Day 58

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  Delhi, India
Monday, August 18, 2008

Today is Monday, and that means going back to school; Sociology of India at 11 and Hindi at 5.  This morning I webcam-ed with Vicki and John which was a lot of fun, I finally got my webcam working (sound and all) although I'm not quite sure what I changed.  That means anybody who wants to webcam let me know!  It seems to be easiest if I go on in the mornings and people in the US go on at night, because most of you have to work and such.
This past weekend it was Indian Independence Day.  We had been planning to stay in town all weekend, but then found out that instead of a large celebration (what we were expecting), there was only a private parade with a lot of security that only dignitaries and such can go to.  On Friday, after learning this, our friend Will called us and asked us if we wanted to go to Amritsar, about 7 hour train ride north, where there is a golden temple.  Why not, it's India?  So we got up, showered, and went to the train station.  There we waited for about four hours trying to figure out how to get tickets (we can't go to the tourist office because we are here on student visas, we can't go to the general office because that's only standing class, blah blah blah), only to find out that there are no returning tickets until Monday afternoon

Sign

.  So we left the train station to wander around Delhi.
One thing that we didn't quite think of while signing up for studying abroad in India is the drastic change in diet.  Here, we pretty much only eat Indian food; it's the cheapest and easiest to get.  I think I've mentioned it before, but McDonalds and such are very expensive here, so we don't get much American food.  Some of the other group found a fancy hotel (Le Meridian) which has a restaurant full of American food--including real beef hamburgers.  For having to wait at the train station we decided to go have hamburgers, even if they are $10.  To get our money's worth, after eating we decided to explore the hotel.  We went up and down the glass elevator, used multiple bathrooms (where the attendant will pour the soap in your hand for you), lounged on all of the couches, and even put our feet in the pool.  We've decided that anytime we need a break from India we will go back and go swimming.
Saturday we got up and decided to visit one of the old seven cities of Delhi.  Delhi has been the capital of India off and on for the past millennia.  But each time a new power takes over, they decide to move the center of the city around (a couple kilometers).  They have moved the capital 8 times (including the current British version) so they call the older ones the seven cities of Delhi.  One of the old cities is called Tughluqabad, which built in 1321.  The king who built the city wanted all work to be done on his fort, so stopped work on other religious buildings

Andrew, Will, Ty, Chelsea

.  One of the priests got angry and put a curse on him.  The king died shortly, the people we afraid that the curse was real, so they all left.  The fort was empty by 1327, only a couple years after being built.  Now it has been reclaimed by nature and is full of plants, vines, rats, snakes, donkeys, and cows.  Andrew described as a big play ground for him with lots of things to climb all over.  There isn't any notion to try to preserve it at all; you are allowed to climb whatever you want (for 100 Rs entrance fee).   It's really gorgeous.  There is a tunnel that is a remnant from the fort that used to be the "Ladies Bazaar" where they would sell jewelry.  There are also remnants of the Mosque, jail, and water pools.  There are lots of scraps of pottery on the ground, I picked up a piece that looks like the top of a handle to a pot, it's pretty cool. From the top of the fort you could see the skyline of central Delhi, including the Baha'i House of Worship and the hotel that we had hamburgers at.  It then was sun down and we had to try to get back to the metro.  It took us awhile to get there, but it was still worth visiting.  It reminds you of how long people have really been in this city. 
Sunday we spent around the apartment.  I bought a box and paper to and I hope send a package home full of goodies soon (Andrew and I will ship stuff for both families in one box).  I also bought some pastels and drawing paper.  We went over to a friend's house for dinner and then we all had a drawing competition with the pastels, it was a lot of fun.  This week is pretty busy trying to get books for our classes and preparing to go to Jaipur (Pink City) and Agra (Taj Mahal) this Friday with the group.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Fort with view of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq's Tomb	1-Fort	2-Fort	Chelsea
Water tanks	Donkeys	Andrew climbing one of the towers	Andrew ontop of tower
Chelsea and I	Ladies' Bazaar	1-Ladies' Bazaar	Andrew didn't like the rats in the Ladies' Bazaar
2-Ladies' Bazaar	In the fort	1-View from top of fort	Andrew and Me
Me, Summer, Chelsea	Me	Will and Andrew	View from the top
1-View from the top	2-View from the top	3-View from the top	scary spider
Top of pot handle?	Andrew and I	Ants fighting	centipede thing
One armed monkey

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