Qutub Minar

I hadn't really heard of the Qutub Minar before I went. I got some idea about it in one of those hotel tourist type booklets. Yvonne pointed it out to me and we decided we might as well go see it while we were in Delhi. The fun thing about Delhi as opposed to some of India's other major cities is that it has a boatload of historical places. Another thing that is funny is that all the really amazing historical places around north India tend to be Islamic. What that means is that generally the "really old" stuff is actually only a few hundred years old. Most of the ruins found in Europe are far older. Of course, once you get a little bit outside the major islamic reach from a few hundred years back you can see much older Hindu temples. All that aside, the Qutub Minar is a really beautiful sight (and site). The main minar is a 24 sided tower, which from far off looks strikingly like a phallus. I had to walk around the main tower to count how many sides it had. The architecture was shocking. It was square sides interlaced with rounded "sides" all the way around on the bottom level. The bottom level rises up several meters (maybe 10-15) then there is another level, and yet another. I forget the actual height of the minar, but it's pretty alright. Also on the grounds are a mosque, a mausoleum and some other buildings. We decided not to rent the audio guide, but rather just look around and see it for ourselves. It's quite interesting.

Perhaps another interesting thing that the Qutub Minar provided for me is the idea that India is just not very subtle about it's (dis)like of tourists. The entrance fee for Indians is Rs 10, while the entrance price for foreigners is Rs 250. In case you're playing along at home that's 25 times the price for foreigners as for Indians. And despite my Indian salary, guess which price I had to pay...

I wish I had thought to carry my registration papers with me. This proved to be useful in jaipur, but before that, I got swindled, and swindled pretty badly.