Our Golden Triangle Trip - Agra (2)

A road sign at the start of the highway had shown the distance to Agra as 184km and I was thinking why did our driver say that the journey would take 4-4.5 hrs? If we travel at a conservative speed of 90km/h, it should take like 2 hours tops.

The answer?
What we understand as a highway does not apply here. This highway is not a dedicated road with marked exits at regulated distances. It's more like a two lane road that passes through townships and industrial areas.

As we approach the townships, the car speed drops to around 30km/h and other times, the car is more likely to be trailing behind large container trucks who cannot keep left. Most times, the car was travelling around 60-70km/h.

Second Stop: Agra
Main attraction of Agra is of course the Taj Mahal. Before the trip, I often wondered if this is worth the long car ride from Delhi and if my expectations of it would be too high having read and heard so much about it. Well, I can tell you now that it is all worth it!

Nothing can really prepare you for the sight. No matter how many pictures you might have seen before of this place, to see it for yourself is really a visual feast. The marble white building set against a clear sky and the symmetry of the Taj really is awesome. I am not sure if a person can get tired of looking at it. 

We were lucky that there was no queue that day and we were able to just walk inside Taj Mahal. Our guide tells us that on some days, the wait can be three hours long. I didn't think much about the interior and it didn't help that it is very crowded around the tomb. Having been inside, I will say that it is not worth the 3 hour queue if there is one and I would much rather spend that time admiring the exterior of the Taj.

Take note that it is closed on Friday and because of that Thursdays and Saturdays are usually very crowded.

Akbar's tomb

First view of the Taj Mahal

No pictures can show the grandeur of it all

Agra Fort

View of Taj Mahal from Agra Fort

Our Golden Triangle Trip - New Delhi (1)

On a whim, the hubby and myself had decided to visit Taj Mahal about 3 weeks ago and we left the next day.

Thanks to myself who had done homework before about the place, it was not too difficult deciding on the tour itinerary. We decided to do the Golden Triangle tour where we would cover New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur in 4D3N.

First Stop: New Delhi

Delhi gave us our first feel of summer at around 40 degrees and we had only about 5-6 hours to see the sights of the city. From the architecture of the buildings, it is clear that this city was previously ruled by the British and that added to the charm of the city.

Coming from Hyderabad where potholes are everywhere on the road, we were impressed with the road quality of Delhi and wonder why the standards are so gaping. The streets in Delhi are lined with trees which I believe would look very pretty in autumn while you can hardly find a decent pavement in Hyderabad!

Of course, New Delhi being the capital of India has a certain standard to keep to and I believe that the recent Commonwealth Games had also a hand in sprucing up the city.

As for tourist attractions, here's what we saw:

India Gate

King's Way - Road linking India Gate and the Parliament House

Secretariet buildings flanking King's Way

Parliament House

 

Hamayun's Tomb

Qutb Minar - Victory Tower

Bus (no) Stop

A few things I observed about bus transportation when we got here:
1. There are plenty of buses on the roads but where are the bus stops?
2. Most traffic deaths in the newspaper seem to involve buses. School bus, public bus, etc.

And my conclusion:
1. Try to avoid buses on the roads
2. NEVER cross the road near a bus

Well, I will not know for sure if buses could be the statistically highest killer on the roads here but I think I have found out why there are no bus stops.

Reason being: The buses generally do not stop!

I am not trying to be funny here. Serious.
Let me help you set your imagination straight here first before I continue. The buses here are not air-conditioned. Both the front and back doors are always kept open. There is definitely black exhaust coming out from the exhuast pipe.

What I have observed is that when you see a large group of people gathering beside the road, they are waiting for the bus. When the bus approaches, keep your eyes glued to the doors because that is when the magic happens. Without the bus stopping, people are getting on and off the bus.

How? Before approaching the group of people, the bus will slow down about 3-5m before and people will start jumping off the bus.
As the bus approaches the group waiting, people will start running alongside the bus, trying to get the right speed and then jump up through the doors. Just like comrades, those on the bus extends a hand to pull the new passenger up.

Though this is the usual scene that I see, there are also those rare moments where I see the buses stopping. But till now, I still have not quite figured out if they are required to stop at certain places.

I would love to put a video up for viewing but it is quite difficult though I am still looking out for opportunities to record it. In the meantime, you can put your visualisation skills to good use.

Oh, by the way, bus stops are actually called bus shelters here.

Last Night at Chateau Marmont

This book was on loan to me from a friend when I ran out of books to buy. It was the perfect book because I wanted an easy read after finishing The Millennium Series.

Nothing to rave about this book but it acquired a piece of general knowledge for me. Ok, trivial general knowledge. 

This place actually exists!

Located in Hollywood where celebrities treat it as their home away from home, I would have never imagined if I had not read about Eva Longoria organising Victoria Beckham's baby shower at Chateau Marmont.

My mind took a double take when reading about Eva Longoria and suddenly it clicked in my head that the place in the book was not fiction. Never had I thought that it was based on a actual place.

Shanghai Baby!

We are headed to Shanghai in November for a week! Woo hoo!

Haven't been to China for about 2.5 years now. Am thinking of the foot reflexology sessions, massages, eating the xiao long paos, shopping at the markets...

Reason for the Shanghai trip is because Hubby will be attending a 3 day conference there and we will extend the trip. As I was planning for the trip, I realise that one of the easier routes to get to Shanghai is to transit through Singapore! This took me awhile to accept, considering the fact that China and India are neighbouring countries.

First of all, there are no direct flights from Hyderabad to Shanghai. We have to transit either in New Delhi or Bombay. To get to either of these 2 cities, it was equivalent to flying halfway back to Singapore. Throw in the terrible transit time where you have to wait for hours, we would have arrived at Changi Airport.

Secondly, the flight time from either Bombay/ Delhi to Shanghai is about the same as from Singapore. Though when I checked online, Singapore is about 500 nautical miles further. Few reasons that I could throw up was use of different aircraft type or wind directions?

Lastly, when it comes down to between Singapore Airlines and Air India, the choice is very obvious isn't it? Also helps that it didn't cost that much more to transit in Singapore.

Our grand plans have been hatched. We are choosing the longer transit time for both transits in Singapore. This will let us go home first to pack the clothes we need for Shanghai and on the way back, we can stock up on essentials for India! Another thing that I am very excited about is picking up my new camera before the trip. I have been eyeing on the LX5 even before its release a few weeks ago, so its time to get my hands on it.

Initial plans for Shanghai now also includes meeting up with a few friends while Hubby is in conference, do all my favourite activities and throw in a day trip to Zhou Zhuang and Suzhou. While flying, I never really took pictures of Shanghai. Felt that it was too touristy then. So now, I am going all out to photo document this trip!

November is still like a long 1.5 months away. I know most people will tell me that time flies and its true only when you look back at time.

Just a few days ago was our 2 months wedding anniversary. When I told Hubby " Happy 2 months anniversary", we both agreed that it had felt like 2 years. Now, who can tell me if that is a good thing or not?

Countdown to Shanghai: 51 days

First 48 Hours

The past 48 hours since we landed has been a whirlwind of new experiences and activities. As much as I like writing in journals, the thoughts in my head are coming so fast and thick that typing is really the best way.

Flight MI0478 was better than I had expected. Of course the crying infant was onboard but otherwise, it was an aircraft that had a good "PSI" level. If you know what I mean. :p

Service was great! and sad to say better than what I get from SQ flights sometimes. The plane feels like a budget flight with no in flight entertainment or extra amenities. The meals options were chicken briyani or vegetarian rice. So, I will pre-order special meal on my return flight! Didn't think that I will become a SPML passenger one day. 

Hyderabad has one of the nicest airports in India, if not the best but it is not a reflection of what the city is like. Sadly. Thanks to the really helpful advice from the owner of the service apartment that we are staying at, we found Meru/ Easy cabs which are the more reliable cabs in the city. It took us awhile to locate it but it did save us from the touts. 

As the flight arrives at 1130pm, the street lights have all gone off when our cab was going through the city. There is a new expressway which speeds up vehicles going to the city and just as we were thinking this is all going very well, the driver arrives at the road and ask us where is the place. Did he really think that we two Chinese people who are here for the first time know where the service apartment is? We made him call the service apartment but he didn't seem any much wiser after the call.

Once again, it was the instructions of the service apartment owner that rescued the day. Though I have no idea what or who Dr Batra is, I spotted the signboard along the road and made the driver return to the area. The email had said "lane between Dr Batra and Q-Mart" very clearly. Remember that there are no street lights and this looks like a dark dark lane... but of course the owner was right and we found the place - Nirvana Service Apartments.

Our room that had initially looked drab is now our sweet heaven at the end of the day. Its nothing fancy and at the price that we are paying, we would have expected more fanciful stuff but then again, this is Hyderabad. I cant be expecting flat screen LCD with iphone docking sound system right? The most important thing is that this place is very very clean and owners, friendly.

Nikhil, the person whom I had emailed with turned out to be this interesting pek-pek who gave us his two cents worth of advice. But the most spot on one was: You should slow down and take your time to be familiar with the environment first. Do not rush to rent a permanent place. Well, of course it is vested advice since he is probably earning a lot from us staying with him but it gave us a timely reminder that this is not Singapore where everything moves fast.

Our first destination was to the bank the next day and as taxis are not readily available unless you pre book them, we took what the locals would take - the Auto. It is very similar to what the Tuk Tuk is in Bangkok. But the similarities ends there. Traffic in Hyderabad is AMAZING!!! You hardly stop on the roads because there are hardly any traffic lights anywhere. Vehicles zip in and out of every corner and I think the term blind spot while driving does not apply here. Till I have the confidence to sit in an Auto and take a video, you can only imagine. Cars move at like 10-15km/h and if there is a Masters in Driving Skills, these guys will definitely get it. They can avoid anything/ anyone at any speed/ any distance. I am sure now that we will be awarded the best jaywalkers when we get back. We had viewed this on YouTube before we got here about road crossing and it is indeed what you see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9DLlMMXhKg

Also, you can throw addresses out of the window here cos it doesn't work. Imagine that you want to get to Orchard Road. They will bring you there but don't expect them to know where is the building. Its like no one will know which building is at 200 Orchard Road.

Every place is being referenced to by a landmark. So, to get to Heeren for example, you have to tell them a prominent landmark - Takashimaya. Once you are there, keep your eyes peeled for the place. After 2 days, we kind of know which are the landmarks they reference to in the area of Somajiguda (where the hubby works) and Banjara Hills (where we stay).

Oh, I now am a subscriber of an Airtel mobile number! Without going into much details, all I can say is that we had managed to get our numbers without too much hassle by exploring all different means. Guess, this is amongst one of the first lessons learnt here that when you encounter roadblocks doing things the right way, you just got to look for left ways to still get what you want.

On the more upbeat side, we are holding up good with no signs of stomach upsets. We are keeping to safe food, avoiding things like unbottled water, ice, milk, cut fruits, raw food. Have not really had local food yet and will probably start soon. Once you read about what we had for lunch, you will probably think that life here cant be too bad afterall. Yesterday lunch was Subway and dinner was Thai Express. Honestly, I almost want to bet that Crystal Jade is hiding somewhere in one of the malls!

This is barely half of what I have to say. But to avoid being too lengthy, this is my first update for you guys. :) Look out for the next!