Day 23 - Records of India. Day 2

In the morning, we had a breakfast buffet at the Gateway Hotel it was a nice setup the omelet station and fruit was calling me. We then boarded the bus for our long drive from Agra back to Delhi. Erin found a playmate during a bathroom break on our trip back to Delhi.

After arriving in Delhi, we went to the Qutab Minar Complex, initially ancient Hindu temples, the main tower is the tallest brick minaret in the world and has five distinct levels with balconies. Half way through our tour a security guard asked us to leave due to some kind of scare. Our tour guide tried to argue with him to let us stay…but no luck.

After getting lunch at the Rendezvous Café nearby (some of the best Indian food I have ever had) Mushrooms curry and tandoori was tasty! We then were on our way to Humayun’s Tomb. This site holds the remains of Mogul Emperor Humayun and members of his family. This building strikingly resembles the Taj Mahal, and was built before it. The Taj Mahal included changes that were needed in Humayun’s Tomb, a trial building. It had a lot more color and I personally enjoyed the site a little better than the Taj Mahal.

Our last site for the day was a Hindu temple, Shri Lakshmi Narain Temple. Shoes were not allowed to bring in our cameras or cell phones, unless we paid the fee. It was very valuable to see people practicing a different religion. Their gods were artfully displayed as followers showed their respects.

After the temple, we boarded the bus for the Shangri La Hotel in New Delhi. This five-star hotel had a stunning golden entryway, had several different restaurants on the upper floors. The gym, pool, and gardens provided some jaw dropping views. We went to dinner at an Asian restaurant which had a confusing menu. We decided on a table menu which came with enough food for at least 12… so the interns had to do our best to eat it all…we did not succeed. So I tried just about every dish, my highlights was the jumbo shrimp (cooked to perfection), the fried sesame mushrooms, and the eggplant stir fry (the best dish of the night). This dish inspired me to learn how to cook eggplant this summer.
Full and tired we headed up to the luxury rooms which were equipped with a odd window from the shower to the bedroom…I fount this really weird…I later realized that it was for tv watching form the bath tub. Haha. We had a good time joking around that the use of it was viewing pleasure of whoever was showering. Haha It of course had a curtain. So Mike and I found the robes and proceeded to be silly and take a few photos. Exploring India will continue tomorrow.



Thanks for following my adventure, Sean