Sweet & Sour Chicken and Prawns with Ginger.
Well I think so.
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Sent from my mobile device
I got back to the hotel yesterday around lunch time. The banging and
drilling from renovations on the 5th floor were resonating with full
force through the reinforced concrete structure. Instead of having a Caesar salad delivered to my room I went to the lounge where it was a little more peaceful. Finishing up I ventured back to the room but it was too much, just constant construction. Hotels are supposed to be quiet peaceful places. A bit difficult when filled with noise and vibrations. Bad enough missing my own space but this, so I made a few phone calls and went for a walk.
Coming out of the lifts I walked up to the reception desk on my floor
and asked for the bill. The noise you see. The poor staff looked
absolutely crest fallen. Explaining that it was nothing to do with them
or the service, its just this was my home I wanted peace and quiet - which
sadly they couldn't provide. Absolutely nothing to do with them. After a little more reassurance I went to pack. Shortly after there was a knock at the door. One of the managers was there and she was very sorry but could they move me one floor up. I explained about the vibrations and it would make very little difference to which she agreed.
As if I was being ejected I was escorted out by the Manager and Club Floor Manager. Downstairs I was handed a gift, completely unnecessary, but kind of sweet. Waiting for Shiv to pick me up a taxi drew up and as I then found out our account manager stepped out to try and persuade me to move to their other hotel. Had it been closer to the office I may have moved there but the plan was to move to a hotel next door – much more convenient. We were then joined by the Sales Manager who expressed his sympathies but completely understood and said the ‘noisy’ construction phase should be finished in a week and a half. We’ll see – and if it is I will move back.
Again I explained they hadn’t lost me as a customer. And to prove it despite checking out, last night I went back, first to the Blue Bar – to chat to the bartender, and then to the Blue Ginger again for dinner. The service is great, its quiet with comforting surroundings and the food is excellent. Sat at my usual table the Vietnamese Chef came out smiling and we shook hands. In his broken English he asked me if I liked chicken and if I was coming again tonight. Why? He’d make me a special off the menu dish. Wild horses couldn’t stop me. Apparently I’m the first person he has done this for and I don’t intend to disappoint or disrespect him.
I’m off there now.
Three weeks and 5 days to go.
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09.27 - Arrive and join queue to enter building.
10.30 - Applicant #58. Join next queue for 'allocation'.
11.00 - Neville supposed to be joining me later. If its after 12.00 ask
him to bring McDonalds or Subway for lunch. Start writing this whilst
listening to music. Hope the battery lasts. Its also being read over
my shoulder.
12.18 – Moved 20ft and can now see the desk.
12.20 - At the desk and told need extra never needed before paperwork.
Question and told to see the 'In Charge'. Neville arrives to help out.
12.27 - In Charge says we do need the never needed before paperwork.
Given new number, now #84. How does that work? #55 showing on the board.
12.30 - Go back to office to eat lunch. Also check camera with
different lens and write updated to do list.
14.00 - Back at FRRO office as their lunch now finished. Join the
massed ranks of people I left waiting. #67 on the board.
14.15 - Checked never needed before paperwork with new In Charge. Now need letter from hotel confirming residence. Neville on the case. Back to listening to music.
14.51 - Number 84 'come on down'! Fax from hotel not yet received so
'go sit down' again!
15.02 - Hotel faxing the letter. Can see the fax machine but nothing
coming through.
15.14 - Fax arrives. In Charge says no need to copy. Officer says to
copy. What's the point in having an In Charge? Shiv goes to find copy
in the local market as I'm not leaving here.
15.31 - Shiv arrives back with copy. Go to the officer who staples and
stamps my application. And then tells me to take a seat.
15.47 - Wow almost 6.5 hours later and a walk out with my visa -
breaking all Sky's known records for FRRO attendance in a single day.
Off to the gym to get rid of a little frustration...
Its been a strange first two weeks in Delhi. Though haven’t done a huge amount its been its kind of usual chaotic self.
On the first night there was talk of going to Thailand as trouble seemed to be brewing there. If we did go I was not looking forward to it as by 9pm the jet lag was really starting to kick in and I felt terrible.
On the second night there was talk of going to Nairobi as it looked as if the British hostages held by Somalian pirates may be released. This would have been to meet up with Ashish as Pete the cameraman was off for the weekend.
During the day time’s spent in the office, installing, updating new kit for the bureau which I had brought out. Similar but different – it was almost like coming home – I know I’ve said that already but its because its all very familiar. In the office I sit at ‘my’ desk opposite Neville and we chat about stuff as if no time has passed at all. Arun is there to arrange stuff – including fixing two phones I brought out to be repaired. Akilesh the ‘office boy’ still there bring water and making cups of teas as well as running errands. Alex in and out like a whirlwind. Shiv pops in quickly and say hi – and get to talk to him more later on. But no work as such.
Knowing I have to try to keep the weight down – due to living in a hotel and having to eat nothing but rich food my daily exercise routine is swimming 30 lengths in the morning before it gets too hot – over 40 degrees C. Then in the evening an hour or so in the gym on the exercise bike to keep my legs going.
One saving grace in the hotel is the Vietnamese restaurant ‘The Blue Ginger’ where the menu is distinctly lighter than anywhere else. In the couple of weeks I have eaten there all but 4 nights or so. I have my own table at the back by the kitchen, and the waiters know I’ll have a glass of Pinot Grigio and some green tea when I come in. Though they still insist on bringing me a knife and fork. Chopsticks rule! One of the many fantastic dishes is marinated grilled chicken pieces. Served with slices of lime and a rock salt chilli mix. First squeeze on the lime, then sprinkle with salt and chilli – absolutely stunning and very very simple.
The waiters do seem to be concerned that I’m always dining by myself and I have managed to have one dinner out with old friends. Risham & Asjit, Gagan & Arbind. Obviously we talked about what has happened to the school – and despite all our good intentions at the time – nothing has changed. Quite sad. All in all it really was a fabulous evening just relaxing and chewing the fat over the last few years.
And then we have the bar – the Blue Bar…
That’s my seat at the end where I have a ‘my usual’ Bombay Sapphire and tonic. In fact the barman – who makes a wicked ‘Gunner’ with fresh ginger, makes sure that even when he is not there that I have my own bottle of Bombay – kept under the bar so no one gets at it.
Eventually work does show up. One day some lives on the roof and at 40’C+ not fun at all. Then a trip to Goa, and just as we are about to leave we are stopped by the volcanic ash. The person we are supposed to be meeting isn’t coming. Will I ever get to Goa? No instead I take Arun on another expedition to find a couple more of the lone caches lying in Delhi. And to make it worse on the hottest day of the year so far – 44’C.
Can’t see why but Alex and Neville especially, think I’m mad!
Home for the next 53 nights. Well according to the hotel staff it was 54 last night and my maths isn’t that bad.
I’m in the middle fairly near the top.
And have a view over the pool (even had two short swims today) and green belt area. If the sky is blue one day with fluffy white clouds then I’ll show you the whole view – until then…
Best of all I did my first of a very select few Indian Caches today. Mainly because you can’t leave stuff lying around – even if its hidden. Chuffed any away.
1989 - UK - (voted)
1993 - Hong Kong
1997 - Hong Kong
2001 - UK (voted)
2005 - Delhi
2010 - Delhi
On that basis it'll be the next one in 2015. Now up to three hours and
thirteen people have been seen! Unless I'm still here that is.
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Sent from my mobile device
We landed about 10 mins late to a hazy morning as the sun rose over Delhi. A mild 23ºC. The plane taxied to the stand passing the brand new terminal building which has been built for the Commonwealth Games later in the year. No chance of getting in or out of the construction site as it was protected by a concrete fence lined with razor wire.
Walking off the plane the same warm musty smell greeted me followed by the short walk to immigration hall. Small things have been changed to make the experience slightly more palatable – new immigration desks and signage.
Leaving the airport for the run into town to the hotel some things have changed some have not. Old beat up water tankers slowly made their way down the central reservation at walking pace with a man behind giving the plants their daily douse of water. Men crossed the road with their tiffin boxes on the way to work. Cyclists plodded slowly on their uprights against the flow of traffic. New is the airport railway (still being built) and subsequent yards full of discarded construction equipment. Motorbikes carrying husband and wife. The man legally wearing his helmet – and the woman not.
The route was the same one we used to do when taking the kids to school. It felt very familiar. In essence nothing much has changed – but why should it. Strangely I felt almost at home – but this trip is all about that quest – to get my head around my feelings for India.
Today will be spent getting my visa changed to multiple entry – lets see how a days bureaucracy goes.
Am now sat in the departure lounge watching lots of BA planes do their thing outside the window of Terminal 5. Really is how terminals should be. And there goes a Virgin plane to somewhere hot and sunny.
Obviously my ticket got booked and everything is sorted for when I land. Just looked at the weather and it will be somewhere from 22ºC at the coolest point heading towards the magic 40ºC mark.
As for my movements. Do know more – there are a couple of nice stories that will hopefully come off. The Afghan trip has been postponed and is most likely to happen mid May but will know more about that as time goes on. I’m getting quite excited about doing some real work again rather than filming ‘Jo’ reporter outside a building somewhere. It will take me a couple of days to get back up to speed but that will happen. Alex and Neville will just have to bear with me.
8 weeks seems like a long time, but it will be over in a flash. As my coast to coast bike ride is only 5 weeks after I get back I need to be very strict with my diet – in fact to try and loose weight as every kilo I’m not carrying will make it so much easier. Not by licking my flip flops though, which is apparently a preferred method. Just have to resist the temptation of eating every thing in sight – and best of all given the opportunity, going to the hotel gym and getting on the bike there and / or swimming when possible.
Its a week away or so till I go back to Delhi for 6 weeks. I’m currently sat on the train on the way back from work having dropped my car there after seeing Jess this afternoon and taking Aaron home. Having it there will make life easier when I get back, with holidays I need to take before the end of the year, in getting to and from home – without taking the train. Nice but just as expensive and a lot longer
How do I think about going back? Well that’s why I’m writing this so I can follow my journey – physically and mentally and see how things go. Yes I did ask to go back as I need to validate, I thinks that’s the best word, my thoughts on living there, and working with Alex. Hmmm. It will be interesting to see how our relationship works now. Its one of the things I’m most curious about but also concerned too. Like many things I have found out over the last couple of years – its the apprehension beforehand that causes most anxiety. The actual event works out to be fine.
As for what I’ll be doing – well so far all I have is that after I get to Delhi we’ll soon be going to Afghanistan. Really could do with some more information than that. Will do some digging on Monday when everyone is back in the office.
Things I’m looking forward to – seeing old friends again, which obviously includes Alex, Neville, Arun, Shiv, Risham, Mike…, getting some stuff fixed that in the UK would be thrown away, buying a proper ‘thali’ set and completing some more geocaches along the way. In Delhi there are some definitely – where I’ll drop a couple of travel bugs off. Elsewhere in the region, not so many but I may set some puzzle ones where you have to answer some questions and send in a photo.
What I’m not looking forward to is the 40ºC temperature that they are feeling already. Yuk.
For those who didn’t catch it live, here is a link to our starring performance on GMTV earlier in the year.
It’s quite a big-ish file (4MB or so) so may take a short time to download. It should launch windows media player.
What a sight to wake up to - and every room in the hotel has the same view. Stunning. In fact in my opinion better than actually going there.
And just below the pool. Which when lit up at night looks even more stunning but you will have to take my word for it. I’m not sure which I prefer though classic Indian or Chinese architecture. I think the Chinese have it by a whisker.
The kids as usual had a great time in the pool. Anyone would think that we didn’t have one the way they went on about it though.
I’m goin to get into trouble for puttng this here but you see Kathy very rarely. Ouch!!!
Aaron took some photos of the hotel and this is a nice one of some steps.
We took the hotel supplied golf cart to the entrance and picked up a surley guide for a whopping £1.30. Anyway from the stone I was standing on, is the first point you can see all four minarettes - leaning outwards in case of an earthquake so they won’t fall on the mausaleum.
Well you can’t go to the Taj and not have the ‘Diana’ shot can you.
Jessica ‘ girls rock’ trying to lift up the Taj and not doing a bad job of it.
Another great photo from Aaron. Yes if it looks hot is was. 40C!
Ben Shephard and the crew from London were all very nice and though our bit was cut short by a verbose Indian journalist before us - we still had fun. Aaron even got to mention that he misses Jaffa Cakes - so we are waiting for the boxes to arrive.
For some reason my pony tail was featured - together with something about being another cameraman!! It was good to get off the bench though as it was roasting in the heat.
Afterward being hot and sticky we made a quick exit for the 4.5 hour journey home - with a quick lunch stop at McDonalds!! Millie enjoys the trip home.
Jessica’s sunset shot just as we get back into Delhi after a 4 hour drive.
A Grand Day Out!
We are off to Agra, driving down and staying the night before being live on GMTV in the morning.
How? Well they approached the school looking for a British family living in India and they suggested us. As I’m still off with my back, I thought why not.
On the way Aaron and Jess took some pictures. This one being of a dung store house - where families keep dried cow dung to burn for fuel.
Jessica pointed out every ‘pollution point’ for us. Of which there were many.
We even saw a few trains - Kathy’s first in India apparently.
When we drove through a brief rain storm Aaron got some great shots too.
We got to Agra eventually and stopped to get a picture from the river before we reached the hotel…
Which unfortunately was directly into the sun!
Bird Flu was reported in Gujarat so we headed down there to what was supposed to be a quarantine area. It was a horrendous journey - a last minute descision - a late flight that landed at 9pm and then followed by a 5 hour drive so a small town still some 2 hours from where we needed to be. The hotel we holed up in for all of 3.5 hrs wasn’t much better that the car but it was a bed - and a complete rip off at less that £2 a head.
So up again at 5.30am we continued.
Strangely enough we just drove right on in and found some chicks that hadn’t been slaughtered yet - very soon though.
Eventually we get to put on our hastily aquired ‘blue suits’ - borrowed from a hospital in Delhi. I’m not quite sure why Alex put hers on as all she did was sit and talk on the phone. Moral support I guess.
Who is that dashing fellow - well at least its not a picture of my bum for a change.
And why - well to film these poor guys - students I guess from the way they were dressed and didn’t know how to use the spade - getting rid of the chicken sh*t. nasty job, cramped conditions - though the smell wasn’t that bad as it was dry.
After this we headed out of town to edit in a small restaurant where we settled into the family room - a bit like being in the zoo.
After this we drove to Surat - the nearest big town with a good hotel - hot shower and fed the package back.
It all seems very much a blur but I am sure we only spent a day in the town. It just seemed a lot longer. There and back we covered a lot of miles in fact we seemed to be driving for the whole time. It didn’t help with the fact that our flight back the next day was from Vadodra where the English cricket team was staying - all the hotels were full so we drove another three hours to get a plane from somewhere else.
The last stretch was great. I have been in India now for just short of 2 years. This is the first time I have driven on a proper dual carriageway - well made clean, fast - if your car can go fast - without the fear pedestrians or animals wondering in your path. Apparantly there are just two of them in the country.
The reason it takes so long to get anywhere is - apart from the dual carriageway - that no one used - the roads are appalling and you can expect an average speed of about 45km/hr or in real terms 30 mph on all major highways.
