Delhi Days 5-6: Christmas, High Tea & Henna

Delhi Day 5: Merry Christmas

Our hotel is very western and decorated for Christmas with holiday tunes playing in the lobby. In fact, all of the hotels we have visited have been beautifully decorated and are playing our favorite holiday songs. Still, it didn’t really feel like Christmas. Despite all of the decorations, the holiday isn’t celebrated as only 2% of the population is Christian. We left the hotel intending to visit the Lotus Temple, but the line was a mile long, so we settled for snapping a few pics from the car.

Then we went to an Indian mall to purchase new pants for Suki’s wedding outfit. It was a real, indoor mall with a Starbucks and upscale stores – and it was super crowded. Like Black Friday at Target times 10. Afterwards, we came back to the hotel and went to happy hour in the executive lounge while waiting for our table at Bukhara, an upscale Indian restaurant featuring tandoori style food. Their Dal Bukhara is world famous. It consists of whole black lentils that are cooked in the tandoor for 18 hours. It was delicious and lived up to the hype! There is no silverware (except for serving wear) and you wear an apron while you eat – our kind of place! When Jen lived in Dallas, she used to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant every summer. There, you ate with your hands and it always kind of grossed her out. But, eating with your fingers at Bukhara seemed much more civilized!

We ended the night at Golf Bar in our hotel. Our server’s name was Mojit. He informed us that some patron’s find it amusing to call him “Mojito” when they’ve had too many drinks. Ha! We’ll stick with Mojit.

Delhi Day 6: From High Tea to Henna

We’ve all been on the verge of upper respiratory infections due to the smog. This morning, Jen decided it was time to start the z-pack. Her GP in Houston gave her a prescription just in case. Getting medicine in India is no problem though. Michelle’s asthma flared up, so our hotel butler (yes, we have a butler and it’s kind of awesome!) just went to the chemist and picked up the drugs she requested. It was less than $5 for prescription cough syrup and an Albuterol inhaler – and that included the cost of his taxi ride!

We had a leisurely morning at the hotel and then took a walk to the Taj Palace hotel, right down the street. Finally, a sunny day with some visibility! The Taj was lovely. We are all over Indian food, so we opted for Blue Ginger, their Vietnamese restaurant. We’ve been eating a lot of carbs on this trip, and we were craving vegetables. Jen had the veggie pho and Emily had the chicken pho. We ended our meal with a Vietnamese iced coffee and it was just what we needed. After lunch, we killed some time walking around the property and then went to high tea at the Tea Lounge. Emily loves tea, so this was high on her list of things to do! Jen has only recently gotten into tea, but since India is known for their tea, high tea was also on her bucket list!

That night, we went to Abhi’s family’s home in the town of Vikas Puri (a suburb of Delhi), for the Mehndi (pronounced “men-dee”) which is typically held on the eve of the wedding. This is the application of the Henna, using a cone, on the bride and other women. Men do not ever participate in the application itself, but are present while it is applied to the women. Mehndi is used for weddings and other festive occasions and it is typically applied on palms, backs of hands, and feet. When we pulled up, all of his family and extended family were standing outside and the house had been decked out in red and white Christmas lights. Everyone was saying “welcome home!” and we got red dots on our foreheads. We sat down for some traditional Indian fare once inside. Then, we went up to the rooftop where there was catered food, a DJ, and the henna artists. Everything is very elaborate here! We opted for simple designs on the front and back of our hands since it lasts for six days. The bride’s henna is extremely intricate (often hidden within the pattern is the name or initials of the groom) and took well over an hour to apply. Then, you have to sit still while it dries. We all, of course, messed ours up because we couldn’t sit still for so long! Oops! Once it dries, you just rub it off, and wa-lah! It dries a pale to dark orange color.

The big fat Indian Wedding is coming up next. Stay tuned!

In Collaboration with Jennifer Carman