New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport and Hotel Ajanta

WOW! This is it!

My lightest travel bag EVER! Can you guys imagine, I brought this turquoise-cylinder-shape British India sack, to India? Yeah, like the bag ‘balik kampung’ la (go back to where it belongs.)
And hubby got his in lime-green.
Wonder what was in the bag? 3 tops, 2 bottoms, 6 undies, 1 sandals, 1 jacket, electrical/electronic gadgets, and a pack of ‘serunding’! Hahaha! Yup, that’s all. With camera hung on my neck, sling handbag on my right, and sling cylinder bag on my left, off we headed to LCCT.

AND WE WERE OUT OF TIME! DANG!

Tips : Be on time if you are taking public transport. 2 hours earlier aren’t enough coz MALAYSIAN PUBLIC TRANSPORT IS NOT RELIABLE. And always do web check in to avoid any delay.

Lucky we have web checked in, and double lucky that Chawana texted us the gate no. earlier. Or else, we might have missed the flight. We ran as fast as we can, crossing the tar mack, from afar, slowly approaching the airbus, there we saw……….a pool of Indians, queuing to get boarded on both flight staircases.

CURRY HAS POLUTTED THE AIR! Bring it on! Hahaha!

Since we already bought our favorite seats, we had no worry to rush in. Walking the aisle, the nearer we got to Chawana seats, the greater the heat! Can’t wait to tell them what we’ve experienced with TIME!

“That’s our seat.” I gave a plain curry face to those two Indians who sat on our seats. They smiled and shook their heads twice.
Tips : When I say shake, please remember that they shake their head in refusal. And that doesn’t mean they refuse, get it?

We put our bags off and sat. Right before the flight started to head to the runaway, hubby said straight to my face,

“Smelly…did you take off your shoes?”

“NO, I’M NOT!” *Eyeballs got bigger than golf ball now.*

It started to smell worst so I called the steward and asked for ‘minyak cap kapak’ (axe oil) since I didn’t bring mine. He smiled and nodded, and passed me one. He asked me to keep it and said “I am used to it, and I know, you’ll get used to it too.” Hahaha!

A moment later, another cabin crew walked by and a couple who sat on the middle row, whispered something to her. She then walked and watched closely down the passenger seats. Suddenly,

“Please put on your shoes, sir.” That’s a statement, not a question.

The smelly feet belong to the Indian guy WHO SAT IN FRONT OF ME! No wonder laaaaaaa!
Intermission. (If you watch Hindi movies, you’ll know what I mean.) Nearly 6 hours later.
I looked out, it was dark. AND raining. NOT AGAIN! Go jinx! GO! We stepped out from the plane and guess what, IT WAS FREAKING COLD! I didn’t expect 18 degrees in Delhi will be that cold! And I only have one military jacket, and I was wearing a three-quarter ‘ali baba’ pants! Waaaaaaaa!

We walked into the arriving hall and looked around. No more passengers behind us. Meanwhile, Chawana was asking for Aqilah’s stroller from the cabin crew. About 20 minutes later, the crew said we have to get it at the luggage conveyer. Duhhh!

We walked along the hall and once in a while, we used the walkalator. There was one buggy man on his EMPTY buggy, smiled at us. Didn’t he want to offer us? Come on, we have baby to carry! *Grabbed Aqilah from her mommy.*
And we walked.

And walked.

And walked all night.

“DEY! SO FAR WAY? It’s like the most far faraway arriving hall in the world la!”

Then the buggy man came and offered us a ride. WOOHO! We happily-loudly spoke in Bahasa with another two Malaysian-Indian ladies who joined the ride. And we took photos like we had never been on a buggy before! Hahaha!
The distant was far ok! I think, 400meters maybe? We finally reached the Immigration section and guess what, THAT WAS THE FASTEST AUTHORITY CHECK, IN THE WHOLE WORLD! Less than a minute! *Terms and condition apply.*
While we sat, waiting for Chawana to get their luggages, I snapped few photos, THOUGH I was quite scared to do so with the presence of one Bengali officer and few army officers around.
Tips : Photo capturing is allowed in New Delhi Indira Ghandi International Airport, but don’t take officers face la ha.

“We still can’t find the stroller lahhhh!” Chawana complaint. The worst thing could happened, the cabin crew left it outside the door…IN Malaysia. And Chawana just bought it few days before, just for this trip!

Great! It’s been an hour and Aqilah’s invisible stroller still remained invisible.

Chawana started to get frustrated and walked back and forth, UNTIL she saw one baby blue folded stroller, 20 METERS away from the conveyer, BEHIND the building pillar, LAYING on the floor, NEXT to a long line of trolleys!

What the hell on Gandhi’s land they put the stroller there!

Chawana quickly grabbed the stroller and we walked off from the hall. Outside, there were lines of pickup drivers with passenger’s name on A4 cards in their hand, but none stated hubby’s name. Towards the end of the line, there we saw our pickup driver who then handed us to another driver.

Beforehand, we bought ourselves two bottles of drinking water from one mart nearby.
Tips : PLEASE screen all drinking water bottles before you buy one. Hindi movie, Jai Ho, did expose on how locals refill the bottles with untreated pipe water and put on the new tight caps, as if they are NEW and UN-OPEN! Do look for trusted brands like Bisleri, Kinley, and Aquafina. (Himalayan water you know, don’t play-play.)

We were separated into two small Suzuki cars. Our driver is a Nepali. While driving out from the traffic, showing us the places on the road, he told us about himself and his background. He knewMalaysia and he told us Malaysia is good, both the country and the people. His friend works in Malaysia and we guessed it right, his friend is a guard. What else Nepali would do in Malaysia, right? Hahaha!

He still young and his family lives down the Mount Everest that needs him to hike on bus for 13 hours. My goodness! He learnt Hindi for living but he will never marry an Indian girl, for Nepali girls are much fairer. Hahaha! Look in the mirror la thambi…but who cares, he is earning better than his friends in Nepal what…

Once in a while we saw Chawana’s ride coz drivers in India, LOVE to honk! Honk here, honk there, worst than Bali kottttt! But we arrived at the hotel via a different road as Chawana. They told us they saw a Metro Station! And it looks fine…at least from the outside. (Too early…too early…)

With prepared list (thank you to our very own trip cookbook), we checked in Hotel Ajanta without paying any pickup fee! Hahaha! They must have forgotten it!
Tips : Do some search before you book a hotel. Trip advisor is a good platform to ‘know’ your hotel reviews. And Hotel Ajanta is a good choice to stay in.
Five of us, including Aqilah, and the bell boy, squeezed into a very tiny grilled-door-lift, up to third floor. The rooms were quite fabulous in modern contemporary design. It just the floor that we have to bear with, it was super cold! So what we did, we took off the quilt and spread them on the floor. Hell yeah, it was better!

Our room.

Chawana's room.And we dozed off…

Tips : Never try to drink the pipe water, EVEN when you brush your teeth. Do spit to the max. It is not safe (even if you see a filter on the wall). And it tasted BAD!

(Owh mannnn…I forgot to kidnap the door marker/signage! How could I miss it! Damn you pictures! Why now only it pop-ups!)

Co-traveler:
For trip experience, read Chawana's version here (in Bahasa)