Indulgence: Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi India

For all of my sleeping in hostels and trains, I do enjoy treating myself from time to time while I travel.

Sometimes its something small like gelato 3 times a day in Italy, having ham and brie baguette sandwiches in France (almost everyday). 

Or....

The hotel from the Courtyard.

Sometimes my treat is something like what I did on my trip to Nepal, I knew I had about a 9 hour layover in New Delhi, India at the end of my trip, so I decided to treat myself to an evening at the Taj Palace Hotel. I had the most luxurious 6 hours of my life, full of tea, food, chatting with the lovely staff. It helped to end one of the greatest experiences of my life.

*Note: I didn't book a room, since I knew I had to be out of there by 11:30pm to head back to the airport and check-in and go through security at the airport. 

So like my typical self, I rolled up to one of the fanciest hotels in the world looking like someone who had literally just received her first 3 hours of sleep in the last few days. 

I got in, took a stroll around the hotel, visited the business centre (which is open 24/7 and has a reasonable rate to use their computers and internet). I went to a boutique in the hotel, picked up some lovely bangles.

Then sat down for a tea at their Tea Lounge, it was hands down the best green tea I've had in forever, and the best service in the world. We are talking white gloved service here friends. The tea even comes with a sand timer that lets you gauge when your tea is done to your preferred taste. 

Best tea ever, and fave bangles !!

Tea Timer

After I had my tea, wrote in my journal, processed the last 48 hours of my life, then it was time for dinner.

For dinner I chose to eat like a Queen, and lucky for me the restaurant had a Gluten Free part of the menu. I went to the Kafe Fontana restaurant in the hotel. I was in heaven !! They had gluten free chicken risotto ! So I went to town on the menu, it was the first time I had a proper meal in days, as I had left Kathmandu in a wee bit of a rush. 

Deep thoughts.

So after savoring a lovely dinner, and being uncomfortably full, I decided some walking around the hotel grounds was in order. Hung out on the ground floor patio, took in the lovely rose water smell (which I will always associate with India), and pondered life, and my sushi order when I landed in Toronto.

Then more tea was in order, and again I order the classic green tea (its literally the only tea I drink). The chairs are so comfortable, i swear I almost fell asleep in them. Before I knew it, it was time to return to the airport, and start the long 2nd and 3rd leg of my trip back home.

I highly recommend popping in to the Taj Palace Hotel when you are in New Delhi, even just solely for the purpose of pampering yourself. The tea I had came up to $10 cdn, small price to pay to experience some luxury on your next trip.

The hotel was preparing for Diwali.

Return Trips: Yay or Nay?

First off, I want to apologize for the severe lack of posts, the summer got in the way !!!

I generally have a rule that I won't go back to a City/Country that I've been to before, there's just so many places to see. Have I broken the rule? Yes, a few times, but for all valid reasons. Plus I take it a step further, where I have Cities that are on a list of being ok to visit more than once, London, Paris, New York City, Montreal and Vancouver are on that list. Do you have any travel rules?

Never in a million years did I think that I would have the chance to go back to India, but alas my trip to Nepal has a stopover each way through Delhi. Granted I will be there for a combined total of 16 hours, but still there, and at night. So now I am forced with the dilemma of, should I leave the airport and kick it in Delhi for a bit, or just hunker down in the airport and go on a shopping trip.

India Gate - Delhi, India

A year ago: Ahmedabad, India

Its hard to believe that exactly a year ago I was traveling through India. My trip took me from Delhi to Agra (Taj Mahal), to Ahmedabad (for my friends wedding). Then to Mumbai, Jaipur and back to Delhi. 


Everyone hears about the big Cities in India, but today I am going to focus on Ahmedabad, in Western India, about an hour flight from Delhi. 

Traffic in Ahmedabad

Ghandi's Ashram in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad was also home to Gandhi, within the City is the Gandhi Ashram  and without a doubt the Ashram is the most peaceful place in India. You feel like you are in the middle of paradise, when in reality you are in the middle of complete chaos. I spent about 2 hours in the ashram just walking around, taking photos, learning more about Gandhi, it was superbly invigorating. Exactly what I needed at this point in my trip.

Hutheesing Jain Temple, Ahmedabad

After the ashram, I asked my rickshaw driver to bring me to the Step Wells, as per my Lonely Planet, the rickshaw driver had another idea, and brought me to the Hutheesing Jain Temple, it had just finished raining (I was there during the monsoon season afterall). 


Please note: During this trip I was reading Eat, Pray, Love -- in Ahmedabad I was in between "eat" and "pray" and felt this was the perfect City to have my "pray" part of the trip.


Its unfortunate I couldn't take photos inside the temple, but I channeled my inner Elizabeth Gilbert and took the entire experience in, got my feet wet, literally because you aren't allowed to wear shoes in the temple. Again, more peace was had, so it was a completely unexpected visit to a great Temple. Sometime you just have to go with the rickshaw driver, who doesn't speak english, and just trust him. Unless of course, he's trying to bring you to a "special place" and its a little too friendly at the ATM, but that is another story for another day.


And finally, this picture was the last piece of Ahmedabad before I flew off to Mumbai. After a crazy weekend full of an amazing Hindu wedding, the calmness of the River was a perfect way to bid adieu to Ahmedabad. 

Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad at Dusk

Eating through India - Allergy Style

When I first started considering going traveling in India, the thought never crossed my mind that I would have a problem eating the fabulous Indian cuisine. That carefree attitude stopped when my friends informed me that a lot of curries are made with nuts in India.

My friends taught me the word to use for nuts, its "sing" - I am sure I butchered the spelling, but the pronunciation is exactly that.

Thinking I had all of the information with me, plus my epi-pen, benadryl and my trusty lonely planet guide, I thought it was going to be super easy and I would be able to eat safely.

Then, I got to India, where everything changed. I went into anxiety mode, and just didn't eat, because I was paranoid if any of the foods came into contact with peanuts/nuts. So I just started to eat corn flakes, and obviously drank a ton of water. 

But then after Day 3 of that eating pattern, I realized if I wanted to survive 2 weeks in India during the Monsoon/Extreme heat I would need to find a better option. So then I started to evaluate my food options, and decided upon anything from a Western chain (hotel or restaurant) would be the safest route. I literally thought that McDonald's and hotel chains wouldn't want to make people sick with an anaphylactic reaction, and I was right !! 

So was I able to taste all of the amazing Indian street foods? World famous curries? Nope, but I was ok with it, I did go to a pretty decent Italian restaurant in Jaipur, so that's a pretty solid food travel experience if I do say so myself.

India: A morning in Dharavi with Reality Gives

In July 2011 I had the most amazing opportunity to travel to India for a friends wedding. India was always a country that I knew I wanted to visit, but never thought I would actually get there. But when the opportunity came up I jumped at it, and I'm so very happy I did.

The most memorable part of my trip had to be going on a tour of Dharavi, the area that became popular from the movie Slumdog Millionaire, through an NGO named Reality Gives. They do amazing work in Dharavi, making sure to highlight the positives of this community, and they create programs within the community. I learned so much going on a tour, and I wish I would have had more time in Mumbai so I could have done some of their other tours that are available.

What I loved about the tour is how hands on it was, at one point we climbed to the top of one of the dwellings to see the true physical form of the community. Which put the land mass/population into shocking perspective.  

As daunting the level of poverty is throughout India, and in Dharavi,it was a truly inspiring area to experience, it definitely put everything into perspective. I highly recommend everyone do a Reality Gives tour while in Mumbai.

Have you ever been on a trip/experience/tour that changed you? 

**Backstory behind this photo: reality Gives has asked people to submit photos of themselves wearing their i <3 Dharavi t-shirt or tote bag in their hometown. So this is me in Oakville !!