And had some sort of lamb burrito-ish things for lunch at a foreign-serving cafe, pretty good!
We then got a ride out of the city to the Baha'i Lotus Temple, which I'm pretty sure I've seen in pictures but never quite knew where it was.
Well Wikipedia says this is one of the most visited buildings in the world and the line was something - more than two hours to get in. There were vendors all up and down it serving the crowd.
Got better views as we got closer. Our Hindi-speaking friend had to repeatedly tell people trying to cut us in line to bug off (maybe 7-10 times), to the point where the people in front of us would notice someone coming in, turn around, and start smiling waiting for the indignant tirade to begin against the interlopers. She really had to stand toe to toe and raise her voice to drive them off. We were clearly seen as soft targets for being foreign here.
Once through the gates onto the ground, the line continued. At an underground hutch (spanning the line in and the line out) we took off and stored our shoes, as shoes are not allowed in the temple.
Before going in, they gave a little talk about the temple, its construction, and the Baha'i faith. We were also told no talking was allowed inside. When we went inside, it was pretty clear that wasn't being enforced. The inside of the structure is as elaborate as the outside, and we sat for a while appreciating the sight. I am sure there are pictures on the internet, but we honored their request not to take any ourselves.
Coming out, we retrieved our shoes and went to the museum/info center across from the temple. I didn't know anything about Baha'i, but it turns out to be a faith of pretty recent vintage that mashed together mostly the Abrahamic religions and explicitly disallowed some of the more medieval items (slavery, rape, etc.) featured in older, less politically correct religious texts, and added a healthy respect for science. The info center did a pretty good job of introducing the origins and teachings of the Baha'i faith, so it was interesting to learn more.
Caught the sun going down coming out of the info center
Afterward we told the driver we wanted to go to Delhi Haat, a notable textile bazaar. He took us to a small shop named Delhi Haat, telling us he knew exactly where we wanted to go. This was not the correct place, but he got a kickback from taking us there, so we wandered in, looked at a few things, then went back out and told him that it was time to take us to the real Delhi Haat. It was finally time to do some shopping at a place where we actually intended to do some shopping. They were featuring textiles from across India and there was quite an abundance. As with many other places, the vendors tended to be quite aggressive, which I found discouraged me from actually looking at their stuff.
Scarves and wraps and shawls and so on in abundance. We saw just about every shop in the place.
Afterwards, went for dinner, thali again, different place somewhat classier but pretty much the same deal in terms of the food. This place had waiters coming around refilling, which made it hard to remember what I'd eaten and what I hadn't.
Our friends met up with some family right as we were wrapping up dinner, but the two of us were beat and just went back to the hotel to sleep.
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