The Wenzel’s Big Adventure

India was an experience! The food was unbelievable, the architecture, from the intricate mosaics to the majestic palaces, was breathtaking, and the people (outside the hustlers) were warm and welcoming. A person will only fully understand what it’s like once they visit it.  We spent around two weeks in the country and visited Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Mumbai. 

Delhi is an overload to the mind and senses. It’s dirty, chaotic and unlike anything you’ll ever experience.  There’s a neverending symphony of car horns due to the massive traffic volume/archaic road system and smells that constantly bombard your nose; some are pleasant, but most are not.  For example, there was a public urinal on the narrow street leading to our hotel. The urinals were concrete stalls on the side of the building, with holes in the ground possibly connecting to a sewer line.  The smell the place emitted was rank, and in the 40-degree heat, we gagged each time we walked past it. Yet, a little way down the road was a guy who served homemade marsala chai, which made that part of the street smell pleasant. 

Our accommodation was extremely basic.  It had a couple of beds, AC and running water; we didn’t need much for our two-night stay.  The best part of the place was the breakfast.  The food was very simple, yet full of flavour and tasty. They had a real coffee machine, which was great, seeing as we’d been living off instant coffee for a while (the instant coffee took me back to the days of growing up with my grandparents).  The staff was great and even helped us hire a tour guide/driver for our only full day in the city. 

On our day tour, we stopped at a handful of places, starting with a walk around the Agrasen Ki Baoli stepwell, an ancient water reservoir built in the 14th century. After the stepwell, we stopped at the ceremonial park and burial site for Mahatma Gandhi, a civil rights activist from the early 20th century. The sprawling park and green space allowed the twins to run around and burn some energy. 

Chandni Chowk was the next stop on the list, and it was an exciting experience.  It is one of the oldest markets in the city, and to say it was busy is an understatement.  We were going to see the area on foot, but we got talked into taking a rickshaw; this was a better way to see the markets.  Our rickshaw ran off of good old-fashioned manpower and only had one gear.  Our driver, who couldn’t have weighed more than 100 lbs soaking wet, somehow wheeled us around the congested streets and mobs of people moving about; it was beyond impressive. He showed us around the many different markets, eventually stopping to show us around the spice market, where I could have spent the entire day enjoying the exotic smells and tastes. The vibrant colours, the lively bargaining, and the unique products made it a truly memorable experience. 

After the spice market, we purchased homemade naan bread and watched the unique cooking process. The dough is flattened and then slapped inside a large tandoori clay oven to cook for about a minute. It is then pulled and covered with melted regular or garlic butter; it was so good! Leading up to our stop in India, Jack had spoken non-stop about wanting naan bread (it’s a main staple back home).  But, when it came time to have it, he took two or three bites and said he didn’t like it.  Kids really are the finikiest of creatures. 

Once our snack was finished, we walked a short distance to see the Jama Masjid Mosque. The tour started on the wrong foot (pun intended) when a random individual approached us and said he would watch our shoes (they are not permitted within mosques and temples).  We weren’t entirely familiar with the customs, so we let him take them, and he did indeed watch them, but it cost us.  We didn’t mind paying but did notice a spot where you could leave your shoes for free.  While inside the mosque, I gained a newfound appreciation for celebrities. As we first entered, people gravitated to us for pictures.  At first, we didn’t mind and stood in for a few, but eventually, people started grabbing and pulling us toward their groups, making us uncomfortable.  We politely declined the best we could, but the people wouldn’t stop, so we left after about 10 minutes, missing the opportunity to explore the mosque.  

From the mosque and Chandni Chowk, we travelled further into Delhi for lunch. We had requested to be taken to a local restaurant, and our driver came through. He took us to a small place called Titu Restaurant, a hidden gem known for its authentic Indian cuisine. We were served various dishes, including butter masala, paneer, and naan bread. The food was not only delicious but also an accurate representation of India’s rich culinary heritage. Throughout our India excursion, the food was excellent, regardless of whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner.  We chose to stick to stick to vegetarian options, and we never regretted it or had stomach issues.  At a meal, Corey would get her phone out and google what each meal option was, while I would pick random items and let them know to make it spicy.  Usually, each place would offer some pizza or naan bread for the kids, and on rare occasions, they would grab a spoonful of what we were eating.  

After lunch, we drove to the Lotus Temple for a quick picture (it was closed that day) and then stopped at the India Gate. This 42m tall archway was built to commemorate the 70,000 soldiers lost during WWI. The structure and the surrounding park were quite beautiful.  People once again approached us for pictures, which we politely declined.  Things got weird when I got approached not once but twice by individuals wanting to clean my ears.  You read that right: a random person wanted to clean my ears in a park.  The first individual left me alone after I respectfully declined the service.  The second guy, however, got up close and into my personal bubble, trying to grab my ears and look into them.  He also showed me the tool he used for cleaning: a long wire with a piece of cotton on it.  I’m not sure if he thought showing me the tool would change my mind, but all it did was make me extremely uncomfortable.  Needless to say, we left the park after this experience.

Our final stop for the day was a visit to Gurdwara Bangla Sahib.  At this Sikh house of worship, we dressed in traditional body and head coverings, removed our shoes and had the opportunity to witness an evening prayer, also known as Ardas. Afterward, we took in the beautiful murals and mosaics within the temple, explored the Sarovar (holy pool), and learned a few interesting facts about the place.  Firstly, we learned that langer (community kitchen), which volunteers run, makes and distributes approximately 30,000-40,000 vegetarian meals daily. That number increases to 50,000 on Sunday. Secondly, the Gurdwara has an onsite pharmacy and MRI machine; both services are provided at heavily subsidized rates. MRI costs range from 50 Rupees ($0.81 CAD) for the poor to 1,400 Rupees ($23 CAD) for the general public. Thirdly, and most importantly, the meals and medical services are available regardless of a person’s race, religion, age, ability, wealth or caste.

Our second and final day in Delhi was a shit show. Just as we finished breakfast, a massive rainstorm hit, derailing our plan to visit and explore the Red Fort. The storm turned the street into rivers, made lakes of the low spots and brought traffic to a grinding halt.  The day’s weather wasn’t set to improve, so we decided it was time to get out of dodge.  Not under any significant time constraints, we figured we’d go to the nearby train station (without our bags) and grab tickets to Agra (online sites wouldn’t allow us to purchase). The station was a 5-10 min walk from our hotel, but the water was ankle-deep in places, and traffic was still moving on our street, so we chose to get a rickshaw. This turned out to be a big mistake. 

Arriving at the main road, which ran alongside the train station, we were immediately engulfed in the traffic. Cars, rickshaws, buses and trucks were crammed so tight together that even if we wanted to, we couldn’t physically get out of the vehicle. To make matters worse, everyone’s solution to the massive traffic jam was to lay on their horns, not just an innocent toot either; people, including our driver, pressed and held their horns as if the collective sound would miraculously clear the lanes.  Ultimately, we spent 45 minutes in a rickshaw that took us in a 6-block loop from our hotel, and we did not get tickets. 

The rain had let up by the time we returned to the apartment. With walking as our only option, we strapped into our packs and made our second attempt at the station.  The walk was an unpleasant adventure, one in which we trudged through ankle-deep water, fended off cat-calls from locals and narrowly avoided being run over.  Arriving at the station, our blood pressures elevated, we were swarmed by multiple locals offering to carry our bags and assist with getting tickets.  Unfortunately, each person tried sending us to a different spot to “meet with their guy for tickets,” and we never figured out where to get tickets.  The signage in the station was very unclear, and the place it and the internet said to go to was not open.  Finally, I reached my mental limit and decided to forgo the train and get an Uber instead. 

Remembering that the regular Uber I booked from the airport to our hotel was a small car with an LNG tank in the trunk, I chose Uber XL for this trip, thinking we’d get a larger car, one with trunk space for our bags; I was wrong.  The guy pulled up, popped his trunk, and staring back at us was another LNG tank; cue eye-twitch.  We put what we could in the trunk, stuck our two large bags in the front seat, and crammed in the back seat with the twins for a cozy drive.  The kids did great, and the 3.5-hour trip wasn’t too bad, stopping once for the kids to pee on the side of the road.