Its amazing how many different things can be accomplished in only a few short days in Delhi. I mean, maybe thats due to the fact the city caters to around 14 million, but still its pretty impressive. My weekend started with some much needed American comforts, and a trip to the Select City Walk mall. Friday afternoon when we decided to go I was unsure about what to expect, I figured it might be a few upscale shops or something like that. Once we arrived, I had reverse culture shock because Select City is SO NICE. Probably the nicest mall I've ever been in- it has 3 stories and spans 3 buildings, and caters to every American brand that you can think of, along with many other Indian designers. It turned out to be a lovely evening of relaxing in an atmosphere where I felt like I could let my guard down a little bit. A group of us decided once we were there to have snacks/drinks/coffee at the local hookah bar Mocha, which was a fantastic way to end the week. 

Flash forward to Saturday morning. After having such a lovely and relaxing evening, Emily and I woke up refreshed and very ambitious about our day. We started in Chandni Chowk, a very famous market in Old Delhi. Chandni Chowk is known mostly for the excessively large crowd, so even though we arrived early, by the time we left it was a struggle to try to think about what was going on, just because there we sooo  many people. The great part about this experience though was the street food- I have been anxious to try street food just because I didn't want to get the infamous 'Delhi belly' but because Chandni Chowk is so crowded street vendors are forced to make fresh and clean products. We had a few delicious parathas (fried rotis filled with everything from spiced potatoes to paneer to cashews) and jalebis (essentially a funnel cake then dipped into hot sugar/syrup/water... this was delicious, but 2 bites is enough to get the flavor, so much oil and sugar!). From the jawlebi stand we headed back towards the metro, but first stopped in a gurdwara, which is a Sikh temple. Before entering I knew almost nothing about the Sikh religion, and by the time I came out I had about 50000 questions to ask the nearest Sikh- you all should look up Sikhism! Through this trip I'm coming to realize that learning about and understanding other religions is not only really interesting, but makes you much more culturally aware.

You would think experiencing Chandni Chowk would be enough for one day... but the ambitious Emily and I trekked onward. We had heard about the Akshardham temple, and thought it was closed on Sunday,  so we wanted to get over to see it that day. Sidenote: its definitely not closed on Sundays. Ah well. 

By the time we arrived at the temple it was nearly 4 PM, but even from the metro you can see how spectacular the building is- bummer though, we had to check all cameras, cell phones and electronics at the door (no pics, only from the website!)  so we were alright visiting for an hour or 2 before heading home. Once again getting in over our heads: we saw the advertisement for the 'exhibitions' and thought, 'oh great, a nice way to understand exactly what this temple is!' Approximately 1 anamatronics  show, large screen movie, and interactive boat ride later it became pretty clear: we were shuffled through what I am going to describe as the mixture of Religious Teachings and Disney World. The boat ride was reminiscent to 'Its a Small World', and the anamatronics show reminded me of moving men inside the Natural History Museum. It was pretty strange to say the least. The silver lining of this whole excursion was the fact we were able to see the temple lit up at night, along with a really impressive musical fountain/light show. It really is a beautiful place, I was just completely overwhelmed with everything that had happened that day, along with the religious teachings being thrust at me for a few hours in the afternoon. Either way, once again, I learned about another religion! Like I said, I'm becoming more culturally aware... just this time it was a little unexpected.

Today has been a recovery day from the extremely busy day we had on Saturday. For the most part we've been doing lots of relaxing, besides for trying to help our host dad and his nephew shoo out a mouse from the house! We also went to the Lodi Gardens and an outdoor exhibition nearby at the India Islamic Cultural Center. 

Tomorrow I'm off to Udaipur for the week! I'd love to share what I'll be doing, but its still a mystery to me. All I know is tomorrow night I'll be nestled safely in the sleeper car, on my way to the "most romantic city in India". Who knows what awaits me there?