Lindy and I have breakfast in the hotel with Bob, Andrew and Isabel Escobar.
Some e-mail messages and phone calls inform us that we need to pay more money to our tour planner. We shall meet with Ms Sapna Jham in the evening to make another payment. Bob, Andrew and Isa visit a few places while Lindy and I catch up on e-mail at the hotel, and send out a pile of clothes to be laundered.
We are picked up at the hotel by our group, and head out for lunch at "Chicken Inn". There is a snake charmer outside entertaining his cobra.
As we are driving along, I am surprised to see several folks charging their cell phones on a highway divider. I assume they are covertly tapping into the electricity , but the tour guide assures us that they are using outlets provided for the purpose by the government.
We take a tour of Safdarjang Tomb. This is one of the last examples of Mughal acrhitecture, built in the mid-18th century. I have seen perhaps a few too many tombs. They are all nicely and dramatically done with a familiar symmetry of gardens and fountains.
A walk through the shopping bazaar is interesting. We stop to watch someone make copies of keys. There is no fancy key duplicating machine. He uses a file and does it by hand.
Vegetables are available for prices approximating 25 cents for a kilo.
Regrettably, the qawwali performance we were hoping to attend is only open to the public on Fridays. It is a bit of our bad luck to be able to tour in New Delhi twice, but both times on Mondays, when many of the major tour sites (including the Red Fort) are closed. However, we do see a number of places while driving by and getting a running commentary from the guide.
In the evening, Ms Sapna Jham arrives and various phone calls fly back and forth between me, our tour planner Aman Phallar, and Ms Jham. Bob pulls out piles of American and Indian bills to turn over, which are counted and re-counted until all parties are in agreement. All of this happens in the hotel bar over a drink or two, but eventually we settle the finances and get back to family camaraderie.
Some e-mail messages and phone calls inform us that we need to pay more money to our tour planner. We shall meet with Ms Sapna Jham in the evening to make another payment. Bob, Andrew and Isa visit a few places while Lindy and I catch up on e-mail at the hotel, and send out a pile of clothes to be laundered.
We are picked up at the hotel by our group, and head out for lunch at "Chicken Inn". There is a snake charmer outside entertaining his cobra.
As we are driving along, I am surprised to see several folks charging their cell phones on a highway divider. I assume they are covertly tapping into the electricity , but the tour guide assures us that they are using outlets provided for the purpose by the government.
We take a tour of Safdarjang Tomb. This is one of the last examples of Mughal acrhitecture, built in the mid-18th century. I have seen perhaps a few too many tombs. They are all nicely and dramatically done with a familiar symmetry of gardens and fountains.
A walk through the shopping bazaar is interesting. We stop to watch someone make copies of keys. There is no fancy key duplicating machine. He uses a file and does it by hand.
Vegetables are available for prices approximating 25 cents for a kilo.
Regrettably, the qawwali performance we were hoping to attend is only open to the public on Fridays. It is a bit of our bad luck to be able to tour in New Delhi twice, but both times on Mondays, when many of the major tour sites (including the Red Fort) are closed. However, we do see a number of places while driving by and getting a running commentary from the guide.
In the evening, Ms Sapna Jham arrives and various phone calls fly back and forth between me, our tour planner Aman Phallar, and Ms Jham. Bob pulls out piles of American and Indian bills to turn over, which are counted and re-counted until all parties are in agreement. All of this happens in the hotel bar over a drink or two, but eventually we settle the finances and get back to family camaraderie.
Our guide informed us that the snakes one sees being "charmed" in India have had their venom removed. After that the snakes I see on later days seemed much more charming to me. :)
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