Photos, Videos, Food, Fun, and Long Drives in India!

The India portion of my trip seems like so long ago already, but was fun to take a look back though.  I hope you will enjoy some of these photos, videos, and stories with me!  Here we go....

First highlight, the India Gate!!!  On my last trip to Delhi, I was so bummed that I didn't get a photo by the India Gate or really, a clear photo in general of it.  This time we were able to stop and snap a couple photos but sadly it was from a far distance since the Indian Army was practicing for the Republic Day ceremony. 
We thought we had to just stay behind that "Delhi Police" gate but ended up getting in trouble for being there in general. The police shooed us back into our taxi.  At least I got my photo though!!!!

We didn't have time to see much else as far as tourist-y architecture but I loved these sites from our van.


Since I mentioned our van, that is where we spend a lot of our time on our business trips so this is what that looks like....  

For the most part it's pretty dang boring but also pretty eye-opening to get a feel of life for lots of the people in India.  They don't really have a middle class, there's a class of extremely wealthy or extremely poor.

Here's a video version of the view from the van...

Honestly, some of it is incredibly hard to see and understand, and I don't think I am educated enough to speak to their government and culture so I will leave it at that.  One thing I do know for certain is that traffic is RIDICULOUS in or around Delhi.  There's not much sense to the driving and the flow of traffic, can you imagine four hours of this....



Sidenote: did you catch the guy staring at me around the 15 second mark? That happened a lot when we sat in traffic, it was strange! 

I think it takes an hour to go 10 miles in India sometimes.  It is kind of maddening, those moments of our trips are when I think, "I never want to do this again, ever."   

-BUT-    Even now I know I would do it again :)  Especially when I get to look back on the cultural moments and experiences (the fun stuff). I mentioned our visit to the Delhi Haat market while I was still on the trip but here's a few more photos of the goodies in the market...

We also decided to get Henna done before we left.  I think Henna is a fun experience and also a sort of souvenir that stays with you for a week or two.  Instead of both sides of my hand (last time), I only did the outside this time since it takes 2-3 hours to dry and set in. 

I love each unique design and how fast they can apply it!  It reminds me of cake frosting kind of, ha!  Here's a video...

Now, as far as food goes I admit that Indian food in general isn't my favorite but I did discover two new favorites- Paneer and Gulab Jamun!

Gulab Jamun is almost like a warm donut with syrup but it is curdled milk solids kneaded into dough.  I know that sounds weird but it is pretty yummy stuff!  Paneer is also made of curdled milk or soft cheese, I know it looks weird/goo-like and sounds kind of weird but again surprisingly delicious!

As the India portion of our trip came to an end, we checked out of the Imperial Hotel...

But, before we headed out to the airport for Hong Kong, we noticed a celebration of some sort starting to happen...

 

From what I found online (which may or may not be accurate), it was a Lohri celebration which is common in Northern India.  Lohri signifies the harvesting of the Rabi crops and marks the end of winter.  I took a couple videos to share the feel of the celebration, it was pretty neat!

The typical celebration includes music, dancing, traditional foods, and throwing puffed rice or popcorn in the fire.  I found that after popcorn or other foods are thrown in, one traditional/custom is to say "Aadar aye dilather jaye" (may honor come and poverty vanish!) which is a prayer to Agni, the fire god, to bless the land with abundance and prosperity.

I have to say that celebration made for a perfect way to end our stay in India!  Hope you enjoyed that little glimpse!

I'll be back tomorrow for DIY Friday then I'll share some of Hong Kong, China and Macau!  Somewhere soon we'll have the kitchen done too (hopefully)!  Hope you'll swing back for all that fun stuff, good night for now!