Buildings

Al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo. Built by the Fatimid Dynasty, 970 AD.


View from minaret. Al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo.


Burj Al-Arab (the Arab Tower), the world's only 7-star hotel in Dubai. There was so much humidity, and we were on a bus, so I couldn't get a better picture. The hotel is designed to resemble a sailboat. Rooms are $5,000 per night.


More buildings in Dubai.


Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, India. A fine example of Mughal architecture, 1592 AD.

Delhi tour

We had three days in Delhi (one more than anticipated because we got on the wrong train Monday morning... I swear, it was the station's fault and we weren't just being stupid!). We spent much of the time eating dosas and trying to decide where to go next. On Sunday, we hired a car and a driver and did the super tour of the sites. We also let our guard down after three months of sucessfully avoiding forced shopping expeditions and were taken to an "art gallery famous in all of India" (aka, souvenir shop). A select few other places we visited:


The Raj Ghat. This black marble slab marks the place where Gandhi was cremated.


The Ba'hai Lotus Temple. Almost every western tourist we have seen in India looks really really dirty and haggard! This is only day 3 for us, so stay tuned.


The Qubt Minar tower, built circa 1200.

Later that evening, we treated ourselves to a meal at Bukhara in the Sheraton (not our hotel!), on the recommendation of my cousin's husband Paul, who's been to Delhi several times. Jerome declared the Peshawari lamb to be the tastiest piece of meat to ever cross his lips.

In India

We arrived in Delhi yesterday morning. It is pretty much just as I expected -- madness, broken by pockets of serenity. And the food is great!! There are also a lot of trees and greenery here after the Middle East. Today we saw our first real rain in two months.