India 3-Local/Delhi

Monday 2/19

Shannon and I went to Blue Tokai for breakfast and coffee. Another Cute Little Café (#cutelittlecafes)

That evening, Shannon and I went to Cyber Hub looking for a great happy hour. There was plenty, but we came across Pie 38 and their happy hour consisted of free drinks for the ladies - we qualified! Plus, they were having a band that night. Double fun!!

We sat outside with our drinks and ordered appetizers.

Finally the band was starting so we went inside. This band was awesome. They played classic rock and even took requests. So much fun.

This is 3 different flavors of hummus

Band video coming soon

Shannon petting a street dog - apparently she didn't learn from the cow incident, not to engage with the street animals!

You see the craziest things!

Kingdom of Dreams

Tuesday 2/20/18

Shannon had a little bit of a hangover this morning, but she still had to work so I was on my own today and took the metro to Kingdom of Dreams and Leisure Valley Park.

Kingdom of Dreams is India’s first live entertainment-leisure destination.

This iconic place was built in 2010 in Gurgaon and covers 6 acres. It is a fusion of Indian culture, arts & crafts, heritage and cuisines, all available under a single roof.

They have 2 theaters and a cultural boulevard called “Culture Gully” which is an arts and crafts boulevard under 100K square feet dome that include themed restaurants and live kitchens from 14 states of India, represented with their architecture and decor. This indoor street of India also has live performances throughout the day.

The entrance fee is 500 rupees, however, you get to spend that inside on food and shopping. This is my idea of a genius marketing strategy.

I decided to pay the entrance fee and go inside - this was the only way to get close enough to take pictures and I was here, and I wanted to experience this.

I spent my money on food - Funny thing was that every time I ordered something - the response after I paid was "That will take 5 minutes."

It was kind of nice inside, however, I felt the hype was overstated on the internet.

There were a lot of empty shops and areas, I think that someday in the past it was much more spectacular then today, and hopefully it will be again.

It was still fun for a tourist, and I would recommend it for someone visiting. Unfortunately we didn't get to a show.

Entrance	Notice the elephants
	Inside Culture Gulley
Restaurant inside Culture Gully	Main Street inside Culture Gully from the Bridge
Bridge over Main Street	Inside Culture Gully
Outside in the Courtyard	Main Street inside Culture Gully
Rose pond in the courtyard	Courtyard
Fountain in front of the theater	One of the theaters

Walking path at Leisure Valley Park

Wednesday 2/21

This morning we got on the metro and headed north. Shannon wanted to go to this nature market today, which was really nice with lots of handmade items for sale.

It was a nice leisurely market and we ended up getting Shannon some fabric for her new line that she was designing.

Lunch at the Rose Café. Absolutely adorable!

Our journey also led us to this beautiful garden.

Our reward for a long hot day!

Garden of 5 Senses

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Camel Video coming soon

Thursday 2/22

Another day by myself – I didn’t mind – I found lots of interesting things to see on the internet and had fun of trying to get there!

My first stop was the Metro Museum. I thought this would be interesting, seeing how the metro was built.

So fun, I started taking pictures and I kept hearing a whistle. Where is that coming from…I kept looking around, but couldn’t tell what was going on.

Finally a guard came over and told me no pictures were allowed! Luckily I got a couple before I was caught!

Metro Museum	Model of a metro train
Guy at the controls. Constant monitoring of the Metro system.	Row of displays.
Model of a bridge and metro station.

The first day of Metro's operation, about 1.2 million people queued up for a ride at the six stations.

Everyone was excited for the Metro to open that they clogged the stations and the DMRC had to issue a public appeal asking commuters to defer joyrides.

Are you kidding me! I caught a guy ahead of me on the escalator taking a video of me. I looked away and when I looked back, he was still doing it. I then moved across the step directly behind him. When we got off, He turned and looked at me - "WHY" I said, "why are you taking my picture? " He just turned away and kept walking.

The escalators in the metro stations have a sari guard feature that deflects loose clothing from getting trapped.

Everyone must go through security - metal detector, wand and all bags must go through xray. There is also a Ladies only car, which was nice because we could avoid lots of stares.

Fun Facts about the Metro Museum

This is South Asia's first modern Metro Museum, showcasing the Delhi Metro and is the only one of its kind in an operational station set up in only two months. It is set up right inside the station just as you come out of the metro

The Museum at Patel Chowk Metro station showcases the inception, history and journey of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

I had a great time reading all about how the Metro came about.

Built in one of the most congested cities in the world, the Delhi Metro used cutting edge technology from around the world to create a system that is one of the most advanced in the world.

It is also one of only a few Metros in the world having an operational profit from the first day.

The museum showcases the construction of the Delhi Metro which took 32 years to reach the operational stage from the drawing boards, major milestones, issues regarding the selection of the technology such as rolling stock (trains), rail gauge, etc.

The Museum has an extensive section on the construction of the Metro and the problems encountered during the process, including the story behind the construction of technological marvels such as the Chawri Bazaar Metro station, which is the second deepest Metro station in the world and India's first extra-dosed bridge.

A model of Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), a "tooth" taken from a TBM, and soil samples collected from around the city are just a few artifacts that you can see.

At every Metro station exit, there are about 50 tuk-tuk drivers shouting and auctioning off their services. I figured out that if I wanted one, I just had to say where I was going and how much I wanted to pay and one of them would agree – or I asked the first one how much and then asked anyone else if they wanted to go lower.

It was so annoying after awhile, that I had to have some fun! Since the metro was so expansive, I usually got off at a station very close to where I wanted to go, so it was only about 50 to 100 rupees to get there, although most days I just wanted to walk.

Yes yes, I will take you, step right in!

LOL - NEVER get into a tuk-tuk until you ask them how much. I got a kick out of watching Shannon negotiate.

She would say, “how much to go to …?”

The driver would say some ridiculous amount and she would just shake her head and tell him “that is way too much– you wouldn’t charge a local that much!”

Delhi

A few pictures of Delhi.

3 times today, I got asked for a picture!

This is for Shannon - she thinks she has to pick a flower everywhere we go!

I saw steps and I started going up - NO NO, you cant go there!	Police barricades blocking the sidewalk? Now I had to go out onto the street to get around. No thought about the pedestrians!
Beautiful flowers	Government building
Parliament

I thought, wow, this was great, my private driver for only 50 rupees.

Nope – Wrong - he proceeded to try to get me to go to some store for tea and shopping – this just after I told him I hate shopping! (I found out later after being hijacked again by another tuk-tuk driver that they get commissions for bringing tourists in!)

He kept insisting I go in – "you don’t have to buy, just get tea, no pressure, just 20 minutes". By this time I got a little testy and told him to take me back to where I wanted to go. I was getting a little loud – telling him that I was upset that he took me to where I didn’t want to go and a local came up and asked me what was the problem.

I started to explain (a guard from the store also got up from his post and started walking over) and just that quick, the driver said that he would take me back.

Finally – he dropped me off and from then on I was very cautious with these tuk-tuk drivers.

As I am standing on the street, trying to pull my map up to see where I could get some food, an Indian man stopped and asked me what I was looking for.

I told him that I was looking for food and he directed me where I should go for cheap authentic Indian food.

He told me that he was a Canadian reporter in town to cover the Prime Minister’s visit.

He said “why don’t you get a tuk-tuk to take you?” I explained that every time I hailed one, they were always trying to rip me off!

He proceeded to stop one and in Hindi, got me to the restaurant and then I could go to a shopping area, all for 50 rupees. (Even though I knew I didn’t want to shop, I figured that I could just have him take me someplace else.)

Wow, thanks. Not so fast! The driver took me to the restaurant and it was very cheap. Not exactly sure what I ordered, it was all in Hindi, but I knew a few words and it was only 200 rupees (about $3.00).

It turned out to be very tasty and when I was finished, out the door to my waiting tuk-tuk.

The Clock Tower Restaurant

Shail had a company dinner that night so Shannon found a wonderful restaurant just across the street so we shared a tuk-tuk, he went to his dinner and we went into The Clock Tower Restaurant.

The restaurant was an amazing 5 story building.

We chose to go up to the top floor to have dinner “outside”.

The service was impeccable and the food delicious.

Move on to India Page 4 for my adventures at

India Gate

Jantar Mantar

Raj Ghat

Red Fort

Akshardam

Taj Mahal

Agra Fort