New Delhi, Old Delhi

 Transport in Delhi!

After a good night's sleep and a breakfast where east meets west (curry meets cereal) Team TN met up with Team NJ. They'd arranged an excellent tour of Delhi for us which included a mini van, a guide who spoke English and a driver who must have learned how to drive on the streets of New Delhi as he managed to dodge and weave through 8 million cars on the road! Delhi is a city of 18 million inhabitants and the contrast between rich and poor was evident as we went from the more affluent, tree lined boulevards of Embassy row to the poorer suburbs where children begged for money outside our van. The air is highly polluted and the smell of burning wood gave an acrid aroma to the air.

We enjoyed our visit to the oldest mosque area in the city (Qudab) and our visit to the largest Hindu temple in the world that was completed in 2006. It was a breathtaking temple with a large statue in gold surrounded by gemstones and precious jewels. Such a contrast to the poverty we'd seen on the side of the road getting to the temple. India, the land of contrasts.

We're all getting used to spicy food and curries. Our guide took us to a delicious place for lunch where we enjoyed trying a variety of dishes..tandoori, tikka masala, saag, and vindaloo curries!

The headquarter of the End Polio Now program in India is located in New Delhi so we spent an hour talking with Ashok who heads up the country's program. He is delighted that India was declared polio free on January 13th, 2014 but stressed that the fight is not over until polio has been eradicated from the entire earth. We are grateful to be helping with one of the last National Immunization Days in Chandigarh.

Even though we've only been in the country for 24 hours we feel like we've been here a month!