Day 2: Delhi - Fake tourist information office & the wonderful ITB

Weather: Hazy 25 - 35 degree Celcius. Definitely felt like a 35 degree Celcius day.

After breakfast, we set off in search of the tourist information office. We got a bit lost and an auto-rickshaw guy took us to the 'India government tourist office' on a back lane for Rs10. Alarm bells should have started ringing. The place name is similar to the official tourist office, it was in the Janpath area our guide book said to go to and the guy at the place confirmed that it is indeed a governmental tourist information office. In addition to its location in a small lane, the office is narrow and small with 3 cubicles squeezed in and the guy was pushy. He said trains to Shimla were unavailable and that there was only one train a day. I was pretty sure I had read that there was more than one train a day. The price he quoted for the 'Delhi - Agra - Jaipur' golden triangle tour was also much higher than I've been told by friends. Karin stood firm about not booking anything at that point, and we left with a free city map and a recommendation to go to CCI Mall. Another mistake, it was a 'goverment shop' that tried to sell us cheap cotton salwar kameez for an extortionate Rs1,000.

In between, we were approached by 'extremely helpful' men on the street who sent us on wild goose chase to another 'official' tourist office (we declined) and an International Tourist Booking (we went because we thought it was another ITB). But the guy at this fake ITB could not be bothered to try and scam us when it became clear we wanted train timetable information he didn't have and we were't going to buy anything. He sent us back to the railway station.

This was where we found a gem, the International Tourist Bureau on the 1st floor of the New Delhi Railway Station. It was big and looked official. It had other foreign tourists, air-con and best of all, some slightly bored-looking bureaucrats having their 3 o'clock tea.

We filled in a few forms, sat with a reservation officer who checked and booked trains for us, no problem. He got more animated when he realised Karin shared a last name with Bjorn Borg. We got return tickets to Agra and Shimla, air-con all the way, for less than GBP30 each. Hurrah for bureaucrats!

Yes, we should have read the Rough Guide's section on scams properly. Good thing was, we didn't part with our money to the scammers, just wasted some time.

Chilled out in the evening with a swim in the large YMCA pool, sharing it with kids having swim lessons. Shower ran out of water post-swim mid-hair conditioning as the kids must have used all the water up. Had another inclusive YMCA dinner with excellent dry veggie curry.

YMCA's excellent dry veggie curry

Day 1: Delhi, Namaste!

Weather:27-34°C hazy, brief shower in the afternoon bringing cool sweet air
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Cultural insight #1: I have filled out 2 forms today since coming out of airport immigration - sim card and hostel. Both required my passport, and my father/husband's name :-).

Cultural insight #2: Notwithstanding the warnings about cultural attitudes to women we've read in guidebooks, everyone we met has on first impression been unfailingly courteous.

*I'm keeping a record of my cultural impressions with I hope a degree of sensitivity. Nevertheless,I understand this kind of exercise will invariably betray my ignorance as a tourist at some point. So dear reader, please bear with me while I stumble around in the dark for the light switch.
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Delhi international airport is modern, clean and efficient.

Changed some money at a forex bureau. Indian rupees are not meant to be taken out of the country beyond a certain amount, and so my local post office did not have any.

Got a prepaid sim card at the Airtel booth outside the arrival hall for Rs500. One customer helpfully explained the process to me as the 2 swamped staff dealt with enquiries. Pleased that it's working for calls, texts, internet with my Android phone.

Got a metered Meru taxi at Pillar 16 outside the exit. Again, a simple, efficient exercise. The cab did stall but the driver gave it some water and we were off again in 10 minutes. The cab was not the newest but it seemed relatively clean, had AC, and had clear instructions in English about the fare.

We drove through embassy land with large embassies, manicured shrubbery and lots of flowers. The bougainvillaeas especially reminded me of KL.

10 minutes later, we went through minor traffic and I don't think I can drive here until I figure out the method from the madness. Green and yellow tuks tuks weaved their way expertly through the traffic. I saw one carrying a family of 5.

There are several YMCA and YWCA buildings on Jai Singh Road and it took us several attempts to find the YMCA tourist hostel further down the road, clearly marked. The reception took a day's payment from my prepaid card, which is good because I haven't yet found an ATM the card works in.

Our room on the 4th floor overlooked the swimming pool which can be used Apr-Oct at certain times of the day with a lifeguard. The room was pretty basic but clean and the porter blasted on the fan and AC.

Today was a take-it-easy day while waiting for my friend Karin to arrive.

Day 0: Flight to Delhi

Virgin flight from London was very empty. Most of us could get a row of seats each. Luxury! I slept well.
Watched an inflight guide to delhi. Culture, colours, sounds, contrasts -as you would expect. But also seemed a pretty livable place for a young (ish) professional. Reminds me of KL, with options to get away from the city.
Pre departure photo of my shiny new backpack + little one.

Malaysian comedians :D

"The only honest art from is comedy. You can't fake laughter.." ~ Lenny Bruce

I've been re-discovering Malaysian comedians. Many years back when I was working in KL, I've been to see a few of the Instant Cafe Theatre productions. Since I've been living outside the country, I've not been in touch with that scene. It's social network and Youtube that's introduced me and some of my friends to these 'new' acts.

I rate them in a big way! They are fresh and funny. They offer knife-sharp social-political commentary, mining the rich source of tragicomic material from Malaysian politics and social life.

Nevertheless, the existence and popularity of these acts is uplifting because it shows that there are many ordinary people out there who recognises and appreciates the ridiculousness of certain situations. Further, the fact that they can make us laugh until we cry highlights our recognition at our society's commonalities and endearing quirks.

Check them out on Youtube:
- JinnyboyTV









- MACC (Malaysian Association of Chinese Comedians)
- Douglas Lim

- Kam Raslan. Not a stand-up comedian. But I love his columns for the business newspaper, The Edge's Talking Edge.
http://www.kamraslan.com/kr-te/2012/04/17/ballet-menace-welcoming-a-new-king-feeding-enthusiasm/

Share your recommendations here!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I have now decided to take a brief hiatus from the green island, my home for the last 10 years. The plan is to do some travelling in India before heading back to Malaysia. It'll be my first proper backpacking trip in oh, some 13 years! I shall miss my bed and lovely, pocket-sprung mattress.

Some things still to do before leaving:
- Defrost and clean fridge. Tip: use an odour neutraliser/ remover in empty fridge. Instant noodles good fallback when cannot use fridge.
- Compile music.
- Pack everything I may need over the next 2 months into a 60L backpack and aim for a max 12kg weight. Phew! Tip: If you are thinking twice about taking something, you probably don't need it.
- Get decent reading material. I heart my Kindle, which is a superb space saver! I've recently bought a physical version of 'Bad Samaritans' by Ha-Joon Chang, which I'm bringing with me.
- Entrust plants to friend.

Preparation has been relatively hectic-free because I've already started my sabbatical a couple of weeks ago. It hasn't been all cleaning and packing. I've been doing a few things I've enjoyed:
- Baked bread
- Cycle training
- Played badminton
- Watched Game of Thrones (still stuck on George RR Martin's 2nd last book - as long as ever, more descriptive than ever, and where's the action??) . Watched this and other movies eg The Help, The Kite Runner, with the Lovefilm 30-day free trial.
- Caught up on Facebook. Sadly realised I'm not a Facebook-generation baby, but one of my recent FB highlights was an uncle finding a tourist guide to Tampin, our cool little border hometown in Melaka/N9.
- Caught up with people. The benefits of a physical meet-up are cups of tea, walks in sunshiney rain/rainy sunshine (it is April in London after all), cultural injections from galleries visits.





Outside a SE London park

http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=12878

A poignant exhibition at the Barbican Centre of stuff the artist's mother has collected throughout her life.