On Saturday, after we had finished all of our necessary appointments, we enjoyed a free day. We toured the Lotus Temple, drove by the President’s Palace, ate at a revolving restaurant called Parikrama, and then went shopping.
The Lotus Temple was really neat. It is a beautiful piece of architecture. We had to go through security and that took a little time. They made us pour out all our snacks and water. That was frustrating but I understand the need for the rules. You have to walk a good ways through the gardens and then you get to a point just before the temple where you have to remove and store your shoes. The rest of the tour is completed with bare feet.
This temple is actually a Bahá'í House of Worship. The Bahá'í religion is sort of a universalist religion that believes in the oneness of God, the oneness of humanity and the oneness of religion. They have a heavy emphasis on silent prayer and their houses of worship are open to all for prayer. While I don’t agree with their religion I could appreciate the beauty of the temple and the serenity of the quiet within. I thought it sad how we, as Christians – believers in the One True God, spend so little time in the quiet focused on prayer.
The kids did really well at the Lotus Temple. Afterward, while we waited for Ashu to come pick us up, we grabbed some ice cream from one of the street vendors. John also spotted an R.C. Cola sign which was pretty interesting considering our hometown is the birthplace for R.C. Cola.
[Added at Lance's insistence] So, I totally forgot to mention that we watched a dude get hit by a freaking car! Lance said, "How can you blog about that day without talking about the guy who got hit by a car?" Yeah, I don't know... my brain is mush still. Anyway, we were standing there eating out ice cream and heard a thud and people shouting. We turned around to see a middle age man (Lance thinks he was Italian) getting up out of the road. He seemed stunned but not seriously injured. A policeman ran over and started yelling at the driver who never even got out of the car. The man told the policeman that he was fine and waved off the car. The car moved forward but the policeman was still talking to him. The man who got hit ran back over to the car, laid on the hood and had his friend take his picture. True story. We actually saw him later when we were shopping and he said he was fine.
We hopped in the van and proceeded to the President’s palace and some of the other official buildings in the area. I honestly don’t remember much of this “tour” because I was in a battle with Rabina in the front seat. She wanted some water so I gave her her cup (that has a lid). I wanted water too so I grabbed a water bottle from the backpack. Well, apparently she wasn’t satisfied with her cup and wanted my full bottle of water which she ripped out of my hands. She spilled it all over us both and started having a meltdown. She was mad at me that she was wet. She yanked her shirt off and refused to put it back on until it was dry. I was less than thrilled by her stubbornness. I think we were all hangry... you know angry because you’re hungry.
Once we had refilled our energy tanks, we drove to Janpath for some souvenir shopping. Abhi had told us about Janpath earlier but we thought she had said “jackpot.” She had a good laugh at us about that. Janpath is a whole road full of shops and vendors selling all types of colorful goods. It’s a good place to practice your bargaining skills. Abhi taught us that we should start by asking for “Two for the price of one” or half of whatever they were asking. We learned very quickly that the best thing to do was to state the final price you were willing to pay for the item(s) and then if they said no just shake your head and walk away. Eight out of ten times they would call us back to make the deal. It was a really fun experience.
Lance really enjoyed (total sarcasm) the old lady with zero teeth who kept following him around trying to hold his hand. She said he was like her son and therefore he should give her some money. However, she wouldn’t accept anything less than Rs100. She got the same number of Rupees as the number of teeth in her head. Haha. It was pretty entertaining to me.
My only complaint was that all three girls had to go to the “toilet” and of course not all at the same time. Abhi was an angel and took the older two for me while I was bargaining with a shopkeeper, but when the little one had to go I had the pleasure of accompanying her. The bathrooms were nasty. The floors were soaked with who knows what, the smell of waste was pretty horrid and here I was with a potty-training three year old wearing a diaper who has to hold on with both hands. GAG! My solution? Rabina pee’d in the sink.
We even saw a monkey hanging out above the entrance to the McDonalds.
Once we had our fill of Janpath, we went back to Dilli Haat. I felt a little more confident this time, so we actually bought some stuff. I spied a lady doing henna, so we promised the girls we would come back and have that done.
I think this was a really long day for everyone. We were all tired and ready for bed, but of course we had to make it back to our hotel first. :)
This temple is actually a Bahá'í House of Worship. The Bahá'í religion is sort of a universalist religion that believes in the oneness of God, the oneness of humanity and the oneness of religion. They have a heavy emphasis on silent prayer and their houses of worship are open to all for prayer. While I don’t agree with their religion I could appreciate the beauty of the temple and the serenity of the quiet within. I thought it sad how we, as Christians – believers in the One True God, spend so little time in the quiet focused on prayer.
[Added at Lance's insistence] So, I totally forgot to mention that we watched a dude get hit by a freaking car! Lance said, "How can you blog about that day without talking about the guy who got hit by a car?" Yeah, I don't know... my brain is mush still. Anyway, we were standing there eating out ice cream and heard a thud and people shouting. We turned around to see a middle age man (Lance thinks he was Italian) getting up out of the road. He seemed stunned but not seriously injured. A policeman ran over and started yelling at the driver who never even got out of the car. The man told the policeman that he was fine and waved off the car. The car moved forward but the policeman was still talking to him. The man who got hit ran back over to the car, laid on the hood and had his friend take his picture. True story. We actually saw him later when we were shopping and he said he was fine.
We hopped in the van and proceeded to the President’s palace and some of the other official buildings in the area. I honestly don’t remember much of this “tour” because I was in a battle with Rabina in the front seat. She wanted some water so I gave her her cup (that has a lid). I wanted water too so I grabbed a water bottle from the backpack. Well, apparently she wasn’t satisfied with her cup and wanted my full bottle of water which she ripped out of my hands. She spilled it all over us both and started having a meltdown. She was mad at me that she was wet. She yanked her shirt off and refused to put it back on until it was dry. I was less than thrilled by her stubbornness. I think we were all hangry... you know angry because you’re hungry.
Abhi took us to a really nice revolving restaurant. It’s sort of like the Sundial in Atlanta or Sky City (Space Needle) in Seattle. We’ve actually been to both of these in the states but have yet to actually eat at them because of one reason or another. It was nice to get the full experience at this one in Delhi. The food was really good and pretty cheap compared to what you would pay in the U.S. at a similar restaurant.
Once we had refilled our energy tanks, we drove to Janpath for some souvenir shopping. Abhi had told us about Janpath earlier but we thought she had said “jackpot.” She had a good laugh at us about that. Janpath is a whole road full of shops and vendors selling all types of colorful goods. It’s a good place to practice your bargaining skills. Abhi taught us that we should start by asking for “Two for the price of one” or half of whatever they were asking. We learned very quickly that the best thing to do was to state the final price you were willing to pay for the item(s) and then if they said no just shake your head and walk away. Eight out of ten times they would call us back to make the deal. It was a really fun experience.
My only complaint was that all three girls had to go to the “toilet” and of course not all at the same time. Abhi was an angel and took the older two for me while I was bargaining with a shopkeeper, but when the little one had to go I had the pleasure of accompanying her. The bathrooms were nasty. The floors were soaked with who knows what, the smell of waste was pretty horrid and here I was with a potty-training three year old wearing a diaper who has to hold on with both hands. GAG! My solution? Rabina pee’d in the sink.
We even saw a monkey hanging out above the entrance to the McDonalds.
Once we had our fill of Janpath, we went back to Dilli Haat. I felt a little more confident this time, so we actually bought some stuff. I spied a lady doing henna, so we promised the girls we would come back and have that done.
I think this was a really long day for everyone. We were all tired and ready for bed, but of course we had to make it back to our hotel first. :)
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