Delhi on the cheap

Hotel Star Palace, Delhi 7 August 2010 6pm
What you get for $US25 a night is the company of a mouse, a TV set with snow that keeps losing the channel and no loo paper. Fortunately I have some that I carried on the trek in Ladakh. Oh I forgot to mention the cup of tea on arrival. And they came up and asked me if I would like to make a booking for my return to Delhi from Bangalore – they have to be joking. The air conditioning comes with the full repertoire of tractor noises but at least it works. Time to see if I can find my way on the metro to Connaught Place.

11pm
Just returned from an interesting evening in the city. I bought a ticket to whatever station it was that is Connaught Place 3 stops down the line. On the platform I met Rik & Liz, a brother & sister from Holland who were going to Kaleem’s Restaurant near Jama Masjid Mosque. That meant swapping trains where I was going to get off and carrying on another 3 stations. The fare would have been Rs15 but rather than paying the extra Rs5 I had to pay Rs50 penalty as well. An expensive change of plan. The restaurant was awfully hard to find up back alleys off back alleys but very popular and rather good. I finished up eating spicy food again in spite of my intentions. Liz & Rik were planning to stay at the restaurant until they got chucked out as they had a 4am check in for their Aeroflot flight to Moscow which was the cheapest fare to Amsterdam they could find.

I couldn’t find the gate to the station trying to get home. I managed to talk my way through a normally locked gate but I still have no idea where the normal entrance was. There was a Spanish woman at the station also going to Karol Bagh. She had the most amazing collection of insect bites she had acquired I think she said in Ulaipur – is that where Bollywood is?
Somewhere along the way I lost my hotel key. The hotel is so organized!!! They had a bucket with about 50 unlabelled keys in them. I discovered on return my water wasn’t cold. The fridge was not only not plugged in but I think never plugged in. The plug won’t reach to the socket. I had thought about putting the fridge on a chair so the cord would reach to the socket but when I saw the dusty state of the motor I thought better of it.

Delhi 8 August 2010 6:45am
The Star Place Hotel continues to pull surprises. The bed had just 1 sheet (bottom) and a single blanket but it was warm enough – anywhere in Delhi the problem is keeping cool not warm. I found the bed a little hard but I slept OK. The bathroom has an electric caliphont system that is not turned on and doesn’t look like it worked in years. So much for the promise of hot water. However it is so hot the cold water was not icy so the shower was tolerable. I’m not having breakfast here. I will have it at the airport.

Bangalore 2pm
The food choices at the airport weren't that great either so I made do with a cup of tea and a piece of mediocre chocolate brownie. By this stage I had been through the harrowing ordeal of checking in. First the drive had never heard of Go Air who are one of the smaller independants and took me to the Indigo terminal. The second security guard I tried actually gave me instructions on where to go rather than just telling me wrong place. Then having gone through the second security checkpoint I couldn't find the Go Air check in desk. Some sleaze bag grabbed my luggage trolley got the bags x-rayed and then took me to the checkin counter where he demanded Rs200. When I tried to give him Rs50 he got very ugly but finally agreed to go away for Rs100. Next I discover i am carrying 37kg of luggage. That will cost me Rs1700 (NZ$51.50). It only cost me NZ$75 from Wellington to Delhi. Then the guy suggests I pay Rs2000 to upgrade to business class. As this means I get a free meal (you pay in economy on GoAir) I figured it was worth it. So thinking I have a business class breakfast coming up I make do with a snack at the airport.

Next I discover the plane has been delayed for 35 minutes which becomes 45minutes officially and an hour in reality. Buy the time I get breakfast it is 11am.

Now for the extreme contrast. I am staying in the best hotel in Bangalore. The room is huge and has a fully equipped kitchen supplied with everything I need for breakfast and snacks (even though breakfast in the restaurant is included in the price). I get 2 weeks unlimited internet for Rs5000 - about NZ$150.

The bed looks big enough to sleep 4 quite comfortably.