Day 12: Hauz Khas, Other Activities

Sunday, we had a yummy breakfast of pancakes. We spent a bit of time visiting and packing.

Sarah, Grandpa and Matthew.

Megan doing her "work." (She copied down all the words in the little books Grandma had.)

We then headed to Hauz Khas. There were ruins of a tomb, mosque and madrasa (Islamic seminary) from the 1300s that we explored. It is a popular date hangout, so we saw a lot of young couples.

Megan walking along the wall of what used to be the madrasa.

Matthew and Grandpa.

A room in the madrasa.  This was probably a room for instruction based on the size.

In the tomb.

Ceiling of the tomb.

Upper wall of tomb.

Me and the kids in the madrasa.

Matthew and Megan give their approval.

Beautiful view of some of the complex.

The madrasa was L-shaped and here we are looking at one wing from the other. It was possible to explore a lot of the buildings.  The doorways on the lower level that are placed close together led into living quarters.  The rooms were tiny with no light except from the door and the window directly above the door

Matthew, Sarah and Megan on some ruins. Again, not a place for small children to run around unattended.

Walking with Grandpa.

Monkey!

Swans on the lake.

From the ruins, we walked down into Hauz Khas park, which is enormous, and wandered around a bit. The next two pictures were taken from the roof of an old building that we climbed. They show the beautiful scenery of the park. Plus our amazing family.

It was interesting to see all the different vegetation. This was a very interesting tree.

We ran across some boys playing a volleyball game. Sarah liked watching them and would have liked to join in.

Hauz Khas had some fun exercise equipment that we played on for awhile. Then we meandered to the "regular" park where Megan enjoyed swinging.

Matthew climbing a sphere-shaped jungle gym.

Sarah practicing her yoga up top. The parks in India have a lot of the old-style playground equipment that we don't have anymore.

Visiting with my parents.

Matthew, Megan and Sarah on a teeter totter.

Matthew said this train structure was an army train for army men (and women).

Pausing for a photo.

My favorite part of this sign is when it says to "Leave Your Body."

Megan and Matthew with a few items they'd collected in the park that they wanted to remember forever. They each have a stick and Megan has a huge leaf.

We saw a sign with the rules of the park when we left. 

Interesting translation.....does number 9 mean I shouldn't take pictures?

In the afternoon, we worked on puzzles and listened to General Conference (Conference weekend is the second weekend in October in India due to the time difference). My favorite was when one of the talks spoke about doing puzzles.

When we were leaving Barbeque Nation, they asked if anyone was celebrating anything, like a birthday. We said no, but they gave us this cake anyway. Since it was my brother's birthday the next week, we figured it could be for him. We even sang Happy Birthday to him.

And since we're such nice people, we ate his cake. It was delicious!

Grandma and Grandpa opened the Christmas bag we brought for them (filled with some Christmas knick knacks we'd been collecting as well as some useful items like toothbrushes).

We took a tour of the church and mission office next door. We also met President and Sister Hodges who think Grandma and Grandpa are wonderful and know both U's and Me's mission presidents. During the course of our visit, we also met the other three missionary couples.

Very important sign in the bathroom at church. We'd see many more like them in the coming days.

We visited a bit more with Grandma and Grandpa until it was time to head to the airport. We left around 10:30 pm and the uber felt quite spacious with only five of us plus the driver in the car. 

Day 11: Shopping, Akshardham

Saturday morning, we relaxed at home with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids enjoyed playing. We then went to the emporium to buy a few souvenirs. (The emporium is fixed price so you don't have to wonder if you're getting ripped off.) The checkout process is an example of Indian (in)efficiency: You bring your items to one lady who creates your bill. You then bring your bill to another person to pay for the items. You then go to a third person to pick up your purchases.

From the emporium, we walked to Connaught Place. Here we are walking through a park with a huge Indian flag in the background.

We then rode the metro. Notice how much busier it is than Sunday when we rode the metro.

Grandma and Grandpa holding Matthew and Megan.  Grandma and Grandpa had reserved seating.

A cute Indian girl with her parents and brother. The girl gave up her seat so that Grandma could sit down. We had fun interacting with them.

Our destination: Akshardham, one of the largest temples in India and the largest in Delhi. It was built in 2005 and is, in many ways, a tourist attraction. However, it is very well done and is beautiful. There are a series of exhibits with animatronics on the life of Swaminarayan, who is something of a prophet to the Hindus and did many miracles, an Imax movie about the life of Swaminarayan and a boat ride through 10,000 years of Indian history. The temple itself is beautiful as are the grounds. In the evening, we watched the water and light show which was spectacular. One of the neatest parts was that the projections all fit perfectly onto the building behind it.  We essentially saw the temple destroyed and rebuilt multiple times in different styles.  The water show was reminiscent of the fountain display at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas or World of Color at Disneyland and also included some pyrotechnics.  The narration was all in Hindi but we could understand the gist of the story, which was about some of the Hindu gods and the elements of the earth (wind, fire, water and earth). The projections were so cool.

No photography or video is allowed inside the complex. Here's a picture of the main temple from the road just outside the complex.

Some of the outlying buildings.

It was getting late by the time we left Akshardham but we decided to make the trek to Barbeque Nation for dinner. We rode a couple of metros and then all crammed into one auto before arriving at our destination. At Barbeque Nation, you get to roast meat and vegetables over little grills at your table. (And yes, the meat and veggies are safe for us to eat--so  nice to have some places you can eat without the worry!) There was also additional food from the buffet. We ate a lot of yummy food! They also had a lot of desserts including gourmet Indian ice cream to which you could add sauces and candy. Megan liked the ice cream the best. Matthew liked the shrimp and brownies. Sarah loved it all! It was a great experience, even though it was quite late (I think we left the restaurant around 10 pm). To top it all off, the waiter returned a tip we'd left, telling us that the tip was already included in the bill. This was so nice since we'd had a few experiences in which we felt like we were being taken advantage of.

Waiting for the food to cook.

Sarah with her gourmet ice cream.

Megan eating her ice cream.

Matthew waving his ice cream.

Me with ice cream.

On the way home, we saw some of the Diwali lights up at the local malls. So pretty!

Day 10: Talwars and park

On our way back to Delhi, we stopped at the home of the Talwars, a couple that my parents worked with and who were baptized in August. They have a nice home and were very nice to feed us lunch.

When we first arrived, they gave us sohan papdi, which is a flaky dessert made of flour from chickpeas, sugar and ghee. They also gave us Coke and water.

Sister Talwar went into the kitchen to finish preparing the meal. We helped a bit. Here Matthew is making a small roti which was then cooked and eaten.

Sister Talwar making big roti.

Megan making a little roti.

Grandma helping with the vegetables. The Talwars know the precautions they need to take so that we can eat vegetables with them, which is really nice.

Delicious lunch. It was a bit on the spicy side so I ate mine with lots of rice. The buttermilk helped with the heat as well.

Enjoying the meal. Sister Talwar, Grandpa, Grandma, Sarah.

Matthew, Me, Brother Talwar. Megan is sitting next to me but can't be seen.

Sister and Brother Talwar, Grandpa and Grandma.

Brother Talwar, Me, Megan, Sarah, Matthew, Grandma, U, Sister Talwar.

Megan made friends! I think they would have kept her :)

The kids all loved this beanbag chair.

I liked looking at the knick knacks in their home. Here are some candles they had.

Various statues and a picture.

The large statue on the second shelf is Ganesh. He's in a lot of homes as he brings good luck.

Herd of cows on the way home.

Once we arrived back in Delhi, we went to the park to let the kids run around and play for a bit. Here Megan is using this exercise equipment with an Indian girl.