A Few After Work Excursions

There is a restaurant in the guide book which is reviewed so highly that we had to check it out. It was a South Indian restaurant, meaning that the use of coconut in the food is reasonably prevalent. For those of you who don't know, Emma is allergic to coconut, but it looked so good we decided it was worth the risk, and armed with epipens we went to investigate! 

The restaurant served up thali, which is basically, the Indian equivalent of tapas. You get some form of carbohydrate, in our case rice, a poppadom, poori (puffed up spheres of pancakey dough) and dosai. These are then served up with lots of small portions of various curries, chutneys and vegetable dishes. We ordered what we were told was the amount of food for two people and enough to feed a small army arrived! All this food cost less that £3!

All the food!

Slowly demolishing the food...or attempting to!

We had been told on asking that dosai were pancakes...what they should have said was that they are pancakes the size of a small toddler, as this is what turned up!

I'm sure someone once told me never to eat food bigger than your face...

The food was really amazing - and we ate as much as humanly possible before struggling to walk out to go to our next stop! And Emma got away with just a slight allergic reaction (no epipen required!), so all in all a successful trip! 

 

From here we went along to a temple close by called Hanuman Mandir. A Mandir is a Hindu temple, and as we approached, taking our shoes off as we did so, we saw countless people doing henna (temporary inked patterns painted on the skin), stalls selling strings of marigolds and oil lamps for offerings and many people just hanging around outside the temple.

It was a really interesting place inside - neutral coloured carvings in wood and marble were over the doors, which was in stark contrast to the arches and walls with vividly coloured murtis (statues) of Gods, broken fairy lights and plastic screens around the shrines. The whole place was a maze of shrines, and people would come in and have their own order of going around the temple, ringing the bell as they entered the Mandir, and making offerings at the shrines. It was a real privilege to be able to see people practising the rituals and ceremonies of their religion. It was a very calming place, and slowly wondering round it in our socks was a very peaceful and pleasant experience.

Outside the Mandir is known for selling glass bangles, and we went into one of the stalls to admire just how sparkly everything was! After much browsing and trying on of different bangles we eventually got a few, and as a result we were both covered in glitter for the rest of the day! 

Sparkles everywhere in the bangle stall.

More bangles!

The bangles we finally came away with...everything we touched was left covered in glitter!

One afternoon a few days later the sun was beaming down, and as there were a few hours of sunshine left after work we decided to make the most of it. After consulting our maps we spotted that there was a park not far from the hospital. The tuk-tuk driver had no clue where this park was, but after producing a map and a conversation involving gestures and several other tuk-tuk drivers pitching in with where they thought it was, we set off in what we hoped was the right direction! 

We did actually get there, and like all parks we have been into in Delhi so far there was a ruined tomb as we entered the garden. We wandered around, past the dozens of cricket matches going on and many huddles of elderly men sat around playing card games. We couldn't work out what card game it was - it wasn't one that we recognised, but here was clearly the place to do it! We also walked past a group of older women sat on the grass, with one woman sat on a rock at the front and the others in a semicircle around her, all singing together to the beat of a drum. We didn't know the reason behind it but it was very pretty to listen to!

The ruined tomb in the gardens.

From inside the tomb looking through to the gardens.

Some of the countless cricket matches underway!

All the card games going on in one part of the gardens.

We found ourselves a lovely sunny spot by some palm trees and sat there reading (Michaela) and sewing (Emma), enjoying the sun and a rare calm day not running around between 10 different sites! Sorry for any of you currently experiencing rain/cold... 

Michaela reading in the sun.

Emma doing a spot of sewing.

Palm trees, sun and blue skies! This is Indian winter for you!