A Whirlwind Weekend in Delhi, India

You’re in New Delhi, you’ve had a long week of work, getting in at 11pm on a Friday Night. However, it’s the freaking weekend and you have to take advantage of the next 48 hours to explore. What do you do? If you’re like me, you pack the weekend full of activities, and you drag your friends/colleagues with you. Sleep is for the weak! (Ha, I kid, I kid but sometimes, YOLO).

Day 1:

A Day Tour of Old and New Delhi

7:15am: I hit up the breakfast buffet like a tornado and stuffed my face as I went, I was running late. My friends were waiting as we’d booked a tour of Old and New Delhi to start early to avoid the heat (only partially successful at this).

 

New Delhi:

Our first stop was the President’s Palace. Did you know that it is one of the largest residences of a head of state in the world? Next, we stopped at a Sikh temple where we learned a little bit about the religion (I only had basic knowledge prior), looked around and also volunteered nearby making Rotis fed to the hungry. Granted, in total we ‘volunteered for about 30 minutes so I don’t think it counts. P.S. Don’t tell my Nigerian mom that I went into the temple, don’t think she’d be amused 😉 .

Our last stop was the Red Fort, we walked through an electronics market (that literally sold everything) on our way here. At the Red Fort, we got asked for pictures with locals. I hope we look alright in their family photos!

 

Old Delhi:

My favourite of course. The colors, the chaos, the people, the food, the cable wires hanging dangerously close, the chai, the smells, the craziness. All of it.

We met our guide, Jitu, and set out to explore the maze that is Old Delhi on foot, and by rickshaw. We learned of the history of old Delhi, sneezed our way through the pepper section of the largest spice market in Asia, and got a bird’s eye view of Old Delhi from a rooftop. I really wanted to fly a kite from the rooftop and so we did. So much fun…there’s a video of it somewhere! It’s the little things, I tell ya! P.S. Kite flying is an annual tradition in North India (Delhi) on Independence Day. Afterwards, we headed back to New Delhi and visited India gate, a monument built in honor of fallen soldiers. Our very final stop was the romantic Lodhi gardens, is frequented by lovers.

 

 

 

 

Day 1 Evening – Dinner & Drinks:

Tried to nap unsuccessfully, then we decided to go to out dinner and drinks. Put on some music to hype myself up as I got ready, but once we were out I was fine. While at it, we tried Burmese food for the first time (amazingly good food)!

 

Day 2: Sunday

Day Trip to Taj Mahal:

As if getting in at 11pm on Saturday wasn’t enough, we’d planned a 3:30am departure for a day trip to Taj Mahal. I’d been to Taj in 2014 but one of my regrets was arriving late (9am was late) as it was hot and packed. We booked a private tour with Jitu and a driver and thankfully arrived just before 7am. Best idea ever! We were exhausted but managed to tour Taj Mahal, do a mini shoot there, take silly pictures, and see the Red fort in Agra before heading back to Delhi.

Due to our early departure we returned to Delhi at a decent time (early afternoon). You’d think we’d take the evening to relax. No, this slave driver (me) booked us a cooking class, and we also got invited to a wedding (sadly we couldn’t clone ourselves and do both).

 

Evening Cooking Class

Cooking class with Saffron Palate was so much fun. There were six students in total and two cooking stations. We put on our aprons and I donned the hat and we got to cooking!!! We also got to eat everything we made which was pretty cool. I’ll do a separate post on the cooking class later.

 

 

 

 

Finally settled in at about 11pm, and we had to work in the morning. It was exhausting, but I say we did our best to successfully mix business with pleasure! Monday was a little rough but we’re gladiators!

I’m not a fan of whirlwind trips all the time, but sometimes they’re all we can do and that’s okay. So I say, do what works for you. Do you travel for work and plan a little bit of fun on the side? Or do you generally do whirlwinds trips when you’re short on time? Share an experience in the comments below!