Hey all… I’m going off to Diu (a beach place near Ahmedabad, 8 hrs away… SEAFOOD!!!) for a few days so thought I’d better hurry and finish up my Delhi entry… Hmm missing Singapore a little… especially when I feel confused about certain stuff that I myself am not able to understand. Wish I was back in Singapore with mommy, Benji n Nick, & feeling grounded among all my friends… Friends from long ago, old familiar faces and all. Hmm that said, I still love India though, just that right now, I’m feeling a tad confused and lost. Oh well,l pardon my musing… gotta go pack up for Diu right now… seeyaz all and love all of you!

Day 6/6th April & Day 7/7th April
After taking a 3.5 hr train ride, we finally reached Delhi at night. The train ride was horrible and disgusting. Not that it was dirty or anything but it was bloody hot. Back in MICA now. I still perspire here in Ahmedabadd despite the humidity level being well below that of Singapore’s. I think Singapore skin means that we have bigger pores and are more prone to perspiring? Technically this means we have the ability to lose more weight? Dunno lah not an expert in this area, but khaiyan, this discovery by the great jassy might make u happy! hahah glad u had fun in Japan despite being shocked by the length of skirts there lol…

Oh Delhi is absolutely amazing. After being away from Singapore for so long, seeing Delhi brought back nostalgic memories hahah… The lanes were wide, there were central dividers, and the shops there were decidedly more upmarket, with stores like Reebok etc, with mannequins and the works! hahah. And rows and rows and rows of ice-cream vendors. Jonneh & I piled it up on ice-cream over there (BASKIN ROBBINS! LOVE IT AS MUCH AS BEN & JERRY’s), eating like almost one everyday? Heheh… Yeah khaiyan, i can hear u screaming fatssssssssss right now lol…

Okie the first 2 days in Delhi, we just went wild with shopping! Shopping and eating haha. That’s what we do in Singapore also right? Heheh eat, chill out n maybe shop. Oh god i spent like 1k SGD here… Not just on shopping lah duh, but on everything. OH GOD! hahah that’s alotta money. Dun even noe how I’m so 厉害.. -_- Guessing it’s an inborn female ability.

Anyway, we stayed at this area called Connaught Place (CP) and it’s a lovely place. Lotsa food outlets and ice cream outlets too. And yes, shopping areas like Sarojini Market, Janpath etc… The first night that we arrived in Delhi, we stayed at Hotel Choudhary, which, according to Lonely Planet, is the best budget hotel to stay in. Crap lah! Okie fine, there was AC and a pte bathroom, but the room was TINY, there were no windows (CLAUSTROPHOBIA!!!!!) and the water trickled. I hate bathing with low water pressure. Stinks. So we packed our bags the next day and scouted for a new hotel (Hotel Bright), which was much, much better! The hotel is situated directly below Hotel Blue in CP. Pretty good place to stay at if you’re on a budget. There’s AC and a private bathroom so it’s quite good. You might wanna check out hotel Blue though, cuz I dunno if that place is better.

Hahah damn tai tai lifestyle lah i tell you. Just eat n shop ahahha. Oh man I could get used to this…

Day 8/8th April
Deciding that eating and shopping is one big, combined sin, we decided to do some touristy stuff like sightseeing, with ‘some’ being the operative word. Heheh. Spent a grand total of 30 mins or so looking at war memorials (when I haven’t even seen the ones in Singapore properly…) before buzzing off to Dilli Haat

When my portrait was being drawn hahah,  it attracted quite a crowd. The weather was damn bloody hot and I was trying to LOOK GLAM despite perspiring up a storm. And I was trying to smile sweetly for the artist so that you know, the picture will come out sweet-looking and everything but he drew me without a smile! All my facial muscles being contorted for nothing lah! Haha there was a guy who was taking picture of the artist drawing me and also of me being drawn. Crap man I must have looked damn ugly there. Sian diao. My dad can draw real good portraits though, bet he would have thrashed the artist in a showdown. He drew one of my mom on her wedding day in pencil – she looked absolutely the gorgeous, radiant bride that she was, and you can recognise that it’s her instantly, even though so many years have since passed. Great artist, my dad, with an artist temperament (particular, and strange) to complement.

Dilli Haat is supposed to be a good place to visit, where you can taste different localised cuisines from all parts of India. We were all pumped up to try the Hyderabadi Briyani which is supposed to be damn good. However, think we chose the wrong stall to patron cuz it wasn’t that authentic afterall. Sian diao… Hmm apart from that, there wasn’t all that much in Dilli Haat I guess, although they do sell pretty quirky stuff from all parts of India.

That’s Ansal Plaza up above. Jo was desperate to soak up some shopping centre atmosphere with blasting AC where u can  shiver your toes off a la Wisma Atria/Takashimaya in Singapore.

Well, some dreams are best left in one’s head. Where reality can’t reach it and give it a good slap.

The moment we stepped into one of the sections of the mall (like Seiyu in Bugis), we realised something was different about it. Very different. That section was not powered by air-conditioners but by fans! Instinctively, I stretched out my hands to feel whether there was AC. NO. Just PLAIN FAN. I was bamboozled to say the least hahha. Imagine working there, I think I would have died. Thankfully, the rest of the mall was air-conditioned, BUT it wasn’t all that great… Not enough stores etc. Singapore is really huge in terms of shopping centres i think. But the pic looks nice yeah?

Hmm after walking around Ansal Plaza and eating ice-cream (New Zealand. Oh all those back in Singapore, YOU MUST TRY THE DURIAN FLO that New Zealand sells. AWESOME STUFF!), we called one of our MICAN friends, Channan, and arranged to meet up with her for dinner. The poor babe was down with malaria and went back home to be nursed in Delhi. (Thank god for Singapore and all the many vaccinations/malaria pills we had to take! But bloody hell the pills were expensive lah, cost me like 100 plus for the pills alone i think, while during monsoon here, MICA gives out free malaria pills… Planning to steal some pills and sell it back in Singapore. Can be a mini millionaire i tell you)

Hahah we ordered quite alot of food. Berco’s is a Chinese restaurant and hmm although it wasn’t PURE CHINESE, it was the closest Chinese food that we have tried in India! It tasted pretty good too. We had a red date pancake for dessert (In Singapore, it’s red bean yeah..) and it was pretty tasty! Hahah another funny thing is here, we have seen so many menu claiming to serve Singapore noodles or wadever… do we EVEN have singapore anything? I dunno man hahah. And the Singapore noodles don’t even taste chinesey in the first place! or malayish or caucasianish for that matter. Definitely Indian though haha.

It was quite good meeting up with Channan. Missed that silly ball of energy haha. MICA’s pretty quiet wo our PGP(post-grad prog) friends around but then, we have been mixing around with our new RCM (retail comm mgmt) friends so it isn’t all that bad. Compared to Singaporeans and the MYOB (mind your own business!) mentality, India is so much friendlier

Day 9/9th April
We had wanted to visit Jama Masjid, the biggest mosque in India originally BUT some locals there tried to rip us off by demanding exhorbitant entrance fees, and wrapping some towel ard our legs (so it doesn’t get exposed) and demanding charges for that as well. Ridiculous. So we got pissed off and instead, decided to pose outside the mosque. What a bummer!

Thereafter, we visited the Red Fort, also built by Shah Jahan, the Taj guy. Methinks he has too much time on his hands hahah. After you see one fort, two fort, three forts, they all start looking the same. And well I’m too lazy to explain in details so just look at the pics…

Other things that we did on that day were to take the metro (MRT version…cool. They have MRT in Delhi but not other parts of India like Ahmedabad. Buses are the main form of public transport I guess, and of course, auto rickshaws…)

Day 10/10th April
And finally… our last day in Delhi… aiyah I’m damn lazy to upload pics n talk in detail. But since Ken had diarrhea from the earlier day, Jo and I trotted off to Humayun’s tomb, on which it is said that the Taj was modelled after. Jo and I also visited the Delhi zoo which was quite erm… pathetic. But apparently Singapore’s zoo is quite pathetic also so okie lah, although the Delhi zoo was really in quite a sad, sad state!

And of course, our last day in Delhi, how could we not pile it up? I bought like ten diff pastries from this place called Wenger’s (great pastries!) for the next day’s trip back to Ahmedabad! Wah serious overdose. And another must try is this kebab thing which is fantabulous. Nithi’s kebab… wah delicious i tell you. It’s like crispy fried prata (not paratha) wrapped with double egg and chicken kebab… Amazing man… Okies that’s all folks. Till the next entry!

Lotsa love

Jasmine

By projectjasmine

---