Adventures With Jacqueline through India: May 31...Delhi

I flew to Delhi this morning to start my 5 day adventure in northern India. My flight left at 6:45 a.m. and the taxi was supposed to pick me up at 4 a.m., but it came at 3 a.m. instead...wow, what an early morning. I can't complain though because I have a flight that was about 2 and a half hours, in which I was able to sleep.

The driver met me at the airport and we were off to see the points of interest in Delhi. Unfortunately, traffic is terrible in Delhi and it took forever to drive anywhere, but at least the driver had knowledge of where the places were that I wanted to see and he spoke fairly good English.

First place, Laxmi Narayan Temple...

Then off to Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, a Sik temple...

Most temples were okay with allowing me to wear socks, which I carried with me since I was wearing sandals. However, this was not the case at the Sik temple. I was required to be barefoot and also cover my head. They assured me that everyone washed their feet before and after they entered the temple and they gave me a clean covering for my head, which they offered to foreign tourists...locals took a head covering from a bin that was left their from previous locals, which they returned when they left, if they did not bring their own head covering. I wanted to see the temple, but was not too keen on going barefoot. The place where people washed their feet was simple a long water trough that people stepped in, which didn't make me feel better about the hygiene factor...and boy was it hot stepping barefoot on the marble flooring which the sun was beaming down on. They did have some runners down, but it still felt hot. You can see the people behind me stopping to wash their feet. I have my shoes on in the picture because this was taken after I had visited inside the temple. Side note...the temperature reached approximately 45 degrees celsius, which is about 113 degrees fahrenheit while I was in northern India. When the wind blew, it felt like a furnace blowing out the hot air. Second side note: You will not see any pictures taken inside the temples I visited on my trip because it was not allowed in any of the temples I visited...

Sharing the road with a cart...another side note...you will see many of the people with their head and face covered. For some this is for religious reasons, but for others it is to help shield them from the extreme heat and the dust that blows in parts of the desert during the next few days on the trip...