Old and New Delhi | INDIA

We arrived in Delhi by train, as usual, and I thought it would be a place we would like to stay longer than we actually did, not sure why, but yep I was wrong. We could not wait to leave this city after the first day, but due to sold out train tickets we had to stay 3 full days there. 
Still we found some beauty in it of course and there's plenty to do, don't get me wrong, however it can get a bit stressful, as there are scammers everywhere. 

We stayed at a nicer hotel this time. When I say 'nicer', it is compared to where we stayed before, or perhaps just a bit more expensive which does not mean necessarily nicer. We paid $35 per night at that time and yes, they had hot shower and comfy/clean bed! Happy days.

We explored a bit of the area which we were in, which apparently was the tourist area (Main Bazar Rd) and we didn't find it super exciting (perhaps because it was the tourist area? HA). We still enjoyed having brekky at a rooftop restaurant there and ate lots of delicious street food.

Lively Main Bazar Rd.


The sad part of our visit to the capital city, was the amount of scammers we found and the amount of time wasted with them. Which is the reason we decided to leave the city asap. 

3 Tuktuk drivers tried taking us to the 'Official' Train Ticket office which after 10min at the place we got really suspicious and left. Ended up not losing money, however wasted SO much time, until we finally made our way to the actual train station official ticket office (after being pointed to the wrong direction a few more times inside of the actual train station!).
Annoying, yes, but it was part of the experience and luckily we didn't get into any major trouble and didn't loose any money.

Sometimes the reality can make you sad too, we saw many kids begging in the traffic jam pretending they had this f*cked up arm and hand which is all a well made make up injury. The taxi driver told us and we noticed it was fake when they were knocking on our window asking for money. There were quite a few kid at the same spot and with the same fake injury. When we told them we knew it wasn't real they left giggling. 

Lodi Gardens

Even wasting a lot of time with annoying people and crazy traffic jams, we managed to do quite a bit of things and we were glad we managed. Read below and watch us in Delhi here :)


We did a tour through the Old Delhi and went to see Gandhi Smriti - Rajghat - Mahatma Gandhi's monument which marks the spot where his body was cremated in 1948. (Old Delhi)

At Lodi Gardens we found peace in the middle of this crowded city which was amazing. Beautiful and relaxing garden. (New Delhi)


Oh! Swaminarayan Akshardham - We had an amazing VIP tour with our lovely airbnb guest (we hosted her in Melbourne), which was volunteering in this temple at the same time we were visiting Delhi! Perfect timing and coincidence hey. 
Breathtaking architecture of the whole complex and intricate carvings. Just wow. 
It displays millennia of traditional Hindu and Indian culture, spirituality, and architecture. You can literally spend the whole day there and still not see everything, so go early and make sure you check out the dress code and ticketing beforehand.
You will find cool exhibitions either walking or by boat, water shows, thematic gardens, etc. We had a lot of fun, specially as we had a friend to show us around. 
Unfortunately we have no photos of it and I don't know how that happened haha.
*You can also get a volunteer to show you around. (New Delhi)

Went to see Humayun's Tomb - A beautiful garden tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun, built in 1570. It is actually the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent which was also an inspiration for the construction of the famous Taj Mahal, how cool is that? (New Delhi)

Humayun's Tomb




Rajpath and India Gate - A war memorial with a nice boulevard connecting both the Gate with the Presidential Palace. 
Definitely recommend checking it out. It is a memorial to the 70 thousand Indian Army soldiers who died in the First World War (1914–1921). (New Delhi)







Bahai Lotus Temple - It's one of my favorites temples. Awesome architecture in pure white marble, built in 1986. It does look like a Lotus flower!! ( It kinda reminds me of the Sydney Opera House too haha)


Red Fort (Lal Quila) - We got to the front of it however it was a bit too late and ended up not having time to see it. A shame, but we were excited to move on to the next destination to see the incredible Taj Mahal anyway!

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