Mr. Singh by his tuk tuk, a three wheeled open taxi.

The shopping was fun.  Among other things we all bought saris which will be delivered to the hotel tomorrow.  My Ascics shoes really show up the sari cloth

Jane got measured for her sari.  

Four hours in the Istanbul Airport

This is quite the

 International airport.  We arrived here after 11 hours on   a Turkish  Air flight from Chicago. From here it will be 5-6 hours more to NewDelhi. We are to arrive early in the morning.  A 30year old Turk who now lives in DesMoines and I shared 3 seats in the back of the plane.  He was a real talker and we had a good visit. He is going to Ankar to have an MRI and visit his family.  His degree from Drake is in computer science.  He has put it to work doing day trading and also working with a retail sales company he made up. It’s all online.  He sells a couple thousand products from Lowe’s.  He says he never touches anything he sells.  He sits at his computer.  We shared pictures back and forth. He says he will be buying a wall hanging from me.  We’ll see how that goes

Below is Vincent Fuporkona from Nigeria. He had been in Newark, New Jersey, visiting friends - go figure. We Sa him stashing his souvenirs in his pack.  He had purchased many bundles of assorted black socks in Newark to share with friends and family in Nigeria.  He worked in a bank

We recruited another guy to take a gouicture for us.  He was from Berlin on his way to a war torn country, we can’t remember which one, to give a talk   He was with the Goethe-Institut from Berlin. He turned out to be very friendly and knowledgeable .  Our party grew.

A bit later we were getting irritated by a massage chair that kept making obnoxious noises and talking.  There were two children on it giggling.  The chair was asking for money. Betsy took the law into her own  hands and went to talk to the children.  The children were from Pakistan and became Betsy’s Friends

Soon we will board for Delph. We’ll wait for Betsy to wake up

I’m packed and ready to go

Jane, Betsy and I are hitting the air again.  Tomorrow I will pick up Betsy at OHare and we will stay over at Janes in St Charles.  Sunday we will board a Turkish Air plane and fly to Istanbul on our way to New Delhi.  The adventure begins

Brew Jewels

I'm not sure how I started adding bottle caps to the jewelry I make.  It's been fun.  During the Northwoods Art Tour this past weekend I offered them for sale.  I was surprised at the number I sold.  As long as they are fun I will continue and hope some other designs pop into my mind.  With that in mind, I will have a table at the Lincoln Brewfest in Merrill on October 7.  Right now I am collecting more caps.  If you can help out, please let me know.  Virgin caps produce the best product, but they are a bit harder to come by.

Below is a sample of the necklaces, earrings and bracelets I currently have.