India (New Delhi) July 2007 D-3

After taken our breakfast, three of us (Antonio, Valerious & Cheng) shared and hired a taxi (Rs450=Rm40.50 per car) for a full day (8 hrs) and we visited a total of nine touristy places: 1) Lakshmi Narayan Temple 2) Parliament House 3) Ghadhi Smriti 4) Lodi Garden 5) Qutab Minar 6) Lotus Temple 7) Humayun's Tomb 8) India Gate 9) Gurdwara Bangla Sahib Sikh Temple

1) Lakshmi Narayan Temple - dedicated to Lashmi, the goddess of wealth & Narayan, the Preserver. The domes looked magnificent & grand !

2) The Parliament House, Secretariat buildings in Central Delhi - the power place of Indian politics

3) Gandhi Smriti, this is the memorial and the spot (see the foot steps) where Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead in January 1948. The indoor Gandhi museum has an excellent display of various photos & personal items (walking sticks, spectacles etc) on the life of Gandhi. Two statues of Gandhi were erected at the courtyard and I took a picture of each.

4) The Lodi Garden (like the Lake Garden of Kuala Lumpur) is an ideal place for picnicking , morning and evening strolls. As we took a stroll in the garden, we saw a three domed Bara Gumbad mosque and also the tombs of the Sayyid & Lodi rulers.

The Lodi Garden, mosque & tombs of the Lodi rulers

5) I paid Rs250=Rm22.50 for the entrance fee to see Qutab Minar tower, a world heritage monument which was built in 1193 using Afghan architecture. The tower is 5 storeys high, made of red sandstone. Surrounding the tower, I took pictures of the Tomb of Iman Zamin, Quwwat-ul-Islam masjid and the ruins of pillars and an unfinished tower buildings.

Qutab Minar - impressive tower

Afghan architecture 

Well preserved - still standing tall

6) As I had in earlier years visited the Sydney Opera House of Australia, I was amazed to see the Lotus Temple, its design looked quite similar to that of the Opera House. It would be both these buildings were designed by the same architect. I spent 30 mins in the Bahai House of Worship (Lotus Temple) and observed that a number of people were doing meditation inside this temple.

Lotus Temple -a  great place for meditation

7) This old Humayun's Tomb was built in mid-16th century by a wife of the second Mughal emperor Humayun. I paid Rs250=Rm22.50 for the entrance fee.

The famous Humayun's Tomb

8) At home, I watched CNN news and the India Gate monument had often been used as a landmark or background by TV news correspondents when reporting news of national importance.

The Indian Gate - a symbol of  the nation

9) I really admired this impressive Gurdwara Bangla Sahib Sikh Temple, with its golden domes. A signboard at the front narrated a history of this temple, about a Sikh guru who had the spiritual power to cure sick people suffering from an epidemic. The water found in the temple were reported to have healing properties.

Gurdwara Bangla Sikh Temple with its golden domes

In the evening, our Indian team leader, Ceasar invited all the HC members for a home cooked meal at his home. We were all excited as tomorrow, all of us will be flying to Srinagar, Kashmir for our trip to Leh, passing the treacherous Himalayas range along the way.

" Never mind about the local bone shaker taxis. It managed to take us to places we yearn to see "