Saturday, December 22, 2012

11 Days in Delhi, India

I reached New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport on the night of 1st December 2012. I was with two others, an Indian and a Maldives that night and we were to attend a 9 day workshop on Radio Transmissions conducted by an organization under the Indian Government. (Yes, lucky me, this is another sponsored official trip. hehe) The other international participants were due to arrive the next day and so us three decided to tour around Delhi instead. =)

While walking to the metro, I saw these men walking briskly without a care of the world! 
Not knowing the area well, at least the Kingsway Road was a straight line. We could easily have taken a tuk-tuk but since neither of us had small change, we decided to walk from the hostel to the nearest Metro Station instead. It took us around 30 minutes to reach there! We definitely didn't repeat this ever again. Haha!

The things I've noticed right away during our first day in Delhi :-
  1. Every entrance whether it's into a shopping mall, a metro station or an open park, you'll need to go through a scanner machine and get a full body check by the officers in charge. Guess there are some cases of terrorist acts in the city perhaps? There are also GUNMEN at every metro station behind a barrack. Scaryyy... 
  2. No pictures are allowed in the Metro Stations. They'll snatch you and demands you to delete the pictures if you get caught (which is always! They are very efficient that way! The place must be swarmed by CCTVs!)
  3. Men actually pee where ever and when ever they like along the roads and streets of Delhi (and basically everywhere else in India). They PEE in PUBLIC! Thus a strong odor of urine will be smelt almost every minute. LOL.
  4. The Indians sure like to spit a lot. Huhu. Hak puiiiii!!!
  5. Roti or also known as plain capati is their daily grain intake. Indians can eat this three times a day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's like what RICE is in Malaysia. 
  6. Hot tea is served with every meal. And served the minute you get up in the morning and also before you sleep! They sure drink a lot of tea!
  7. They actually drink tap water here. I tried it and thankfully have never experienced any tummy ache thus far! hehe. (Prays I didn't habour any worms in my stomach though! o.O")

Ok back to our first day trip to Delhi. We first went to Chandni Chowk to do some shopping. And then we went to the Underground Train Museum (free entrance), National Museum ( 300 rupees per entry) and the India Gate (as pictured below). 

A war memorial for those who died in World War I. Their names can be read on the walls.
I love referring to Wikipedia on the places I've visited because I'm not quite a reader before I go to these places. hehe.

The India Gate is the national monument of India. Situated in the heart of New Delhi, it was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. The monument is inspired by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which in turn is inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus. It was built in 1931. Originally known as the All India War Memorial, it is a prominent landmark in Delhi and commemorates the 90,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army who lost their lives in World War I and the Third Anglo-Afghan War. It is composed of red and pale sandstone and granite. [Wikipedia]


My friends and I did a lot of walking that day. And it was nice to come back to the STI Hostel. The place we stayed at for 10 nights. =)

STI Hostel short for Staff Training Institute and only trainees and staff are permitted to stay here.
Guess I was considered as a staff for the Government of India? Hehehe.

Our official transport, in and around Delhi. Nice!
Here were my training mates for the past 11 days. I was the only female trainee. Haha.

The others were blurred to protect their identity. Aisehh!! Cam haremm! wakakaka!
For the rest of our training days, we didn't go out much. We did eventually experience the night market which is held every Thursday night on Kingsway Road. This is where we saw all sorts of things being sold at unbelievable prices! The guys did a lot of shopping that night! 

Me? I bought a very cheap, fake Converse shoes for 200 rupees (equivalent to RM12.00). Haha!

Sweaters, shoes and bags. You name it! They got it all!
And so that pretty summed my first week in Delhi. Our next weekend was more fruitful. The organizers had us ride on a tourist bus into Agra for Taj Mahal on Saturday. And on Sunday we went on a Hop on Hop Off bus to tour around Delhi.

Well... I'll blog about that in another post.

Cheers and travel safe guys! ^__^

10 comments:

Biqque said... [Reply]

good that u didn't experience ceri-beri over there, though i drank from tap :) but, did u lose weight?

wow, the only female? u must be very fofular in the class kan? :)

so they took u everywhere with that bus (in the pix) or tuk-tuk? mcm kewl jer bus tu :D

tell me more!

Alid Abdul said... [Reply]

I'm reading your post while listening Main Yahaan Hoon Yahaan song from Veer Zaara hahaha...

PEE IN PUBLIC? eeeeeeeeeeeeuuuyyyy groooooosss

Farikica said... [Reply]

full body check every time u wanna enter those places..? the Q must be very long then... Pee in public? yucckkksss!!! How's the weather in Delhi? panas ke sejuk?

zino said... [Reply]

teringin juga nak kesana sebelum kakak balik sambung belajar kat sini..

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@biqque.. sadly I have not lost any weight.. it was maintained. haha. maybe due to not getting diarrhea?

Yes, only female. Agaklah. Topik paling fofular antara diorg ialah kenapa aku berhijab! haha.

They used that vehicle only during weekdays. waktu bekerja.. sabtu ahad diorg terpaksa sewa bas lain. hehehe. but it was an awesome experience. bas tu mcm ade authority dan klu di jalan raya, bnyk kereta yg bg laluan. =P

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@farikica.. the scans are divided by gender. Satu line untuk wanita.. satu line utk lelaki. Biasanya line lelaki lagi ramai. haha! wanita tak ramai.. so queue taklah panjang sgt.

Yess.. they pee in public.. well not all but u'll spot some while in Delhi. takleh nk avoid. hahaha

the weather was colddd.. tp midday agak warm. just nice. Malam je terus kot. Sejuk ya rabbiii! dan bnyk nyamuk!

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@alid abdul.. hehehe.. pls don't do that when u're in India. U might be tempted tho coz finding a toilet might be troublesome for some. LOLOL

@abah zino.. cepat gi lawat cpt2 sebelum dia abes belajar!! sgt amazinggggggggg!! =)

mohamad rivai said... [Reply]

bikin pengen T.T

thatsofarah said... [Reply]

When I was in New Delhi, I was given a government hotel for which I had paid equivalent to MYR10. Such is the treatment for government staff in Delhi. Thanks to my human right friends in India.

Glad that you enjoyed your business trip in India.

hlga said... [Reply]

pee in public? yassalam
ternyata ada yang lebih parah dari jakarta
hahaha