We finally made it! Antananarivo feels like forever ago since it took us 38 hours to get to India due to our layover in South Africa. It was quite a journey but we are all thrilled to be here! We arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport promptly at 10.17 am. Our flight was right on schedule. As soon as we exited the plane, I saw a customer service desk in which I walked over to seek information regarding transportation to our hotel. The customer service representative spoke excellent english and informed me of "State Express", a van rental company who would be able to drive us to our hotel from the airport and take us back to the airport when the week was over. The fee was 3,500 Indian Rupee ($95 USD). After gathering our luggage from baggage claim, we headed to Terminal One where we were greeted by our rental van driver.
Our van driver's name was Murari. He enjoyed having our group of seven for the 22 minute ride from the airport to our hotel. We parted ways with Murari and he said "We meet again at the end of your stay. Enjoy India!"
We were very excited to see what was waiting for us as we exited the van. The Connaught Hotel, where would call home for the next seven days.
We all carried our luggage into the grand lobby of The Connaught and were greeted by bellhops to take our things to our rooms. We walked to the front desk where we confirmed our reservations with the concierge. We decided to get 3 rooms to accomodate the 7 of us. Emily and Jaimie shared a room, Ty and Kevin shared one and Kelly, Alex and Michelle shared the other room. We booked 3 standard rooms (breakfast included) for 4,599 Indian Rupee ($84 USD) per night. The total hotel bill for all 3 rooms was 96,808.32 Indian Ruppe ($1,764 USD).
After we got settled into our rooms, everyone took showers and realized how worn out we all were from traveling from Madagascar. So we decided to nap until 6 and then it would be dinner time. We chose to eat at the restaurant in the hotel since everyone was still jet lagged. The restaurant was called Bwohani Junction. They had authentic indian music playing and we all loved it! We were pleased that it was multicuisine and we were able to chose foods we knew we would enjoy. Dinner cost 2908.64 Indian Rupee ($53 USD). It was close to 9 when we finished dinner so we all headed back up to our rooms to call it day and get some rest for day 2 in New Delhi.
-Emily
Wednesday, November 7
We decided not to do any of the tours that tourists have to pay for because they only offered all day package options including transportation and since we already had our ride arranged, we just decided to walk around and sight see as much as we could. After we entered the gate, we chose to go straight toward the Mausoleum since that is what everyone wanted to see. It truly was beautiful and it was very quiet outside as everyone showed reverence for the sight.
After we looked for a while and took several hundred pictures, we walked back toward the gate and went the opposite direction we originally went to see the courtyards and gardens. The Courtyard area was breathtaking. So peaceful and was manicured very neatly.
Before getting back on the bus, we found a vending machine near the area where they sold tickets and each of us bought a snack for the bus ride back to New Delhi. The snacks only cost 218 Indian Rupee ($4 USD). We got on the bus and headed back to New Delhi at 3:45 pm. On the way back we got caught in terrible traffic between cars, bikes, mopeds, trucks and buses! It was a mess. So the bus ride home took closer to 4 hours and we did not arrive back in New Delhi until 7:30 pm. By this point we were all ready for dinner! While walking back from the bus stop we walked right by this interesting looking restaurant on Shahid Bhagat Singh Place (the same street as our hotel) and we went inside and sat down. The restaurants name was Sarvam Safari and it was such a cool place! Cost for dinner was 3896.498 Indian Rupee ($71 USD).
After dinner everyone was tired and in need of a shower after our day of traveling and sight seeing. We all went to bed as soon as we walked to our hotel from dinner.
-Ty
Thursday, November 8
Since we went to bed somewhat late last night, everyone slept in today. We all met downstairs for breakfast close to 10:30 am. We enjoyed coffee, eggs, lots of different fruit and they had these pastries that were just excellent. At breakfast we discussed our plans for the day. We decided we would see what New Delhi had to offer. Michelle got on the hotel computer and researched what there was to do in New Delhi. The number 1 rated place to visit in New Delhi was the monuments, statues and gardens of Swaminarayan Akshardham. Since it was declared to be the best thing to see while in New Delhi, we thought we'd give it a go. Swaminarayan Akshardham was only 4.07 miles from our hotel so we took the city bus to the stop closest to the site. This place was so interesting because it really gave a glimpse of indian culture.
We had to pay 150 indian rupee each, but thats only $2.73 USD so we didn't mind at all. Everyone in the group really enjoyed Akshardham, but Jaimie had the most to say because she has a great interest in architecture. This structure is known to be one the most architecturally, beautiful edifices in the world.
We thought we'd fit in one more sight seeing adventure for the day by going to the 2nd best place to visit during our stay in New Delhi. The next place of interest was the Qutub Minar. We hopped back on the city bus and looked at a map to discover that it was about 14 miles from where we were. But we decided to take the city bus because eventually it would make a stop that was right in walking distance of the Qutub Minar. The bus ride took about 42 minutes because there were so many stops before ours, but we didn't mind. Free transportation!
The Qutub Minar was magnificent! Upon viewing the monument, we learned it was the most popular monument in India. It is also extremely old and made of sandstone. Michelle took this picture of it.
We all had a fantastic day of learning some background knowledge on indian culture and customs. We walked back to the bus stop and caught the bus back to our hotel close to 3 o'clock pm. It took another 40-50 minutes to get dropped off at the bus stop and then to walk back to the hotel. We stayed in our rooms and relaxed until 6:30 which is when we all went to dinner.
Since our hotel is in The Connaught Place, an area with restaurants and shopping right at our hotel and within walking distance from us we thought we would go to a restaurant here. We chose "Ardor" and the food was divine. They had an outdoor seating patio so that is where we chose to eat because it was a nice, cool, windless evening. Everyone chose from the "Oriental Meal" portion of the menu so each entree was 265 INR. Total cost for dinner was 1,855 Indian Rupee ($33.80 USD).
After dinner we sat and talked about all of the wonderful things we had seen so far while in New Delhi. We remained at the restaurant until 9:45 pm! Once everyone started yawning we agreed to walk back to The Connaught and call it a day.
-Kevin
Friday, November 9
TGIF! We all woke up to a beautiful, sunny morning at The Connaught and made our way to breakfast for the third morning in a row. At breakfast we concluded that we wanted to do something other than site seeing today. Alex took it upon herself to look up activities that we could potentially partake in on a Friday in India. She found all sorts of things. We decided to go shopping. We researched local markets and came across the Janpath Market.
We decided we would check this place out first because it is located directly across from Connaught place, where all of the restaurants are. We knew we could walk to the market rather than paying for transportation as well. Janpath Market was very interesting. It was fully of indian heritage and cultural items specific to India and each of us felt like we had to purchase something as a keepsake of our stay in Delhi.
Kevin and Ty bought "Kohlapuris" which are a common, leather sandal type of shoe in India. They each spent 384 Indian Rupee which was $7 USD.
All of the girls were fascinated with the ethnic dresses all over the market. There were so many colorful choices, each adorned with unique, intricate detail making every dress different from another. We all purchased one and agreed to wear them to dinner that night! I took a picture of some of the dresses we bought while they were still on the mannequin. We each bargained with the vendor and paid 385 Indian Rupee ($7 USD) for our dresses.
The seven of us spent a total 2,689 Indian Rupee ($49 USD). After we wandered around to every vendor and portion of Janpath, we started getting hungry because it was close to 2:30 pm. We walked across the street to Connaught Place and found a fast food bakery place. We thought that would be perfect to grab something light to eat since it was 2:30 in the afternoon. They had cakes, paninis, smoothies, and salads. We each got a treat and sat and ate until about 3:30. Our food and drinks here cost 1,481 Indian Rupee ($27 USD).
When we finished our mid afternoon meal, we walked back to the hotel to take showers and relax for a bit. Shopping wore us out! It was very warm also and the sun drained all of our energy. We met down in the lobby at 8 pm (dressed in our ethnic dresses and the boys wore their sandals) to go out for drinks. We started walking over to Connaught place because at Wenger's earlier, we saw this place called "The Beer Cafe" that looked like a lot of fun. Since we were going out for drinks anyway, we decided this would be the perfect spot. None uf us were too hungry so we agreed to split some appetizers. We chose the "spicy chicken wings" (350 Indian Rupee), "honey chilli peppers"(200 Indian Rupee), and the "fish fingers" (400 Indian Rupee). This place picked the right name for their restaurant because they had an endless menu of beer to choose from. We stuck with what we knew and chose american, domestic beers. The total cost for drinks and the appetizers was 4625 Indian Rupee ($84.27 USD).
We didn't realize how late it had gotten after we finished our last beer until Ty looked at his watch and saw it was 11 pm! We walked back to our hotel and said good night.
-Jaimie
Saturday, November 10
Last night was a late one so everyone woke up close to 11 am. The Breakfast room was no longer serving breakfast, we didn't mind because we could grab lunch soon anyways. We all got showered and met in Jaimie and Emily's room to discuss how we wanted to spend our Saturday in India. We remembered from our internet searches of popular indian attractions that the Humayun Tomb was a must see. We walked over to Connaught Place and saw a Dunkin Donuts and thought that was perfect since we skipped out on breakfast. Total for coffee and donuts was 1,152.44 Indian Rupee ($21 USD).
We called a cab to drive us to the site from Dunkin Donuts and he was there in 35 minutes. It was now 1:30 pm. The cab ride was only 7 minutes long because the Tomb is just 4 miles from Connaught Place. Cab Fare was 164 Indian Rupee ($3 USD).
We arrived at the Humayun Tomb around 1:40 pm. This place was huge! We noticed similar architectural design between this tomb and the Swaminarayan Akshardham.
Indian architecture is known to have 3 domes and archways throughout the structure. Truly a magnificent site. The Tomb was thrilling because it was interesting to learn that it was not built for Humayun himself, but actually for Humayun's widowed wife between 1562-1565. Again, all of the greenery and landscaping was very well kept as it was at the Taj Mahal.
We stayed at the Humayun Tomb until 3:15 pm because our same cab driver from earlier got backed up on picking us up. Once he got there, we headed back to the hotel to relax and get ready for dinner. Cab fare was another 164 Indian Rupee ($3 USD).
We met down in the lobby for dinner at 6 pm. Kevin said he wanted to find some authentic, indian food. We looked up restaurant choices on the computer in the lobby and found "Barbeque Nation". TripAdvisor said it was cheap too which was exciting because we have been spending lots of money on this trip and we had to take a cab to get there. Barbeque Nation was about an 11 minute ride from our hotel. The cab company allowed us to go ahead and pay him with the round trip option and the total was 987 Indian Rupee ($18 USD).
Each of us were surprised to find out that Barbeque Nation was buffet style. They had all kinds of meat and delicious vegetables for sides.
Dinner was incredible tonight. We all agreed it was the best food we had while being in India. The total cost for dinner was 3,073.19 Indian Rupee ($56 USD). Once we reached the point where we could no longer eat any more, we walked outside and our cab was waiting for us. We jumped in and headed back to The Connaught to catch a good nights sleep.
-Kelly
Sunday, November 11
Everyone woke up on Sunday around 9 am and we went to breakfast still talking about how good the was at Barbeque Nation. We enjoyed coffee and pastries for breakfast. Today, we planned that we would see the sacred Ganges River. We took the Delhi city bus to the bus stop nearest the river which was about an hour long due to the many stops we made along the way. We arrived at a bus stop so close to the river that we could see it just a short walk away. It was getting very warm outside and the sun was shining so it was the perfect weather for a day near the water. We walked up as close as we could get and we found a landmarker providing insight to the rivers significance. It read, "The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age-long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga."
Unfortunately, we were dropped off in a very populated region of Delhi so the river banks were flooded with natives, bathing and washing clothing in the water. It was sad to witness the native people washing themselves in such contaminated waters. However, we were glad we got the satisfaction of seeing the infamous, Ganges. We remained at the river base for about 3 hours and it was close to 2:30 before we caught the bus back to The Connaught. Again, we were stuck on the city bus for close to an hour and when we got back to the hotel we agreed it was time for some lunch.
We got lazy and didn't feel like walking anywhere since we had been walking up and down the Ganges all morning, so we went down stairs in the hotel and decided to take advantage of the Tiffany Snack Bar. They offered a wide variety of tea and coffee and they had pastries and all sorts of snacks. We sat and relaxed while drinking tea and eating pastries and talked about our trip so far. We spent 2,030.49 Indian Rupee ($37 USD) at Tiffany Snack Bar.
We made our way back up to our rooms to begin packing and gathering our things because this was our last night in India and we wanted to make it a good one. After we packed a little bit, everyone showered and got ready for one final evening on the town. We walked to Connaught Place and chose to dine at Parikrama-The Revolving Restaurant. What a neat restaurant!
-Alex
Monday, November 12
We woke up around 6:45 am and headed downstairs for one, final breakfast in The Connaught. We talked about how sad we were to leave such an exciting city and how we had such a wonderful time in India this week. From seeing the Taj Mahal to the Ganges River and dressing up in the true style of authentic Indian people, we had a blast! Today we were doing nothing but things to get ready to leave for Indonesia. We packed up all we had left to pack and called Murari, our van driver from the airport on the first day of arrival. Murari arrived at 8 am sharp. We loaded up the van and headed back to the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The van ride took 24 minutes, and we were ready to get aboard the plane for Indonesia. We parted ways with Murari, took a few last minute pictures the Indian skyline we could see at the airport and began to get in the Indonesian mindset.
Our flight for Indonesia was scheduled to leave at 1:20 pm and arrive in Indonesia at 3:35 pm. We bought snacks and drinks from an airport shop because we knew it was would be awhile before we could have a meal. Snacks and drinks cost 1,371.96 Indian Rupee ($25 USD).
Bye India!
The following is a list of attractions we witnessed while being in India:
-The Connaught Hotel
-The West Gate entrance to the Taj Mahal
-Taj Mahal and courtyard gardens
-Sarvam Safari Restaurant
-Swaminarayan Akshardham
-Qutub Minar
-Ardor Restaurant
-Janpath Market
-Wenger's Deli
-The Beer Cafe
-Dunkin Donuts
-Humayun Tomb
-Barbeque Nation
-The Ganges River
-Tiffany Snack Bar (The Connaught Hotel)
-Parikrama-The Revolving Restaurant
-The Connaught Place Shopping/Restaurant street
-Indira Gandhi International Airport
Total Expenses for the week:
157,676.19 Indian Rupee ($2,872.45 USD)
-Michelle
No comments:
Post a Comment