We spent four nights in Delhi when we first arrived in India. My first impression of Delhi was that it was crowded, loud, and polluted with horrendous traffic. The air quality was quite poor as I believe it usually is around this time of year. Everything had a dull, hazy look during the day. For the first three nights we stayed in a nice hotel with a fantastic Indian breakfast buffet that was located in the Karol Bagh neighborhood. We relaxed at the hotel in our comfortable room a good bit but did venture out to explore some and of course to go out to eat.
We took an Uber one day to visit Humayun’s Tomb, an impressive tomb complex built in 1570 by Empress Bega Begum in honor of her husband Mughal Emperor Humayun. 160 family members’ remains are inside the tomb structure. In addition to the main tomb of Humayun, there are several smaller tombs and monuments inside the walls of the site which we explored. The complex is quite beautiful and the architecture was stunning. During our visit several groups of school boys stopped us to ask if they could take their photo with me. We have realized that local people of all ages asking to have their photo taken with foreigners is not uncommon in India.
We also took an Uber to Old Delhi to have lunch and walk around the massive Red Fort complex, which was built in 1639 to serve as the residence of the Mughal Emperor. It has massive enclosing walls of red sandstone and is a popular tourist attraction for Indians. The fort was occupied by British forces from 1857–1947 during the period of British rule. On August 5, 1947, the first Prime Minister of India raised the Indian national flag above the Red Fort’s Lahore Gate to celebrate India’s independence from Britain. The prime minister of India hosts a ceremony that involves raising their national flag and giving a speech at the Red Fort on India’s Independence Day holiday each year.
The brightest spot about Delhi for me was the food. We enjoyed so much delicious and affordable North and South Indian style cuisine, including masala dosas, chana masala, aloo gobi, and all the delicious Indian breads. People working in the restaurants were helpful with ordering food that is vegan-friendly. Ghee is one dairy ingredient that can be tricky to avoid even at Pure Vegetarian restaurants since it is used in so many different dishes. So far eating vegan in India has not been an issue at all as long as we ask when we are not sure about the ingredients. Delhi has endless restaurant options and every single one we tried was fantastic. We love that restaurants are often labeled as “Pure Vegetarian,” “Vegetarian,” or “Non-vegetarian” here.
Breakfast Thali 
Chana Masala 
Masala Dosa
On our fourth day in Delhi we joined the group we will be traveling with through Intrepid Travel for our tour of Northern India, which will last twenty-two days. We found out that there will be five other travelers from the United Kingdom and Australia plus our tour leader in our group. Our tour leader is from Delhi and is twenty-six years old and much more responsible than I was at that age.
As a group we visited a Sikh temple in Old Delhi where they cook enormous batches of food to feed anyone who would like a meal for free which was inspiring to see. We learned about the Sikh religion, which promotes truthful living, equality of mankind, and social justice. We were allowed to enter the temple while worshiping was taking place and sit and appreciate the music and singing inside. Before entering the temple visitors must cover the head, take off shoes, wash hands, and cleanse the feet in a shallow pool of water. Sikh men wear stylish and sometimes colorful turbans that cover their long uncut hair.
We also visited Jama Masjid, Delhi’s oldest mosque where they made us cover up in provided house dresses for the women and wrap around skirts for any men wearing shorts before entering. There was a camera fee at the mosque so we did not take any photos inside. We stopped at a street vendor in Old Delhi to have masala tea (our portion was made without milk) which is a popular beverage in India. We enjoyed our tea in a quiet spot surrounded by crumbling ruins tucked away off an alley away from the constant honking of horns in the busy streets of Old Delhi.
When the time came we boarded our first overnight Indian train for the 19 hour journey from Delhi to Jaisalmer. We were in a third class A/C compartment. There were 8 bunks in our area and my top bunk area was so small I could not sit up without hitting my head on the ceiling. I also could not see outside at all from my bunk. The local people in the bottom bunks decided they wanted to lay down about an hour into the train ride so I was confined to my bunk for almost 18 hours. Numerous people got off and new people boarded the train throughout the night. It was a very long time to be confined to such a small space and it was hard to sleep with all the rocking and the noise. The overnight train was not the most enjoyable experience and I was elated when the time came to disembark from the train in Jaisalmer. It was bright and sunny in Jaisalmer with no haze in the air which I took as a positive sign of things to come.
