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Live from Uniworld's India and the Sacred Ganges - Feb 6, 2017


jpalbny
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Saturday, February 4th

 

It was an easy drive down from Albany this morning, and we met Chris' friend (and our Maid of Honor) with her husband and two kids for lunch. A nice change from our usual rush to the airport! Very relaxing.

 

We got to JFK long term parking at about 5:00 PM and caught a train to Terminal 1. It wasn't much of a wait at the check-in counters nor was there much of a wait at the ID check, but security was a little slow. Nonetheless, we managed to have almost an hour in the lounge before boarding. When we left the lounge, the boarding gate seemed empty, and we went right on the plane with no wait.

 

Once on board, we settled in and pushed back 15 minutes before our 7:05 departure time. We were airborne by 7:15, and considering it was only a 6 hour flight, it looks like we might arrive an hour early in Paris. We will see!

 

Had dinner and watched Inferno, the movie version of the Dan Brown novel. Fell asleep for maybe an hour and then it was time for breakfast. Soon we were on our final approach and we were surprised at how dark it still was at 7:20. But no complaints about being 55 minutes early!

 

 

Sunday, February 5th

 

We deplaned by 7:30, changed terminals and went through security, and were relaxing in the Air France lounge before 8:00. Not bad, considering our flight was scheduled to land at 8:15! After a nice relaxing stay in the lounge, we're packing up now and getting ready to walk over to our boarding gate to Delhi. Next stop is India! Looking forward to sharing this trip with everyone.

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So, hello from Kolkata, where we've just landed after a busy week on the land portion. There has been very little time for posting but I have taken lots of notes and pictures. Here are some random observations and practical tips, in no particular order.

 

1. Do not worry about the currency situation. Really. We changed $160 for 10000 Rupees at the airport, with a 5-minute wait. We likely could have done with 2000. We gave some away as tips, and used one of the 2000 rupee notes for a larger purchase when we saw that they were gouging more than 10 percent on the exchange rate for dollars. But we could have paid in dollars easily.

 

2. Credit cards work fine at the shops where they take you. They quote you in dollars but convert to rupees when they process the charge. At the high-end places in Jaipur, this exchange rate was quite fair, pretty much even par. We also used our CC at the restaurant in Delhi where we had lunch, which was charged in rupees.

 

3. Expect traffic! And the driving is a little nutty. The buses throw their weight around, seemingly with no regard for cars and other smaller vehicles. They seem used to it, however, and just stop or move out of the way of the bus.

 

4. There is good wi-fi at the Oberoi properties. And the free access is sufficient. You can connect up to four devices. The info in the brochure that says it's limited seems out of date. It's free and unlimited. I could have done a lot of posts, so that's not my excuse...

 

5. There isn't much downtime. Between the jet lag, and the schedule, if we weren't doing something, we were sleeping! Yesterday was the first day I felt reasonably adjusted. That was a little disappointing for me, as I have become proficient in adjusting to Europe time within 24 hours. The extra 4.5h were a serious challenge to me!

 

6. The food is amazing. Though the Oberoi hotels are expensive (think $150-200 for a 2-3 course meal for two with bottled water and a bottle of wine), the food is incredibly flavorful and the complexity of the spices is like nothing I've tasted before. They have a range of heat from zero to four chili peppers. Two peppers was a great level for me, and the complexity of the spice added to the nice heat. I've heard from our CD that the spiciness will diminish on that boat. Too bad, though I think Chris will be happy. She enjoyed most things but after a week it can be overwhelming. There are non-Indian options.

 

7. India has wine! They make a nice Viogner, and a Sauvignon Blanc as well as a sparkler made by Chandon, locally. Oberoi charges crazy prices, about 1000 rupees per glass of sparkling and 3500-4500 per bottle of the whites. There are reds but we drank less of them as we thought the white wine would be better with spicy food. I remember a Sangiovese which was nice. The wines have a similar taste to South African wines.

 

8. There is not nearly enough time for more than a tiny glimpse of these cities. We did nothing with the extra day on Delhi, partly because we were exhausted, and partly because the Oberoi Gurgaon is not well-located. It's way out of town and in a business section, at least 30 minutes from anything to see. The Oberoi New Delhi is closed for renovation and is better situated and this will improve once the tour shifts back here.

 

9. Wi-fi on the boat is supposedly limited to 150MB per person per day. That won't do much, so I'm hoping for some cellular data. The T-mobile plan is working reasonably so far. 3G is available in the cities, with occasional pockets of 4G. My plan includes unlimited data at 2G speeds though, so I'm a little slow. Good enough.

 

10. Though busy, the days are not overly active. We had trouble hitting 10000 steps most days. There also isn't much opportunity to go off independently. Not a concern for us, because big parts of the cities seemed like places to avoid.

 

11. Not very all-inclusive during this land portion, but the boat seems to include much more. Several extra meals to pay for, and drinks are limited when included.

 

12. The Taj Mahal. Wow. Sunrise and mist were magical!

 

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All for now. More to follow!

 

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Sunday February 5th - continued

 

A little later boarding in Paris, and pushback was a few minutes past our 10:30 scheduled departure. We passed the time appropriately.

 

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Despite the slight delay, we were airborne just before 11. With the flight time being 7h30, and the time difference, we could arrive early. That would be exciting!

 

We flew over the Austrian Alps, but not much to see.

 

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A little more food and wine to pass the time.

 

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The flight was not a completely direct path. We flew west over the Alps then over Romania. The direct route would have stayed north and crossed Crimea, but we turned south and flew over the Black Sea. After crossing the Black Sea, we crossed Georgia and Azerbaijan, where the snow-covered mountains poked out of the clouds to catch some afternoon sun. As we crossed the Caspian Sea, night fell over the Stans - Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan - staying well north of Iran. This is the furthest east we've ever flown.

 

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We crossed the north of Afghanistan and then Pakistan, then made a swerve north for our final approach.

 

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We touched down at 11:05 and taxied for a while, reaching the gate at 11:20. Customs was actually much quicker than expected. There is a separate line for e-Visas, and were through into the baggage claim by 11:45. We grabbed some rupees from one of the currency exchange desks, while Chris grabbed our bags. We exited, but couldn't find our transportation. There were throngs of people holding signs. None with our name.

 

After 10 minutes of looking, we called the number in the brochure, and our transportation guy found us, then we were on our way. The hotel wasn't too far and we were checked in and ready for bed by 1:00.

 

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Beautiful place! Time for some serious sleep.

 

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Monday February 6th - Oberoi hotel, Gurgaon

 

Today was a lazy day to rest, and to try to adjust to the 10.5h time difference. We slept until 9AM, and then had a little fruit and coffee from the complementary supply in the room.

 

Nice view of the swimming pool from our window!

 

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We wandered the hotel for a bit, checking out the grounds and pool, then we stretched out on lounge chairs for a while until lunch. It's a beautiful property, and I will upload some more pictures later when the Internet is better.

 

Service is great too! We had chosen some out of the way chairs to rest on. As we settled in, the pool attendant came by with a tray containing moist towelettes, scented water to spritz with, drinking water, and sunscreen! They think of everything here.

 

We had lunch at the 361° restaurant, with a nice view of their water features through huge windows. Starters were a spicy fillet of fish in banana leaves for me,

 

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and Chris had shrimp with mango salad. We had a glass of Indian sparkling wine (from a partnership with the house of Chandon) with the appetizers.

 

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We had two tasty main dishes - Chicken stir-fried with fresh fenugreek leaves for Chris. It was very flavorful, and almost tasted smoky - very nice! Not too hot, which pleased Chris.

 

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The main courses were accompanied by delicious Naan bread.

 

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Also, yellow lentils, spinach and potatoes, and three different chutneys (tomato, pineapple, and maybe coriander cilantro). It was so tasty! We had a Chilean rosé with the mains.

 

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My main was a spicy lamb dish that came cooked in a tagine-like pot. It was intensely spiced, in a tomato-based sauce, and also had plenty of heat. It was so good that I ate it all before I remembered to take a photo!

 

We ate as much as we could, and I helped Chris with her dish, but we couldn't finish. So we skipped dessert. We made a dinner reservation for tonight on the way out.

 

After lunch we napped for a few hours, as we were still quite tired from the travel and the time change. Good thing we allowed an extra day to adjust...I couldn't imagine trying to go out touring today.

 

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...The flight was not a completely direct path. We flew west over the Alps then over Romania. The direct route would have stayed north and crossed Crimea, but we turned south and flew over the Black Sea. After crossing the Black Sea, we crossed Georgia and Azerbaijan, where the snow-covered mountains poked out of the clouds to catch some afternoon sun. As we crossed the Caspian Sea, night fell over the Stans - Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan - staying well north of Iran. This is the furthest east we've ever flown...

We crossed the north of Afghanistan and then Pakistan, then made a swerve north for our final approach...

JP: Following this with interest as Lyn now has interest in going to India (she passed in 1991 when I was burning Pan Am miles and spent a month riding the rails in India with a backpack). That year my flight carefully avoided the Balkans due to fighting there. I was lucky enough to have multiple stops in Crimea on a riverboat from Kiev to Odessa - now flights are avoiding that area. In 2005 I was on a flight from Singapore to Frankfurt that was slightly east of Herat, Afghanistan when we suddenly dropped several thousand feet - an air pocket I assume, but all I could think was "OMG did we just take a missile hit?" In November coming back from Ha Long Bay to Hanoi as a semi was heading directly toward our bus (which was on the wrong side of the road) I said to myself that I've had a good life with amazing travels, and if this is it I have no regrets. Travel is always an adventure! Wishing you a great and safe trip.

 

Thom

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Well, all good trips must unfortunately come to an end, and today we disembark for the long journey home. We leave this evening from Kolkata on Air India to Delhi. From Delhi we retrace the original flights (Delhi-CDG-JFK) before driving home to Albany on Sunday afternoon.

 

Luckily we don't work on Monday because I think we will be exhausted for some time to come. But the trip was lots of fun, and there will be many new experiences to share with everyone!

 

Thom, your adventures always give me palpitations. This trip was much more civilized. :)

 

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Chris, great reporting! You really captured the essence of the trip. Looking forward to reading more from you as well.

 

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I have to ask. Did you three meet up on the cruise? [emoji3]

 

I love Chris's article and the fact she lays it out there for anyone considering this journey.

 

I'm sure the sights and experiences were simply amazing and can't wait to read more.

 

 

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Absolutely! Chris and I had a great time meeting, and traveling with, Cruise Critic Chris and her husband. The four of us shared a lot of good conversation and even more wine. Such fun, even though CCChris had to spend a lot of time researching every aspect of the trip.

 

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Monday, February 6th, continued.

 

We spent a few hours napping after lunch. I think I'll post a few room pictures here before dinner.

 

The main section had the bed and a nice sitting area, with a picture window overlooking the pool.

 

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Beautiful bathroom with twin sinks.

 

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A nice soaking tub

 

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This frosted glass on the left concealed the toilet and the shower.

 

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So after the nap we were ready for our 7:30 dinner reservation. We had seen that this restaurant has a tasting menu, which seemed like a good way to try a bunch of different Indian foods. Neither of us are familiar with Indian food at all, so what better way to do it, than to dive in head first?

 

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Monday, February 6th, continued

 

We arrived for dinner at Amaranta promptly at 7:30. Glad that we had made a reservation, because the place was packed and I only saw one other empty table!

 

We had a nice table in the corner, with an elegant place setting.

 

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We looked at the menus but didn't see an option for the tasting menu. So we asked the waiter if it was offered tonight, and he got the menu for us. There is a 7-course and a 9-course option. The 9-course uses the same 7 courses and simply adds two additional dishes, rather than being a totally different menu. We went with the 7-course menu.

 

We had some bread and "paté-ckles" to start. The spreads were the consistency of a coarse pâté, but the flavor was supposed to be more pickled. Not bad...I preferred the mango-chile but the carrot-garlic wasn't bad either. The fish one was, well..., fishy. Not our favorite.

 

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First course was a black lentil wafer, with three different toppings. The wafer was crumbly and light, in contrast to the rich toppings. Tempered yogurt (yellow), coarsely mashed peas with spices (green), and the red toppimg was a finely grated beetroot that was fried and tasted very good!

 

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They gave us little note cards for each course, so we knew what we were eating.

 

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Next we had seared scallops in a coconut cream. Beautifully presented, and absolutely delicious!

 

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The note card for this course...many of the dishes had cutesy references about Akbar, one of the Mogul emperors, and different members of his court. Each dish had a little story with it.

 

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Five more courses to go...I hope we've brought our appetites!

 

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Monday, February 6th - tasting menu, continued.

 

This next course puzzled me greatly. The menu said jackfruit and glutinous rice. We got a pair of dumplings in a steamer basket.

 

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A cool presentation though. Beautiful silver plate, with a few accompaniments - banana, coconut, tomato chutney.

 

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Once we tried the dumplings, though, I was downright puzzled. The filling really looked like shredded meat, and it had the texture of chicken. Tasty, but what fruit is this? I assumed that they had changed the menu and hadn't told us.

 

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Since I've been home, I read that this confusion isn't so unusual. There is some debate as to whether jackfruit can be prepared to taste like pulled pork. I had no idea!

 

I really liked the next course. Chicken and millet were cooked in a tasty spicy sauce, then poured over a crispy piece of flatbread. The sauce softened the bread, and eventually seeped through to the plate underneath. Nice chunks of chicken, crispy or soft bread (your choice, center or edge), and lots of sauce.

 

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The card for this course.

 

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The courses were getting bigger. This may be a challenge! And what have they brought over now?

 

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Edited by jpalbny
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