Monday 24 October 2011

ktm - del: first glimpse of india

as my flight to my next destination, india, was at 2.40pm, i had planned to sleep in for a bit since i couldn't sleep early the night before due to all the noise. but the blardy koreans were up early and making the same racket as the previous night! 


also, after they've left, there were still some loud talking on the corridor outside my door, this time in nepali. i opened the door a crack, and saw the guy from the front desk talking to a nepali lady. the lady was talking rather animatedly with big hand gestures, as if complaining about something. the front desk guy was facing in my direction and saw me open my door, so i put on a scowl on my face and raised my finger to my lips in the universal shushing sign. the guy nodded his head and said, "ok, ok" but didn't even bother to apologise. and the worse thing is, they continued talking in the same volume for a few more minutes before going away! this hotel is SO not getting a good review from me on tripadvisor!


with my sleep interrupted, i decided it's futile trying to go back to sleep, so i washed up and went down for breakfast. it's the same breakfast from my first night there.


after breakfast, i contemplated if i wanna go down to do some last minute shopping, but decided not to. i think i've had enough of thamel for now. so i just roamed around the hotel for a bit to take pictures. the hotel is quite a labyrinth, coz it consists of a few rows of the upper parts of shop-houses.


connecting bridge towards the cafe


they even have a lil garden with some rabbits in it


after exploring the hotel for a bit, i went back to my room to pack up and get ready for the travel agent's driver to come send me to the airport at 12.30pm. but 12.30pm came and went, and still no sign of the driver. after some 15 minutes, i brought my luggage down to the front desk and asked them to help me call the travel agency.


after more waiting, my guide appeared, sweaty and somewhat out of breath, but still no driver! he said he's also been trying to contact the driver, but couldn't reach him. so they've arranged for another driver to come, but the guide decided to come see my in person to reassure me. luckily the airport is not so far away, so i managed to not miss my flight. gosh, i really gotta stop rushing to the airport like this!


an extremely crowded city from the air


my flight from kathmandu was uneventful and i arrived in a rainy new delhi in 1.5 hours. i got a taxi from the airport to my hotel, coz my indian colleague warned me not to trust any other form of transportation other than the airport taxi.


the indian tuk-tuk, or auto-rickshaw. compare it with the nepali tuk-tuk here.

i had my first glimpse of new delhi on my way to the hotel, and my first impression of the place is, "good grief, the indian drivers are all crazy! they swerve into your lane as and when they like without giving any warning or signal. and that seems to be the norm, coz no one honks at them unless they're just inches from colliding into one another."

i was taking in the sights of the city when we passed through a housing area and i saw a dog on the streets. the dog had its backside facing me and i thought, "wah, what a big assed dog!" coz it's really big! but when i look at it properly, i realized it's not a dog at all. it's a PIG! imagine a pig running around the streets like a stray dog!

anyway, i finally arrived at my hotel and as the taxi driver is driving through the gates, we were stopped by the security guard.

waiting in line for security check

all cars going in would need to be frisked and checked, all the luggage need to go thru the x-ray machine and everyone going in would need to step thru the metal detector. at first i had planned to check-in, dump my bags in the room and then venture outside to explore the city for a bit and have dinner. but seeing the tight security, i decided the new delhi outside the walls of the hotel would be just too scary for a lone fair-skinned girl like me to roam about!


ah... at last, i'm able to get a night's sleep in luxury! ;)

you can see into the bathroom from the bedroom thru the glass window...

view from the other side...

so happy, like a cookie monster! :D

tandoori chicken with mango lassi from the hotel restaurant

as i will be checking out at an ungodly hour the next morning, i decided to go for an early dinner. after checking out the hotel restaurant and seeing a lot of foreigners (ang-moh, japanese etc) eating there, i guessed it should be safe to dine there, it being a 5-star hotel and all.

seeing this made me go, "damn, why didn't i think to pack my swimming suit?!"

after dinner, i took a walk around the grounds of the hotel, but after a few minutes, i felt some discomfort in the stomach as well as slight nausea. it felt like the onset of a food poisoning! omg, i was in a near panic state, coz i still need to travel to agra the next morning, a 4-6 hour trip by car!

so i quickly went back to my room where i had diarrhoea twice. and to be on the safe side, i stuck my finger down my throat to induce vomiting. did that twice. luckily i felt much better, tho' still a bit dizzy. i quickly took a shower, packed up my stuff so that i'll be ready to go when i wake up the next day.

sigh... it was such a comfortable room in a nice hotel, but just a short stay for me. felt a bit cheated... :(

anyway, before i finish off, let me leave you with an excerpt of a conversation between me and my friend on facebook chat:

stargal: eh, what's india's national animal ar?
dm: i dunno. kutch kutch hota hai?
stargal: hello, itu lagu lar! elephant?
dm: oh, animal. i thot anthem hehe
dm: india... snake? snake charmers?
stargal: i found it. tigers lar
dm: indians - double headed snakes
stargal: kakakakaka...
dm: oooh that was a bad one
stargal: teruk LOL!! u think i'd get thrown out of the country if i innocently say that to one of them here?
dm: oooh, i would try! hehehehe...
stargal: u cakap saja. i bet u won't dare. will kena ban for life
dm: they won't throw u out lar. they'll just make u marry a local tamil
dm: with mustache!
stargal: omg, that's like 10x worse! dun wan!
stargal: esp the mustache part!
dm: u'll have to put coconut oil on ur hair everyday
stargal: ok, cukup! i'll get nightmare tonight
stargal: eh, but hor, maybe i'll look hot in a sari ler
dm: oh yes, i'd have to agree. n can eat curry everyday!

hahaha... damn racist, right?

2 comments:

gina said...

Eh.. that's not very nice to say such things.. haha.

Anyway ah, sorry for the slack in checking out your blog. Office dah banned blogspot and wordpress.. so I basically have to go home to read blogs.. and by the time I nak comment.. already want to go to sleep! Haha!

Will be more rajin next time.

stargal said...

LOL, i know! so dem racists, us...

it's ok lar, since i dun update as frequently as i'd like to... i'll also try to be more rajin in updating...