There is a map of the world that floats around in our house (currently in my office) that has pushpins of the places that I have been. One day, I hope to have a pushpin in each of the countries listed. To get one step closer to that goal—I found an area of the map that was barren…South Asia…and decided I wanted to go there. Simple as that. On a whim, I found a flight leaving Los Angeles that took me to Delhi, India and I booked it. These are my favorite trips because I have no idea what I am getting myself into until I am there. Life is far more interesting and enjoyable when you do things outside of your comfort zone.
At the time of purchase, I was amped. I can do this. Let’s go! Then the week of the trip-- I reviewed the actual flight and dread set in. A 13-hour flight to Istanbul, a 2-hour layover, and then another 6-hour flight to Delhi. The first flight was a quick layover in Istanbul known as the “Gateway City” since it is in both Asia and Europe, and then I landed in Delhi at 4 am.
I arrived to find a driver with my name ready to pick me up and take me to my hotel. I whisked away from the airport to The Claridge New Delhi. You never know if the hotel is going to be a stud or a dud until you get there, but thankfully it worked out. The hotel was nice, had 6 restaurants inside, and catered to my every whim. Most importantly it was quiet, and I was able to “nap” until my tour started a few hours later at 11 am.
At 11 a.m., I was ready to go, and my private driver and tour guide were ready as well. I went with Indian Driver Tours instead of going with the hotel as it was significantly cheaper, and if you ever found yourself in India, I would highly recommend using them. Now, my hotel was in New Delhi, which is the “new” or “clean” part of Delhi. This is where the Prime Minister of India resides, Parliament, Embassies, etc. all exist. My tour was for Old Delhi, which is the complete opposite.
The first stop was Jama Masjid. This is Delhi's principal mosque, the place where the city's Muslims traditionally gather for Friday communal prayer. It was nice, but I didn’t care all that much. What I really cared to see was the chaos that is truly Old Delhi. This is the oldest area of Delhi, a tangle of ancient streets and alleyways, filled with all kinds of shops, jam-packed with people, and this is the place to go for chaos and mayhem. My tour guide took me, and it was a culture shock right away.
The horns, the rickshaws, the people, the chaos…it was magical. My tour guide to me to great stops to try different food such as the Old Famous Jalebi Wala, which is like a funnel cake soaked in simple syrup. We took a rickshaw to tour different spots and went inside to visit the famous spice market. What I found most interesting was the people.
The level of poverty in this area was astounding. The fact that stood out most to me was that in a single room, there would be up to 18 grown men living. It made me appreciate what I have rather than what I don’t. The tour guide and I talked about population control, and he said that they were considering it, but had decided not to move forward. He shared that the reason why individuals in this state pursue having additional children is because they put the children to work begging. When I told him that I was having a child—he asked if I knew the sex. I said, “Yes, a boy.” He said, “If you asked that question to your doctor in India you would be arrested as it is illegal to know the gender in advance of having your child.” It was fascinating learning about all the cultures.
After that downer, the tour guide took me somewhere much more uplifting, Gurudwara Bangla Sahib. A prominent Sikh house of worship in Delhi, India. Every day, volunteers in the temple feed up to 15,000 people for free in a simple unlimited buffet. I got to go inside the temple and then got to go inside the kitchen to see how everything was made. It was uplifting and ended the tour on a positive note. Hungry myself, and instead of eating the food there, the tour guide took me to Pindi’s Muhlai Indian and Chinese restaurant. At my first restaurant, I went safe and had cheese naan, butter chicken, and a mango lassi. It was yummy! Tour 1 of 3 was complete. Exhausted, running on fumes as soon as I made it back to the hotel-- I fell asleep.
After about 4 hours of sleep, I was wide awake. The time change was 12.5 hours, which I didn’t know was even possible, but I was wide awake for Tour 2 of 3. This tour had me going to Agra, better known as the city, that has the Taj Mahal. The distance between Delhi and Agra is about 3.5-4 hours so we left at 6 am to get started. Driving in India is different than I have seen in most places. The cars do not go in between the lines they go on top of them, and they use their horns to signify that they are nearby. Fortunately, there is an expressway that has very few cars making the trip itself a breeze. In no time—we were at the Taj Mahal.
The tour guide was animated, but very direct. “Do not talk to any of the vendors as they are likely trying to pickpocket you.” Heeding the advice, I zipped up my jogger pockets to avoid any issues. We took a golf cart up, avoided the crossing monkeys, and were there before I knew it. The Taj Mahal, an immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, is the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage. Here’s the short story—the emperor had 3 wives and then married his 4th wife whom he truly loved. In 19 years of marriage, they had 14 children and she died in childbirth. During its construction, one of the 14 children had the emperor imprisoned at Agra Fort, but thankfully he could see it from his palace/prison. The wife was buried for 17 years before being moved to the tomb. Everything in the area is completely symmetrical, divided into 4 quadrants (Charbagh), and is meant to depict the eternal Paradise promised to the believers in the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an. The history lesson was nice, but what was the most interesting was the hooks that were everywhere on the dome. They added these hooks to protect the Taj during wartime. They would hook green fabric on the dome to camouflage it from aircraft bombers, which worked as it is still standing!
After the Taj, we went over to Agra Fort. It was the main residence of the emperors of the Mughal Dynasty till 1638 when the capital was shifted from Agra to Delhi. The Agra Fort is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was a giant fort and tourists could only see about 20%, which truthfully was more than enough for me. The coolest thing about this fort was that there was one section that was angled, and the tour guide explained that a boulder used to be rolled down this to squish people, and those that survived would have hot oil poured on them to finish them off. Fun!
Here is where things got “interesting.” The tour that I booked did not come with tickets to attractions so my tour guide would “purchase” tickets. My tour guide seemed to know everyone, and we just casually cut in front of the line and were let right in. No tickets were exchanged. Yet, at the end of the tour—I reimbursed the tour guide for a “ticket.” Interesting. Truthfully, I didn’t care as I cut the line, and it was hot. I would happily pay an additional $5!
The final stop was the Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah or Baby Taj. After seeing the real Taj, it was kind of a bit lackluster. The tour guide and I did a quick circle through everything and went to lunch. Lunch was just okay. My final thought on this tour was that if Agra didn’t have the Taj—no one would go. There isn’t much else there besides this. Back to Delhi, back to the hotel for sleep, and then early morning wakeup for tour 3 of 3.
Jaipur was the one city that I really wanted to learn more about and so I saved it for last. The distance between Delhi and Jaipur is about 4.5-5 hours so I knew this was going to be a long day. What I did not realize was that unlike the expressway that I took the day before—this was 5 hours on a rocky, potholed filled, road, that went from 3 lanes to 1 to 2 to 1 with a driver jerking the car back and forth. I don’t get carsick, but I got nauseous with the movement. To drive in India, you need 3 things – a good horn, good breaks, and good luck. Also, a good bladder. There aren’t a lot of stops or free places to use toilets, so you really couldn’t go 5 minutes without seeing someone pulled over to the side peeing.
When we got into Jaipur, the first thing the driver did was point to a man riding an elephant down the street. This caught me off guard, but as we proceeded through the city this wasn’t that uncommon. It turns out that Jaipur only became a tourist destination in 1990 when the country needed a new city to advertise to tourists because one of the prominent cities for tourism was being overrun by terrorism.
The first stop was the magnificent Amber Fort. It is an extensive palace built on a mountainside. The fort's most exquisite part is the Diwan-e-Khas (Hall of Private Audiences) where its walls are covered in intricate mirror work, using glass imported from Belgium. The most fascinating fact I learned was that in this area the emperor had his subjects install a copper pipe with holes, running water through the pipe, and created a mister back in the 1600s. Fascinating!
Now the main reason I wanted to go to Jaipur was to see the elephants and the city streets were not disappointed. However, at Amber Fort, you could ride an elephant through the fort, which sounded so cool. But my tour guide was very persuasive in saying that it was not worth it. Instead, he would take me to an elephant sanctuary called Ele Jungle. I had no idea what to expect, but it was amazing! Elephants are everywhere, you get to feed them, hug them, bathe them, and even ride them if you want to. So of course—I had to hug an elephant and ride one.
That was the highlight of the day so the next few stops such as Hawa Mahal (a famous building for its architecture), Jantar Mantar (sundial and life-size measurements), and the floating palace called Jal Mahal. To me, the sundial and measurements were a bit silly, but it made sense that they wanted to have it perfect because they used these factors to determine arranged marriages. To arrange a marriage, there are 36 measurements, and couples need to have 18 or more to be matched.
Tour 3 of 3 ended and we drove back. It was painful and extremely dangerous. Pollution is rampant in India and this area was already difficult to breathe. Imagine being stuck in traffic, surrounded by 18-wheelers (more of these monstrosities than normal cars), and just breathing in their exhaust. Fortunately, I made it back in one piece and was ready for the last leg of my trip.
The final part of my trip was a 23-hour layover in Turkey. Due to this long layover, Turkish Airlines offered to give me a hotel for free and I gladly took them up on this offer. Fun fact: the airport is in Europe, but the main part of Istanbul (at least the tourist part) was in Asia. Once checked into the hotel, I dropped off my bag and went exploring.
I was debating doing a hop-on/hop-off bus tour but ultimately decided against it. The city is too compact, and walking gets you to the sites faster than a car. I visited all the main attractions including Hagia Sophia, Sultanahmet Square, Blue Mosque, and multiple bazaars, and saw all of the highlights.
The main reason I wanted to go to Turkey was the food. I didn’t pig out in India because I was afraid of getting a “Deli Belly,” but I went to town in Istanbul eating everything in sight. Roasted corn, Turkish ice cream, cream cheese pastry, their version of pizza, but the best thing was the Turkish Borek. Börek is a delicious, layered pastry made from filo pastry and a cheese filling. I don’t know how to explain other than it takes like a crescent roll, filled with noodles, and melted cheese. It doesn’t have noodles in it, but the filo dough in the middle tastes as if it's noodles rather than flaky. It’s incredible and I am craving it right now.
To finish off the trip, I visited a Turkish bath called Hürrem Sultan Hamam Istanbul. The Hurrem Sultan Hammam was designed and built in the 16th century (1556-1557 AD). The bath is also particularly significant as the site where the Temple of Zeus once stood. I elected to do the Pir-ü Pak Hammam Turkish Bath, which is a traditional full body scrubbing and a relaxing bubble wash ritual on a warm marble stone. It was the perfect way to end a trip. The massage guy blew bubbles using what looked like a pillowcase and encased my body in bubbles before proceeding to give a massage. Strange, but relaxing!
The trip concluded with a 14-hour trip home to LA. I went through 4 rounds of security in Istanbul, and they took out each of my souvenirs to swab it for powder. It was painful to repack everything, but I managed to bring home more souvenirs than I should have and enough for Grant to complain that I bought too much. The most important thing I am bringing home is the memories of this trip and the appreciation for how privileged I am as an American. It really puts things into perspective. You have to put yourself out there to try and experience new things. You may be disappointed by some aspects, but you will learn about other cultures, and most importantly yourself. Well worth it. Would do it again in a heartbeat!