Delhi, India

We had a very relaxing morning, grabbing an early breakfast and floating around in the gorgeous pool for a couple of hours. The tour company provided a car for the transfer to the first official hotel of our tour.

Running a little short on money, I asked the front desk of the new hotel where I could find the closest ATM. They replied, ‘The next building over.’, and pointed me on my way. Maybe ‘next building over’ is Hindi for: walk past 3 buildings, climb a flight of stairs, walk through an outside mall, zig zag way through a parking lot, across a square and find a small door where the ATM is located (and, by the way, it doesn’t work with foreign bank cards).

We ended up having an informal meet and greet session with most of our fellow travelers that evening at the club floor’s cocktail hour. Our tour company (Toto Tours) generates a lot of loyalty in their customers so we actually know 8 of the 11 people on the tour. One of my closest friends, Scott is joining us on the trip. I am really looking forward to hanging out with him in exotic locales over the next few weeks.

Most of the tour group has been to Delhi before. As a result we broke up into 2 separate groups. The A group went to see all the major tourist attractions that you are supposed to see your first time around (although several were closed in anticipation of the upcoming Independence Holiday). The B group went to see some of the ‘secondary’ sights.

The B people started off by visiting the Gandhi Museum. In the latter years of his life, Gandhi would stay at the house of a businessman whenever he was in Delhi. The first floor was filled with cardboard panels detailing his life, death and work. Quotes of his vision for India and his teachings covered the walls. The second floor consisted of a hybrid gallery/museum. It was very cute but it is probably most successful in displaying artistic representations of his teachings for children.

We were able to see the living quarters where his bed, office (another bed) and personal items are displayed exactly as they were the day that he was assassinated. His shoes and walking stick left sitting at the foot of his desk. A path of concrete footsteps leads from the door of his office to the prayer area marking out his last steps on earth. A covered marker stands at the spot where a radical Hindu fatally shot Mahatma Gandhi (or Bapu, father of the nation as he was known in India). It was a very touching, emotional and humbling experience to be in the very place where one of the most incredible, intelligent and influential of all human beings lived and died.

Delhi’s National Museum is located in an interesting circular building with a maze of galleries featuring everything from coins, pottery fragments to temple tops and embroidery.

After grabbing lunch at a touristy restaurant (with spices targeted to appeal to the palate of wimpy Westerners), we drove to the Baha’i Temple for a quick photo op. I do mean quick…we jumped off the bus, walked to the entrance path to snap a few shots and ran straight back to the bus. I think everyone wanted to relax a little before our official welcome cocktail and dinner back at our hotel.

We left dinner early, heading off to bed exhausted in anticipation of catching an early train tomorrow morning. Despite being in country for over a week, I am hopeful that I will finally get my first full night of sleep.