Day 49: From Delhi to Punjab

We woke up around 8 this morning to get ready with our day. I haven’t slept so well in a very long time! I really missed the feeling of falling asleep surrounded by cold but feeling cozy in a bunch of heavy blankets. This is my first winter away from snow and though I do enjoy it, in the last few weeks it’s been hard to sleep through a whole night because of the heat and humidity. Northern India is much colder than we expected. We definitely should have brought jackets. Instead we bought some blankets at the bazaar today. That was a fantastic idea because the air-conditioned train was freezing!

So here are a bunch of pictures to help me tell the story of our really great day in Delhi.

Oh here is the place we were staying! Super nice huh? That bed was Heaven.

We were sad to leave the guys this morning. They are great and I feel like we could have done stuff here for four or five days with them. Maybe one day we will meet again.

Our first stop was Qutar Manar, a Moghul site in southern Delhi. We had so much fun taking pictures and just enjoying the peace of that place. There are a lot of tourists but the site is really big so we got to sit for a while and just take in how beautiful the architecture of this place in. How amazing is it that people built these places so long ago before all the technology we use nowadays?

Then we went to Hauz Kaus Village. Charchet (the fashion designer) recommended this place to us. This is where he works and it is a very different side of Delhi than most people usually see. It is kind of the “San Fransisco Indie-side” of Delhi. The shops are all specialty shops and super expensive but we went because our friend recommended it. And I’m so glad we did! It was stunning. Right behind all these buildings is a beautiful green lake and some ruins. It was one of those places that just makes you want to go back one day.

We didn’t have much time to waste after this because we had to go to the train station to fix some of tickets. There we met 5 girls from Germany and chatted with them about their travels while we waited at the International Traveler Office.

We got everything sorted out (we were trying to plan our trip to the Taj Mahal a few days from now) and then we went to grab some dinner.

It was just a little hole in the wall restaurant but it was fantastic. We had Veg Korma and Paneer Butter Masala with naan and rice. The food here is too good J

Now we are on the train to Amritsar.

 I am SO excited for this part of the trip. I keep thinking of when I worked a Taj Fine Indian Cuisine Restaurant in Airdrie the summer before college. The family that owned the restaurant is all from Punjab and that is where I first heard of the Golden Temple of Amritsar. I remember Bhinder or Sonny showing me a picture on their computer. I never really imagined that I’d get to see it—at least not so soon! And now I will! If anyone from the Sundeep family happens to read this, thank you for helping to teach me about India! I’m glad I get to visit your home.

Love you!

Stéfanie

Ps. Get excited for the next post because we had the coolest first night in Amritsar! I'll be including that in day 50 even though it was technically part of day 49.