Without the cover of our Hindi-speaking friend to intimidate the drivers, our tuk-tuk somehow arrived at a shop where the driver undoubtedly gets kickbacks instead of our destination. We negotiated a lower fare for looking at the goods before disembarking. Since we hadn't actually done any shopping yet, we weren't too concerned about the diversion. The shop's prices were ridiculous, more many items more than you'd pay after importing them into the US and marking them up for retail I think. They had a couple of camel-pattern silk ties I was moderately interested in, but the quality was not high and they wanted more than $20 for them even after negotiating (I have previously bought a lot of decent ties from Marshall's for $5 and $10 that were nicer) and they wanted like $80 for a cast rhino figure I was interested in - got annoyed at the pricing and high-energy salespeople and didn't buy anything. Ana got a scarf she really liked that wasn't that bad a deal. Would have been a great deal in the US but was probably 25-50% overpriced in India. In addition to bringing us to a shop we didn't ask to go to, our Sikh driver over-shared and got a little too personal. He complained about the local Muslim population, more specifically the number of kids they typically had and therefore the lack of sex education. He told us that he taught his kids how to use condoms, and also said that it was time for us to stop using condoms and have kids already. Not too many, but we're smart people so should have a couple, and we can't wait any longer to do so. Nice guy, but personal boundaries were not his thing!
After escaping the tourist trap shop, we proceeded to the Red Fort. The scale of this structure should not be understated - it is enormous and in excellent condition, partially because it was in continuous use from construction in the 17th century to today. The British used it as an army base for a while after taking over India and the Indian army had barracks in it into the 2000's. We hired a guide before going in and noted that most tourist sites don't have sandbagged machine gun nests in the entryway, but this one does.
Walking up to the entrance
Entrance gate looking up
We were thinking, oh how tacky, they put in a mall, but the guide says the mall is original (though the signage and goods are modern). The palace ladies wanted things but couldn't just wander around outside for safety, so they set up a bazaar just for the palace inside.
Inside the main walls are a considerable number of structures - that one for audiences with the ruler
Why yes, I would like a an intricately carved marble pavilion inside my elaborately carved sandstone pavilion so I can pavilion while I pavilion, etc.
The guide seemed to know what he was talking about and added a lot of detail beyond the signage. We wished the imperial quarters hadn't been covered by scaffolding and wires and hoses and stuff. By this point the police were starting to close the place up and we were hurrying a little. It was supposed to be open a while longer but somehow I don't see arguing with the small army of police tasked with driving people towards the exits was likely to go well.
The grounds are sprinkled with barracks for the British and Indian armies, which look a bit out of place.
Leaving the Red Fort, we went looking for a ride back to the hotel. Our friend had been charged by his wife to negotiate ferociously for every rupee, even though the amounts of money involved are pretty trivial. We went through a lot of people looking for a good deal, got followed by one very persistent pedal rickshaw driver for a while, and probably spent enough time finding a ride that we could have walked most of the way across the old city towards our hotel by the time we finally got a cab.
It turned out that the reason that people were either refusing to take us to the hotel or asking very high prices was that there was a festival on that side of town and traffic was total gridlock and the roads closest to the hotel were actually closed - had to get out and walk. We spent enough time sitting in traffic that we could have walked back to the hotel from the Red Fort a second time.
A view of the main road leading to the hotel
By this time we were hungry and our friend was feeling better, so we went out to dinner, walking through the crowds again.
I wish I remembered what she was pointing at - it was the Fantasy dessert section here.
I do not recommend the yogurt doughnut. It was soggy.
Each couple split a thali platter with various things to eat on various flatbreads
This was a considerable amount of food and I was impressed to watch a small French girl at the next table eat one of them by herself. One thing about Indian food that I realized is because you're always dipping and mixing and the mouthfuls tend to be smaller (only so much of something you can hold up on floppy flatbread to get into your mouth) I was definitely eating more slowly and getting full after eating less food. There were some interesting things in this dinner but only a few items that I really liked - it was OK and mostly fun for being with friends in India and less solely as a dining experience. Since we'd been up for an early morning and the bike ride, everyone was ready for sleeping after adding dinner on top of the long day.
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