Day 58 - New Delhi
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Tuesday 5th October
Day 2 Commonwealth Games
Up for breakfast - this time taking along my beloved Vegemite, to add some flavour to the toast (they insist on toasting the bread themselves, but it comes out still 'raw'!)
I hopped the Metro down to an area called 'Saket', where I'd read the biggest and best 'Western' mall was located. I wasn't quite sure which stop to get off at - nobody else was either - so I hopped off at a station I thought would be close by, based on the map I had. (Delhi maps are terrible - I've accumulated about 6 and all are as bad as each other.) Luckily I guessed right, and a quick tuk-tuk ride later saw me at the mall. Nothing opens early in India, as in Asia - I'd timed to arrive at 10am, when the stores were supposed to open, but even by 11:30 they were still opening.
The shopping centre was good, with stores like Zara and Nine West. I didn't purchase any clothes, but did buy the new Lauren Weisenberger book (the author of 'The Devil Wears Prada') and indulged at the USA grocery store - they had bottled milkshakes in 'Milky Way' and 'Mars Bar' flavours!
Now for the annoying part. I had to take the metro back to Connaught Place, switch lines to Karol Bargh, run to my hotel to drop my purchases off, then do the exact same in the opposite direction to attend the netball, all because you can't take anything into the stadiums. This took me about 2 hours, so I arrived at Tyagaraj Stadium at about 3pm, watching the New Zealand match before the Aussies came in. Again, I sat with Kim's mum and sister, and we were also joined by Mo'nia Gerard's parents. Another win for the Aussies, yay!! At least it had more atmosphere as we were playing India - it was their first ever international competition, having just scrounged the team together.
Denise and Lauren invited me out to dinner with them - they'd made a reservation at an Italian place that had received good reviews, and I gladly joined them. We turned up at the restaurant only to find it was a fine dining establishment! Looking down at our clothes, we felt severely underdressed, but they welcomed us graciously. The food was absolutely amazing - I had a pumpkin flan, asparagus risotto and goat's cheese gnocchi on a tasting plate - one good thing about India is all the vegetarian food! It was extremely cheap too, by Western standards. Their driver then dropped me home, where I watched the Commonwealth Games coverage (of course, no netball - the focus here is on badminton, table tennis and wrestling).
Day 2 Commonwealth Games
Up for breakfast - this time taking along my beloved Vegemite, to add some flavour to the toast (they insist on toasting the bread themselves, but it comes out still 'raw'!)
I hopped the Metro down to an area called 'Saket', where I'd read the biggest and best 'Western' mall was located. I wasn't quite sure which stop to get off at - nobody else was either - so I hopped off at a station I thought would be close by, based on the map I had. (Delhi maps are terrible - I've accumulated about 6 and all are as bad as each other.) Luckily I guessed right, and a quick tuk-tuk ride later saw me at the mall. Nothing opens early in India, as in Asia - I'd timed to arrive at 10am, when the stores were supposed to open, but even by 11:30 they were still opening.
The shopping centre was good, with stores like Zara and Nine West. I didn't purchase any clothes, but did buy the new Lauren Weisenberger book (the author of 'The Devil Wears Prada') and indulged at the USA grocery store - they had bottled milkshakes in 'Milky Way' and 'Mars Bar' flavours!
Now for the annoying part. I had to take the metro back to Connaught Place, switch lines to Karol Bargh, run to my hotel to drop my purchases off, then do the exact same in the opposite direction to attend the netball, all because you can't take anything into the stadiums. This took me about 2 hours, so I arrived at Tyagaraj Stadium at about 3pm, watching the New Zealand match before the Aussies came in. Again, I sat with Kim's mum and sister, and we were also joined by Mo'nia Gerard's parents. Another win for the Aussies, yay!! At least it had more atmosphere as we were playing India - it was their first ever international competition, having just scrounged the team together.
Denise and Lauren invited me out to dinner with them - they'd made a reservation at an Italian place that had received good reviews, and I gladly joined them. We turned up at the restaurant only to find it was a fine dining establishment! Looking down at our clothes, we felt severely underdressed, but they welcomed us graciously. The food was absolutely amazing - I had a pumpkin flan, asparagus risotto and goat's cheese gnocchi on a tasting plate - one good thing about India is all the vegetarian food! It was extremely cheap too, by Western standards. Their driver then dropped me home, where I watched the Commonwealth Games coverage (of course, no netball - the focus here is on badminton, table tennis and wrestling).
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