Can I Get a Double Dose of Delhi?

December 22, Day 5: Delhi day trip

In the morning, we watched part of an Indian film on tv about young school boys saving stray dogs and doing an underwear protest which really funny! We ate something similar to dosas this morning, a spicy potato pancake with yogurt. Breaking news today in Delhi, a woman was gang raped on a public bus and her boyfriend beaten while everyone on the bus did nothing! There were huge riots over Delhi protesting this big tragedy. 

A Riot heading our way!

Thought this was funny because Delhi traffic and driving is everything that is RASH. 

First, we went to the Baha’i Lotus Temple which was beautiful! Before we went in, we saw a man giving another man a tattoo on the side of the street -______- terrifying. At the temple, we had to take off our shoes, and Dilpreet dropped our shoe key into a crack in the floor which Daryl had to lay on the floor to pick up which everyone stared in amusement passing by. Young school girls and others looked at Kim and I like we were celebrities because they rarely see Chinese people!! It was such a cool experience and interesting!! We also saw a lot of men wearing glitter vests which seems to be a fashion trend! I saw one of the first people who didn’t cover their legs in India, who seemed like an asian female tourist, didn't seem to feel out of place in such a modest country! We had to stand in a long endless queue until we could go inside the Lotus temple. We had to be completely silent out of reverence for those in prayer. 

 Soon after, we drove to the handicraft markets where we had lassi and tried Indian ice cream. It was something similar to cold vermicelli noodles on top of some ice cream. I didn’t like it…we had to pay for public toilet use here too! We also bought some scarves here.

  
Afterwards, we drove in the crazy traffic again to The Ambience Mall again for bowling!! So much fun, it was such a trendy bowling place, very upscale and full of young people, neon lights and good club music! They had a bar too but we didn’t drink. The first game I got 72 and the second 100, 2^nd place!!! Akash was really good, and it was just a lot of fun with everyone. After we ate pizza and we could not finish the mushroom one. We even tried a chocolate banana crepe and were stuffed to the brim! 

December 23^rd, Day 6: Another Delhi Day

This morning is our first late morning and we left the house around 11am. First, we stopped by the Sikh temple which was a very cool experience for all of us. First, we had to wear our scarves around our heads because everyone needs to cover their heads, guys and girls. They provide some little head bandanas for people who didn’t bring anything. Arveen seriously looked like Princess Jasmine in the marketplace from Aladdin! 

Exciting things at this temple: we had to be barefoot before we went in, there was a big lake of pure water that you can wash your feet in or people bathe in (separate area for women). We ate this oily rice pudding substance when we entered the temple area. Apparently they give out free food to people but we didn’t get it since it’s bad to waste food if we can’t finish it there. Inside the shrine area, we give money and bow at the holy scriptures. It's made of gold inside and there were lots of people praying and sitting on the floors. 

After, we went to Jaipur market after battling traffic and haggled for a bunch of souvenirs. We tried this mixed fruit juice, but it’s never just what you think it is here, it was definitely mixed with a bunch of spices. We made a stop next to get food and we tried Indian McDonalds! It was really similar to American McDs.

 But get this, there were people advertising a new place and to my flabbergasted self, it was for BUBBLE TEA (BOBA)! It was a cute place called Chatime and the people were so friendly working there and they were all male for some reason which was peculiar! It was Dilpreet’s first time having boba but he didn’t really like it, he preferred the milk tea over his passionfruit green tea boba. They had so many good choices the place was amazing. I got my regular jasmine green milk tea and it was so good. Since it was new in India, they had this visitor book for people to sign and they were so excited to have us sign it. 

We watched Life of Pi at 8:35pm and it was so so good. Since we still had so much time to kill, Kim and Akash got massages/facials for an hour while the rest of us waited. Arveen and I treated Kim’s glowing facial for her 21^st BIRTHDAY because it was that today! It was greaaaaat. Going to Bangalore tomorrow at 5 in the morning -_- kill us now and it’s 2:45am as I blog.