The Kingsway

Time to visit the RajPath...the most famous road in Central India. Flanked on one end by the India Gate, a 42m-high stone memorial arch and the other end by the Rashtrapathi Bhavan (President's House) with Secretariat buildings along the path towards the President's House and the Sansad Bhavan (Parliament) round the corner, this is definitely the administrative nuclear of India.

There are two options as Argun puts it - walk from one end to the other or drive and make stops. I sheepishly smile at Argun "We drive and stop ok...too hot to walk. I need A/C!"

The heat is definitely zapping out the energy from me. Mustering every last ounce of excitement in me, I dragged myself towards the imposing gate. Mendhi...Mendhi...little girls just swarm around me...this is the art of drawing on your hand...I am like 'No No' and they just keep following me. I have to give them credit for being so persistence but I am also one that is hard to be persuaded so I let them follow me until they got tired of following me. And I totally got caught off guard by this lady...out of no where she came up behind me and pinned an indian flag on my sleeves..."Don't worry. I am a school teacher. Donation for children in my school, mam". Dear oh dear...what to do...she kept repeating the same sentence and then I did the unthinkable, I pulled the flag out from my sleeves and gave it back to her and walked away. Yes I am awfully mean but sometimes you just have to do it!

Ah...now getting a picture of myself...right I could ask but ask the wrong person and there goes my camera...I will be crying tears in bucket if that happens...haha turned out it wasn't as difficult as I thought...this indian guy wanted a picture with me so I said no probs then we swap swap ok. Almost perfecto!

My $20 slippers

Left or right...left to have my shoes being looked after...right no shoe minder leave at your own risk...mmm...this is my only pair of slippers if I lose it I will most likely have to walk barefooted for the rest of the trip. Surely my old dirty $20 slippers would not attract any attention...right it is then. Carefully tucking my slippers in a hidden corner among all the shoes, I proceeded through the entrance to Raj Ghat.



It's a beautiful park - as I walked towards the simple square platform of black marble that marks the spot where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated,I felt the calmness and serenity in me. It was definitely a welcome change to the hectic scene that surrounded me this morning.

No Thali

I want thali for lunch..."Thali Thali North Indian Thali". I reckon Argun was surprised I knew that word. I told him I just came from Hyderabad. Ahhh...then he explained to me that thali is only available in South India. Lunch in North India is just normal indian food...ohh...then can I eat some really yummy North Indian food in clean local joint...yeah wasn't surprised when he brought me to this multi-cuisine up-market restaurant in Connaught place...I am like "Oh". I reckon he read my mine cos he then said "This restaurant clean no problem for you if you eat elsewhere then stomach no good". I supposed he was just being genuinely concern. Argun is almost 50...I am guessing caused he told me he has a 18-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son. He has come a long way from Himachal Pradesh - near the Himalayas and he only sees his family twice a year...well definitely better than me...I am just scraping the surface trying to make it home once a year. It was naan and malai kofta and some chicken for lunch. Not too bad!

Faking it At Red Fort

Well, many tour operators indicated in their itineraries..."Drive pass Red Fort"...so I did as they said but made a slight deviation..."Drive, Stop, Walk Outside Red Fort". Touts are a part of any sights in India...they cling to you like leeches...just ignore ignore ignore and you will be fine.

One Photo Mam

The largest mosque in India and the final architectural extravaganza of Shah Jahan completed in 1648...this striking building with three gateways, four angle towers and two minarets standing 40m high is constructed of alternating vertical strips of red sandstone and white marble. Just be careful where you walk...there are pigeon droppings everywhere and get used to the locals in the compound uttering "One Photo Mam".

Ricketty Around Old Delhi

Arjun...my driver for my entire trip was so shocked when I gave him my itinerary list...there are like 1001 things that I want to cover...almost every single attraction listed in the lonely planet book <* and for the record is my best friend on the trip *>.

As the car left the hotel, I started to observe the surroundings...totally a different city to hyderabad...bigger...definitely...busier...no doubt...more polluted...well got to start walking to know that. First stop was Old Delhi to visit the largest mosque in Delhi - Jama Masjid, the busy Chandni Chowk ("chowk" means crossroad/intersection) and a trip round Red Fort. Arjun did ask me "No into Red Fort?" I told him doing Agra Fort and Amber Fort...too many forts and it will overkill the experience. He suggested that I go on a cycle rickshaw complimentary from the Delhi Tourism around Old Delhi...really...then he added just give him Rs50 afterwards...ahh...the guy was so skinny...gosh I am so glad I am not a gigantic balloon else he probably will be cursing me all the way through.

Honks were blaring everywhere as we rode down the streets of Delhi...I am slowly getting accustomed to this...honking is a way of driving in India...it means make way for me, I am coming nearer to you, let me through, watch out for me...so do not be surprised to see "HORN PLEASE" painted nicely behind vehicles.

I have to admit, this is an awesome way to see the buzzling everyday life of people in Delhi although it is kinda scary when your cyclist rushes through a busy intersection almost missing the auto rickshaws and cars by inches. Often another cycle rickshaw will pull up next to you or cross in front of you and thus blessing you with unobstructed view of the grocery basket of the women sitting in it or the machine gun like merchandise just purchased by the man in it from the shop down the road.

Almost Homeless

When I told my sis I am going to stay in Bengali Singh Hotel, she just cracked out laughing..."Make sure you don't become one!!" Well, it's cheap considering how ridiculous hotel prices are in Delhi...then I also cracked out laughing...imagine staying in a backpacker's hotel and then have a driver to pick you up...this is going to be so hilarious!! As it turned out, Mr. Bengali didn't want me - fully booked and so did almost all the hotels in the city. "Mam, sold out". "Full". "No room"...arghhhh...I am so going to take the next hotel available even if I know nothing about it and I did just that. Crazy I am I think so too but the notion of sleeping on the streets totally overruled it.

I laughed when the porter opened the room door for me. A tiny room with barely any room to walk and a dinghy old worned out bathroom. Taps were squeaky. The bed looks alright...at least there are no croakcoaches running around...ok livable then I spotted the tiny flat plasma TV on the wall...this is just so so hilarious...the hotel owners sure know their priorities...well at least I will have some sort of 'luxury'... <* mentally to myself...must remember to put a chair against the room door...the key lock is a bit dodgy *>

Tagged it Up!

I am one excited girl...finally, I am going to be able to do my act of gawking at the magnificent Taj with open mouth, breath in the polluted air of the pink city Jaipur <* pls do not tell me how many minutes I will shorten my life by just doing that! *> and be a Delhite. Rolling out my luggage from the car, I bid Razzak goodbye and headed towards the departure hall. And so it all begins...

Arghhh...tags tags...I was turned away from the check-in counter cos I did not have a 'Security Checked' tag on my baggage...now where is that big baggage screening counter which my cork ed eye missed. "Mam, the plane will be delayed by 1.5 hours"...oh gosh...oh well this is India and plane delayed is a norm...at least it is not the 18 hours delay I had when I first came here! With the boarding pass safely tucked in my hands, I headed towards the departure gate. Oh my oh my...what a long queue...wonder what's happening...ah hand luggage screening...no probs...normal procedure..."thump"...stamp on my bag tag...oh...then guard signals me to join the women's line...huh...oh body x-ray...then a female officer waives some kind of scan gadget all over me..."thump"...another stamp on my boarding pass...oh.

No electronic departure boards...interesting...then I saw airline staffs running down the departure lounge corridors yelling to passengers to board their flights...then I heard very heavily Indian accented English over the speaker informing passengers on flight departures. Ok, I better not fall asleep! No wonder there are so many airline ground signs around so staff knows where to zero in to shout!!


"Where's your bag tag?"...oh no where's my tag...it must have dropped in the lounge...so I told the guard..."Dropped in the lounge". "No tag, no boarding. Go back to check-in counter". What...you kidding me...you want me to go through the whole security ordeal again...the queues are horribly long! "Next".

As I walked towards the check-in counter, head down feeling miserable, I stumbled upon a tag lying on the floor. Hhm...maybe this will do. So I picked it up, attached it to my bag and rejoined the queue. Nervously I showed the guard the tag and this time he smiled at me. Phew...finally...Spice Jet, here I come!!! To whoever that tag belongs to, I am so so SORRY!!!

My plane has wings...yippee!!! And it is an imposing Boeing 747. Well, the thing being my boss was shocked when he found out I bought my ticket from Spice Jet 'just like that' from the airport without knowing anything about the airline let alone knew it existed. I told him "They looked ok - had the Virgin Blue feel, the cheapest and accept international credit card!". He said "Nicole, you better make sure they got wings to fly you there!!!"

Flatmates from Heaven

I can't believe this is happening...first Katja...now Maria...I am so going to miss both of you. You guys were flatmates sent from heaven!!! Thank you for keeping me sane with Hayley and Michelle!!! And when I do write about Apt 34, I will definitely consult both of you!!! Love you both heaps. Germany and Colombia or is it Switzerland, here I come...heheh soon...

Funny Valentine

My cook never ceases to amaze me...for my valentine dinner, he went all out to cook me a special dish <* which I am so dearly touched by the gesture...I certainly have made progress cause he is cooking a special dish and NOT the usual fried chicken, fried rice, fried noodles, fried egg, fried potato, fried bread...yippee!!! *>.

So me all ready for me dinner sat down at the dining table and oh gosh...what is this...some vegetables swimming in a thick layer of oil...I could actually scoop the oil up and down in tablespoons. Oh dear...oh dear...

Me: Special dish - vegetable salad...peas, carrots, long beans, mustard, egg...and oil? Olive oil?

Cook: Yeah oil.

Me: Olive oil?

Cook: Oh normal cooking oil. Taste good?

Me: <* silently - I am eating salad swimming in spoonfuls of cooking oil - brilliant - I nearly cracked out laughing *>...Er...ok...but too much oil.

Cook: <*Smile happily *>

My special valentine dinner in India. Totally one very amusing cook!!!

Black Buddha

Oh dear...this is going to be tough...soon I have to self-conjure things up or I may just drive myself crazy during weekends. Officially, I have been to almost all four corners of Hyderabad. On Saturday, it was flipping and flipping through the travel brochure 1001 times and still could not pick out where to go. Finally, I told Razzak, ok I will go see the Birla Mandir temple...the supposedly marvellous temple made solely from marble <*I have come to discover that marble is kinda cheap here so for those of you who are dreaming of a little Taj Mahal maybe worth making a trip here and import them back*>. Hot! Hot! Silly me...I am becoming to wonder if my IQ has dropped due to being fed all those carbs by my cook...not a too brilliant idea to be bare footed on marble floors under the hot arvo sun...I was nearly jumping off the floor...reckon those indian locals must be thinking what on earth is she doing...some acrobatic show...gosh how on earth do they manage to walk normally...I must remember to measure the skin of their feet the next time I go to the temple again...just to see how pathetic my delicate feet are :-).

Gandhi...such a symbol for India...so when I saw this big statue of Gandhi as Razzak was driving...I was like 'Stop Stop Stop the car, I want that Gandhi'. I think I must have horrified him when I said that...he was like 'Huh...Oh...but Mam they won't allow you to go in'. 'Really...but I only want to gawk at him from outside...can you just stop outside the building please' Heh heh and I got my wish but it was sure railed up. I had to crawl in between the rails <*Totally unladylike doing that in my skirt*> and nearly triggered the double wired up fence while taking the photos. Not entirely keen to be spending the day in the police lockup, I snapped my pictures and ran back to the car...phew!!

Onward to the tallest Buddha statue in India. A standing giant in the middle of the lake - a boat is required to get you there. Well, I supposed you can swim but I won't suggest it unless you want to get muddy all over. For a 30Rs boat ride, I had the company of a very very brady college kids. This guy...gosh keep asking me to take a pic of him...for souvenier...I finally relented and took his pic <* Hhm...perhaps I may just broker him his first modelling job *>.

Not too happy when I got to the Buddha platform...the sun was behind him so every single pic I took of him came up black black and black. Arggh...and Mr. Friendly Guy was like 'Pic Mam You N me...souvenier'...I am like "Er...later...I let you know". By the time the boat attendant round us up for the trip back to shore, well apparently you are only allowed 10 minutes on the platform, my photos were still of Black Buddha so just before I hopped onto the boat, I took the back view of Black Buddha just to prove that he is not black. And nope I did not take a pic with Mr. Friendly Guy on the platform. God must be smilling on me by then cos he was kind enough on my trip back to give me a marvellous side view of Black Buddha :-).

Cricket Rules!

Despite cricket being a crazy mania thing in Australia and the Green and Gold team won the latest Ashes Series, I have unfortunately been very ignorant on learning the rules or the game. Always thought it is such a boring game cause it is so SLOW...well...until this afternoon. The Miss 'DunNoAnythingAboutCricket' has braved herself and joined the guys at work for a game of cricket...that I have been assigned the umpire job was even more hilarious...so I told the guys before the game today...'Whoever bribes me the most I will close one eye!!'...Haha....turned out I actually did enjoy the game. Despite me being the worst bowler and bat person on the field <* so glad they didnt pelt tomatoes at me *>, it was really fun and I FINALLY LEARNT cricket - YIPPEE!!! Some of the guys at work are really good...so when they have to stop the game and call it a draw as light was disappearing, I was actually disappointed. Heh heh...now it makes more sense to yell 'Thanduka' down the street :-)

Ekka Patato

Mam...ekka patato...special Indian dish....silly me so enthusiatic on trying Indian food that I told him..."OK..cook away". To my horror when he opened the wok and showed me the dish, I nearly ran straight to the nearest hospital...staring at me was 3 DEEP FRIED SUNNY SIDE UP EGGS on DEEP FRIED POTATO swimming in VERY VERY YELLOW OIL!!!

Ekka patato -> Egg and Potato!!!

Obviously, when he asked me "Is it nice?" I am like barely touching it but still want to be polite, "OK, not bad" which I then said 'You can go. I will clean up". Sinful sinful..."God, please forgive me" cos once he was out the door, I threw the whole dish into the bin and made myself a cup of milo for dinner. I think I will have to fire him quite soon...cos it is either that or I die of high cholestrol and over obese!!!!

Going Solo Again

Michelle has gone home...so am back to solo again. It was sure nice to have some company for two weeks and seeing myself in the photos...guess it's back to taking scenery picture and self BIG picture now and WHOA...the whole apartment to myself...heh heh. I hope your dad is doing well. Luv ya!

Overnite Pin-up Poster Girl

Today, the feat is to visit the biggest fort in South India - the amazing Golconda Fort. Situated at the top of the hill, it purportedly has the best city views in town. We set out after 2pm so we don't get charcoal burnt. Totally excited but also totally worried as it is a 3km climb to the top of the hill and both of us are so unfit after weeks of being chauffered around and not hitting the gym at all. Oh well, we will just climb at a pace of 0.1km/per hour.



On route to the fort, we stopped at the Qutub Shah Tombs, the seven tombs of the greatest rulers of the Nizam era. I think we were so confused by the tombs that we spent so long doing our 'chic chak chic chak' act when we hit the first tomb thinking it was the greatest tomb until Razzak tapped on our shoulders and said " Er...this is only the small ruler's tomb...the main one is over there!!" We were like..."What?".



The ultimate tomb turned out to be not much different to the smaller tombs just bigger and have a better view and higher grounds. You could actually see the Golconda fort from here. It was so huge that it was virtually impossible to capture the full view so I resorted to cuddling to a corner just to get it...Michelle couldn't help laughing when she saw me doing it..."blending in with the flowers huh? :-) "



On to the fort finally...gosh the number of local guides that leech to you are shocking...when you say 'NO' they still follow you...again 'Ignore Ignore' and they will get the message. The special feature of this fort is the acoustic of it, if you clap your hand at the entrance of the fort, the sound will go all the way up to the tower...and it was sure one deafening sound when everybody is doing it together!!



Are we there yet? The climb was getting really cruciating...I was like "Michelle, I am dying here"...She's like "Yeah me too and we are not even one quarter up".



We are so keeping to our word of climbing at 0.1km/ph :-). Thankfully the view was superb along the way else we would have given up almost immediately.



I reckon the most hilarious thing during the climb is the numerous times we were stopped by local Indian guys asking us "Can we take a photo with you?". We were like, gosh...do we really look that weird?...Well, we both were wearing Indian blouses...mmm...the ultimate was when this dozen odd army guys wanted a picture with us...we nearly died of heart attack and since we were outnumbered, we obliged. So officially, we just became the overnite pin-up poster girls for the guys in the army barracks and a lot of local indian guys...oh dear oh dear...let's just hope they don't go start telling their friends..."Meet my foreigner girl friend"



Oh...one more thing..we discovered that the fort is a favourite dating place cos every corner we go (the hidden corners), we seemed to bump into couples having their secret talks...I think we were more embarassed than them.



I supposed that also explains the numerous graffities on the fort's wall...A love B...C and D forever...obviously the 'Writing on the Wall Is Prohibited' sign is not big enough and we sure caught a lot of them in action!!!




Tired, exhausted and freakingly hot - we were so glad when we made it back to the bottom of the hill...full blast A/C...we told Razzak...and it still wasn't enough to dose off the heat so we asked Razzak to bring us to have kulfi - indian ice cream. He sure did and brought us to this really er very 'local' looking ice-cream place called 'Famous Ice Cream' - where the rich and poor will come and have their ice-cream. Okies, we will try. We sat down at one of the outdoor table and was going to order when I saw the guy at the stall took a block of ice-cream from the freezer, unwrapped it and plonked it down on a plastic plate with his bare hands - yes his bare hands!!! Oh dear oh dear...I told Michelle and she was like "Let's do the ice-cream sticks to be safe" and then I signalled to her..."Look look"...they have all the unwrapped ice-cream sticks in this big plastic bag and the ice-cream man was just fishing them out with his bare hands and handling it to the customers.



"Arghhhhhhhhh....we going to get so sick...never mind never mind don't think don't think just eat just eat". And the tactic sure works cos the kulfi was really yummy...and that is honest from the bottom of our hearts! Did we get sick hahaha........

Tollywood

Tollywood...yes spelt with the big T not the big B...here I come!!!! As a spectator of course...although I may just try audition for a back view only role - reckon I will suit the role very well - don't u agree?? :-) Ah huh....Telugu = Tollywood, Hindi = Bollywood...never knew there is a difference in Indian movies until today after I plonked myself to the largest film city in the world - Ramoji Film City.

No need to go anywhere but the Film City to film your whole movie...from village settings to mumbai city landscape to delhi city landscape to south indian city landscape to airport to hospital to church to railway station to european garden to japanese garden to streets in london even to taj mahal, the red fort and the golden temple in amritsar...everything is within a stone throw of each other...forget about long flights...just hop into a 'natural air-conditioned' bus and you are there in a blink of an eye.

Imagination is very important here...let me stress very important especially when the scene changes every 10 minutes and whatever is it, do NOT do NOT attempt to jump in the buildings unless you want to crash through the plaster. Yeap, everything is made from plaster from Paris...except the chairman Ramoji house which is the REAL thing and the hotels in the film city :-) and everything is dismantable and removable. BTW, I am one happy girl today...got a up-close and personal shot with Charlie Chapin and the famous leg garden and a 15-min trip round the world minus Oz.

Lunch was brilliant - 'thali' at Hotel Sitara...in fact it was so brilliant that I managed a snooze at the hotel lobby while waiting for the bus to come. Roti, naan, paratha - all indian breads but made from different wheat...michelle (I have a flatmate!!!!) and I reckon we can just feed on those for meals with dhaal...yea by far the only Indian dish we are able to eat without any qualms and 'karakan' - an indian sweet decorated with silver paper on top - unless you have a super sweet tooth you may want to give this a pass cos this is like eating sugar by the tablespoon!!!

There is even a theme park here - 'Fundustan'. Don't be scared by the blue genie...he is actually quite harmless and we decided not to go onto any rides cos we are so afraid that we will puke considering we just had a full lunch.

By and by, I reckon this place provided the best entertainment of the day - Watch the local Indians danced the Indian style in the fountain - not around the tree but in the fountain. So hilarious - this guy started fully clothed and ended up with just his underpants!!!! Gosh...luckily the guard got to him in time if not...

And I even managed to render my service to the help desk!!!


Come 4pm it was too hot to hang around the film city anymore so we decided to check home. Stopped on the way to have chai from Sarvy in the car...heh heh...apparently women are a rarity in that coffee shop so if we go drink there it's going to be one very difficult situation so we got Razzak to get it for us...after all how can we pass on the Number 1 chai place in town!!! <* although we did pray very hard before we drank it cos the cup do look a bit suspicious *>

Tip for the day: When you go Bunnings next time, please lookout for 'Shangrila Seeds'!