INDIA, OLD DELHI: FAITH TOUR

 December 23, 2025 

We had scheduled a tour called "Food and Faith." We had done the food part (see previous post), and so now it was time for the faith part.

We began with this typical street scene:

Except it wasn't typical, at least not in India:

Established in 1814, the Central Baptist Church is one of the oldest Christian churches in Delhi. It is located on a VERY busy road in the Chandni Chowk market area where we had just eaten a lot of delicious food.

It is a pretty building with a colonnaded porch with arched openings.

INDIA, OLD DELHI: CHANDNI CHOWK MARKET

 December 23, 2025

Remember how I said you shouldn't drive as a tourist in India? You shouldn't cross the street by yourself either. There are no crosswalks or traffic lights and crossing takes a special kind of skill. This is one of the many harrowing experiences we had crossing with a guide, who in this video is holding on to Stan.

The way a lot of locals get around is in this little three wheelers that we came to know as tuk-tuks in Thailand. In India they call them rickshaws, and they function like taxis. These are one-seater taxis for one to three passengers.

Two-seaters can take four to six passengers, depending on how squished you want to be.

I can't remember if our guide rode with us. Maybe he was up in front.

INDIA, "OLD" DELHI: JAMA MASJID (MOSQUE)

 December 23, 2024

Just a note about the weather in Delhi. The temperatures were generally quite pleasant, with highs in the 60s and low 70s, but the air quality was horrific. These are screen shots from my phone from the evening of December 22 and the morning of December 23 showing an AQI of 428 and 420, respectively.

For context, the airnow.gov website has this enlightening chart: 

YIKES.  If you wondered why my photos all look a bit fuzzy, it's not my phone camera; it's the air. Delhi often has the worst air pollution of anywhere in the world.

We got picked up at our hotel after an early breakfast (which was fantastic, of course) for the day's adventures. On our way to our first destination, we passed the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of the Republic of India, who right now happens to be a woman. It's the building on the left below. Constructed from 1912-1929 during the period of British rule, it has 200,000 square feet and 340 rooms. The building on the right in the photo below looks like a stadium of some kind, but it was British Parliament House between 1927-1947, after which it housed the Indian Parliament until 2023. It is where the Constitution of India was created. It was recently replaced by a newer building.

Our first destination on this smoggy and also drizzly morning was in Old Delhi--the Jama Masjid ("Congregational Mosque"), one of the largest Sunni mosques in India and still actively used today.

After climbing a lot of stairs, we emtered through one of three gates. 

INDIA, DELHI: QUTB MINAR COMPLEX AND FUN TIMES IN THE IMPERIAL HOTEL

 December 22, 2025

I admit that I am obsessed with the traffic in India. Here's yet another post beginning with traffic footage. This one shows us trying to cross the street on foot. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS ON YOUR OWN. You should be with a guide who can, well, guide you across.

 

Pay attention to the signage, which is often good for a laugh or at least a smile.

And watch out for the traffic cops. Some don't look so friendly. And the trees have eyes (eyeglasses?)!

Our next stop was the Qutb Minar Complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I'm not sure how to pronounce it, but it sounds like a disease.

INDIA, DELHI: HUMAYUN'S TOMB

 December 22, 2024

After church we got on the road for a city tour of New Delhi. I can't say this enough, but the traffic is CRAZY in the city. There is no respect for lanes, and there is lots of honking. Tourists should not drive.

Our first stop was Humayun's Tomb, built for the Mughal emperor Mirza Nasir al-Din Muhammad (aka "Humayun," and I have no idea how the names relate to each other) by his first wife and chief consort, Empress Bega Begum and with the patronage of Humayun's son, the great Emperor Akbar, in the 1570s. The Empress was so devastated by her husband's death that she dedicated the remainder of her life to the construction of the most magnificent mausoleum up to that time in the Empire. It was the first monumental Islamic mausoleum in India as well as the first garden tomb, and it greatly influenced that design of the Taj Mahal 80 years later.

The tomb and surrounding property was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993, which enabled it to undergo extensive restoration. It didn't take long for us to discover what an excellent guide we had. His name was Sajeet, and Bob found him online. I wish I had more info to share because he was one of the best guides we have ever had. 

The tomb complex has an impressive 67-acre footprint and includes over 100 tombs in addition to Humayan's Tomb, as well as several ponds and  gardens.

It was pretty busy the day we were there.

INDIA: RETURN TO DELHI AND SUNDAY CHURCH IN AN LDS WARD

 December 21-22, 2024

Bob left early in the morning for one more birding trip with Bablu while the rest of us enjoyed a slower morning with time to pack and eat breakfast. A van and driver picked us up around 10:30 AM and we began the long trek back to Guwahati and the airport. This time I sat up front, and the driver was much, much smoother. We also seemed to be on better roads, so I wonder if we took a different (perhaps longer?) route. Anyway, I survived without motion sickness.

We had another difficult pass through the airport. We had no ticket confirmations or boarding passes, which apparently were required just to get through the first door. The officials finally let us in, but three of us had to stay near the entrance guards while Bob picked up our boarding passes. Our time in Guwahati and Kaziranga was the only part of the trip where we were not with Audley Travel, the agency Bob used to plan the rest of the trip, and it reinforced that when you travel to India, it is a good idea NOT to do it on your own. We are pretty experienced, savvy travelers, and it was almost too much for us!

When we had arrived in Guwahati four days before, we didn't stay long in the airport. This time we were there for several hours waiting for our departure time.  We admired the holiday decor. 

We tried to understand why these signs were on the trash cans.

We hunted and hunted for something for dinner and finally ordered a veggie pizza that came with corn, green olives, green peppers, onions and ketchup.  Yeah, no.

INDIA: KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK, DAY 4

 December 20, 2024

On our last day at Kaziranga National Park, Chris, Stan, and I needed a break from driving around in the Jeep and elected to take a boat ride on the Brahmaputra River while Bob went on a morning birding drive with Bablu.

I'm not sure it was the right decision.

It took us almost an hour to drive to the river and appropriate dock, and then there really wasn't much to see.  

We walked out onto the very fine white sand and gazed out at what looked more like a lake than a river. The water didn't seem to be moving, and the expanse was very broad. The Brahmaputra River is the 15th longest river in the world and the 9th largest by output.

We three passengers boarded our luxury yacht with our guide and two people running the boat.

We motored away from shore and upriver for a while.

INDIA: KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK, DAY 3

 December 19, 2024

Third day, fourth safari drive, fourth area of the national park. You'll notice that this is a shorter post. By now, we had seen most of the animals we were going to see and the novelty had worn of just a little bit--at least for some of us.

Off we go! I'm prone to motion sickness, so I'm that person who always has to sit in the front seat. Chris usually sat with me, and the men got the bumpy back seat. That's our guide Bablu Hussain taking the selfie, and our driver (whose name I've unfortunately forgotten but who was incredible) is on the right.

We would have missed so much if we had not had Bablu's expertise and binocular-level eyes spotting birds and other creatures as we drove along. See that little bird on the low-hanging branch below? That's a good example. 

Indochinese roller

This beast, on the other hand, was impossible to miss. We were very impressed by the size and pointiness of its horn. 

INDIA: KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK, DAY 2

 December 18, 2024

We got off early in the morning and were welcomed to the Jeep by hot water bottles for our laps/feet and a nice warm blanket. There were also hot water bottles in our beds at night. Luxurious.

We didn't get very far before Bob saw a bird, or our guide saw a bird, and we had to stop for a look-see.

For those of us who stayed in the Jeep, there was plenty of entertainment on the road. We saw dozens of these large cargo trucks that were painted in bright colors with interesting designs. This seemed to be unique to the State of Assam (where Kaziranga is) as we didn't see them elsewhere. Or maybe they just stood out more in Assam because it wasn't wall-to-wall traffic.

We also got a kick out of all the animal warning signs. 

INDIA: KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK, DAY 1

 December 17, 2024

As I see it, there are five reasons to visit Kaziranga National Park: 1) It has two-thirds of the WORLD'S POPULATION of one-horned rhinos, a vulnerable species; 2) It is a Tiger Reserve; 3) It is an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA); 4) It is a UNESCO World Heritage site; 5) It has elephants. I'll go anywhere that has elephants.

Another reason is that although it isn't a huge park--just 25 miles by 8 miles--it also isn't crowded like some of the bigger parks in Africa. 

We left on our first safari drive at around 2:00 PM after having lunch shortly after we arrived in the park. We would have two more safari drives the next day, then two more on the day after that. Typically the morning drive was 7:00 AM - 12:30 PM, and the afternoon drive was 2:00-5:30 PM. Those times include the driving time from our lodgings to one of the entrances to the park, which ranged from 20 minutes to an hour. In between the two drives we returned to the lodge for a delicious lunch.

It's hard to blog about a safari because it's not a linear experience. We typically saw many of the same sites/animals over and over again, and sometimes we drove in loops. After a while, one area begins to look like another, at least to me. 

However, one thing that continued to surprise us was the use of elephants as transportation on the highway and at other places. These photos were taken through the car windshield, so they aren't the best, but you still get the idea, right?

There are several entrances into the reserve, and this is the first one we took. The little white sign under the unreadable green sign says "Kaziranga: 70% of India's wild rhinos call it home."  That is impressive.

They provide a nice photo window where you can pose above seven scary men with big guns who are probably watching for poachers.

Here we go!