Mike Yardley: Dabbling in Delhi with Wendy Wu Tours

As the capital of the world’s largest democracy, Delhi embodies the essence of modern India – a vivid paradox of old and new, rich and poor, foreign and familiar. It’s been fourteen years since my last visit and the economic transformation is ever-present. High rises, swanky malls and residential colonies housing the booming middle-class are mushrooming everywhere. As my engaging Wendy Wu Tours guide Girish remarked, as we were whisked into the city from the airport, “Delhi is more than a mere city, it has morphed into the national capital region.” With the metropolitan population now nudging 30 million, Delhi is a megalopolis and on-track to becoming the world’s most populous city in three years’ time. 

Our hotel was in New Delhi, the more modern, planned city within a city, that was built by the British in 1911 and replaced Kolkata as the national capital, twenty years later. In a city notorious for its air pollution, which is supposedly steadily improving, one of the great paradoxes of New Delhi is that it’s also swathed in a sprawling green canopy. It’s arguably the greatest legacy from British rule, because the new city was deliberately, meticulously planned to be nestled within a vast green cover, fanning out from Connaught Place on those broad long avenues. Large-canopy trees like banyans, mango, and pilkhans were selected by the British, while indigenous trees ideally suited to the climate have added to the canopy in recent decades. That sprawling tree cover is certainly a godsend from the fierce Delhi heat.  

Delhi’s contradictions abound. You’ll still see working elephants trudging along traffic-clogged roads, as fire-engine red Ferraris zip by.  Handwritten posters singing out, “Customs confiscated goods sold here,” still compete next to glossy fashion billboards for Gucci and Prada. It’s all part of Delhi’s curious fabric. The city is littered with so many crumbling tombs and ruins, most of them are not even on the tourist map. But if you are  a first-timer to the city, signature sights include marvelling at the sheer grace of the soaring Qutb Minar Tower.  

It was built 800 years ago by the Turkish Slave King Qutb-ud-din Aibak to celebrate his victory over the Hindu Rajputs. Wander through the sculptural Jantar Mantar, a huge, open-air astronomy observatory built in 1725 by Jai Singh, creator and ruler of Jaipur. Admire the 16th-century garden tomb of Mughal Emperor Humayun, precursor to the Taj Mahal, which was built by Humayun’s great-grandson. Over in Old Delhi, two Mughal-era masterpieces, the imposing Red Fort (which was the Mughal seat of power for 200 years) and Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque. Both sandstone show-stoppers are definitely worth exploring. The mosque was commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1656 and it took 5000 labourers 6 years to complete. Within its hallowed walls lie sacred relics like Prophet Muhammad's hair.  

Beyond ticking-off the capital’s great monuments, heading to Old Delhi is like a journey back in time. The beating, chaotic, carnival-like heart of Old Delhi is Chandni Chowk, Delhi’s 400 year old marketplace that was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. The market has been redeveloped to tame some of the chaos, including some fully pedestrianised streets and non-motorised transport lanes. But as I gazed at the spaghetti-like tangle of street wiring that garlands the crowded market lanes, there’s no denying the ramshackle, faded glory feels amid this pulsating hot-spot of old-school commerce. Be sure to get your fill of jalebis from a street food vendor. Made from a deep-fried spiral-shaped wheat flour batter, which is then soaked in a sugar syrup, a plate of piping hot, crispy, sticky jalebis is a very satisfying sugar hit. 

We enjoyed a classic rickshaw ride through the throng of traders, shoppers and wandering cows, all heaving in those pencil-thin lanes. Girish also led us through the Khari Baoli Spice Market in Chandni Chowk, positively bulging with so many spices, nuts, herbs, pickles, preserves, rice and teas. Renowned as Asia’s largest wholesale spice market, it’s an aromatic head-blast. Shops and stalls bulge with heaping mounds and baskets of over a hundred different spices, headlined by turmeric, cardamom, coriander, star anise, ginger and cumin. Just as they have for hundreds of years, shoppers, dealers and chefs converge here every day to haggle and hustle.  

Many vendors have been peddling their wares for generations. Dawdle too long in front of a stall, and traders with huge sacks of chilis or cardamom pods will soon bump you out of their way. One of the oldest and tidiest shops is Mehar Chand and Sons. They’ve been in business since Queen Victoria ruled over them. And it’s a great place to stock up on packaged spices, tea and saffron. Anshu Kumar, who is part of the family that has owned the shop since its inception, tells me that one of

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks ab Our travel correspondent is Mike Yardley.
He's here with us this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Gilda, Good morning Jack.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
You know, I have absolutely loved the last few weeks
as you've been taking us through your favorite parts of India.
And I remember a couple of weeks ago you were
discussing how Deli is absolutely surging on the economic front
at the moment. So just how big is it?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, it's really hard to get your head around it
because the growth is so staggering. It's those middle class
high rise apartments mushrooming everywhere. That is just said in
my memory, but I think it was my guide with
Wendy Woo Tours check Gresh who summed it up best
for me. He said, Deli is more than just a city,
It's a megalopolis. The metropolitan population of Delhi is now

(01:02):
thirty million. Wow, so it's on track to becoming the
world's most popular city in about three years time. It
is just enormous.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, yeah, that's staggering out. I remember driving in the
city ones and like driving for like two or you know,
two and a half hours from the center of Delhi
out and still being still just being in a city
like just totally.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
It wasn't like, oh, we left at Delhi and then
we were sort of in some outskirt towns. It wasn't
like going from christ Roots today in you order or
something like that. It was like, no, no, no, you're
still in delis still very much in Delhi. And it's
famous for its vast canopy of trees. Ah.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
I love this about New Delhi within Delhi. Yes, So
on one hand you've got all those forests of concrete
and steel in the way of high rises, but then
that verdant canopy that is New Deli's calling cards. So
this is the more modern planned city within this city

(02:02):
built by the British just over a century ago. And
for all the pros and cons of British colonial influence,
you'd have to say one of their great legacies was
the meticulously planned green cover for New Delhi. So fanning
out from Connaught Place along all those long broad avenues,

(02:24):
they just meticulously planted so many large specimen trees like
banyons and mangoes and pilkens, because they knew it was
a hot place and they thought this might you know,
give people a bit of cover from that fierce Deli heat.
My god, that was that was visionary when you think
about it.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, did you go to the monuments, because there were
quite quite a few big ones.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
There are so many to tick off because the city
is littered with just a trove of crumbling tombs and ruins,
so many that most of them not even on the
tourist map, and it can get tiring to do a
bit of you know, monument ticking and Delhi. But if
you're a first time into the city, I would suggest
there are two you really need to see over an

(03:10):
old Delhi. Two Mogul era masterpieces, the imposing Red Fought,
which was the Mogul seat of power for two hundred years,
huge big slab in sandstone. And then Jamma Mushad, India's
largest mosque. I absolutely loved this mosque jack because it
was commissioned by Jahanov taj Mahal Fan talk about six

(03:34):
years courtesy of five thousand laborers to put up. And
for Muslim people, it's really really sacred this mosque because
within a tallowed walls lies the hair of Prophet Muhammad,
so a very special site.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
For Islam amazing. Did you go to India Gate.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yes, so this is back in New Delhi, very close
to that sprawling parliamentary complext I've got. But yeah, India Gate,
it's sort of like India's answer to the Arctic Triumph.
It's such a monolithic beast of a thing, quite monstrous.
I don't think you would say pretty. It's amazing, but

(04:16):
not pretty. But yeah. Interestingly it was designed by Edwin Luttians,
who was the master planner for the British of New Delhi,
and it is principally a war memorials and memory of
the seventy thousand Indian soldiers who laid down their lives
during World War One. But I did what the locals do,
and you hid down there at the end of day

(04:38):
because it's beautifully illuminated after sunset and at twilight that's
in all the street food vendors and the ice cream
they lie in the area. And you've got those spawling
lush gardens around India Gate as well. So it's just
a beautiful part of town to end the day.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
And how wonderful. What about market time and Old Delhi?

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Oh my goodness, I reckon this is the runaway highlight
of a visit to Deli. Plunging yourself is a plunge
into the chaos, the Cannibal, the cauldron of commerce in
Changin e Chok Delli's four hundred year old marketplace. And
I love how the spaghetti like tangle of street wiring

(05:20):
is still there, garlanding all of those pencil fin lanes,
choked with people and cows. It's got all the rough
as guts function over form fields to eat chog. I
thought of you, Jack, because I thought, I'm sure Jack
likes Jellybyes. I do, Levy Jack, So yeah, a real

(05:45):
street food hero. The Jellybesmara like a deep fried spiral
shaped better dust and sugar syrup, a plate of those
piping hot, crispy, sticky gellbbies that will keep you going
all day.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, that keeps you going. The spice market is amazing
as well, ah ah.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
One of the best I think I've ever experienced in
the world, and the penty, Asia's largest wholesale spice market.
And I think wholesale is the key word because the
spices are so fresh. You know, it's an aromatic head
blast as you walk past all these bulging sand castle
like mounds of spice and they sell over a hundred

(06:26):
types of spice in their spice market. And Old Deli
I love how if your doored all too long outside
the shop fronts, chances are a trader will come along
with a huge sack of chilies or cut them and
pods and sort of bump you out of Yeah. But
if you would to stock up on some spices and
get them into New Zealand legally, a really good place

(06:49):
to go to is this really old shop called Miha
channd In Sons and they've been in business since Victoria
ruled the roost. So they have got packaged spices pretty
much one hundred spices by the way, They've got teased,
I've got saffron, and one of the biggest sellers with
international visitors is turmeric. There is no stopping that globe

(07:13):
Wal'll love here. So yeah, they've got them all packaged up.
You'll get them through New Zealand customs as long as
you declear them.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Okay, Oh, that's really good to know. That's fantastic. Where
would you recommend staying in Delhi?

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, I would say go for New Delhi because of
that canopy. It just feels, you know, like a lifesaver.
But also make sure you bag a flash hotel with
a pool, because the pool really will be the lifesaver
of all. I love how and you will recall this
from your time at the Games, the Commonwealth Games five

(07:45):
star hotels at three star prices in Delli. Yeah, so,
for example, I stayed at Shangula Eros, which was just heaven.
They had the most enormous pool and one of my
favorite time or moments in Delhi was just marinating myself
in that pool, gazing up at the flocks of black
kites circling above. And then you had recess mac x

(08:07):
swinging between the pool side banion trees, much to the
annoyance of the rose ringed parakeets who were trying to
nest only in New Deli.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, ah, that sounds so good. I had. I mean,
I had amazing experiences of my time in Deli, and
I was there. I was there both for the Games,
but also I went there by myself afterwards all my
colleagues had gone. I traveled around India a bit and
then spent a bit of time in Deli myself, and
I do remember seeking a bit of refuge from the

(08:37):
chaos of Deli and sitting down in a small sort
of green space on my on my first or second
day staying in old Deli, and I was surprised by
a man who came up behind me, grabbed my head
very gently, cradled it, and in a swift action, inserted
a needle into my ear drum. And fortunately it wasn't

(09:02):
a needle that pierced the ear drum. But he was
one of these people who was a it is himself
a professional ear cleaner, and so without my explicit consent,
he came up behind me, saw a vulnerable ki We
tourist and said, oh, there's a man who's probably got
waxy ears. And I tell you what, he was right
on that front at the very least, and yeah, came up,

(09:23):
snuck up behind me and cleaned my ears for a
few rupees. So yeah, that was It was very assertive,
I did think. But of course, once you're sort of
once your head's been cradled by an Indian man and
he's got various instruments tickling your ear drum, you're not
really in a position to push back. So yes, yes,

(09:44):
yes that was an experience, but my god, it is
I mean it is an amazing city. It's just you know,
and I think you're I think your point about finding
a good place to stay. See I reckon. The way
to really enjoy India if you're not used to traveling
in that kind of place is to give you is
to stay in a place where you can have a
little bit of a reprieve from the chaos, so that

(10:06):
when you leave your accommodation, when you step outside the
front door, you're just going to be bombarded by incredible
sights and smells and all these kind of sensory experiences.
But having a place where you can kind of retreat
and you know, and rejuvenate overnight is really really important.
It means you actually enjoy the stuff during the day
a whole lot more. I reckon so very good advice. Hey,

(10:29):
thank you so much. We will make sure all of
your tips for exploring Deli are up on the news
talks he'd be website. Can catch you again very soon.
That is Mike Hardly, a travel correspondent. AH producer Libby
has just told me that she had her ears cleaned
last week. There you go. I do you know. I've
done it as well. I've had it done before but
only because one time I was presenting. I was presenting

(10:49):
TV and all of a sudden, one of my ears
just went loop and all of a sudden it was blocked,
and I was like, oh my goodness, this is that's
so gross. Since I had to have an emergency ear cleaning,
which is very satisfying, I'll tell you what's dark, Livy.
What's dark is getting into a YouTube hole where you
look at professional air cleaners. It's a whole it is
a whole industry. It's a whole genre of different films

(11:14):
on YouTube where they go and these people who've never
had the ears cleaned and they get the ears cleaned,
and it's like, here's sixty years of wax and debris. Anyway,
leave you with that metalm For more from Saturday Morning
with Jack Tame, listen live to news talks i'd B
from nine am Saturday, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.