February 27, 2016

February 27, 2016

When we landed in Delhi a few days ago, it was mostly sunny and clear.  I thought Delhi doesn’t deserve its ranking as most polluted. Unfortunately that must have been a fluke as it has been severely smoggy ever since.  We were hoping a smaller city like Amritsar would be better but so far it seems almost as bad.  I can’t believe how thick the haze is.

Our tour starts late this morning, so we hang out in the room catching up on Internet chores. Before lunch we set out to see another temple in town, this time a Hindu one, Durgiana Mandir.  It was reconstructed seventy years ago.  I am kind of shocked to see that it is almost an identical twin to the Golden Temple.  It even sits on a lake island.  The main difference is that the doors are silver so it is known as the “Silver Temple”.  I guess the local Hindus were jealous and felt they needed to keep up with the Sikhs.

After we retrieved our shoes we drove to the airport for our flight back to Delhi.  On the way we saw our first accident, a minor fender bender.  I am amazed that we haven’t seen dozens.

From our Delhi hotel we set out to find a restaurant for dinner with another couple.  It was only supposed to be 15-minute walk, but because of the confusion of looking for a market versus a food court we got talked into taking an auto rickshaw. So the four of us crammed inside one of these three-wheeled taxis.  When the driver veered left, then left again, and we found ourselves back at our hotel, we all started laughing.  We got out and gave the driver 20 rupees (30 cents) and walked.