On a Saturday, I became a tourist here. Our good friend set up a cycle tour of Delhi for a group of us. At the last minute, I decided to go. Graham stayed back with the kids. It was the first time I had left a nursing William and of course he was a champ and I was able to see the city. Actually, a small but significant portion of the city...Old Delhi. Being on a bicycle offers a unique perspective to a place, covering more ground then on foot while still interacting with it in a raw and open nature. The tour left at dawn and we all rode our shiny orange road bikes through the narrow alleys as the area slowly and gently erupted. It was an explosion of the senses. There seemed to be a disorderly order to the daily happenings.
The smell of the meat market with skinned buffulo heads on a truck and freshly butchered goat and lamb being hung at the roadside stalls for that day's business. It was hard to hold back the coughing as we got off of the bicycles and walked through Asia's largest spice market with red chillis covering the floor of the narrow passageways. We were instructed to make room for the men carrying large burlap sacks of spices on their heads. They don't move. We saw burning trash and large pots of bubbling oil to fry the roadside food. We saw old mosques, we rode by the expansive Red Fort which is a landmark and heard some history of Mughal and British rule. We finished our tour at a famous 100+ year old restaurant and had yellow dal, slow-cooked mutton in gravy and tandoori roti. Apparently, the BBC quotes it as the best place to go for breakfast in Delhi. During the final stretch of the ride, while being confronted with the constant honking of various vehicles, I had a near collision on my bicycle between an auto rickshaw and horse drawn cart. I came out unharmed and definitely recommend seeing a city this way. Here are a few photos from my phone.
www.delhibycycle.com
The smell of the meat market with skinned buffulo heads on a truck and freshly butchered goat and lamb being hung at the roadside stalls for that day's business. It was hard to hold back the coughing as we got off of the bicycles and walked through Asia's largest spice market with red chillis covering the floor of the narrow passageways. We were instructed to make room for the men carrying large burlap sacks of spices on their heads. They don't move. We saw burning trash and large pots of bubbling oil to fry the roadside food. We saw old mosques, we rode by the expansive Red Fort which is a landmark and heard some history of Mughal and British rule. We finished our tour at a famous 100+ year old restaurant and had yellow dal, slow-cooked mutton in gravy and tandoori roti. Apparently, the BBC quotes it as the best place to go for breakfast in Delhi. During the final stretch of the ride, while being confronted with the constant honking of various vehicles, I had a near collision on my bicycle between an auto rickshaw and horse drawn cart. I came out unharmed and definitely recommend seeing a city this way. Here are a few photos from my phone.
www.delhibycycle.com
No comments:
Post a Comment