Day 69/70 - New Delhi/Kuala Lumpur/Hanoi

Saturday 16th October
Sunday 17th October

My last day in India! After waking in my luxurious bed, I showered in the magnificent hot shower (I hadn't had a hot shower at all in my last hotel, for 12 whole days!) and made my way down to the breakfast buffet. Everything was very luxurious, but quite frankly I was disappointed in the food. Where were the pancakes and French toast? There was an egg making station, and a banquet of mini muffins and pastries, but no real 'hearty food'. I even had to pay for my water!!

Given it was an expensive room, I wanted to make full use of the facilities and wasn't planning on checking out until right on 12pm. So after breakfast I made my way down to the gym (for the second time in about 14 hours), and utilised the weights and cardio equipment. Working out just makes you feel sooo much better! Let's hope I can find somewhere to run in Vietnam, it's just not the same on a treadmill!

By now it was 10:30, so I went back to my room to pack, watching American sit-coms as I went, before reluctantly making my way down to the lobby. I chose to take my own bags rather than use the 'bell-hop', since I just don't like the concept of tipping! (How do you do it smoothly?) Checking out, the manager(?) knew my name and even asked for the address of this blog - maybe it will turn into a book deal, just like the 'Lost Girls' blog did! (See Siem Reap posting for more details).


Storing my bags, I chose to ignore the taxis at the front and instead headed to the tuk-tuks, directing them to 'India Gate', an imposing arch that was built to commemorate the loss of 90,000 soldiers whilst fighting for the British Empire. Although I'd driven past it numerous times on the way to Tyagaraj Stadium, I'd never actually got out to look at it or snap some photos.


The heat was tremendous - it felt like it was in the 40s (not impossible, as it had been 45 at the hockey and Rugby 7s the previous days). The gate sits at one end of a large avenue, similar to the Arc de Triumphe and Champs Delysee in Paris, and I had been planning to walk to the other end where the President's Estate was located, but it was just too hot! Photos snapped, it was then on to the Lotus Temple in the very south of Delhi (again by tuk-tuk, after bartering my way down from 350 to 100 ... they try to rip you off so badly!)


The Lotus Temple was very beautiful, designed to look like a flower (as the name suggests) - and also very similar to the architecture of the Opera House, in my opinion. The queues to get in were extremely long (first, you had to drop your shoes off at an underground bunker) - and given how queuing is a foreign concept in India, the queue was enormous. I decided, given the queues and the tremendous heat, that I couldn't be bothered waiting and instead of entering would just snap photos from the outside. There was also no water to be found inside the complex, and I was starting to suffer from dehydration, so I made a quick exit to the street vendors lining the road outside.


A few Army personnel (this time dressed in blue camo gear - does this mean they're actually Airforce?) assisted me in getting a tuk-tuk, but the guy was majorly trying to rip me off, and would only lower his price if I would visit a nearby emporium, which I refused. Just at this moment, the Ho-Ho bus (Hop On, Hop Off) pulled up, and I decided a lap on the bus would be a good way to kill some time. It went soooo slowly though - and the bus driver tooted (cross that, BLASTED) his horn every two seconds, which was extraordinarily loud. The 'Guest Experience Host' was very friendly towards me though, and I soon decided to alight at an 'exclusive shopping village' (she told me it sounded like it was the only shopping place I hadn't visited!)

The place was set in a garden, with white picket fences, inside a gated community. It was very exclusive though and not my type of shopping - cigar clubs and royalty-like Indian silks. I decided instead I needed to see Khan Market one more time before I left so I hopped in my last tuk-tuk of the trip. As I didn't have much money left, I didn't want to risk eating at a cafe, so instead purchased a few goodies at the bakery I had fallen in love with. (One happened to pass through my mouth at that moment ... well, I had only eaten breakfast that day, and wouldn't eat again until the airport!)

Journeyed by Metro back into Connaught Place, I was going to stop in at Janpath Markets (where Mark and I had gone the day before) but ended up getting hopelessly lost - too many roundabouts and off streets! I did find an internet cafe though (which are in extraordinarily short supply in India) and checked in for my flight from KL to Hanoi, since I had a very short time between arriving in KL and departing to Hanoi. (My flight from Delhi arrived at 4:30 and the flight to Hanoi left at 6:30. During that time, I had to pass immigration, collect my bag, then drop in my bag and have my documents checked).

Back at the Park Hotel, it was perfect timing for departing to Indira Gandhi Airport, travelling by the British(?) Ambassador taxi (I got charged an extra 50 rupees because I wanted air conditioning!) Security was extremely tight - only passengers could even enter the terminal, with airline tickets and passports checked at the front doors. Check-in was a breeze, as was immigration, and I then had a few hours to kill in the terminal.

Don't you hate that whole 'playing with money at the airport' concept? You want to make sure you have enough to purchase a meal and a snack or magazine, but you don't want too much that you have to change again, losing money on the exchange rate. Then you don't want to buy the first meal you see, because what if it's too expensive and then you can't buy the cool snowdome you find at a later shop? Aah, this always gets me. I purchased a very cheap meal of Indian and a chocolate bar, leaving money for some small souvenirs if I found them (which I didn't, which meant I ended up with some Indian rupees left - and it is illegal to change them once you've passed immigration!)

I had scored a window seat - the lady at check-in had told me it was 'no problem' as the flight wasn't near full; and even had the seat beside me free, which allowed me to tuck my legs up for a slightly better sleep. I hadn't bothered to purchase a meal, given we were flying out at 8:45pm and arriving in KL at 4:30am (a 5 hour flight with a 2.5 hour time difference).

Alighting from the flight in KL, I passed through immigration to score my 9th Malaysian stamp in 2 months, collected my bag, and then joined the 'Baggage Drop' queue at check-in (thank goodness I had checked in online, the check-in queue was mammoth, even at 5am!!) McDonalds and Starbucks were open outside, but I didn't want to risk eating and being late to pass through immigration and security, so I settled for an 'milo ice', terminal-side.

This flight was near full - checking in online meant I had been allocated a middle seat, but as no one sat in the window seat I changed seats as soon as the doors shut. I fell asleep as soon as we took off - the few hours sleep on the previous flight weren't enough - and woke up just before arriving into Hanoi, my final country before Canada!

There was only one baggage carousel for all of the flights - 4 had arrived in the same 10 minute time span - and mine seemed to take forever to appear. I had arrived into Vietnam with absolutely no 'dong', but as I had expected there were plenty of ATMS at arrivals. I withdrew the grand sum of 4,000,000 dong - I'm a millionnaire!! (about $200 - the maximum you can withdraw, most ATMS only allow 2,000,000).

I had been warned of the crazy taxi scene at the airport, and stood back for a few minutes to try and understand what was happening, and which person/company/car I should head for. Numerous men tried to grab me, but I headed for a woman with a tag on (tags mean they're official, right?) standing by the 'metered taxi' stand. It was the most expensive taxi ride I've had so far though - almsot US$20! The weather was drizzly though, and I would almost suggest it was cold - the first 'cold' weather I'd experienced since Malaysia.

Arriving at the hotel, a doorman opened the car door and retrieved my luggage, leading me into the hotel lobby. There, I was asked for my passport and asked to wait for a while whilst they checked me in. During this time, the travel agent at the front desk worked through an itinerary for me - he planned every day, hotel, bus ride etc of my trip for the next week! I wasn't interested at all, just nodding at the appropriate moments whilst waiting for my room to be ready. At the end of this though, I was told, "We're full - we have to move you to another hotel down the road".

I wasn't impressed, especially when I'd just had 2 overnight flights and just wanted a shower, food, and then some sleep. They paid for a taxi to a new hotel, which actually turned out to be slightly nicer than the original (even had free internet - something I've lacked for the past few weeks). My room was nice and spacious - cable TV, fridge, and hot water deemed to luxurious - the only problem being the five flights of stairs I had to alight to reach it.

After showering, I dropped in my laundry (almost all of my clothes) to search for some food. The food scene wasn't too great though, and I ended up walking for several hours first. Hanoi is very scenic, with several small lakes dominating the landscape (waterscape?) After India, it felt very laid-back - even the traffic didn't seem horrendous. (Vietnam is known for its terrible traffic - in Australia, you'd never have a chance to cross the road, so here you simply start walking and the traffic will dodge around you).

Shops littered the roadsides - silks, fake bags and sunglasses, souvenirs (although no snowdomes!) I was a bit over sightseeing so I didn't snap any photos, preferring to simply walk the streets and take in the sights. I finally found a lunch place at 1pm (keeping in mind, I hadn't eaten since 5pm the day before), and after 3 attempts at ordering ( 1 - cheese sandwich - was told after 10 minutes they'd 'run out'; 2 - pasta - was told after 15 minutes they'd made a mistake; 3) finally received pasta) and 2 chocolate milkshakes (I needed to have something in my stomach with all that waiting), finally ate a meal.

I returned back to the hotel, too tired to walk any further, and promptly fell asleep for two hours (half way through 'I Love You Man' - seemed like a good movie!) On waking, I ordered some room service and then watched a few hours of TV, before submitting to my sleep deprivation once again.
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