A Mosque, a Bird Hospital and Some Saree Shopping

On Sunday, we were all set for another big day of exploration and discovery in Delhi. The first place on our list was the Jama Masjid, the biggest mosque in India. It truly was a magnificent building, which we greatly admired. However, other aspects of the visit meant that we didn't enjoy it as much as we perhaps could have.

Perhaps surprisingly, up until now we have done very well at not being ripped off. Today however, was slightly different. We were first charged entry - quite a hefty price, but the ticket clearly stated that price and we were sold it by an official person, so we believed it. It turned out later (when someone tried to charge us it again!) that the ticket that we were told we must have to enter was actually a camera charge - we only had one camera with us which we had told them at the time.  We also had to wear robes that they provided to ensure that we were all covered up, which was completely understandable, although the robes were horrendous (see the photo!) and we had to pay for the privilege, adding to the cost. 

The striking Jama Masjid, and us in the rather bright robes we were provided with...

Having passed through these two hurdles we finally made it to the gate in, where we were informed that unaccompanied females were not allowed to enter the mosque without a man. This hadn't been mentioned when paying to get in at all! So, we would need one of the official male guides to come around with us. We couldn't get in without him, and having already paid a lot, we didn't have much choice but to agree. We were given a rushed five minute tour, in which we weren't really told anything about the building at all, and then of course charged double what he told us at the start! He then headed off to find more unsuspecting tourists, and we began to doubt the truth of needing a man with us, as we were left to wander freely on our own!

Looking over the Jama Masjid, just before we started climbing the tower

 One of the highlights of the Jama Masjid is climbing up one of the very tall towers for views across Delhi. Of course to do this we had to pay again, but having already parted with more money  than most people here live on in a week, we decided it would be daft to miss out on the highlight. The views from the top really were spectacular and through the haze you could see a never ending carpet of rooftops stretching out in all directions. The tower was a little hazardous, with nothing to stop you slipping off the tiny landing at the top quite a long way down the stairs!

 

Stunning views over Delhi from the top

Us at the top...and our robes that you can't really miss!

Health and safety doesn't really exist here...

So with mixed feelings we finally got free of the pink flowery robes, and headed back out into Old Delhi.

Before lunch, we paid a visit to the Jain Temple in Old Delhi. Inside it had quite a few similarities to the Mandirs we had visited, with shrines dotted around the temple. It was a hub of activity with lots of oil candles being put by the shrines, with the sounds of singing and praying lilting through the air. One of the very interesting things about this temple is that on the grounds it has its own bird hospital! One of the important principles of the Jain religion is to do no harm to and to care for all living things. On this basis they set up the hospital to care for injured and sick birds. It was open to go and look around, and inside we were greeted with countless cages, housing some very sick looking birds. There were birds of all sizes from black kites, to tiny finches!

The Jain temple from the busy road

Inside the bird hospital, with countless cages stretching out down the corridor

By this point it was definitely time for food, and we set off in search of a famous street - Paranthe Wali Gali, which we had been told over and over again we had to go to. Paratha are quite like pancakes, but come stuffed with different things, usually vegetables. After a bit of wandering and several lots of asking for directions, we finally turned down a tiny side street, wiggled around a few corners, and found the paranthe stalls! We ordered two - one cauliflower and one banana. They were very tasty, and the banana one was oddly spicy as well as sweet, which surprisingly was really amazing! As the stall we'd picked was so popular, seating was in high demand, but we managed to squeeze onto a table with just one other person. Over food we got chatting to him - it turned out he was originally from Delhi, had moved to the UK as a teenager and was back here on a business trip. Like us he was checking out the paratha on a recommendation, and we were soon comparing notes about London! Somehow, this lead to us getting another free lunch (we seem to be making a habit of that!) and some great conversation.

The afternoon was spent exploring the insane bazaars of Old Delhi that we hadn't had a chance to look at yet. One of these was the saree bazaar, where we had great fun being wrapped up in sarees! Saree shopping is brilliant - you take your shoes off and sit down on a soft, mattress like floor, and people bring you sparkly sarees and wrap you up in them! After trying on some very sparkly and very expensive sarees, we eventually bought two that were at the cheaper end! We even managed to put them on ourselves when we got home!

Michaela being wrapped up in a very sparkly saree

One of the sarees that Emma tried on

The sarees we ended up with - put on by ourselves!

The great thing about the Old Delhi bazaars is that there is amazing street food everywhere. We basically just grazed all day, going back to get jalebi (amazing deep fried, syrupy dough), also trying some steamed momos (stuffed dumplings) and one of our favourite things here - carrot halwa. This is a sweet dish made with milk and carrots and spiced with cardamon. It sounds and looks quite weird, but it is actually incredibly good and Emma had been craving it ever since she first tasted it!

We also tried some small biscuits that we'd seen sold in lots of different places but had never tried - we weren't even sure if they were sweet or savoury! Unsurprisingly given the Indian taste we've experienced so far they were sweet, amazingly light and crumbly, and delicately flavoured with cardamon, definitely one of Michaela's new favourites!

As we were very close to a highly rated sweet shop, it would have been rude not to buy a few Indian sweets (burfee are our new favourites) and alongside some fruit juice squeezed at the side of the road as you waited, it was the perfect food day! 

Freshly squeezed orange and pineapple juice...yum.

Emma was delighted when we manage to track down some carrot halwa!

We finished the day in the bazaar in Old Delhi which sells paper kites. We had heard the stories about the tradition of flying paper kites over Old Delhi, which we hadn't managed to see before, but as we walked back to the metro station we spied quite a few flying high up in the bright blue sky! A magical end to a very interesting day!

A typical road in Old Delhi

Those two square dots you can see high up in the sky, were actually kites! You might just have to take our word for it...

 As a final thought, here was a shop that Michaela particularly liked...we thought the idea of "Fancy Iron" was brilliant!