Food food food! Alright, as promised, here is my Indian food entry. I have photos of almost everything we ate, minus a few exceptions like Akshardham (no phones allowed inside).

At the first hostel. Fried potatoes, paneer, and Indian-spiced meatballs. The meatballs were really good, but the other stuff just tasted like any other french fries.

A rare example of meat. The inside was potato, but the outside had bits of beef in it. Sort of a french fried beef nugget thing. Quite good, and surprisingly very spicy. This guy was just outside a mosque, which made the beef an appropriate choice I suppose.

Potato (see a pattern?) fry outside of Red Fort. HOLY crap, this thing was delicious. It was super flavorful, and sort of was like a tater tot curry. If there was bread I would eat this for every meal.

The other stuff tater tot curry guy made. They looked like deep fried butter sandwiches. Oh god India, you're going to kill me.

Super fluffy bread with a simple dal curry. It deflated as soon as you tore it. It was so-so, but the onion really brought out the flavor a lot. Definitely worth a go, especially at around 15 cents a serving.

Super fluffy bread! I'm sure someone will be able to tell me the name of it.

Chicken curry at a western place around the corner. I actually found it not terribly flavorful, and it had an overpowering number of cloves in it. Still, you can't go wrong with curry. Regardless, this was probably the most expensive and my least favorite meal.

A mutton wrap. Really good, especially with the green sauce. It was sort of a spicy mint, and was pretty amazing. I'd like to more meat to include mint, it really pairs super well.

Hello, dosa! I had quite a few on this trip, because they're cheap and delicious. The white sauce in particular I really thought went well with it. This was masala flavor, and the filling was pretty dope. Not bad for a bus stop restaurant.

Boazi in India?! They call them momos, and these had some sort of spicy vegetable inside. Really good, although I didn't like the sauce. The white was kind of mayonnaisey, and the red was just too spicy for me. 

Holy cow! This was my favorite meal so far. I got Rajisthani Gatta, which is a curry with little dumplings inside. I think made from chickpeas? Really awesome with shaved coconut on top, this was my favorite meal so far.

I loved the gatta so much I got it again the next day. Not quite as good, but still delicious. Ella got paneer, which was much better. Still, you can't beat the price. We both ate for about $1.

We were pretty full, so we had a streetside snack buffet. Starting from the top - I think goats milk cake thing, with almonds inside. Just a little sweet, I thought it was decent. On the right is pakora, which most people probably know. It's basically a fritter with a spicy green sauce. It was much better than any I've had in the States. On the bottom is some sort of carrot salad thing. It had a really distinctive flavor that seemed familiar, but I could never place from where. Still awesome though.

A fried bread not unlike a donut. I think it's called Chaloo? Something like that. The brown curry was really awesome. Also pictured is a Thumbs Up cola. Basically Coke with some Indian-like spices in it. It was unique for novelty sake but I think I prefer regular cola.

Let's keep this masala train going! Really nice snack, sort of like masala cheetohs. I would definitely eat this again if I found it.

I got mater (pea) mushroom, which was really good. The mushrooms especially, were super flavorful. Ella got potato tomato, which I'm not sure is Indian but pretty good. The roti at this place was really awesome, so overall it was a good mix.

Dosa delivery to the hostel. I got a Mysore version, and Ella got a paneer. The big bowl is vegetable soup that I thought was too spicy. The white stuff (chutney?) was awesome and what I mostly ate.

Rice with beans and onion. Simple, amazing, about 20 cents. Ella got a samosa, which, man, that green sauce is so good. It should come with everything.

The Indian National Museum was giving out food for some reason? Another somosa, along with fried bits. I think it was just dough. The ball thing was slightly sweet, with a sticky, caramely outside. Big fan of that.

Amit had us try this at a fair. It's a mix of different flours, and the onion/sauce really brought out the flavor.

I remember him saying it was a dish of another province (Uttar Pradesh?) but I don't remember.

Chicken kebab! Different than the style we have in Bangkok, it's definitely more spicy. The green sauce wasn't so good this time. The taziki is always great though.

We didn't eat here, I just thought it looked cool.

Fried chicken! At long last Ella found her favorite!

I order Chicken something-something. I promise the guy was super happy while he was cooking. I asked if I could take a photo, and he said "Sure!" Then when I did he looked super serious. Oh well, still good food.

The chicken something-something curry was super spicy, and my nose was going crazy after eating it. The bread I thought was especially good. It was kind of stretchy and thin, and had a ton of flavor.

I asked Amit what a Tandoori Bakra is, and why it costs 8800rs ($130). Turns out it's a whole goat. Cool.

Okay well, it doesn't look nice, but that's mutton mince. A few pics later shows how it's made. Really good, as always it had a ton of spices in it. A little greasy though.

Basically BBQ chicken, Indian style. Really delicious, not much more to say.

Alright, the bread on the right was giant and thick. It's sort of a naan bread for giants. The curry on the left was completely unlike any other curry I've had before. A mix of slightly spicy, but mostly sweet, it was very unusual. Also very oily, it was still delicious and super unique.

How they make the mutton rolls. On a railroad spike over a grill.

We got an Indian sweet that came in a glass. It reminded me of a Thai dessert, sort of sweet noodles in coconut milk. Thais would probably love it. I thought it was pretty good.

Fast food biryani - veg and chicken. By itself not so great, but the white sauce really added a kick to it. It was sort of a yogurty, taziki sort of thing that I would love to see more of.

Nachos?! Yes, for the final meal in India we got some Mexican food. Actually the salsa was pretty good, although the sour cream was just "cream". I've yet to find decent sour cream in Asia. The other is just a platter of different beans and peanuts. The lower right were peanuts with some sort of cinnamony spice, which I absolutely loved. Pictured is the first of many, many pitchers of beer they brew onsite. It was a "dark" lager. A little light for a beer, and especially for a dark lager. Still had a pretty good taste, and I would definitely go for it again.

Oh god, so much food. I have to think even with all the walking we did, we probably broke even. I would definitely get fat if I moved there.

After a long bus and metro ride, we're back in Delhi.

The first hotel we went for wasn't available, so we poked our head into a nearby hostel. Turned out to be a great choice. It was one of those hostels where everyone was really cool with each other, and the owners went out of their way to make people feel welcome. Also free breakfast. That's a plus.

The first day was a trip to Bangla Sahib Gurudwara. A Sikh temple, they had a museum that went through a bit of history of the religion. And honestly, the more and more I learn about Sikhism the more I like it. They seem to be a really tolerant, peaceful group that goes out of its way to protect any other group or religion from any sort of injustice. They're also incredibly welcoming, giving free meals if you want. We just walked around and took photos, but we did enjoy their 5rs (just a few cents!) cups of coffee. Really beautiful temple, full of people who wanted to take pictures with us and be super cool.

On the way to the next stop we saw a Catholic church. Nice, but nothing too special. However its quiet was such a stark contrast compared to the Sikh temple we just came from. We pressed on to Lakshmi Narayan, a rather nice Hindu temple. Full of color, statues, and lights, it's small but pretty cool. They took your phones on entry, so I don't have a photo except for the outside. Also, they said it was free, but when retrieving your phones the attendant asked for a donation, a bit forcefully. I don't think you know what "donation" means. Welcoming religion, indeed.

We went to the National Museum next, which I usually enjoy when visiting a new country. The museum was a bit dated, but came with a really nice audio guide that contained an overwhelming amount of stuff. So much so Ella and I got sort of worn out and skipped through the end, only stopping to see the highlights. Also we were on the way to meet our friend Amit near the center of town. He took us shopping around the city, answered my silly questions about India, and eventually we ended up at a festival. This was one of my favorite experiences in India so far, as it was full of families, food, and a local band. I would have been comfortable to stay there for the rest of the night, but Amit had plans to take us to a restaurant back near the old part of town. I'll save food specific comments for the next blog, but this restaurant's head chef is descended from chefs who cooked for the Mughal Emperors during their reign. A lot of mutton, they even had an option on the menu to eat a whole goat. (with 24 hours notice). It was tucked in a tiny alley where you really needed to be a local to even know about it. After we went out to get sweets at a local joint before heading home.

The next day was New Year's Eve, but with only a few days left we still had a full agenda. The first stop was to Ugrasen Ki Baoli. It's basically a big hole. It used to be a step well containing the city's water supply, and now just is a neat looking place for photos. There were a few people taking wedding photos, along with two playful cats. So, Ella was happy. After that we zipped off to Purana Qila. At 100rs to go inside, it's a little expensive for something that is basically a park. It had a few ruins, including an old bath house, but overall it doesn't offer anything special.

The next stop was Humayun's Tomb, another Mughal royal who decided to bury himself in spectacular fashion. It basically looks like the Taj Mahal, but significantly less impressive. In fact, for 500rs, I felt it was a bit of a ripoff because it's a less pretty Taj. Good to see if you haven't been to Agra, but otherwise it's worth a miss.

We were pretty tired of ruins by now, as well as really hungry. Ella wanted to do some souvenir shopping, and one of the markets supposedly good for that was nearby. Khan (Khaaaaaaaaan!) Market is really cool, and looks more European than Asian. It's a series of small, pedestrian only alleys full of coffee shops, bistros, and tiny shops selling kitchy things. We picked up a few things before heading to the last tourist attraction of the evening, the Lotus Temple. The Lotus Temple is probably as close as you can get to the symbol of Delhi, not unlike Wat Arun of Bangkok or The Merlion of Singapore. It's actually a temple for the Baha'i religion, which I've heard of but really didn't know anything about. As seems to be the trend for India, it's really inclusive and says "Okay, all religions are correct. All the gods from Christian, Islam, Hindu, whatever are just all messengers of the same god." A bit of a mess to get inside with all the people, but they invited you to stay as long as you'd like no matter what faith you are - just not to disturb people by taking photos of the inside. The outside is really the draw anyway, although it did have some interesting architecture. If you're desperate for a description, it's just an open room with pews all facing towards a podium in the front. High glass walls and archways made it look sort of a modern Catholic church, but overall was a pretty nice place.

Whew! Now getting to the end of this trip, we were starting to get really tired. However we (or at least I) knew that we would have to go out past midnight this evening for New Years, so we should take a rest. Back at the hostel, I met Steve, who stopped in Delhi for one night on his way to Bangkok. Funny how that works. Steve is from Chicago and actually a friend of KT, who maybe some of you may know? Anyway that evening we went out with the hostel to Haus Kaus village, a hip sort of place that I suppose is like the Khao San of Delhi.

Of course, traffic was nuts. With about 25 of us, taxis were out of the question. Thus, we took a bus that could bring us about halfway. I'm sure the locals thought "WTF is going on?" as 25 drunk foreigners suddenly piled on to this local bus, and then filed off maybe 2 km later. After that, it was another brisk walk to Haus Kaus village, which, man oh man, was a sea of people. I don't know how, but despite all odds we made it to the same bar as everyone else, with no one getting lost. The roof was fortunately quite nice and quiet, and we rang in the New Year with a small group from the hostel. People started hugging each other, and one very interesting guy with a beard gave me a big kiss. That was unexpected. But hey, certainly a far cry from the zero-fanfare New Year from the previous year in Qujing, China.

Now on the last day full day in India, we were amazingly not (really) hungover. We said goodbye to Steve, and hopefully will see him again the next time he passes through Bangkok. Still feeling very tired, we went to see Akshardham. A large... thing on the outskirts of Delhi, I'm not sure how to describe this place. It's like a Hindu theme park? The centerpiece is a large temple in the middle, which is just so super impressive, I would put it up there with the Taj Mahal in awe-inspireness. It's just so incredibly, intricately detailed, I've never seen anything like it before. Of course, there are no phones or cameras allowed in this place, and they are fucking serious. You have to empty everything out of your pockets and check your bags. Basically it's like the TSA, except competent. With only a wallet, we walked around and just enjoyed the place. It was immaculately clean, and overall people not taking photos everywhere was quite nice. People were chatting, it kept things moving, and made me think about how detrimental in some ways mobile phones have made our lives.

There are rides of sorts at this place, like a boat, a water show, and some other stuff. It wasn't that expensive, and even had the same price for locals and foreigners. Wow, three cheers for not being racist. Anyway, we didn't feel up to it so we got lunch instead. Lunch was incredibly cheap, at less than 100rs each. Although good, the real draw of this place was the main temple. The photos here are ones I found on the internet, because I really want everyone to see what I'm talking about. This place was really cool, and I would seriously put it up there with the Taj as a "must see" of India.

Heading back into town, Ella was not quite done souvenir shopping yet. We went to a handicraft sort of market called Dilli Haat, which had an entrance fee? What sort of market was this? I don't really know the point of an entrance fee, although it was only about a buck and a half. There were a few musical acts, but mostly it was kitchy stuff like in Khan Market. Except this was more handmade, very pretty sort of things you would put on your mantle. As you can expect this was not really for me, but I did appreciate the insane amount of time and effort some of the local artists put into what they were selling. The one thing there that got me excited is that I saw a restaurant was selling pineapple beer. I eagerly ran up to see what it was, and on the bottle "Non-Alcoholic" was written in small print on the bottom.

Talk about a fucking letdown.

There was only one place left on our list, and that was Qutab Minar. A large tower, it's often listed as one of Delhi's top attractions. However, reading more about it people online said you can't go up the tower. And you can finish the whole place in about 30 minutes. At 500rs a head, this seemed pretty expensive to me. When we got off at the metro station though, all the motivation I had to see it pretty much vanished. We emptied into a sea of people, for a reason unknown to me. I asked a guy there what was going on, and he said "New Year!!!" I guess there's a bar district around Qutab Minar, and I also guess Indians love celebrating the New Year even after it has passed. We instead went further down the line to meet Amit and Manmoot (probably spelling that wrong) at a mall. There the four of us went to Vapour, a brewpub that made their own beer on site. The beer was pretty decent, but we had a really awesome conversation that continued hours longer than I expected. We polished off four pitchers of beer during the course of the night, so by the end we were quite drunk. Somehow, we got back successfully.

The next, hungover morning, that was about it for India. We stopped at a local grocery store to pick up a few things, and then off to the airport. So overall, I like India. There seems to be a lot to do, and we only covered the smallest portion of the country. The people outside of Delhi are also super nice, and really seemed happy to have foreigners around. It was also cheap, cheap, cheap. It goes without saying, but the food was absolutely amazing. Really, Ella and I ate meat maybe twice out of the whole time we were there, and I didn't even miss it. If you want the world to have more vegetarians for whatever reason, just make Indian food more available.

As far as the bad stuff, people are super pushy. Especially in Delhi, but really everywhere, people touch and push a lot. I guess they see it as a necessity given the dense population, but if you are uncomfortable being touched, India is NOT for you. Speaking of the density, it can really be stifling at times. There are long lines everywhere, and just in general things seem stuffy. This is further compounded in Delhi, where the pollution is just awful. I heard it is the most polluted city in the world, and I believe it. You can see only a few hundred meters on a clear day, and whenever you blow your nose there's black bits in there. Gross. Still, the amazing food, sights, and (some) nice people made for a great time. I hope to be back, although next time we'll give the southern portion a try.

Agra has a reputation for being a giant shit hole. I think that reputation is undeserved.

On the bus I met Arif, a cool guy who just finished his exams in Jaipur. Before the next semester, he was going home to Agra. He said he was unsure of how to talk to me, as I am the first foreigner he has ever met. Hard to believe, but the "local curiosity" status I had when I lived in little Xiaoshan has followed me here. He took a selfie and sent it to his parents, which is just adorable.

Unfortunately the bus arrived fairly late, at around 2 o'clock. Ella and I wanted to see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort that same day, and then be on a bus to Delhi around sunset. Perhaps if our bus was on time that would be feasible, but as things stood it just wasn't going to happen without seriously rushing. We resigned ourselves to stay one night in Agra, and set out to a part of town where Ella had seen a hotel online. Our tuk tuk driver was a really kind old man who spoke perfect English, was very keen to point out different places to see, and did not try for a hard sale or rip us off. Overall, I'm learning that outside of Delhi Indians are super nice.

With the first hotel fully booked, we found one about 750m away that was... fine. I'm glad Ella isn't fancy, because honestly I'd sleep in a dirt hole if it had WiFi. But this one was fine too, and within walking distance of the Taj Mahal. So after dropping off our bags, we set out.

Foreigners at the Taj need to pay 1000rs each, which is about $16 or so. Again, the two tiered pricing system, aka racism, rears its ugly head. However, I'm a little more okay with it at the Taj, because you get to skip all the queues. The lines were super long, and it wouldn't surprise me if people waited an hour to get into the grounds, and then another hour or two to see the inside. An ambitious foreigner could see the whole thing in 30 minutes this way.

Instead we took our time though, befitting of seeing a World Wonder. Of course we have a lot of pics, and I'm sure you've seen many similar ones before. But the Taj is one of the very few places I've been (the others maybe are Bagan in Myanmar, Victoria Peak in Hong Kong) where pics do not do it justice. Maybe it's just the stark contrast from the city to a suddenly open plaza, but it is quite a sight. The main building itself, the mausoleum, was built by a rich noble for his favorite wife. I feel like there's room for a joke there. Also, I wonder what his least favorite wife got?




You can take all the pics you want except for inside. And honestly, it's so dark and uninteresting I don't know why you would. It's a circular room you walk around the perimeter of, and in the middle is a large perforated screen. Inside you can barely make out two stone coffins. Apparently those are fake, with the actual bodies in the basement. And that's it. You file out through a hall. While we were there tons of people were taking photos, I guess feeling justified that they waited 3 hours to get in this darn place. I thought about sneaking some myself, but I figured I should behave myself as a representative of "Foreignerstan". A good idea too, because moments later a team of security guards started blowing their whistles and pushed me aside to start apprehending picture takers. A scuffle ensued and it just made me think this entire system is dumb. The photos they took likely sucked. And because they will add one more pic to the hundreds online, do you think someone is going to say "Oh okay. I don't want to go to India now."? Please. Let people take their stupid pics. It's going to happen anyway.

After a stroll around the gardens, we walked back on the really, quite delightful streets of Agra. With horse drawn carriages, clean streets with wide sidewalks, it's totally unlike the rest of India, albeit a bit sterile. After dinner we went back to relax and get up early for the next day.

In the morning, we stopped at the same restaurant for a quick sandwich and coffee. While we were there, a cow also decided to visit the restaurant. Pretty much an "Only in India" moment, the cow walked over and started to rub her head up against a cabinet. The owner rushed over, opened the cabinet, and gave the cow some bread like this is a regular thing. So, she ate it and left. It was pretty much the most docile robbery ever. I imagine the cow went to the restaurant next door and repeated the same. With so many vegetarians in India, apparently life here is pretty nice for cows.

We then set off to the other sight of note in Agra, Agra Fort. Ella told me this was where the builder of the Taj Mahal was imprisoned after his son overthrew him. So, listen up dads. Be nice to your son or he may make you live in Agra. But as far as prisons go, this one is pretty posh. A lot of plazas, nice architecture, gardens, etc.. It was similar to the Hawa Mahal in Jaipur or Red Fort in Delhi. Looks nice, enjoyable to walk around, but really they're starting to blend together at this point. As always we got lots of great pics. We're wearing jackets for this one because the weather actually got quite chilly, perhaps around 5-10 degrees. The sudden temperature drop made the fort was really misty, and it had a haunted vibe to it. Or it was rampant air pollution. More likely the latter.

And that was about it for Agra. A short entry this time, after the fort we got on a very, very local bus to Delhi. Another reason why Ella is great, she's fine with passing up a modern Volvo for a bus that has not been clean since it left the factory in 1850. Not surprisingly, the driver has a lead foot, and we should complete our circle of northern India in record time.