Delhi, India- Second and last Day

We woke up early because we had another tour to go on today except this one was car based. So after we had breakfast we met our guide and the owner of the company which was followed by the start of the New Delhi orientated tour.

Our first stop on the tour was the Qutub Minar which is this massive tower that was built by a Muslim Ruler from the bricks of a destroyed Hindu temple.

 

 

At the same place there was the ruins of the Hindu temple which was destroyed in battle, part of these ruins were the pillars which would of had the Hindu idols but the Muslim ruler had other thoughts.

Also on the site of the Minar was a king's attempt to not only be taller than the Muslim ruler's but to be twice the size of the original, sadly the king died before finishing the first base let alone the whole thing.

                            

Our second stop was at the Presidential Palace where we saw where the President lived and also where the Prime Minister and core Ministers had their agencies.

The four commonwealth nations gave India poles with something unique to that nation on the top of it to specify where it came from.  Here's New Zealand's:

This is a car that government officials are driven around in:

Next on the agenda was the India Gate which the parliament buildings look across to:

 looked a lot like the Arch de Triumph in Paris, France and it used the same themes: Unknown Soldier, Eternal Flame, Pick-Pockets everywhere, Con Men everywhere as well... etc.... etc.... . All there really was to do there was walk around it.

 

These may look like potatoes but actually they are puffed fried bread which tastes delicious.  An interesting thing that happened there was that a few people wanted to take a photo of me in my Blackcaps training top.  

Fourthly we visited Humayun's tomb which among other things was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal, besides this it is popular due to it's high number of dead royal residents, it's very popular main resident and the interesting story behind it. First of all in the following photos you will see what I mean when I mention the Taj Mahal, secondly the number of rooms for the deceased is remarkable, thirdly the main reason why people go to the tomb is to see king humayun in his resting place and lastly the interesting story. The start of the interesting story begins with King Humayun dying when his successor is only 13 years old and leaving the kingdom bare and in tatters.  This meant that he was not able to provide the luxurious and showy tomb his father deserved mainly because of the fact he had to first stabilise the local society. When he finally got things financially and emotionally sorted out he decided to have a massive blowout of all his money towards the tomb hence why it is so grand and mighty but took a while to be built.

After looking around the tomb for a good half-hour we decided to head back to meet the guide.

Our next stop was lunch where I had a spicy butter chicken, dad had a mint yoghurt based curry and mum had another chicken based curry. My lunch was quite spicy, this is the cause of me ordering a mango lassy (a yoghurt flavoured drink.). Note we were asked to leave our arms and ammunition at the door which we were willing to oblige:

Post lunch we headed back to the old part of Delhi where we went to a mosque 

and rode in a bicycle drawn rickshaw to see some more wonders of everyday life:

Our last stop for the day was Ghandi's memorial on the site he was cremated.  It was a very peaceful calm place despite all the tourists.

We returned to the hotel for some time in the pool, a nice dinner and a surprise chocolate marshmallow sundae given to me from the waiters in the hotel because it was our last night there. This was duely followed by a very peaceful satisfying sleep.

Joseph Hewson