At airport now. I am early. Flight is 1125pm and here I am, inside the airport terminal at 620pm.
In Delhi airport, you need to show your passport and printed itinerary or eticket, to the guards at the terminal entrance, else you cannot go into the departure terminal. Mind you, this is not even the transit area. They are sure tight on security. And once you enter the door into terminal, you can not go out anymore. The guard repeated it twice to me "once you go in, you cannot come out" !!!
The terminal fortunately, is very new and modern, with clean facilities and a number of coffee and snack outlets. The SQ checkin counter only opens at 730pm, so I am now sitting at Costa Coffee. Had a sandwich and now sipping a large cappuccino to pass time.
Went to the CCI emporium at Jampath just now and bought a shawl for wifey. The taxi driver keeps telling me the prices are fixed at this gov't run place but I just want to ensure I got the real stuff and I don't really want to spend time bargaining, plus I suck at that. Anyway, I got the plain pashmina stole at 6200inr, which is like one of the cheapest they have inside the locked cabinets. Those with embroidery were tagged at 85,000inr or more, that's ridiculous!! The pashmina was really soft and very lightweight, and supposed to keep you warm, so I hope it works. Happy wife, happy life, I told the driver.
The same taxi driver took me back to hotel (I paid him for round trip at 500, as he is humble and kept his car very clean, one of the cleanest taxi I took this whole week). Nice chap, chatted with him and found that he has 2 teenage kids.
I booked him for 500 to airport as well. It is good money since a metered trip would just cost 350. But I might not get such clean taxi again :-)
So, how do I feel about Delhi?
Hmm, it is not as bad as I thought, probably helped by the fact I stayed in a good hotel. The other folks who stayed at Ashok were not as lucky. Saw one of the rooms there and it was really run down for the price they charge.
Traffic here was an eye opener, though I had seen similar situation in China cities as well, the relentless honking is unique to this place. Every vehicle just try to squeeze into any gap they can find. You can see 4 abreast on a 2 lane road :-)
I am just amazed that there were no accidents so far while i am on the roads. Somehow, the drivers do give way just in time and everyone just focus on going to where they want to go and they are mostly non-aggressive drivers, waving to each other when trying to get unstuck. Somehow, I do feel they are a more gracious people than Singaporeans at driving. But I guess the reason could be that people here are focused on making a living, while folks in SG are living well and thus become so obsessed with egos.
On Wed, the short tour took us through old Delhi, and it is really different in this part of city. There were many people walking around, and women and children just hanging around the busy roads. Saw a woman digging at the soil in the road divider, while her 2 young kids ( less than 8 years old) were sitting on the ground waiting. It's sad to see the kids like this. How fortunate our children are back home...
Some of the taxis stink inside, but bearable if the trip is less than 20mins. They try to not use their meter and get a fixed price, so you need to know the distance. Generally, it should not be more than 250. I didn't get to try the autoricksaws, unfortunately. Heard from the others that it is an experience not to be missed.
One of the taxi driver told me he earns on average 1200inr daily, which is about 900 usd per month. It seems decent earning.
The food is ok for me, i don't mind most of the Indian dishes. There is always the "sidewok" for my Chinese food craving :-)
So will I want to be here again?
YES. I want to go Taj Mahal next time.
And i would choose ITC hotel again for sure.
so long Delhi, an amazing place with amazing people. Drive safe and live well!
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