Kelley's Travel Blog

Final days in Hyderabad

2007-05-14T16:11:00Z

It's Sunday, May 13th....only 3 days left in India. I can't believe it! These last 6 weeks have flown by. I decided to stick around Hyderabad for my last 2 weekends because I wanted to make sure I maximized my time here and there were some things I still wanted to do....like buy a saree. So, Swathi and Soumya took Rhonda, Hyun and I to help us buy a saree. We went to a store called Kalanikethan. It is an all-in-one wedding/saree store. Since Indians wear sarees on special occassions, including brides, this store is a one-stop-shop for everything. We gave them our price range and they showed us lots of different materials. Most of them were flashy and bright with lots of beading.....and lots of pink! So, it was hard for me to pick something! With the help of the other girls, I finally settled on a blue and black one with minimal beading. Unlike the Indian women, us white girls don't look too great in most of the bright colors offered.
After a material was picked, we had to take it upstairs to pick out a slip that goes underneath. Then it was back downstairs to get measured for the "top" (it's more like a skin-tight half shirt) that you wear underneath. Two days later, the sarees were picked up (thanks to Soumya & Hyun!). Then we decided to wear them 2 days later while some of the leaders from our offices were in Hyderabad. Here is a picture of Rhonda (a co-worker here also from the SD office), Larry (our SD office managing partner for tax) and I:

I heard putting the saree on is quite a complicated process and takes lots of practice. So, I took my saree with me to the office and had a few of the girls help me put it on. The funny part is that not all girls know how to put it on -- only a few. Most of them have their mothers help them, or if they don't know, maybe a neighbor. The reason it is so hard is because the saree is just one long, rectangular-shaped piece of material, and you just have to wrap it and tuck it and pin it all around you. Luckily I came prepared with a box of saftey pins! By the end of the day, I think I had about 10 of them holding me together. Here are a few of the girls that helped me get dressed that day:

In order for us (US expats) to feel comfortable in our fancy sarees, the other girls in the office also wore their sarees. They all look much better and more natural than I did!!

Most of my time over the past few weeks has been taken up by work, but when I'm not doing that, I hang out with the other US people who are here and also our great Indian co-workers. One Sunday, we went to brunch at a nice hotel and decided that it was time to see how many American girls we could fit in one rickshaw -- definitely not as many as the Indians can fit! We only got 6 of us in one.

One day after work, we went to happy hour at a local "pub". Funny thing about pubs here is that they are mostly disco-techs that serve one kind of Indian beer that gives you a brutal headache after 1 round.

And one night at a "pub" I tried Hookah for the first time. Very strange. I was having a hard time with it (as you can tell by my face) because you are not supposed to inhale, but it's hard to get the smoke and flavor without sucking in hard.

Final days in Hyderabad remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Taj Mahal

2007-05-07T16:33:25Z

Alex, Steve, Hyun and I left our hotel in Delhi at 7:30am to make the long drive to Agra (the city where the Taj Mahal is). It was supposed to take 4-5 hours. It took us about 6. There were two car accidents along the way and no optional side roads to take. So, we sat in halt-n-go traffic for over an hour. It was painful! It's not like when you get stuck in traffic on the highway in the US. There is constant honking (high-pitched horns and horns that will stay in your head for days), swerving in-between and around other cars, crowded rickshaws (there are 24 in the picture below...besides the 5 in the back, there were 7 on each of the 2 rows of seats inside and the other 5 in the front seat with the driver or hanging off the other side!), motorcycles, bicycles and huge over-loaded trailers (the second picture below - we saw some camels pulling these also).

Here is a taste of what the roadside looks like between Delhi and Agra (not too exciting...just some small towns and dilapidated country side):

We finally arrive in Agra around 1pm and check into our hotel - The Taj View. It is a nice hotel that has a view of the Taj Mahal from the rooms. We are starving by this time and take the suggestion of a nearby restaurant. It was not good. I think the only reason we went there was because the tour guides get some sort of bribe to send foreigners there. The ratio of foreigners to Indians was about 5 to 1 (mostly white people, except the Koreans I was with ). And there was entertainment provided by a father/son duo - a puppet show and singing and dancing. Just something to get a few rupees out of the foreigners!

It's now about 2pm - the hottest part of the day. Not only was it the hottest part of the day, but it was the HOTTEST day on record for April 29th. 46 degrees Celsius - that's about 115 degrees Fareinheit!!! I'm thankful I did not know this information at the time - we found out the next day. So we get out of our air-conditioned car and have to get into a rickshaw that will drive us closer to the entrance of the Taj Mahal. They do not allow cars within a certain distance (about 1 km) because they want to protect the white marble from the pollution. The rickshaw takes us about 1/2 km and then we have to get out and walk the remainder of the way.

Here it is! The Taj Mahal. It is so big that it looks like it's close. But, from where I'm standing to the entrance is about 1/4 mile.
Our tour guide for the day, Kenneth (an interesting name for a native Indian), told us the story of how the Taj came to be. Honestly, I was fading in and out of consiousness because of the heat, but I mananged to hold on to a few key facts:

The Taj was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal (yes, it's actually a mausoleum). He loved her very much and she died while having their 14th child (I can't imagine!). Just before she died, she asked Shah Jahan to promise her 3 things - 1) don't marry again 2) take care of the children and 3) build something for her memory that all the world will come to see. So....he built the Taj Mahal
The construction took 16 years. 1632 - 1648
Mumtaz Mahal died in a different city and was buried there immediately after her death, so her body had to be moved to Agra and buried again twice (once in the garden outside the Taj Mahal, and then inside once it was completed). This is a big deal for the muslim religion because there is a belief that when someone dies, they should be buried within 10 days.
The Taj Mahal complex consists of 3 red sandstone buildings on each side - a gateway building in the front that you walk thru to get to the Taj, and two identical buildings on either side of the Taj (one is a mosque and the other is not because it does not face towards the west). Here is a picture of one of the hallways inside the non-mosque building:

I cheated and took this video clip walking in. I forgot to take a video before I entered the "no video camera" area.

I am sitting on the "Princess Diana's Bench" in the picture below -- they call it that because she was photgraphed here when she visitied.

Seeing the Taj Mahal up close is even more impressive than looking at it from a distance. One of the reasons it took so long to build the structure is because of the intricate detail. Calligraphy consisting of passages from the Koran (the muslim bible), inlaid semi-precious stones, relief motifs (carvings), and abstract geometric design....just to name a few of the detailed decorations on the walls of the Taj Mahal. Absolutely amazing!

The huge size of the Taj can be demonstrated by this picture below. This is a stone replica showing the actual size of the point on top of the Taj Mahal -- it's big!

Here is me "grabbing" that tip:

On the way out of the Taj Mahal, while walking down the street to get back to the car, we passed one of the many cows that stroll down the streets in India. Only in INDIA!!!!!

Taj Mahal remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Delhi!

2007-05-03T03:46:42Z

Friday 4/27 - We (co-worker Steve and I) left Hyderabad in the afternoon and after a 4 hour plane ride, next to a very stinky man, arrived in Delhi around 10pm. The flight is usually only 2 hours, but we flew on the Indian version of Southwest (Air Deccan) and they made a stop in the middle. Our hotel was a very nice - supposedly one of the oldest hotels in Delhi. And we were SO excited to actually find Amstel beer on the menu! (You can see my excitement in the photo.) Most restaurants here only have a choice of Kingfisher and Fosters. Kingfisher is a cheap light beer that gives you an instant headache and Fosters is everywhere because there is a brewery in India.

Another co-worker, Alex, arrived in Delhi late Friday night and caught a few hours of sleep before our busy day touring around Delhi.

Saturday 4/28 - Alex, Steve and I were picked up at 9:00am from our hotel by Shakti, our tour guide for the day, and Manoj, our driver for the weekend. We started with Old Delhi - the older part of town that is more crowded with older buildings and infrastructure, and narrower, busy streets. Our first stop was Jama Masjid - the largest mosque in Delhi (because it holds about 25,000 people...I think). I knew when I got dressed that morning it was possible that I may have some issues because I wore a sleeveless shirt and long shorts. NO ONE (at least not any Indians) wears sleeless shirts and shorts. But, I knew it was going to be extremely hot and I didn't really care....I could deal with the stares! So, at the Jama Masjid we were asked to remove our shoes and they dressed me in a nice long robe. Since it is a mosque (a place of prayer for muslims) that is still used today, they take the dress code very seriously. Here I am in my beautiful attire - Alex on the left, Steve on the right.

Shakti told us about the history (most of which I've forgotten) of this mosque and explained the strict "mosque guidelines" that are followed. For example, in order for a place to be a mosque, it must face west and have the tall towers in which to make the calls to worship (and they worship A LOT - at least 3-4 times per day) and be able to hold a lot of muslims at once - where we are standing in the picture above is where most people will kneel to pray.
In the picture below is where the VIPs pray. One person for each of the squares.

After Jama Masjid, Shakti took us to Mahatma Ghandi's memorial. The first thing Steve and I noticed was GREEN! Green grass and trees.....oh how we have missed them in Hyderabad! Hyderabad has a very rocky landscape and there is really no open spaces with grass. Ghandi's memorial is inside a large park area on the eastern side of Delhi, near the Yamuna River. It is named Raj Ghat and marks the spot of Ghandi's cremation on Jan 31, 1948. The black marble platform is a sign of his simple way of life -- he lived without any frills. He never slept in a bed, always on the floor and did not have any servants like most leaders would have. Sounds like a very interesting guy - I hope to read up on him more in the future.

The next stop was Birla temple (the official name is Laxmi Narayan Mandir). Built in honor of the hindu goddess of wealth, Laxmi. This was the most interesting part of the tour for me. We heard a lot of neat stories and explanations of the different religious beliefs. The unique characteristic of this "temple" is that it represents all 4 branches of Indian-originated religions - Hinduism, Sihkism, Buddhism and Jainism (? I'm not sure about the last one). I was only able to snap this quick photo from the car because they don't allow cameras (or shoes or bare shoulders) inside. The greatest characteristic of Delhi that our guide, Shakti (a native Delhian), drove into our heads that day was that it is a city of many religions and that it can exist that way without tension. The Birla temple is one example. There are many elaborate statues and pictures of the different Gods that are worshiped - there are about 250 different ones. Everyone picks a God to worship. Among Indians, you will see figurines, pictures, even cell phone backgrounds of the god that each person picks to worship. It's neat to ask people which God/Goddess they worship because they all represent something different. The most popular is Ganesh - the elephant god. He has a man's body and an elephant head. The story of how he came about is very interesting, but I don't want to write that much....so, go google it if you want to know.

The next couple of stops were the Indian equivalent of the White House and the India Gate. India Gate is a war memorial and the area surrounding is popular among the locals to picnic.

After a lunch stop we visited the oldest mosque in India, called Qutab Minar. It does not currently serve as a mosque, since it was mostly demolished by succeeding rulers. After that, we continued on to Lotus Temple - a relatively new temple built in the 1980s in the shape of India's flower, the lotus.

Shakti had to leave us at 4:00pm and so we decided to explore the popular new mall. The main reason was because Steve was craving Korean food and he had done some research before we arrived in Delhi. Steve and Alex are both Korean (as well as Hyun who met up with us that evening) and they REALLY wanted to get their fix! So, after walking around the mall for a while (really, it wasn't much different than any US mall...just a little smaller and tighter spaces) we ate at Restaurant del Seoul.
We were hoping to catch the final match of the World Cup Cricket at a bar in the mall, but found out that it was delayed due to rain. So, we went back to the hotel and got a good night's rest before our adventure to the Taj Mahal on Sunday.

This is the first thing we saw the next morning, walking down the street in front of our hotel. Only in India!

(Taj Mahal to come.....sorry, I want to get at least a few hours of sleep!)

Delhi! remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Goa

2007-04-23T16:35:42Z

My first weekend trip to see another part of India was to a city on the west coast of India. The city is vacation spot for many -- indian honeymooners, british vacationers, even some Americans. There was 7 of us - all girls (yes, that was interesting!). It was a fun weekend. Relaxing by the pool, shopping and enjoying a few well-deserved beers after a busy week.
Our hotel was very nice (a pics below)

There isn't anything too exciting to write about. But, I did take a video of Baga Beach. This is a very popular beach for the young party crowd. We stopped to have a beer and watch the sunset (which wasn't too great b/c there was too much pollution and the sun just sort of disappeared).

Goa remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Quite a weekend!

2007-04-16T12:22:52Z

Well, Tuesday thru Friday was pretty uneventful. Just more waking up at the crack of dawn, working and enjoying good conversation with the staff here. I'm beginning to understand the culture better. Also, I am reading a fantastic book that a friend gave me called Holy Cow (thanks Julianna!) that is written by an Australian journalist who spent some time in India. Wow, is it dead on! The way of life is described perfectly. The little things that get on your nerves, to the amazing characteristics of the Indian culture. Let me give you an example --- You must ask a waiter for the same drink 3 times before you actually get it, then wait another 5 minutes for him to set the bottle of beer on your table, walk away, come back with a bottle opener, present the bottle like it's a bottle of fine wine, pour it with 3 inches of head, then disappear for another 20 minutes until you get up to track him down to order your food. Dinner is not a quick thing here. And, that's just one example of many little things that would drive a obsessive-compulsive person mad in a matter of minutes here! I think a lot of it has to do with the old and new characteristics in India. Here is a good example of the old (yes, right in the middle of traffic):

Friday night I was talked into going to a club to hear a very popular DJ named Bali Sagu (I had never heard of him, but an Indian guy who is from the US and works in our LA office was going nuts that this guy was here and he had the opportunity to see him). Yes, that's him in the picture - Bali Sagu at the top, Bobby (crazy for Bali) below.

Saturday I had a great lunch with all of my San Diego-assigned professionals. It was a celebratory "End of busy season/April 15th" lunch. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera along. But, the food was great -- I'm really going to miss some of the stuff here.

Sunday was the adventurous day! Four of us (Bobby, Annette, Tara and I) decided to visit Charminar. This is supposedly the most famous of all of Hyderabad's symbols. Charminar is the actual temple/structure as seen in this picture built by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah, but the surrounding area is also referred to as Charminar. Many, many shops line the streets.

Here is what it looks like from the top looking down:

And here is what it's like to walk along the very crowded streets:

The really fun part happened when we decided to take a rickshaw to Golconda Fort (we were told it was very close by). Here is a little taste of what the experience was like...

We were all very cramped inside....and to think that it's common to see 6-9 people crammed in one of these!

Golconda Fort was amazing. We didn't have enough time to hike around the entire area, but we got a pretty good tour from a local guy - we paid him 500 rupees (the equivalent of $12) for a great 45-minute tour. I would like to go back and hike up to the top. We had a nice 360-degree view of Hyderabad and I can just imagine what it looks like all the way on top.

One of the funniest parts of the tour was when the guide took my camera into the bat cave to take a picture -- look closely...those are all eyes!

Quite a weekend! remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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This is too cute not to share...

2007-04-09T13:20:41Z

This is too cute not to share... remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Weekend activities (4/8 & 4/9)

2007-04-09T11:58:49Z

Saturday night (which is like a Friday night, since our office works Tuesday - Saturday) I went along with some people to see the movie "300" at the IMAX theatre. Wow, was that an intense movie to see on the largest movie screen imaginable! It's funny....they have intermission at movies here. For about 5-10 minutes, they turn on the lights and stop the movie. Just as you are getting into it.

Sunday I was very excited to sleep in - an extra 5 hours or so! I hung out at the pool with other US expats and had brunch at the hotel - very comparable to a good Sunday brunch in SD! Later on, we ventured to the middle of the city and had dinner at the Waterfront (next to a big lake separating Hyderabad & Secunderabad). Very cool.

Monday was shopping day! Two girls from the office wanted to take me shopping - Swathi & Sudeethi. So, we met at the office at 11 and they took me first to a place where different vendors set up shop - like a flea market. All hand-made handicrafts. They sure can get some good deals! I would end up paying about 1/2 of the starting price, thanks to them bargaining with the shop owners!

Then we went into the center of town and shopped at a few places that had some quality gift items. After that, we went to the new mall in town - City Center. Not really any different than any US mall. By the time 2:30 rolled around, I was starving. I held out as long as possible because I know Swathi & Sudeepthi are used to eating late. We had another good, authentic Indian meal - Chicken Tikka & Lamb Biryani (a Hyderabad dish).

Monday night we were planning on going to Charminar (a historic part of Hyderabad with famous temples), but plans fell thru due to the fact that one of the guys we were planning on going with is Muslim and they were holding some sort of rally in which he would not be welcommed. A little strange, but we were glad we found out beforehand.

Weekend activities (4/8 & 4/9) remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Cake Smashing

2007-04-09T11:24:59Z

When someone has a birthday or leaves, a cake is shared....but, not in the way you would normally "share". In India, they smear it all over your face!!
You can see what I look forward to when I leave!

Cake Smashing remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Experiencing the Food

2007-04-07T05:18:35Z

One big question everyone has for me (here and in the US) is "How do you like the food?". My answer is "It's great! I like it!". Although it took my stomach a couple of days to adjust, and at times it still doesn't understand what goes into it, I must say it has been a highlight. I don't recognize most things on the menu...every dish has it's own Indian name, so I have been having people order things for me or make recommendations.

There are so many new and different spices and herbs I have never before tasted. Where have all of these flavors been hiding?! Some are great, some are.....different. For example, last night we (US expats and 5 of the staff) headed out to dinner at Angetthi's to celebrate Steve's departure back to LA and went to an authentic Indian restaurant that looks like Punjabi dhaba.
"In India, highways are dotted with local restaurants popularly known as Dhabas . They generally serve local cuisine, and also serve as truck stops. Very commonly, Dhabas are found next to Petrol pumps, and like Petrol pumps, most remain open 24 hours a day. Since most Indian truck drivers are of Punjabi descent, and Punjabi food and music is quite popular throughout India, the word Dhaba has come to represent any restaurant that serves Punjabi food, especially the heavily spiced and fried Punjabi fare preferred by many truck drivers." (thanks Wikipedia )

We tried many different dishes - samosa (triangular pastry filled with veggies), chicken biryani, fried spicy stuff, and other things I don't even know the name of! But, I think the hightlight of the meal was the after-dinner paan. There was a paan shop inside the restaurant - really, it's just like a walk-up window or bar with a guy inside. So, a few of the guys encouraged me to try this paan. They told me it has many purposes -- digestive, breath freshener, and you will even get a buzz from it (similar to chewing tobacco). It was in the shape of a fortune cookie and held together by a toothpick (see picture below). A Bettel pepper leaf held together the inside ingredients of coconut, cherries and spices. I put the whole thing in my mouth and started chewing. The first taste is sweet, as the outside was dipped in a foil-looking sugar. Then I immediately tasted the perfumy, soapy, minty flavor of the Bettel pepper leaf. VERY interesting. Then it was subdued by the coconut, cherries and spices. It was pretty fibourous....taking quite a few chews to break down the leaf and raw coconut. Afterwards I had a strong taste of perfume (not that I eat perfume!) in my mouth, but it felt refreshing at the same time. It lasted a few hours until I brushed my teeth thouroughly.

Experiencing the Food remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Jam-packed week!!!!

2007-04-04T12:42:48Z

Whew! I finally found a free minute to add an entry about the last two days. I definitely hit the ground running! My first day in the office was Tuesday. I left the hotel at 5:15am with a couple of other US expats on rotation from the Los Angeles office. Yes, it was still very dark. Luckily, the commute is only about 5-10 minutes. We entered "Hi Tech City" (this is the name of the area where the Deloitte office is) through a big gate that had this name overhead. I wish I had gotten a picture of it...there is a "map" (really it's just some big arrows) of the area directing you towards the different companies' buildings that are there. Dell, Motorola, Oracle, and Deloitte were the headlines. Ha! I thought I was in India! Deloitte has 4 buildings (A, B, C, & D Block), each about 5 stories tall. Our group is in A Block. Here is a picture - outside and inside.

Once inside, I was in the elevator and recognized 2 girls that are assigned to the San Diego office - Shruti and Sudeepthi. I was thrilled to finally meet some of the faces that I had only seen pictures of. I was shown to my assigned cubicle and met Soumya (someone I have been working with a lot over the last year) and also Nikhil and Dinesh (two guys that have been a great help to me for a while now). We were very excited to finally shake hands and put faces with voices and emails.
The rest of the day at the office was a bit of blur. Soumya showed me around and helped me get settled in. I had breakfast with Nikhil at the cafeteria (see picture below).

There was a lunch meeting with the tax executives from our region. I was pretty adventurous and tried a lot of the spicy food, and it made me suffer the rest of the day. But, I finally made it back to the hotel room about 5:30pm and had time for a power nap of 20 mins until I had to meet everyone to go to dinner. Gotta love the power naps! I woke up feeling a little better, but still exhausted. I met everyone in the lobby to caravan to the dinner that was across town. Since we left during rush hour, the 10-15 mile trek took us about 50 minutes. Man, is there A LOT of people and no traffic organization whatsoever. I think we only saw 1 traffic light the whole time (and these are very crowded roads!). The ride was adventurous, to say the least. Rickshaws (like a covered 3-wheel moped), motorcycles and cars battle it out constantly. Beeping is constant.
I was very glad to finally see the hotel where we were having dinner. Dinner was great -- chinese food in India, who knew??

After dinner, we enjoyed more drinks with the tax execs.

I FINALLY stumbled into bed around 12:30am. I was SO happy to see my bed (although it's pretty hard)!
Today (Wednesday) was easier. Even though I only had less than 4 hours of sleep, I woke up even before my wake up call at 4:15am. I felt great! And, I even figured out how to get warm water in the shower. (yes, I'm an idiot and couldn't figure it out, so I took cold showers for 3 days).
We had another big meeting today - our CEO, Chet Wood spoke to the entire Region 10 office (which is about 1,000 employees!).

Now I am back in the hotel room (it's 6:10pm) and getting ready to leave again for another tax executive dinner. Thank goodness this is the last one! They (the execs) all leave tonight. WHEW!

Jam-packed week!!!! remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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First day in Hyderabad

2007-04-02T08:27:52Z

It's Monday, April 2nd. My first full day here in Hyderabad. I had a GREAT night's sleep last night. I was worried that I wouldn't because I took a 6 hour nap yesterday. I ordered room service (first time ever doing that) for dinner. It was great. Tomato soup (my fav), naan and dahl. Yum! The naan was my favorite part - if you don't know what naan is, it's a round, flat bread usually baked in a clay oven. Dahl is a spicy curry-ish thick soup with herbs and lentils. It was also wonderful.

This morning I woke up around 7am and decided I felt good enough to find the workout facility and get the blood moving. They have a very nice workout room with some treadmills, etc. and weights. 2 minutes into my workout, Ara (our tax HR person for San Diego...as well as LA and OC) says "Hey Steve" to the guy next to me and I sort of turn around and she says "Hey Kelley". She was with 2 other tax partners showing them around. Steve, who I had been emailing with but never met, introduces himself. Small world of Deloitte-ians all right there. Pretty funny!

After I showered, I went down to the restaurant for breakfast. They have a nice, big buffet with lots of different stuff. Good for trying new things! After breakfast, I decided to lounge by the pool and soak up the warm weather and sun. It's pretty warm here. I saw on TV it will be 38 degrees Celsius here today. That's high 90s Fareinheit. It sounds terrible, but it's actually not bad at all (but, I like it hot!). There was a nice breeze when I was by the pool, so I stayed out there about an hour reading my book and taking some pics - see below.

Tonight I am meeting up with a co-worker from the LA office for a drink before a "Tax Executive Dinner" here at the hotel. Our CEO, Chet Wood is here, along with a few other big wigs. Should be interesting!

First day in Hyderabad remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Traveling around the globe in 40 hours or less

2007-04-02T07:35:30Z

Man am I glad to FINALLY be here! I arrived at my hotel around 8:30am on Sunday (that's about 8pm, Saturday for you SD folk). Prakaba (? not sure of the spelling but he told me his name means "sunrise") was the driver who met me at the Hyderabad airport to pick me up - see the photo below. After a LOOOONNNNGGGG journey, I was extremely glad to see the inside of my room. And even more thrilled to find out it is one of the nicest places I've ever stayed. The total travel time from San Diego to Hyderabad turned out to be just under 40 hours. Not exactly what I expected. The original itinerary was supposed to be about 26 hours. Thanks to the bafoons (yes, that includes you Schwartz! jk) at the Chicago airport, we took off 2 hours late. I pretty much knew that I was going to miss my connecting flight in Frankfurt, since there was only an hour layover, before I left Chicago. Sure enough, my flight from Frankfurt to Hyderabad was gone by the time I got there. So.....after waiting in 3 lines for an hour, I was re-routed to Delhi to catch a domestic flight to Hyderabad. I was relieved that I wouldn't have to spend the night in the Frankfurt airport. Although, looking back, that may have been a better idea than what I went thru in Delhi.

Now in Delhi (it's around midnight local time), I had to go thru customs and pick up my luggage since I was taking a domestic flight to Hyderabad. Got the luggage, now I'm heading towards the exit of the airport. I knew I had to go to the domestic terminal (which is really a separate airport), so I'm looking for signs that will direct me. Nothing. Meanwhile, there are about 100 people lined up waiting and staring at everyone coming out (yes, kind of awkward). So.....I see a room with a sign that reads "Intertransit Lounge". I'm thinking "ok...I'm waiting for another flight so, maybe this is where I wait?". There is a tall guy in a uniform with a huge gun (almost like a machine gun) standing at the entrance. So I ask him if he knows how I can get to the domestic terminal. He will be able to help me, right? So, he asks to see my ticket. Then he motions to a young guy to help me with my luggage cart and leads me outside. He explains (in a dialect very hard to understand) to me that we will wait for the taxi and it will take me to the other terminal. I asked "Isn't there a shuttle I can take?". He says that since it is so late (1am now) the shuttle and the airport is essentially shut down until 6am....just past my flight time of 5:30am. Okay, fine. So, I ask him if I need cash for the taxi (since I only have $10 on me and no Rupees). Yes, but I can pay in dollars. Great. It can't be more than $10 to the other terminal, right? WRONG! Once the taxi pulls up and they load my things inside, they (the guy escorting me and the driver) show me this "official" brochure with gov't published taxi rates. He points to amount I must pay - $45 (yes, American dollars). I tell them I don't have that much, so he gladly says he will show me the ATM back inside the airport. Okay, thank you! So, I try to withdrawal cash from my bank account and it is not letting me. Crap! I tell the guy maybe the ATM isn't working and we go back to the taxi. Down the road about 2 miles, we pull into a gas station with an ATM. I get out and pray that this one works. It doesn't. But, I remembered that I had been carrying a debit card for a bank account (with $30 left in it) I had meant to close. I wasn't sure what the conversion rate was from rupees to dollars, but I knew I need at least 2500 rupees for the taxi. I tried for 3000 and prayed it would work -- YES! It worked! Thank God.
About 10 minutes later, we arrived at the domestic terminal. Whew! I got out of the taxi and tried to take a photo with the 2 guys (thinking that they were SO nice to be patient and stop so I could get $)....but my stupid camera was acting up and I wasn't able to get the shot. Oh well. At the entrance to the airport, 2 more guys in uniforms w/ guns were guarding the door. They stop me and ask for my ticket. They ask if I came by taxi from the other terminal and I say yes. How much did I pay? I tell them and an astonished look comes over their faces. 2500?! Yes, 2500. Is that too much? They didn't say "yes" directly, but asked why I didn't take the shuttle. I told them the guy said the next one wasn't until 6am. Wrong. I guess they run all night. Oops. Again, they ask how much I paid and, to make sure, one guy wrote down on his newspaper 2500. Yes, that's right. That was too much, wasn't it? Yep. Well, I said, I guess I got screwed! How the heck was I supposed to know? Great. Now I had about 4 hours to waste until my flight. The terminal was not the greatest. No available seats (everyone there was streched out asleep on all of the benches in the lounge area). And, I had no rupees left (with tip for the drivers and for the guy escorting my luggage, it was gone quickly) so I couldn't eat. I plopped down on the hard marble floor and wrote in my journal (thanks Adria!) and listened to my Ipod for a while. Finally, at 5:30am, I boarded my flight to Hyderabad. I was never so happy to get onto a plane!

Traveling around the globe in 40 hours or less remains copyright of the author KLSimon, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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