After a decent start to our trip, we had reserved June 24th for Delhi local sight seeing. Our basic intention was to cover all major places which was possible within 8 hours coz we hired an innova which charged us 2000Rs for 8 hours. We were wondering if this was more but i knew the rates in Bangalore which was 1500 for 8 hours. So we were somewhat convinced. We booked the Innova through the hotel where we were staying. Exactly at 9 15 i got a call to my room from the reception asking if we were ready as the Innova had arrived. I said it'll take another 10 minutes as my friends were not yet ready. I could sense urgency in receptionist's voice. Even before i could ask him about it he said "पार्किंग का दिक्कत है , तोडा जल्दी कीजिये ". At 9 30 we all were at the reception and paid Rs1000 advance. The receptionist introduced us to the driver whose name Raju.
First we asked him to take us to a very important place. Hotel Kamat. We were more than happy to see a Karnataka restaurant in New Delhi. We had our breakfast there. The taste didn't match up to the Kamats of south India but it wasnt bad too. We bought 2 mineral water bottles at this place. Then straight away we went to India gate which was just 5 kms from Kamat hotel. The roads leading to India gate were amazing. Our driver took a drive around India gate and stopped at a particular point. We got down and asked him where the entrance ticket need to be taken. When he said entrance is free, i was amazed. Being south Indians we are used to pay entrance fee even at a small park! Then we had a long walk in the sun. For the first time in the trip i used my shades and cap here. Some of my friends who didnt have cap bought it here for 40 Rs (not sure if it was worth it but it was definitely worth coz of the sun!). We clicked pictures. We observed that the names of the jawans were imprinted on the bricks beautifully. And a few local photographers were irritating us by asking if we needed some clicks.
2 of my friends were already tired. They went and stood below a tree. I could see them eating candy ice cream. Then even we went there. The other 2 also took candy ice but i was in no mood for ice cream. We bought 2 bottles of mineral water here again. Next we went to Qutub Minar which was around half hour drive from India gate. Here we had to buy entrance ticket. As bags were not allowed inside, we had to go back to our car and keep our bags inside it. We saw the Qutub Minar and the fort around it. 2 of my friends were behind a foreigner who apparently asked them how to spell "Qutub Minar"! I saw one hot foreign girl in blue and managed to take a snap of her (not 'with' her)!! :P
We finished Qutub by 12 30. Our energy was getting low. Then our driver took us to a handicrafts exhibition which according to him was compulsory visit for all tourists as per Delhi govt rules. Initially we were reluctant but when we saw that whole exhibition was air conditioned, we decided to step in! We spent some 15 minutes seeing the variety of bedsheets and razais. We came out by making full use of AC and no profit to the exhibition sales! Next place was Lotus temple. 2 of my friends decided not to come inside it as they were too tired. 3 of us went. There was a long queue. Not for the entrance but to keep our footwear! We struggled while standing in queue for 15 minutes in hot sun directly above our head. At one point we were about to give up but somehow motivated ourselves. Later we were allowed to go inside the building in a systematic way and sit inside for few minutes to do meditation. We went inside and just saw the building structure (No mood for meditation as we were scared we'll sleep off!) But the ambiance was really good inside if someone really wanted to do meditation. Then we came back to parking lot and saw tender coconuts there. We all bought one each for 30 Rs (yes, its 30 Rs!).
By this time, only 10% of our energy was remaining! We wanted to have lunch badly. We asked our driver to stop at any 'pure veg' restaurant. But our driver said its difficult to find a pure veg restaurant here. We had to go till Raj Ghat to get a proper restaurant. But we were not ready to wait. One of my friends took out her cell and started searching on GPS maps for nearest hotels. We found Haldirams somewhere nearby. But our driver was not ready to take us there as we had entered a ring road and had to travel around 6 kms to take a U turn. We tried to force him to take us back but he was reluctant. As we were arguing with him, we already came to Raj Ghat. The restaurant there was pathetic. We just took plain rice and curds. I got blasted by one of my friends for getting a north Indian Thali for the driver who was so adament in not taking us back to Haldirams! We took 2 mineral water bottles here. We hardly ate anything. Half the rice we took was wasted.
Then we entered Raj Ghat which looked more or less like a park. We had option of keeping our footwear either in a paid counter or free counter. We chose the free one. The path towards Gandhiji's samadhi place was covered with carpets as the floor was hot enough to roast a dosa. We went near the place, spent some 5 minutes there and came back to shoe stand. While we were walking back I could hear something strange. Someone called me and asked "ನೀವು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದವರ?" We were all excited to meet someone from Karnataka in Delhi. We spoke to that person for 5 minutes and left Raj Ghat.
The next place we were supposed to visit was Red fort. But our energy level was too low to roam around Delhi by this time. And we were not satisfied with our lunch too. Unfortunately we had stop our Delhi rounds by 3PM. So we asked him to take us back to Karol Bagh. We had seen one Mcdonalds the previous day in the same area. We went there and filled our stomach properly. We bought 4 mineral water bottles before we went back to our room!
It was 4PM when we went back, an hour early than we expected. We relaxed for 3 hours in the room. Later we went out to Karol Bagh for shopping. The street was crowded. We just checked out stuff, bought few things. The streets didnt have many girls so it was kind of boring for me ;) Later we went to a restaurant called "Suruchi" for dinner. For the first time we took a cycle rickshaw to reach the restaurant. We took some 10 minutes to decide if we have to take Rajasthani or Punjabi thali! Later we settled for Punjabi. The taste was good just that we didnt know the names of the new food cuisines which they served. The taste was worth the price Rs 290 for 1 thali but not sure if we utilized it properly!!
Next we went back to our room. It was time for our finance management. We sorted out the bills and cash spent by each one of us that day. The amazing part about settling bills was we didnt spare even a single paisa. If we had to pay Rs 2 to someone, we actually paid it!
Yet another day ended. It was tiring but i was satisfied that we covered few places atleast. But our package from Panicker travels was yet to start the next day morning at 6. So we decided to sleep soon. Ive enclosed the cash spent by me on day1 and day 2 below! :P
Day1: 23rd June: Taxi Rs 480, Dinner Rs 167, Mineral water bottle Rs12 Total: Rs 659
Day2: 24th June: Breakfast Rs 60, Mineral water Rs 20, Tender coconut Rs 36, Qutub Minar entrance Rs 10, Lunch Rs 70, Purse for my mom Rs 300, Rickshaw Rs 15, Dinner Rs 295, Taxi 600, Misc 60. Total Rs 1266
Mineral water bottle count: 8
By this time, only 10% of our energy was remaining! We wanted to have lunch badly. We asked our driver to stop at any 'pure veg' restaurant. But our driver said its difficult to find a pure veg restaurant here. We had to go till Raj Ghat to get a proper restaurant. But we were not ready to wait. One of my friends took out her cell and started searching on GPS maps for nearest hotels. We found Haldirams somewhere nearby. But our driver was not ready to take us there as we had entered a ring road and had to travel around 6 kms to take a U turn. We tried to force him to take us back but he was reluctant. As we were arguing with him, we already came to Raj Ghat. The restaurant there was pathetic. We just took plain rice and curds. I got blasted by one of my friends for getting a north Indian Thali for the driver who was so adament in not taking us back to Haldirams! We took 2 mineral water bottles here. We hardly ate anything. Half the rice we took was wasted.
Then we entered Raj Ghat which looked more or less like a park. We had option of keeping our footwear either in a paid counter or free counter. We chose the free one. The path towards Gandhiji's samadhi place was covered with carpets as the floor was hot enough to roast a dosa. We went near the place, spent some 5 minutes there and came back to shoe stand. While we were walking back I could hear something strange. Someone called me and asked "ನೀವು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದವರ?" We were all excited to meet someone from Karnataka in Delhi. We spoke to that person for 5 minutes and left Raj Ghat.
The next place we were supposed to visit was Red fort. But our energy level was too low to roam around Delhi by this time. And we were not satisfied with our lunch too. Unfortunately we had stop our Delhi rounds by 3PM. So we asked him to take us back to Karol Bagh. We had seen one Mcdonalds the previous day in the same area. We went there and filled our stomach properly. We bought 4 mineral water bottles before we went back to our room!
It was 4PM when we went back, an hour early than we expected. We relaxed for 3 hours in the room. Later we went out to Karol Bagh for shopping. The street was crowded. We just checked out stuff, bought few things. The streets didnt have many girls so it was kind of boring for me ;) Later we went to a restaurant called "Suruchi" for dinner. For the first time we took a cycle rickshaw to reach the restaurant. We took some 10 minutes to decide if we have to take Rajasthani or Punjabi thali! Later we settled for Punjabi. The taste was good just that we didnt know the names of the new food cuisines which they served. The taste was worth the price Rs 290 for 1 thali but not sure if we utilized it properly!!
Next we went back to our room. It was time for our finance management. We sorted out the bills and cash spent by each one of us that day. The amazing part about settling bills was we didnt spare even a single paisa. If we had to pay Rs 2 to someone, we actually paid it!
Yet another day ended. It was tiring but i was satisfied that we covered few places atleast. But our package from Panicker travels was yet to start the next day morning at 6. So we decided to sleep soon. Ive enclosed the cash spent by me on day1 and day 2 below! :P
Day1: 23rd June: Taxi Rs 480, Dinner Rs 167, Mineral water bottle Rs12 Total: Rs 659
Day2: 24th June: Breakfast Rs 60, Mineral water Rs 20, Tender coconut Rs 36, Qutub Minar entrance Rs 10, Lunch Rs 70, Purse for my mom Rs 300, Rickshaw Rs 15, Dinner Rs 295, Taxi 600, Misc 60. Total Rs 1266
Mineral water bottle count: 8
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