Dharma & Nita travel blog

Day 14, Navsari 15th Dec

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Dharmesh

Still in the train this morning – sleeping in the train was different – continuous rocking motion did feel good . Neha and Pooja were still sleeping @ 8am. Our omelette breakfast was provided around 8:30, was not too bad at all.

Around 10:45 train was at Surat – last stop before Navsari, called Manga (private taxi dude) to let him know of our location. At 11:15 train was @ Navsari, had to prepared with all our luggage near the train exit – train was only stopping at this stop for 2 minutes – had thought that it would be a struggle, however had no issues at all getting all of us and luggage out on time.

Manga was waiting across the rail tracks – walkway to get over the platform was quite a distance, Coolie just got the luggage and walked across the tracks – soon we all followed one at a time, jumping off the platform and slowly making our way across 4 tracks! Felt weird doing that, but it was an achievement – crossing the tracks India style!!

Picked up a carton of of Bisleri water and Milk – the essentials. Arrived at our new home – felt good – home looked sooo much better than previously, what a change it was.

(view of home from outside)

(first looks – livingarea and kitchen)

We all went through the house, kids were excitedly saying – “dada’s new house is soo nice”, coming from the Delhi hotel – this was 5 star!!

Soon after our lunch “tiffen” arrived – Aloo fry & Kitchree – both were very tasty. How good was home delivery tiffen!! Only 120/rs for veg & 180/rs for non veg – and thats for 2!!

(our first lunch tiffen)

All had a shower – felt soo much better after a nice hot shower. Time to visit some of Nita’s family – however had no idea where they lived,- took an Auto to the Bazaar, looking for Sai Pharmacy (Nita’s masi), I roughly knew where they were and managed to find them easily. It was good to catch up again with Tinu and Nita’s masa. Tinu also organised one of his staff to guide us to the other two relatives we wanted to go to.
Nita’s aji was not home, got lucky at Vinod kaka’s (Nita’s dad’s cousin). They were all there and all got a surprise see us. Seeing them again after 5 years – brought back memories of the prior trip.

(Neha and Pooja with Vinod kaka)

Headed back to the bazaar, Navsari bazaar is very narrow and sometimes crowded. Did buy some cleaning stuff for the new house, Nita also picked up some BHUJA. Were back home around 5:30 pm, Pooja was not feeling too well, she had vomited twice. Took her to the local doctor (Sanjay) – more medication for her.

Back home, our evening tiffen arrived, it was chicken curry, rice and roti – home delivered! It was very nice. By 9 pm, most of us had nodded off on the sofas – we were really tired from the train travel – (could be train-leg, as opposed to jetlag)

Posted in India, Navsari | 5 Comments

Day 13, Delhi & Train to Navsari, 14th Dec

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Dharmesh

Last day in Delhi today. Pooja still had a temperature and felt like throwing up. Decided to miss Akshardam and just take it easy – got to leave something for the next trip!
Breakfast was quick, and back in the room – Pooja needed to rest.

I went off to the ICICI Bank to collect my NRI Account deliverables (VISA card, cheque books had arrived). At the branch for 10 minutes I was told to go from one area to another, finally some harsh words made the process start. It still took them a further 15 minutes to locate my stuff. Then another 20 minutes to work out how I could deposit money into the account – but wait they needed authority from some idiot high above on whether I could deposit money now or NOT (It is my account right!!). After close to 1 hour of having made no progress, just asked them to give me the card and cheque book, walked out without depositing a cent! I feel for the people here, service is shockingly slow, everything is “bass pach minute” and another 30 minutes goes past and nothing happens!
(Hopefully I can get this sorted out in Gujarat)

Back at the hotel, Nita and I started the pack up of all our luggage, had to minimise the number of pieces to make getting on and off the train easier.
Went for lunch around 2pm @ Shudh restaurant, ordered some Chinese – Hakka noodles for Kids, we had Chilly Garlic Noodles, and Chilly Paneer entree. The Chilly Paneer tasted just like Chicken manchurian we have in oz, it was amazing, and the Noodles were just as good – Chinese in India is absolutely brilliant. Ordered Pan Fried Noodles as takeaway for the train dinner, kids were having hakka noodles on train.

Got out of the hotel @ 3.30 pm, had hotel cab drop us off to New Delhi Train station – we were booked on the Paschim Express departing @ 4.55 pm.
Got a couple of Coolies to assist with the luggage and arranged for them to take luggage into the cabin as well, made it soo much easier – they had me waiting at the correct place – Indian trains are very long, you do not want to be waiting at the wrong end.

(waiting @ New Delhi station)

(very busy platform – lots of people travelling on Paschim Express)

Waiting at the station, we witnessed some interesting sights – guys who needed to “pee” could not be bothered finding a proper washroom, the world’s biggest washroom was right there in front of them – the trains tracks of course – so what if everyone else was watching, it must be an Indians birth right to pee in front of everyone. Then there were different styles, some just did it the western way (standing up) whilst others were modest, they squatted and finished their business…. below is one modest dude

(people relieving themselves on the tracks – this one directly ops us)

The Coolies who helped us, had suddenly reappeared at he arrival of the train and helped us take all our luggage to the correct cabin. The 1st Class sleeper cabins are soo different from the other ones we have had so far – individual lockable cabins, berths are wider and more space. We even had an attendant call bell in the cabin – did not use this though.

(Neha and Pooja in their upper berths)

Mum called soon after, and we all chatted for a bit – Nita was asking Mum to arrange next days lunch – she wanted home cooked food. Somehow, mum was doing this all from Brisbane!! – love you mum.

Dinner was our takeaway from Shudh – surprisingly it was still warm, by 7pm dinner was all done and Neha was knocked out soon after. I started writing my Agra blog – had lots of time on hand. Finished the blog around 10 pm, and we were all off to sleep soon after.

Posted in Delhi, India, Navsari | Leave a comment

Day 12, Agra, 13th Dec

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Dharmesh

Another early start today, off to Agra on a day trip to see Taj Mahal. Will be using trains to travel to and from Agra – trains take approx 2 hrs each way, whilst cars can take 4 – 5 hours each way. Hate the idea of sitting in a car for 9 hours!

Were all out for breakfast @ 7am. 8am Hotel cab was to drop us off at Nizamuddin train station, for our express train to Agra @ 9.25. (Left some time up our sleeve incase of morning traffic).
Arrived at Nizamuddin station by 8:45 am. This is not as big as the Old Delhi station we had arrived on from Amritsar, and as such had less crowds – suited me just fine. Found our platform with ease – I was now getting the hang of the train systems (I think). It was very cold waiting on the platform and this was just the start of winter! Strange temperatures here, Nights/Mornings are cold, days are perfect for a t-shirt!

(waiting @ Nizamuddin, cleaner on rail tracks after train departed)

Our train (Mangla express) did arrive on time, got in our coach, we had two sleeper seats together, the other 2 way at different places – no problems, kids loved playing on the upper berth, we were on the lower.

(kids had the own playarea on upper berths, Nita and I were on the lower berths)

We had a window sit, giving us a very good view of the outside. Few minutes out of the station, we passed a BASTI (shanti town), what was fascinating was how each home had a Paytv satellite dish on their roofs

(“Basti” on left, most homes have a satellite dish on their roofs)

A few kilometres from Agra station, litter is clearly visible with lots of filth, pigs of different colours and sizes roaming around these dumps…. still the same from the time I last visited in 1998 with Nita.

Train arrived @ 12:15 pm. Getting out, we were immediately swamped by lots of Taxi-wala’s. Got a prepaid Taxi for the entire afternoon from the Government booth and were off for lunch. Asked the driver to take us to TLC Mughul (ex Sheraton), must be his commissions for he was adamant that we should be going to Hotel Clark. He must not have been happy when we did not budge, and a good move it was.

TLC Mughul does not look much from the street, however once in it is WOW!! What a place. The idea was to eat at a nice place, relax, and use their really nice, clean washrooms to change to Indian outfits (for the girls – not me).
We had lunch at one of the multi-cuisine restaurants, food was excellent, and service was tops. Pooja was not eating much, so the guy got her a Garlic bread and Tomato pasta – all on the house, pity she hardly ate any – she had not been feeling too well and had a slight temperature (she was on Panadol – however she was very brave and kept saying I am ok).
After lunch we asked the waiter if it was ok for the Girls to change in the washroom – and he did not even blink, just said of course!

(had lunch here @ TLC Mughul, Kids and Nita after the change of cloths at TLC)

It was already getting close to 3pm, we had a very long & relaxing lunch. Called our driver – we were ready to head off, he drove us to Taj Mahal however not right to the entrance, apparently cars are no longer allowed close to the entrance – they are trying to reduce the emissions around Taj! Took a rickshaw cycle from the car park to Taj (it was approx 1 km away). The guy struggled a bit with all 4 of us in carriage – however it was his doing, I had asked for 2 cycles and he had insisted on the one!!

We were dropped of at the south entrance, awaiting us was a wave of young men, wanting to be our guides and trying to sell all sorts of handicrafts. Avoiding them, made my way to the ticket office, bought two local tickets and to the entrance. Here the entrance ticket collector did query if I was a local, told him I was from Gujarat on a holiday here – that was enough and he let us through! (local ticket = 20/rs, foreigners = 750/rs)

The first view we had was of the great Gate to Taj, kids were like “No!, where is the Taj?”,

(Great Gate of the Taj)

however within a few seconds, Neha had caught a glimpse of the Taj through the gate and was excitedly pointing it out, rushing us all towards it.
Kids were super excited at their first sight of the Taj. They couldn’t contain their excitement of finally being right there!

Nita and I were taking in the views of the Taj, however kids were getting restless and wanted to get into the Taj Mahal. Off through the walkways… and taking lots of pics, lots and lots and lots!! Did not hire those crazy photographers this time, tried to copy them and made some of my own unique ones…

(Neha picking up the Taj)

(magnificent)

(Back of the Taj – Yamuna river side, Pooja wishing she was like Mumtaz!! )

(best sisters)

(girls taking it easy)

(Pooja a bit tired)

(this shot was taken by some Japanese ladies, I was taking pics of the girls and they asked us to pose for them!!! Apparently they found my 3 girls gorgeous in Indian outfits (and added I ALSO looked handsome!!..wow) – the same occurred in ‘98 – Nita was approached by a foreigner for a pic who liked her outfit and the same in this trip, coincidence or just shear beauty!!)

(Taj at dusk)

Finished off the Taj tour around 5:30 pm, it was also getting a bit chilly – walking around barefeet on the Taj Marble also did not help!

Outside we walked back to the Rickshaw who rode us back to our awaiting car. Having a car was great, as we were able to leave some of our bags behind.

Headed back to TLC Mughul for a light meal and Nita changed back to her casual attire. Were at the train station by 7:40pm for our 8:25 train back to Delhi.
Am so glad I did not stay overnight – there really isn’t much to do here – for us anyway. Train was running 30 minutes late, all along guys kept staring at Nita, very weird and uncomfortable as well. Not sure what their issue was! The same seems to have happened at other train stations in this trip – were they thinking she is a bollywood star??? To me it did not seem so from any angle!!

(Kids waiting for Shatabdi express train– running 30 mins late)

We were on the Shatabdi Express – a very clean and modern train, they had water, meals and ice-cream included in the fare price (I was not even aware of it). Nita and Pooja were knocked out pretty much the instant the train took off. Reached Delhi around 10:45pm.

Back at the hotel, we were having mixed emotions about Delhi – this was our last night here!

Posted in Agra, India | 5 Comments

Day 11 – Delhi, 12th Dec

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Dharmesh

Today was planned for sightseeing, visiting Akshardam Temple, Qutab Minar, Delhi Gate and others if any. However had not known Akshardam was closed on Mondays (well they all need a day off!).

With not much of a rush day ahead, we let the girls take it easy and got them ready for breakfast around 9:30. Having had the brilliant breakfast at Country Inn Amritsar, the Swati breakfast felt very plain and lacking, at least the Swati Cappuccinos were good. Girls were ok – they were having CHOCO FLAKES (much like our Milo Cereal in Oz)

Had a Hotel Cab booked for the day and started off around 11 am. First stop was to visit the ICICI bank branch, where I was to receive my new NRI bank account details with the Debit Card. These guys are soooo slow in doing things, even looking up my account took soo long. Finally after some effort, he concluded that he had not received my deliverables!! would be another couple of days, not sure why they rang me in the first place and told me it was there!
Back in the Cab

First stop, Shri Laxmi Narain Temple. A beautiful temple in the middle of Delhi. Camera were not allowed in to the temple, so unfortunately no pics of the beautiful artwork they had inside. Nita bought a Puja thali – which the girls queried, was not until they saw it being presented to the pundit did they realise why.

(Shri Laxmi Narain Temple, putting shoes back on outside of temple)

Next stop was Delhi Gate. This whole area of Delhi, was very clean, compared to Karol Bagh and other areas, driver informed us, Minsters lived in the area – explains a lot. Getting into Delhi Gate, there were some kids making bracelets with names on them. Decided to make some, for Neha & Pooja.
Delhi Gate looks magnificent, very well maintained.

(Delhi gate, notice Neha Pooja with their new Shawls!!)

Could not really get under the gate, that area was fenced with armed guards around. Still it was good. Apparently it was New Delhi’s 100 year anniversary, only found out when out of nowhere a NDTV crew approached me for an interview!! I was like what would I know about Delhi. Basically the question was how do I see the change between Old Delhi and New Delhi. My only experience with Old Delhi was when I got off the Train from Amritsar and on the ride back to the Hotel – Old Delhi does look like a dump! So made some bullsh*t around that!! Hopefully someone who knows me, sees me on NDTV soon.
Whilst there, Nita saw a fruit stall selling fresh sweet potato chat and some other stuff, she had to try them. I did try the sweet potatoes and they were very good.

By the time we got back to the cab, it was close to 1, time for lunch, driver took us to an Indian fusion restaurant nearby “Pindi”. Neha and Pooja were again having the Shahi Paneer, we went for some fusion dishes, not bad, however nothing to rave about.

Post lunch, it was time for Qutab Minar, getting there took us close to 1 hour, Delhi traffic is crazy. On the way to Qutab, caught a glimpse of TATA NANO, the car available for under $2K USD. It did not look bad at all.

Driver tells me, some business people were buying this for short periods rather then renting a car, then selling it away when work was finished – all costing far less than hiring a car!! Maybe I should have done the same.

Neha and Pooja were well asleep when we arrived @ Qutab. Queued up as a local to buy the tickets, locals = 10/rs, foreigners = 250/rs, !! No problems there, just talk like a local!
Since the Mumbai & Delhi bombings, every major tourist attraction here seems to have Metal detectors (like the ones at airports) installed at the Entries. Qutab also had one, however the weird thing was, everyone going thru was setting it off and the guards were on the side gossiping away with no care at all, one guy even walked thru with a Bike helmet – great security!!

Qutab atmosphere was different, so peaceful once inside, you could easily spend an entire afternoon there – if you love history.

(Qutab Minar)

(Girls doing some modelling @ the Qutab!!)

Did lots of walking thru the whole complex, some amazing architecture. Kids also came across lots of squirrels roaming about – fascinated them lots.

By the end kids were getting tired again, got back to the car and asked driver to now stop sightseeing and take us to any big mall near by (it was coffee time & we wanted to see a good mall in Delhi, so far we have only seen the markets). Ended up at the City Walk Mall, this place has all things available here in OZ and a very impressive indeed.

These guys also get into the xmas spirit!!

Needed a quick coffee fix…and this place delivered. Nita had her standard mocha, however the vanilla milkshake was mind-blowing, the best I have had ever, seriously!

(mall courtyard!)

Got back to the cab around 6pm and headed back to the hotel. On the way, I got off at the New Delhi station (Nita & Kids headed back to hotel), had to buy an additional ticket for Pooja for travel to Agra tomorrow. The current reservations had her on Waitlist. New Delhi Railway station has a foreigners ticket office on level 1, they quickly assisted and issued a ticket for Pooja – atleast I have no fear of getting a fine tomorrow from the Ticket collectors on the train.

Back at the hotel, we decided to get room service, as we were all quite tired. Had an early night, tomorrow is an early start for AGRA.

Posted in Delhi, India | 1 Comment

Day 10 Amritsar to Delhi, 11th Dec

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Dharmesh

Another early morning rise. Our train to Delhi was @ 6:25 am, being the one for safety first, I wanted to be at the train station by 5:45 am at the latest. Did not want to take any risks.
Kids again had their showers the night prior – they were loving this! Were up at 4:30am, and down for breakfast @ 5.10am in the hotel’s coffee lounge (only realised the prior night, the lounge is open 24 hrs!!). Kids only had a partial breakfast – could be due to the early start!
Getting out of the hotel around 5:30am, I realised how cold Amritsar is at nights… however the ride to the station in the Auto was freezing, luckily all the girls had jackets on – myself I had thought a long sleeve t-shirt would be fine – how WRONG I was!

Reached train station on time, however finding the correct train was proving difficult, everyone I asked pointed in different directions, finally headed off to the Station Master’s office and what a smashing piece news I got – MY TRAIN WAS CANCELLED!!!, checked with another and it had been cancelled! Apparently this was done over a month ago – not sure how then it was booked just 2 weeks back!!
Asked the Deputy (or whoever that guy in black suit was), to please assist in someway (infact by then I was pleading!!), he took me around to the reservations counter, however I was with him behind the counter whilst a long queue waited on the otherside, knew there would be some extra’s I would need to offer, which I was more than happy to do so, as long as I got on a Train to Delhi! He was able to get us on the 7:10 train for 3000/rs in AC II Class, which was approx double the going rate, no problems atleast we were on a train. The funny bit was, whilst the queue was long on the otherside of the counter (only a SINGLE counter was open, so people were getting frustrated that I was there behind it!!), I was filling in my forms right there in full view of the other queued passengers (next to the counter attendant) and the attendant was processing my tickets before anyone elses …money does wonders, especially here, “MERA BHARAT MAHAAN”!!!

Had not realised that it was a sleeper AC class till we got in, which was good as it offered more room. The problem was we had two seats together and the other two were in different places. Strange but our cubicle was empty and with soo much space, Neha and Pooja made themselves comfortable – there were enjoying climbing up on the upper berths.

(pooja & neha on opps upper berth)

The train ride being so slow, I had lots of time to write up my blog for Days 8 & 9, although at times I felt like it was too much and needed to switch off for a while – possibly all to do with the mornings frustrations.
For most part Pooja and Nita slept, while Neha was finding sleep too boring! (well that was her complain)

We reached Nizamuddin station (Old Delhi) @ 3.15 pm, the train actually took less time than the one to Amritsar, but it felt longer.
Nizamuddin station was busy, very very busy. People were bumping and pushing each other on the platform crossways and stairs, a couple of times Pooja almost lost grip, had to hold her hard.

Taxi to Karol Bagh took almost 50 minutes, did not realise how far Nizamuddin station was – am glad I found out, will be using that on the way to Agra in a couple of days!

Back at the hotel, we all crashed and rested till around 6pm. After which we hit the Karol Bagh market area to do another round and find dinner. Dinner was at Punjab Sweet Corner, another great vegetarian restaurant (am really getting into the Veg stuff and loving it). Kids had their fav, Shahi Paneer (another name for Paneer Makhani, learning the proper names now!!). Nita and I ordered just CHATS and they were YUM. Thinking they would be very small, we ordered two of each, and could not finish it all. The stuffed “GOL GUPPAI” were simply amazing (Pani Puree with stuffing, and all the other floating yoghurt etc… sooooo yummy)

(yummy chats @ Punjab Sweet Corner)

Back on the streets, we visited a couple of Shawl stores (Nita wanted some). Got into the one store, where we saw a really nice Shawl being viewed by a Seth’s wife, turned out the Shawl was worth 65,000/RS (NOT 6,500, it is 65,000), that’s for a Shawl, not a saree!! and she was getting a couple of these and not even blinking!! Amazing.
All the girls got shawls that night, including Neha & Pooja.

By 9:30 pm we were back at the hotel and sleeping, it had been a long day.

Posted in Amritsar, Delhi, India | 5 Comments

Day 9–Amritsar, 10th Dec

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Dharmesh

Fresh chilly morning, night temps do drop rapidly here. Had planned for Nita and Jazz to go out shopping in the first half of the day, and we would meet them for lunch then head off to WAGAH BORDER, this would allow the kids some rest time – they had walked lots lately.

We all had buffet breakfast around 9 am at the hotel, selection was very good as were the omelettes. I finally took my antibiotics which Nita had been nagging me to take for the last 3 days.

Nita went to the markets with Jazz around 10 am, I stayed in the room, finishing off my blog and kids were watching the cartoon channels.

(Amritsar view from our hotel window, Nita & Jazz about to leave for the markets)

Around 12:30 kids were in need of some food, a small debate brew between them. Neha wanted to have Pizza but not home delivery, rather go there in a auto, whilst Pooja wanted home delivery. I had the casting vote, and decided to go the Auto route and head to the local Dominos (I have to support my company). Co-incidence, we met Nita & Jazz in the lobby and all headed to Dominos.

Took the Auto and squeezed all 5 of us in it, Jazz & Neha were sitting on the small ledge behind the driver, and we sat on the seat.

(on the way to Dominos in Amritsar – squeezed in an Auto)

The Dominos in India has quite a few Delivery scooters, compared to only about 2 scooters/cars in Oz, and the stores are sooo busy here.
The pizza’s here are very tasty and big, we ordered a medium (only the kids were eating), and it was equivalent to a large in Aus.
Nita and Jazz had the Lava Cakes!! I reckon these were also much better than those I have had in Aus.

(Dominos home delivery scooters – just a few)

Once kids had finished their Pizza (which Jazz and I helped finish) we were off to a CHAT place, well known to locals “Brijwasi Chat”, ordered a local Chat, Pau Tikki Burger, and Pani Puree (known as GOL GUPPAI in Northern India)

(Brijwasi Chat, front entrance)

(local chat, Pau Tikki Burger, Gol Guppai)

It was back to the hotel for us to freshen up for WAGAH BORDER @ 3pm. Jazz also had to go home and change.
At around 3, we all including Jazz took our pivate taxi to the border. Am glad we did that, it was much faster than the Auto. Once out of the main town, there were a bank of resorts – these are not the same as here, rather these are specialised wedding / receptions areas nicely decorated. Apparently this is the trend now, it is no longer exclusively for the rich and famous.

(all in the car, I think this is the Amritsar gate, on the outskirts)

(“sarso” fields, ute packed with 6 kids – where are the restraints!!)

Arriving near the border, a long long line of trucks are parked on both sides awaiting clearance to go across the border. The border control only allows 200 trucks to cross daily, each one was waiting for its turn

(view of trucks lined up – waiting)

The driver parked our car about 500 mtrs from the Border and then it was on foot. There was a rush amongst people, everyone was rushing to get a good seat. No one is allowed to take any bags what so ever – Cameras are allowed, glad the driver told us to leave our belongings in the car! A checkpoint had military personal hand searching everyone prior to letting them thru. Once past that, people were running towards the border stadium.

(in the car park, walking past the final checkpoint)

The WAGAH BORDER afternoon ceremony is about the bringing down of the Indian and Pakistani flags, and each of their military personal doing there best marches to outclass the other. Friday and Saturdays were the days when the public gathers and cheers for their countries. I could not imagine the patriotism that is within the public until I got to witness the crowds there. Entered the stands to take a seat (or rather stand), we witnessed a full packed stand with a very noisy crowd. People were on the middle of the road dancing to the tunes of Patriotic Hindustan tunes. It was a very patriotic atmosphere…

(crowds dancing in the middle to patriotic hindustan tunes)

(Neha and Pooja with Jazz)

To keep the crowd loud and excited, a young army officer was directing the crowd and achieving great success – it was almost like a Symphony and this young officer was the leader directing different pieces of music. He was wearing a white track suit with the Indian colours.

(army officer in white, directing the crowd to more cheers for India, in the background the same is happening on the Pakistan side)

(Kids with lady officer)

The bringing down of the flag ceremony finished around 5:45, with huge cheers from both sides, although the Indian public was just so much more spirited and made the most noise (in my opinion atleast)

(the border gates – this is as close as we could get to Pakistan)

(same place where Shah Rukh and Pretty Zeinta met in Veer Zaara!!)

(how good is this!)

Our driver was waiting at the Car Park, got to the car around 6pm and headed straight for the hotel. The standing and cheering had left us all tired. Also it was very dry in Amritsar and worse at Wagah Border, the dust was making it worse.

In the hotel, we were all too tired to go anywhere, so decided to get room service, first some tea and coffee and then food.

Whilst waiting for the room service to arrive, Jazz and kids were having a great time playing games. Kids were getting very fond of her!

Food arrived; had a great Chicken Tikka Pizza and Paneer Makhani (again!!) for the kids. Pizza was yum and again my sore throat was not letting me eat much, settled for Rice and Paneer with Pooja.

(Nita and Jazz – Pizza in bed!!)

Around 9, Jazz decided to call it a night, that was the last time we would be seeing her in this trip, Neha and Pooja hugged her lots – amazing when kids get attached so well. Nita and I bid her farewell, saw her get into the Auto and that was it, amazing how a virtual friend of Nita’s (from Indian forum) had become a real life friend and did not feel out of place.

Thanks for giving us a great time Jazz, we really appreciated you coming over all the way from Chandigar to meet Nita and us. The kids miss you lots. You made our trip to Amritsar very memorable!

Our train the next day was at 6:25 am, so off to bed early, tomorrow is goodbye Amritsar and back to Delhi!

Posted in Amritsar, India | 4 Comments

Day 8–Delhi to Amritsar, 9th Dec

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Dharmesh

Early start today, travelling to Amritsar via Train departing @ 6:40 am.

Were up at 5, had already showered the girls at night prior to sleeping, so no need to rush them. Checked out of the hotel @ 6am, Hotel taxi dropped us off @ New Delhi Station, the ride to the station was uneventful, however getting into the station drop off was another matter. Cars were coming in from all directions and was a scene of total chaos.

Got a coolie (porter) to carry our luggage and guide us to the train and correct platform. Am soooo glad we did that, New Delhi station is big, and by no means for the non experienced, especially when racing against time!

Our train was Shane Punjab (Shatabdi is a better express train, unfortunately seats were not available on that). We were seated in II AC, it had coach setting with plenty of legroom.

(view of platform, entrance to our train – not the most appealing!!, Pooja already seated)

Train Journey was comfortable, however quite lengthy. Along the way viewed some amazing scenery, I could picture Namaste London on the farms we passed. Could not really take any good pics, the windows were dirty as hell, and the doors to the coach were closed and I was not game enough to open these in a moving train!

Neha and Pooja had been fine, playing with their toys, a couple of minor fights and back into it again. They have already changed their seats 3 times.

(Neha & Pooja entertaining themselves)
For food: Lots of people selling snacks and drinks so no shortage of food, however I was trying to avoid eating & drinking too much in the train, not sure how bad the loo would be!!
Finally at around 11:30, had to bite the bullet and go to the loo, it was an experience to view the tracks passing by beneath, and leaving my personal signature on the tracks somewhere!! What a relief it was.

(a train station on the way, see the stack of snacks this guys is selling)

Train was 45 minutes late getting into Amritsar, reached at 3 pm. Got a Coolie to take luggage to taxi ranks. Took the Auto to the Hotel. Auto’s in Amritsar are bigger than the Delhi counterparts, this one had a luggage area (boot) as well, plus was soo wide, must have been the luxury version!

We were staying at the Country Inn, this felt like a 5 star hotel when compared to our Delhi hotel.

(Hotel in Amritsar)

The rooms were very well furnished and sooo clean.
All freshened up and changed to visit the Golden Temple, kids changed into the Indian outfits we had bought in Delhi,

Nita was meeting her Indian Forum virtual friend Jazz (Jaspreet), she arrived at our hotel and both were super excited to finally meet in the flesh!

(Nita and Jess, meeting for the first time)

Jazz is a very friendly bubbly girl, she was great company, and knew everything about where to go in Amritsar – I could throw away my tourist guide! Kids also took a liking to her.

First priority was to get some food (we had not eaten on the train), Jazz took us to a nice Amritsar restaurant , “Bharawan Da Dhaba”, a veg restaurant with super food. Getting there however was an experience – we squeezed 5 into a Auto, I was sitting with the driver with half my butt on the seat the other half in open space, the others were squeezed in the back.
At the Dhaba, ordered Parathas, Paneer & Dahl. The paratha’s were mind blowing, unfortunately I had to settle for rice, my killer sore throat was not letting me eat the good stuff Sad smile .

Surprisingly kids loved the Paneer Makhani – took it for Butter Chicken and preferred the Paneer since it was so soft. Told them the truth only after they had finished their meals!! They did not mind, and went on to eat the same for Dinner as well.

(Veg restaurant, Bharawan Da Dhaba, super food)

Next was Jallianwala Bagh, a historic sight and very touching when there.

(historic sights @ Jallianwala Bagh, the round structure is the well where many jumped to their deaths!!)

However historic the sight, there has to be some silliness and Nita and Jazz were providing that. Jazz informs us, the well is now fenced on the perimeter due to a few TOURISTS (like us!!) who had fallen IN, whilst trying to get a GOOD view of the well interior!!! Now that would be something!!

(notice the well fenced, and these 4 taking a photo next to a wall where people where killed!!!, show some respect yaar)

The Golden Temple was next and it was soo worth it. Jazz took us at the perfect time of around 5 pm, we were able to see it both in Day light and at Night. It is an amazing structure in the middle of a large pond, surrounded by the Gates. Jazz was a great guide for us, explaining lots about their religion and about the temple and its structures. The perimeter structure has 4 entrances, signifying their acceptance of all religions – this itself says a lot of about their religion.

(outside the perimeter of the golden temple, Neha and Pooja all ready to get in – everyone wears a scarf over their heads)

Stepping through the gates, our first glimpse of the golden temple was mesmerising! It stood out there proudly in the middle of the giant pond. The water in the pond is considered scared holy water.

(Pooja having a great time running around the perimeter, this is one place where I felt safe to let her go where she wanted)

(kids with Sardar –ji, extensive mosaic work on the walkways)

By the time we had made a half round of the perimeter the skies were getting dark and the lights on the temple were giving it a totally amazing look.

(notice the difference in appearance from daylight to night light)

Jazz took us through the temple providing us a great background of the entire prayer process. Her extensive knowledge of the place was amazing and it made us feel like we did not really know that much about our religion and temples!

Out of the temple gates, we bought steel Punjabi bangles for the kids, for good luck.

Next stop was eating Jalebi’s! You have not eaten real Jalebi unless you have had them fresh. This was a well known Amritsar Jalebi wala who only used Desi Ghee (located very close to the Golden Temple). The Jalebi’s were hot and were melting in the mouth – felt soo good against my sore throat, plus Jazz did mention that these were actually good for throats, on that I had couple more – for medication purposes offcourse!! Pooja and Neha also got right into eating these Yummy yellow things (according to them).

(everyone enjoying fresh Jalebi’s, have never tasted fresh (hot) Jalebi’s this good)

Next was a famous Lassi place, made of pure white butter and other things I cannot remember. I am fond of yoghurts and gave it a miss, Nita and Jazz had a glass. Nita’s expression was – yummy!!

For dinner we decided to go back to the hotel, they had a good buffet on the night. Neha and Pooja were again into the Paneer Makhani.

(Nita and Jazz – dinner time)

Called it an early night, we were all tired from the early start and long train journey.

Posted in Amritsar, Delhi, India | 4 Comments

Day 7–New Delhi, 8th Dec

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Dharmesh

Day 2 in India, today’s plan was simple, no travelling, staying in Karol Bagh and finishing shopping for Neha, Pooja and Nita – girls gone wild shopping!

Woke up around 7:30, however did not get out of bed till 9, just fooling around with kids till then. Nita was feeling better today, although still not 100%. Had a work call around 9 today from Kahn, atleast unlike the last work call I was not in the toilet! The call required me to VPN into to work, following that, there was another lengthy work call with Ranjiv, requiring more VPNing and investigative stuff… soon I realised it was past 10 and I had not had shower or done anything.

It was rush time, for myself and Pooja, we were always the last! By the time we left our hotel it was 11. Had already missed breakfast, so decided to head to Raffles for late breakfast. (This is located above Anjlika Pastry Shop).

These place has lunch and dinner menu only; ordered Milk Shakes and Muffins for Kids, I had a coffee and Nita went for the Masala Tea, we also ordered a Chill Garlic Noodles. Kids loved their shakes, my coffee tasted very good and the Noodles were mind blowing, loved the chilli in it

(Neha enjoying her Vanilla shake, Nita having the yummy Chilli Garlic Noodles)

(McDonalds viewed from Raffles, cable mess!)

Following our brunch, we visited the lower level pastry shop (Anjlika), heaven for Pastry lovers

(Anjlika Pastry Shop @ Karol Bagh)

It was now time to start some serious shopping – go my CHAMAK – CHALLO’s.
Was a long process visiting numerous shops, each store visit was close to an hour. Kids were getting tired along the way, however it was still better than walking continuously, it was more the sitting around in the stores that was driving them to boredom. We did manage to get a few kids outfits in between – which also lifted their spirits, however that was always short lived.

(Neha waiting patiently for mummy to finish her selections, Pooja lying on the benches, bored)

Next was shopping for imitation jewellery. “Much More”(name of store) had a great range of jewellery, Nita and kids got very lucky there!

Lunch was late around 4pm, headed back to Raffles, ordered Butter Chicken, Veg Malai Kofta (Butter Chicken = happy kids, for me atleast).

(the big menu @ Raffles)

Next was some shoe shopping for the girls. Along the way Pooja spotted an Indian Barbie @ a toy store!! Well both the girls wanted it so another barbie was added to their collection.

(Neha & Pooja with their Indian Barbies)

Shoes shoes and more shoes!! A mind boggling range – it confused the kids as well.

(Karol Bagh Market)

Headed back to the Hotel, needed to sort out the luggage for tomorrows travel to Amritsar.
Would only be taking 1 luggage case with us and leaving the rest behind, this would be our first train journey with kids in India, start of by travelling light.

Called it a early night, needed to catch the 6:40 train from New Delhi station.

Posted in Delhi, India | 1 Comment

Day 6–New Delhi, 7th Dec

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Dharmesh

Landed into Delhi at 12:30 am (7th Dec), getting out of the plane, we could smell India “bharat ki khusbhu”. Walking towards immigration, a cart was assisting an elderly lady and offered to give us a ride as well (Pooja was in my “GODI”), cool, we were one of the last to come off the plane, but taking the cart, we almost came to the front of the queue.

Delhi airport is quite impressive, compared to Mumbai (well the one I saw 5 years ago).
The immigration lady on the other hand was not that impressive, looking super tired and couldn’t care less of any one. Passed that without issue and off to buy some Alcohol for the relatives in Navsari.
Tip for anyone flying to India, buy your alcohol on arrivals in India, it is cheaper than other places (well Cheaper than Brisbane and Hong Kong)

Whilst waiting for luggage, got Nita to get our liquor permits for Gujurat, interestingly no one there knows anything about any such thing! Checked with customs, information desk and immigration, no one understood why we needed it!! Have let that pass for now.

Came out of customs with no issues, and so glad to see the guys from Swati hotel awaiting our arrival (thanks to Chetan for organising this, made it very easy for me)

Had to ask them to wait – needed to get myself a 3G USB Modem. Airtel booth was there and was able to organise this on the spot. The same thing would take 24hours if done outside of the airport!

Getting outside of the terminal, the weather was cool, however was surprised to see soo much SMOG at that time of the night @ 1.30am. The guys from the hotel had a small car and I had 3 bug luggage pieces, I offered to get a taxi as well, but they were confident the baggage would fit…. and too my astonishment, they made it fit – after lots of pushing and squeezing.

Out hotel – Swati Deluxe, is located in Karol Bhag, got there at close to 2 am, we promptly checked into the room. We also had an option for a mattress if required, however chose to go with the one KING size bed, it easily accommodated us all, changed and were off to bed in no time.

Was good to get a good nights sleep, were up by 8am, had to warn the kids again and again of not drinking from the taps. Only use bottled water.
They were a bit scared of all these precautions, they were also amazed at the bathing methods, bucket of water rather than shower – the hotel did have a shower, however due to its height, we decided to use the Bucket system, explained to Kids how we used to bath this way in Fiji when we were young – this method definitely saves water – Neha actually preferred this.

Breakfast was in the restaurant next door. This is a great little place, a range of Dosa’s, Idli, cereals and other options which I did not try. Kids had cereal, myself and Nita went for Dosa’s – yummy Dosa for breakfast.

Back at the hotel after breakfast, Nita organised the bag of clothes requiring washing, most from the last 4 days in Hong Kong. Left that with the BOY on the floor, he assured us we should have that by 5 pm same day – and it was delivered accordingly.

Locked all baggage and headed out. Found out the nearest market was behind the hotel a mere 5 minutes walk.

Neha and Pooja were great, I guess we had forewarned them of what to expect in India, the dirt, poverty etc, but we were surprised on how well they were handling it. Although some comments they made were good, “Papa why is everyone using the car/bike horns soo much” had to explain on how they were warning others of their presence.

Had a short stroll through the markets and were already being haggled by many persons on coming to shops etc, Kids could not understand why sooo many people were approaching us to get into their stores, why were we so special!!

Found a good hair saloon, got Neha & Pooja in for a shampoo and cut, had promised Neha a hair cut to remove the crazy knots in her hair. She was soo excited to get her shampooing under way, and Pooja was not too far of, why should she be left out of the pampering

(Neha and Pooja getting their hair shampooed & conditioned)

The hair cutting was next,

The final look

Following that, we wanted to head off to Conought place for a good lunch. Took an Auto rickshaw to Conought Pl, this was the first time the kids rode that, and loved it. Again the beeping of horns was evident to them.

Once at Conought Pl, we made a quick round around a couple of blocks and came across QBA. Turned out to be one of the top Bar Restaurants in Delhi. Kids were in luck, they had Thai Red Curry on the menu. Food was awesome.

(Neha enjoying her Garlic Bread)

Back to Hotel after lunch, Nita was not feeling too well and having a bad headache with some stomach crams. Decided to stay @ hotel for the afternoon and take it easy. Around 6pm took the kids around to Karol Bagh markets to McDonalds(Nita was feeling a bit better but not 100%, so decided to rest the evening). Kids had the standard nuggets and chips, I went for the Chilli Chicken wrap, loving the Indian menu. The BIG Mac here is next on my list, instead of beef they have two chicken patties!!
Ordered takeaway Chilli Paneer Wrap (@ McDonalds!!) for Nita, and on the way passed a Great pastry store “Anjlika”, this is as good as the cheesecake shops in Brisbane, but better. Got a Soufflé and Choc Brownie!!
Kids enjoyed avoiding oncoming bikes and scooters on the way back to hotel. Always finding something funny on the streets, we started counting the different types of horns we heard, Pooja tried to imitate the sounds of the crazy/funny ones. Pooja kept identifing poor kids on streets and how we had to give them the old clothes we brought with us.

Back at the hotel, the review for the Chilli Paneer Wrap was great, and the desserts were awesome.

Pooja and Neha played the rest of the night with the toys from Disney. Called it a night.

Posted in Delhi, India | 3 Comments

Day 5–Hong Kong, 6th Dec

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Dharmesh

Today was our final day, decided not to travel to Macau and just take it easy around Hong Kong. Checked with reception for a late checkout – apparently our travel agent had already done that during the initial booking –we had the room till 3 pm!

Breakfast was crap for me, felt like throwing up, lucky Bhavik (Doc) had stocked us well with all sorts of medication, took a tablet and was all fixed in an hour.
Kids and Nita did have a good breakfast – they finished off the yummy pancakes and were ready to head off.

Headed off towards Harbour City, a new designer label shopping mall, this was the best place to be on the last day, we could not afford anything, so I was safe – Nita was not going to increase the luggage!!

These locals are crazy, they were queued outside of the Chanel store……. queuing up to be ripped off!

Neha and Pooja wanted McDonalds, along getting that, we passed the Toy Story display, which revived their memories from the prior day at Disney….”Papa we would like to go there again”….. maybe soon

Pooja also had been crying for the Franck Doll, Rapunzel’s boyfriend (she had bought Rapunzel two days back and could not see her separated from Frank, so I had to separate with more of my money, damn expensive kids….. maybe it is my fault!!)

Lunch time, we went for an Italian Buffet, first time I had a Buffet Italian. Food was very good. Highly recommended.

(lady in window is hand rolling penne pasta!, what an effort)

Along the way to the hotel, we purchased a new Luggage Case to replace Nita’s aging bag which she brought with her after marriage!! It was all failing apart from the inside. It was cool moving in the streets with a big RED luggage case behind us and it was EMPTY.

Got back in the room @ 2:30 pm, and were in a frenzy to pack all the luggage. By 3 we were checked out and waiting for the Airport Express transfers. (HK transport is brilliant, a bus visits major hotels every 15 mins to collect passengers and luggage for free transport to Kowloon station for the Airport Express). Only had to wait 5 minutes outside the hotel before the transfer bus arrived. Was a sad feeling heading to Kowloon station, this was the end of a great HongKong holiday, have made a point of visiting this place again very soon, without Kids hopefully!!

Another surprise, got off @ Kowloon station and noticed they had a wall similar to the Airport Departures screen… looking at it closely, it was actually listing flight departures, looking further, there were a bank of CHECKIN counters, for the exclusive use of Airport Express passengers…. how cool was that, we checked in our baggage at Kowloon station and only had hand luggage with us!! Our boarding passes had all been issued there as well… all too easy and so convenient….. WAKE UP Australia, we are miles behind!!

Since we only had one hand luggage, we decided to visit the Elements mall above Kowloon Station, this is another designer label mall, people in HK must love their designer labels!

Soon after we boarded the train to the Airport, got off at Terminal 1. Wow what an airport, it is massive.

And the food options must be the best of all the airports, even had a CAVIER bar at the Airport – not that I had any, it smelt like sh*t

Kids wanted McDonalds, I also opted for the same – tried their Spicy Chicken Burger – thumbs up!
There was also a Disney store at the airport near McDonalds, so obviously had to buy another toy!

After dinner we called home, letting Mum know where we were and how the girls were doing..Nita ended up talking to my Mum for more than 20 minutes.

Our departure gate was 33, had to take a maze of escalators to get down to the trains to take us from the Main Terminal to the Gates terminal.

Boarded the flight around 8:30pm, as we stepped on the plane, the steward (a guy wearing the PHAGRI) greeted us, Pooja blurted out “ Papa look his Indian” and then to him “ We are going to India”!! with the biggest grin, all the guy could do was smile and I did like wise.
We had been given the front row seats, so much leg room! Flying Jet Airways, I had set my expectations quite low, however I was happy to be proven wrong, their service and quality surpassed Cathay Pacific!!

Bye Hong Kong, it was an amazing experience, for all of us, hope to see you soon.

Back in the plane Neha and Pooja were loving the front seats with adjustable monitors, playing music, then switching to movies …. too many things happening on their screens.
Kids were served dinner first, Chicken Curry and Rice, Neha and Pooja finished the Chicken, Pooja went on to finish the rice, however for Neha that was it.
Lights were switched off soon after Dinner and the kids were fast asleep, and slept till 10 minutes before landing into Delhi.