Jaenks

I do have a chronic allergy to music in Russian. The only song I am willing to listen is "Kukushka" - Kino, even better in instrumental version. "Deutschland"( instrumental or with lyrics) and "Feuer Frei" beats any song in Russian . Your Bangkok food guide is really something, authentic I would say.

ChristianKiev

Friday, February 28, 2020

Unlike the weather App announced, the day started with perfect sunshine.

Since I’ve been quite early I spent some time at breakfast, eating my standards, enjoying some cups of double Espresso, reading a book.

At 10 it was time to go to the pool, for tanning, even the construction side doesn’t allow you to really relax.


Unfortunately at around 11 some clouds have shown up, it was partly sunny until 12 – when it suddenly started to rain, heavy tropical rain !

So I changed for the gym, 1 hour weights, 1 hour on the treadmill.

It was already 2:30 when I left the hotel for lunch, still some light rain. Due to that the small restaurants had to move all their tables and chairs to the hot and humid interior, where the fans didn’t help much.

At least today the fishball-noodle-soup restaurant was operating, I caught the last little table at the very back, ordered my soup and some deep-fried wonton, observed the preparation at the open kitchen right by the entrance.




After some minutes both arrived, the soup and the wontons.


Most ‘farangs’ (foreigners with white skin) don’t know how to eat noodle-soup in Thailand, eat it as they would do at home. But there’s a significant difference: while we eat the broth till the very end, the Thai just use it as a dip or sauce, to spice up the noodles. Therefore, when they ate the noodles, the rest of the broth remains untouched inside the bowl.

Since the broth is only used as a dip or sauce, you spice it up, with fish sauce (made mainly from fermented fish and in Thailand is the replacement for salt), peanuts, rice vinegar, sugar and – of course – chili powder.

The soup was, again, amazing, a real reason to travel to Thonglor when you’re in Bangkok. The noodles (two kind) are perfectly boiled, and in addition there fish dumplings, prawn dumplings, deep-fried and boiled wonton with fish-filling, a kind of fish sausage and chicken-dumplings – very complex in taste, at US$ 2.20.

The wontons I ordered in addition is just the ‘pasta’ of the wontons, deep-fried. You can eat them with the sweet-spicy sauce served with it or, as I like, dip it in the spicy broth.

I prefer such a tasty meal at US$ 2.90 over each and every steak !

Since the sun came out again I headed back to my room, changed and went to the pool, to catch some sun.

At the Club-Lounge, where the food wasn’t as appealing as yesterday and therefore I decided just to have some vegetables & dip, I had a quite strange situation: a lady in hotel uniform approached me, handed her card and introduced herself as sales staff. She asked me for my name and which company I’m working for – no problem. But then she asked which way I made my booking, I answered via marriott.com. She than told me, that next time I should please make the booking directly via the hotels sales office instead of using marriott.com. Very strange… what would be the benefit of a Marriott hotel when the booking is made directly and not via their website, marriott.com.

After I watched a movie and rested it was time for dinner. I wanted to easy a little bit more in style, no street-food, no Thai-food – not too far from the hotel (Friday evening is known for horrible traffic !)


I checked some food blogs and found a recommendation for the two restaurants at NIKKO hotel on Soi 55, about 5 minutes walking from the Marriott.


HISHOU on ground floor for tempura, OASIS on 6th floor for a Japanese dinner buffet. I’m far from being a buffet-lover, since, like with most other all-you-can-eat concepts, to tend to eat more than you should and mostly it’s quantity over quality. But, since highly rated, I gave it a try.

I liked the style, but it’s more hotel lobby-style than restaurant.


In addition it was quite empty which gave it even a more uncomfortable touch, like an airline lounge. But it’s a NIKKO, the ambassador of Japanese hospitality, so anyway Japanese food should be good.

I took a seat and opted for the buffet at US$ 30 incl. hot tea, cold tea, water or !!! Pepsi !!! I chose water.

I went to the section with sushi


and starters, took clams, prawns and oysters,


asked the waiter for some Tabasco to spice them up.


I do love oysters – but not in SEA. For me a part of the fun is the fresh seawater you wash them down with, to get the taste of the sea. But in SEA they always remove the water inside the oysters – that, for me, ruins the taste.

The Sushi I would rate ‘hotel Sushi’, had expected much more from a NIKKO hotel.

For main course the was a choice of pre-prepared Thai dishes and ready-to-order Japanese dishes, Cod, Salmon, Squid, Prawns




but also Lamb, Pork, Chicken and fantastic looking marble beef.


I ordered a half portion of marble beef with a black miso sauce


as well as a small piece of miso crusted cod.


I’ve to admit the quality of the beef has been superb, so tender it melted in my mouth. But still, I’m not a steak-lover, always would prefer other preparation. The cod was more of my style, very juicy and the small portion just right.

For dessert they prepared these wonderful fish-shaped Japanese waffles, either with red bean- or egg custard filling. With matcha ice cream I adore a portion of sweet red beans, but in case of waffles it’s egg custard.


They also had a selection of homemade ice creams: matcha, hokkaido milk, taro - and some more standard tastes like: blueberry, strawberry, cookies & cream.


I gave it a dry… and had the worst tasting matcha ice cream of my entire life.

When I asked for the bill I straight got a NIKKO discount card, which entitled me to 10% discount, for now and the future. Therefore the bill came to US$ 30 including taxes and service charge, not too expensive for the offered, but just not my world. Better I would have had dinner at the Japanese restaurant across the street from Marriott.

So I went back to the Marriott.

Marriott Sukhumvit Thonglor also features a rooftop bar, called ‘Octave’. From the lobby you take the main elevator up to 45th floor, another one to 48th and then walk up to the top.


There’s a bar, a DJ and many tables. Of course all tables have been occupied – but I couldn’t care less. Unfortunately the bar is a part of the Marriott and therefore they only serve Pepsi Max. To make things worse they poured a can of warm Pepsi Max over ice – so all the bubbles disappeared faster than light.

As usual in Bangkok there’s no party-feeling… I’m already jealous my girlfriend is still back home in Kiev, will go partying to ‘SPARKS’ with her best friend later tonight.

So I just enjoyed the view towards Sukhumvit for a few minutes, but it was rather windy and fresh up there.


Then I went back to my room.

ChristianKiev

Saturday, February 29, 2020

I actually didn’t want to bother you with todays TR because it has been a day similar to the others… breakfast, trying to tan (but only partly sunny), gym, fishball-noodle-soup (today with an extra portion of fried fish-cake with boiled, but still crispy Chinese cabbage),




tanning again (because the sun came out) and dinner.

BUT: the dinner was soooo amazing, I wanted to share with it you:

I planned to drive all the way to Chinatown to enjoy my favourite Hoi-Tod at ‘Nai Mong Hoi Tod’ but luckily I called before I left the hotel. Normally they’re open until 9 pm (except Mondays), but it happened before that I arrived at 8 and they were closed already – because they were just sold out. And today the same, already at 7 !!!

Therefore I skipped Chinatown and went to nearby 55 Pochana, the restaurant I visited 2 days ago and had been amazed. But this time I did my homework, read some blogs and knew what to order.

The restaurant offers Thai-Chinese food, so not very spicy. Also, in contrast to most other Thai restaurants, there’re no forks and spoons, but chopsticks.

I ordered one of their signature dishes ‘Dok Kajon Pad Kai’, which are little cowslip flowers (Dt.: Schlüsselblume), fried with egg, thin glass noodles, small dried shrimps and some pieces of pork belly, then topped by 2 nicely prepared, still juicy, prawns and some cuttlefish.


I’m not a fan of cartilaginous cuttlefish, so I removed it - and, yes, wow, the dish was soooo good !

Another recommended main was ‘Bpet Krob Pad Kra Pao’, a quite greasy dish, containing stir fried duck (skin still crispy), lots of chopped garlic, (not too much) chili and sweetish sauce, topped by a lot, a lot, a lot of deep fried holy basil leaves.


This dish was basically ‘out of this world’, very, very greasy – but so unbelievable tasty, one of the top Thai dishes I ever had.

And - believe it or not – since I knew that the food would be greasy, I had a bottle of ice-cold Singha beer with it (for all newbies: I don’t drink alcohol – normally).

I paid US$ 13 (including the beer)


and went back to the hotel, much happier than after the more expensive dinner at the NIKKO hotel.

In case you come to Bangkok and want to try traditional Thai-Chinese cuisine, try 55 Pochana !

roadwarrier

Looking at all the food photos makes me miss Thailand - time for a trip back.

Carq

I just finished reading your other report, featuring South America. I would consider a simple flat tyre already bad luck, but you got 3 or 4. Glad that, in the end, everything ended up well for you.
Looking forward to this, without any drama involved.

ChristianKiev

Sunday, March 1 – Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Sunday has been quite stressful, but, even I left Germany more than 20 years ago, that’s because at the end I’m still German. And a German has to have a ‘plan’ !

So the alarm rang me out of bed 0815, at 0900 I’ve been down for breakfast and by 09:30 already at the pool, roasting like a chicken on the roast spit, not forgetting to turn every 30 minutes.

After 2 ½ hours of tanning I went to the gym for an hour. Normally Sunday is ‘gym-free’, but I’ve had to burn some calories due to too much greasy and sugary Thai food.

I crossed Thong Lo,


took the BTS to Phrom Phong where the very nice shopping mall ‘EmQuartier’ is located.


I needed so T-Shirts and I wanted to check out prices, since Thailand has very high import duties. I’ve been quite surprised that prices were only 15 – 20% higher than in Europe, of which you’ll get back 7% at the airport. So, even the high import duties, branded clothes are only slightly more expensive than i.e. in Italy, but cheaper than in Ukraine.

Back to Thong Lo station where I went for a small lunch – what a mistake. But more to come later.

After another 1 ½ hours of roasting I brought some clothes up to the laundry at the very end of Soi 57, passing all the construction sites. They’re building some impressive residential houses, prices starting at around US$ 6’000 per square meter, a 2 bedroom apartment from US$ 825’000 – I guess that’s on basement.

I’ve to say I like these masks… you don’t have to be worried that for privacy reasons a person could be identified.


Now it was time to get pimped, manicure & pedicure, a procedure which takes place every 14 days. The hotel recommended a very nice salon just across the street,


where 2 girls were working on me parallelly to get thinks (nails !!!) faster done.


Unfortunately after I’ve been complete I started to feel pretty bad, rushed back to the hotel, but still buying mango with sticky rice on the way.

Montezumas revanche got me – the first time since years when in Thailand.

I skipped dinner and just went to bed, deep under the blanket not to feel cold. I can’t say I had a wonderful night’s sleep…

When I woke up Monday morning I felt like I didn’t sleep at all – but got a refreshing shower, brought some more clothes to the laundry. When you walk Soi 57 it’s interesting to see the contrast of glass skyscrapers and the traditional open air market just between them.


Even feeling not too well, I had to eat something. I went for breakfast to eat something very, very light – and went straight back to bed again.

At around 12 I forced myself to get out of bed and, of course, to the gym. But I felt quite weak and therefore I just did an hour of weights.

At 1500 I was at the pool, yes, tanning.

Shortly before 1800 I picked up my laundry and went to the Club Lounge where I decided to have dinner:

I can’t say I enjoyed it – but I had no desire for something different.

Back to the room I started to arrange my luggage – and closed Monday.

On Tuesday I started with my regular routine, but instead of egg white omelette I opted for Thai omelette. In combination with the sweet chili sauce a very nice start.


After tanning and gym I went back to my room, arranged my luggage – and still had some time before check out at 16:00.

So I thought of the 3 Bonvoy hotels in Bangkok I stayed within the last 3 months, which one to prefer. And the conclusion was: it very much depends on your Bonvoy status.

In case you do not have any status (or just Gold), I would go with the cheapest, the ALOFT or, in case I want more space, the slightly more expensive (about US$ 10/day) Executive Apartments at Marriott Sukhumvit Thong Lor.

Breakfast you would get around the corner at US$ 5, so no need to spend US$ 25 inside the hotel (at the ALOFT the breakfast is cheaper, but really crappy !)

In case of having a status (above Gold) I would either stay at the Executive Apartments at Marriott where, even it’s ‘Apartments’ you’re getting all benefits like breakfast, Club-Lounge access, free laundry etc., or the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, which in comparison is a real luxury hotel and, even already 24 years in operation, in very good condition. Why no ALOFT with status ? Because you’re getting nothing except a crappy breakfast and a late-check-out. Maybe you’ll get a room at a higher floor – but they’re all the same, except you’ll have to wait longer for the elevator.

At the SGS, in case you do have a status higher than gold, you’re getting a lot: mostly a Luxury Suite upgrade, 4 items of laundry per day, butler service which includes all-day coffee, tea, milk (important for my protein powder), juice and cookies, breakfast at the high-end Rossini restaurant (or any other outlet, even outdoors by the pool) as well as evening drinks and snacks at the pool or the bars. Without status I wouldn’t pay the price tag for the SGS, because you’ll get nothing than a small room, but an excellent pool, gym and Concierge service.

At 1600 I checked out of my room, went to a hair stylist at the end of Soi 57, just next to the laundry.


I have had bad experiences in Thailand with hair stylists – so I didn’t expect much. But I’ve been positively surprised when I entered the salon and the lady, before washing, asked me how I would like my hair to be cut.

The Thai ‘washing stations’ I really don’t like. You need to lay down instead of sitting in a chair. Just not my thing.


But after cutting I’ve been positively surprised – because the result, especially for Thailand, was really good.

Back to the Marriott and up to the lounge where I was allowed to spend my time until departure.

At 1800 they packed my luggage into the trunk of the taxi


– no change at rush hour to convince the fairly good English-speaking driver to use the meter. Anyway, he asked for 500 Baht incl. toll, about US$ 3 above the regular fare.

Traffic was horrible for the first kilometres,


but when we reached the toll way it got far better and so we reached the airport after 45 minutes.

Readers of my previous TRs already can imagine to where I was flying… yes, of course, it’s India. Same procedure as every year as for me a year without traveling to India can’t be called a year.

I remember when years ago I had to show up at the Indian embassy in Kiev, to require a Visa. It was just horrible since they couldn’t do it for German citizens, even I had the Ukrainian permanent residence permit with me. The passport had been sent to Germany, then – with the Visa – back to Ukraine.

Some years ago it became easier due to eVisa, this year even the Visa fee dropped. I don’t remember exactly how much I paid for my own Visa, but I remember for Ukrainian citizens it was US$ 60 – this year only 25, same as mine.

I knew that Check-In of Air India is at the very end of the BKK terminal, so I left the taxi there, smoked a last cigarette (no smoking rooms inside the complete airport building) and went inside, directly to where the AI Check-In has been located for over a decade. And, surprise, it wasn’t there anymore. I checked the board and found out that it was now located at isle K, in the middle of the terminal.


Arrived there I found the counters empty, no passengers at all.


The lady at the Business Class counter checked me in, wanted to see my eVisa and the CC I paid the ticket with. What would happen if I would not have this CC anymore ?

I was presented my boarding pass to Delhi


as well as the lounge invitation – I hate the Miracle Lounge near gate G2.

On to Fast Track Immigration where – again surprise – there was no queue at all. I love traveling in times of Corona !

Security- and Passport control (where also body temperature was measured) took 2 minutes – and I arrived airside, walked the shops, bought cigarettes and went downstairs where the lounges are located.

Instead of the Miracle Lounge I chose Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge,


nicely made, very quite and with a good selection of food.






I just took a Coke Zero & Laksa,


relaxed, talked to my girlfriend who was on the way to KBP airport for her flight to WAW and further DEL, waited until it was time to leave for Gate G1 where boarding was announced for 2045.

When I arrived at the gate the usual manual security check for lighters took place, fortunately the didn’t find mine deep inside my backpack.

After 5 minutes of waiting I was allowed to enter the Airbus A320neo first. The cabin pretty much looked the same as with the older types, but at least in good condition – no IFE though.


I seated at 2A,


Business Class was just booked 3/12, so at least I had the isle for myself. Last year, on the day flight, there was still a Boeing 787 with lie-flat-seats. But presently I prefer less comfort over any newer Boeing type.

Still on ground we received a glass of fresh juice, in my case watermelon, and the menu.


https://abload.de/img/030317mlkj1.jpeg[/url]

We took off in time, but the captain announced a longer flight time due to heavy headwinds.

The crew wasn’t understandable at all, speaking Indian English plus wearing masks, in addition they were very slow, just serving 3 passengers.

I ordered one of the two vegetarian options, Paneer, which came with rice, Indian bread, salad, a sweet yoghurt and dessert from condensed milk and dried fruits – the Dal she forgot to serve.


The food was quite eatable, nothing to complain about. In general I like AI-food, have always preferred it over Jet Airways. But I’ll never forget Kingfisher Airlines, which was just over the top.

Even the aircraft was only equipped with recliners I had a quite good sleep for almost 3 hours before they handed out the immigration- and Corona form


and we descended towards DEL airport.

Arrival was 50 minutes late, so 0040 on March 4th instead of 2350 the previous day.

injian

Speaking from experience - had a domestic flight on SpiceJet. The check in agent wanted to see my CC I used to book the flight but as luck would have it, I didn’t bring it due to fraud activity. Had to pay the fare again on another CC and she refunded the amount back on my original CC. Don’t know know if AI would have done the same thing.

ChristianKiev

Wednesday, March 4, 2020; part I

Unfortunately, even arriving 50 minutes late, we did get a parking position far from any gate – and I wanted my bed !

And now something started I really hate in India: every passenger wants to be first, so the complete back of the aircraft pushes (and I really mean ‘pushes’) in front, not allowing you to take your belongings out of the overhead bins. As I understood long time ago, Indians think we foreigners are always friendly and they can do what they want. So they’re always shocked when a European also is using his elbows – and I’m good in that if something annoys me.

Don’t stop at the stairs down the aircraft, they’ll just overrun you !


And everybody tries to get in the Business-Class bus, of course.

When we arrived at the terminal we first had to pass the ‘Corona-test’: handing out the filled Corona-form, asking the question if you’ve been with the last 14 days in China, Korea, Japan, Iran or Italy, then temperature measurement. Of course it was all chaotic, because everyone wants to pass the test first, pushing from the back and from the side.

At passport control I walked right towards the eVisa counters where has been a short queue, but nevertheless I passed within less than 10 minutes.

My luggage has been already delivered, so I went through customs, got some Rupies at a really bad exchange rate (1 US$ = 68 Rupies), bought a local SIM card which should be activated the next day, and went outside the terminal for getting a taxi.

There’re different taxi companies: the once inside charge more, have nicer cars – but I just needed to go to ‘Aerocity’, 5 minutes from Terminal 3. Outside, on the far left there’s a small office, where they sell taxi tickets, to Aerocity at 300 Rupies


– but you’ll get one of the ugly black taxis instead of the newer, white cabs (which cost 1’200 Rupies).

The driver stored my luggage


and off we were. Of course he wanted to know how long I’m staying in this hotel, where I would drive next, how much my hotel room costs… but no answer from my side.

At around 0200 I reach my hotel for the night, ‘ALOFT’, which opened less than 2 years ago.


We underwent the normal routine check, then the personal check – and I arrived inside the very nice Lobby, where I received my keycard, was asked what welcome benefit I wanted, points or drinks & snacks. Since I only wanted 2 Pepsi Max, no snacks, the receptionist gave me the 500 welcome points in addition.

Up to the highest floor where my standard room was located, ALOFT style – I like it !






I unpacked, went to bed – but couldn’t sleep. Well, I slept 3 hours in the plane. I decided to write my TR, went down for a smoke, until I was able to fall asleep.

In the morning I have been awake before the alarm rang, enjoyed a refreshing shower and went down. On the way I had a nice view towards the hotels atrium,

very nice for an airport hotel at US$ 100/night, could stay here longer, a real alternative to a city hotel.






Also breakfast,


for an ALOFT, was surprisingly good, with a wide selection,




a station for freshly cooked food.


I remember the self-serving breakfast areas at US ALOFT hotels.

India, yes it starts with Indian breakfast, something I really adore ! I ordered ‘Plain Dosa’ (a thin kind of pancake from rice- and black gram) with Sambar (a lentil based stew) and coconut-chutney, son jummy, with a side of plain yoghurt with mango-pickles.


Mango pickles… I remember I ate it first time and thought it’s disgusting, taste like soap. But by the time you’re getting addicted. When I brought my girlfriend to India first time we had a flight with Jet Airways – and they were serving plain yoghurt and mango pickles. I told her ‘it’s sooo good – and she tried, has been disgusted, didn’t understand how I could eat it. Today, when in India, the first thing she takes is mango- pickles.

After my first dish I went for more Indian delights, like Idli (a kind of rice cake) with tomato- and peanut chutney.


ALOFTs are great, much better than the very basic MOXYs. I really don’t understand why Marriott needs a second similar brand. They should have extended the ALOFT brand instead of adding the too basic MOXYs.

I check ‘Flightradar’ to see that my girlfriend just arrived at DEL airport,


so I knew I had to wait another hour for her arrival.

I went down to the beautiful Lobby with the Octagon-style marble floor, quite stunning, wrote my TR, uploaded photos until at 1120 the taxi with Valentyna arrived.

She told me how much she liked LOT business class, far above Lufthansa or Austrian airlines because the seats were wider, totally flat and straight, no narrow tunnel for the feet. I saw the photos, it’s quite similar to AI Business Class with their B787’s.

We stored her luggage in the room and went of for lunch because she announced that she was hungry for Indian food.

Aerocity has offers some malls with decent Indian fast food options, but nothing we tried in the past has been really good. So after a short walk

we decided to return to the ALOFT, to have some lunch there.

The buffet looked pretty good, the smell clearly said ‘welcome to India’. I didn’t try, but Valentyna was happy, I saw she really enjoyed.

While Valentyna had a shower I had a look at the gym & pool, really nice.




Yes, ALOFT Aerocity is a good option, especially when you’re in Delhi for business, because you avoid the traffic inside the city.

ChristianKiev

Wednesday, March 4, 2020; part II

At 1430 we checked out, took an UBER XL downtown New Delhi.

Delhi is one of my top 3 travelled cities in Asia, Bangkok being No. 1, Mumbai No. 2. Normally I stayed at the ITC Maurya, but this time I wanted to try something new, closer to Old Delhi. Reviews have shown that the ‘Le Meridien’ would be a good alternative – that’s why I’ve chosen this hotel for our 2 nights in Delhi.

On the way




we passed the ITC Maurya, parliament building and, in the distance, India gate.


The outside of the hotel was a first shock, huge, grey, from another time. Due to the size of the hotel there was traffic jam towards the reception, but eventually we managed to arrive, everything looking quite dated.

It took a while until somebody took care of our luggage, we went inside the huge & unpersonal hotel lobby. Valentyna was shocked – the lobby very much looked like a metro station, especially with the round air vents on the higher ceiling.


Check-In was very slow, it took the lady more than 15 minutes to make copies of our passports, arrange payment etc. An interesting fact that they asked for our boarding passes of the arrival flight, something I already disposed.

The elevators, the complete hotel reminded me very much of the US in the 80’s,


and up we drove to 11th floor, where we got upgraded to a corner suite.








Totally not our style, like a wooden box, a country side holiday home somewhere in Siberia. Also the cleanness was doubtful, the remote full of dust, some chocolate (I hope) sticking to it.

Only the view, even bad weather and smog was nice.


We decided to have a walk, the president’s house in the distance,


further to India Gate, about a mile away from the hotel.


Unfortunately, when we were already close, it started to rain and we had to take a three-wheeler back to the hotel.

Valentyna wanted to rest, I needed a small snack since I have had nothing to eat since breakfast. So I went up to the Club Lounge on 20th floor where dinner snacks should be served from 1700.


At my arrival shortly after 1700 there was nothing than cookies, croissants and snacks which were kept warm already long time.




I asked the Lounge staff when the snacks would be served – the answer es ‘after 1700’. I waited for another 10 minutes, nothing changed. Then I asked another Lounge staff when snacks would be served. The answer was the same: ‘after 1700’. Since it was already 1717 I asked him ‘when after 1700, at 2000, 2200 or 2300 ?’. He just looked at me with big eyes.

I decided to leave the Lounge, hungry like a lion, go down to the Lobby to ask the Manager on Duty the same question. His answer was ‘after 1700’. Wow, that was the wrong answer !!! From my time in business I know that Indian customers tend to let us wait, to show that they’re the customer, that they’re important. But now I’m the customer and they want my money. So I politely told him what I think of ‘after 1700’ – and he had nothing to respond, except offering me free sandwich. No, thanks !

At 2000 I was going to starve of hunger, so we left the hotel, ordered an UBER and drove a mile to restaurant ‘Daryaganj – by the Inventors of Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani’ of which I read in a Delhi food blog.


The interior was nicer than we expected, a table was available right away.


From the extensive menu we opted for a refreshing & slightly spicy drink, the signature dishes, boneless Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani, as well as some Paneer Kebab, Butter Naan and Chili Paratha.


It really looked good… and tasted even better ! I really like Thai food – but real Indian stuff is even better.

We were up for something sweet, ordered the traditional Kulfi (Indian ice cream made from sweetened condensed milk) with crashed pistachios and saffron


just WOW !

We paid slight above US$ 30 incl. 10% tip, walked a bit around Connaught Place with its beautiful colonial architecture, again took an UBER back to the hotel.

Jaenks

Instead of Aloft DEL(Aerocity), I would choose Andaz DEL(Aerocity) through Hyatt Prive. Standard rates are 104-110€ and through Prive agent you get free upgrade,breakfast, early check in, welcome gift and 100USD F&B credit per stay. In Andaz hotels one night is enough to get the credit. Kristen Nix( [email protected]) has FT members recommendations if you do not know any of agents.

ChristianKiev

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Since it’s Valentynas 5th visit to Delhi and I’ve been here more than 30 times, there’s no need for sightseeing of the usual attraction which we saw minimum once.

For us the reason to visit Delhi is ‘food’.

We started the day with breakfast at the Le Meridien at 0930.


When we arrived to the restaurant the complete staff already know who we are, name, room number. I guess after the scandal with the dirty room and the issue with the ‘after 1700 snacks’ in the Club Lounge there must be a photo of us somewhere in the staff quarters with the !!! ATTENTION !!! warning.

During breakfast we hardly could move to the buffet, we always had one or two senior staff next to our table who brought us Dosa, Idli, juices, coffee… This was ‘a little bit’ over the top – but at least I have to say the service was superb, the food of good quality and taste.

At 11 we were outside the hotel Lobby of the Le Meridien, a hotel which froim the outside very much reminds us to a INTOURIST hotel from the former Sovjet Union.



We called an UBER, left New Delhi towards Old Delhi, a huge contrast. While New Delhi is clean and green, Old Delhi is exactly the opposite. Plus very noisy. It’s not a smooth transition from New to Old Delhi, it happens at one point, Delhi Gate.

Our first stop was Jama Masjid mosque,


where Valentyna entered while I waited for her outside. Waiting hasn’t been a pleasure because every second some Rickshaw driver approached me with the words ‘Spice Market’ and ‘Red Fort’. No, I didn’t want a Rickshaw, we were here for a walk to breath the air and atmosphere of the small and narrow alleys of Old Delhi.

When Valentyna came out we walked north, passed a market for clothes, food – basically everything you would need for daily life




and entered the small alleys towards the main street.


Walking this alleys is very interesting, the architecture, the beautiful entrance doors,


the shops, the small food outlets


and, not to forget, the interesting electric wiring above you.

But you’ve to be careful, because these small alleys are full of live, which means motorbike traffic, transport of goods (mostly on the head).

We reach main street and the main reason to go there: ‘Jalebi Wala’, the outlet for the on the outside crunchy, inside soft and juicy sweets. Unfortunately when we arrived the Jalebi wasn’t fresh, so we decided to have a walk on main street eastwards.

This street is a big mess since in the middle they’re building a metro line. Last year there was still a long pit, now they closed it, but the street itself is still under construction – which doesn’t stop the people to already use it.


At the next corner there was a small food and Lassi outlet which was very crowded – a good sign. So we had the first lassi of the day, served in the typical clay-single-use-cup.


It was delicious !

Some meters further up the road we stopped at ‘Haldiram’s’, a very famous outlet for all kind of sweets. But we made our way upstairs where the family restaurant is located

where I ordered Raj Kochori, a fantastic dish originated from Mumbai.


Inside the crunchy ball there’re so many different textures and flavours, from sweet to spicy, it’s hard to describe how good (and different) it is.

We walked the street


until the end, where on the right hand side Delhi ‘Spice Market’ is located.


It’s an interesting (but also touristy) spot, full of colours and flavours. But of course, like everywhere in Delhi, also snacks are offered, either in small shops or right away on the street.



We bought some Chili-Pakora, basically fresh chili deep fried in a rice dough.


We were surprised: it was spicy – but just not too spicy.

Back we walked the main street westwards, until we reached the food stall where we earlier had the Lassi – now it was even more crowded.


Valentyna wanted a Dosa – a street Dosa, not a hotel Dosa. So we got her one, crispy, the Sambar spicy.




We were also able to observe the Dishwasher


– I think his chances to become a millionaire are quite small.

All the way to Jalebi Wala where this time we were lucky. The stock just had been sold out and they started to prepare new once.


It’s always interesting to see how they do it, how much experience they have.

First he uses a piping bag to press the dough into the hot frying fat, waits until they’re crisp and golden,


then moves them over in a container with syrup where another guy presses them down, so they can suck as much of the thick liquid as possible.




Soooo good !

Our next stop was a street vender who was selling a dessert which you don’t find too often, in the past it was made for the kings.


It’s like a super fluffy, airy milk cream, another ‘wow !’.


We ordered an UBER and while we were waiting, we saw a woman selling dried cow dung.


Back to the hotel where we went for the gym, we needed to burn calories to be hungry for dinner.

The gym was of an interesting structure, 3 different halls of which one is for cardio.






The equipment was of good quality and very modern, with displays showing the actual weights and how often you proceeded, as well as recommended the time in between the sets.

The pool outside wasn’t very welcoming, neither by style nor by weather.


Back to the room to get ready for the reason we come each year to Delhi, dinner at the ITC Maurya.

At 1900 we entered an UBER, drove to the ITC Maurya where we arrived 25 minutes later.

ITC Maurya hosts one of the best, most stunning restaurants of all times, called ‘Bukhara’ (even Bill Clinton had dinner here – and that guy knew how to enjoy life).


We got a table directly in front of the kitchen


where we were able to enjoy the preparation of our dishes.


I’ve eaten more than 50 times at Bukhara and its sister outlets at other ITC hotels throughout India, called ‘Peshawri’.


Since I ate all the dishes on the menu I went for my gfavourites, Dal Bukhara (lentils), Murgh Malai Kabab, and Paneer Tikka, accompanied by Butter Naan and my favourite bread, Pudina Paratha.


A part of the pleasure is that you don’t get any cutleries, you have to eat with your fingers.

What can I say ? The food was out of this world, as always. The Dal is the best you can get and the Paneer was fluffy like a Marshmallow. Nowhere else you get Paneer in such a quality, with such a soft taste.

We really wanted to try one of their desserts, but we were full. To our surprise the waiter, who remembered me from the last times, brought us one as a small gift.


The pudding of condensed milk with pistachios and other nuts was also very good.

Including one Diet Coke the bill came to US$ 120, quite expensive for India, but worth every penny.

We wanted to order an UBER back to the Le Meridien, but due to the heavy rain with thunder and lightning there were no cars available. We waited for 5 minutes, then decided to take a hotel taxi.

gaobest

How much is a box of cigarettes in Ukraine compared to BKK?

ChristianKiev

Friday, March 6, 2020

Time to move on !

At 0600 it was time to get out of bed. Outside it was still grey and rainy, according to the iPhone App only 15 degrees (centigrade).

We got ready, arranged our luggage, went down for breakfast and enjoyed some nice Dosa, of course with Sambar and coconut chutney.

Back to the room to pick up the luggage and straight down again, since I prearranged a taxi with a larger trunk at US$ 10. UBER would have been half price, but I really wanted a clean taxi where you don’t feel dirty after 10 minutes of drive.

We cruised through the rain towards DEL airport where we reached Terminal 2 after just 35 minutes. Here we dropped Valentyna,


then we moved on to Terminal 3, which was my destination.

Now you might have some ‘???’, right ?

For myself I bought an AI ticket BKK – DEL – GOI – BKK, while for Valentyna just GOI – BKK, which cost already nearly 70% of my return ticket. If I would have booked the flight segment DEL – GOI in Business Class with AI, the ticket price would have been 20% more expensive than my ticket all the way from Bangkok.

So I searched for an alternative – and found GoAir, an airline I myself had used before. There I found a Business Class fare for DEL to GOI at US$ 195, including 35 kg of checked luggage. But booking wasn’t easy, because the GoAir website didn’t accept either Ukrainian nor UK or CH based credit cards, just Indian once.

After some more try & error-research I finally found out that I was able to book and pay via easemytrip.com.

I arrived at terminal 3, had my last smoke in the cold,


went inside for check-in and luggage drop.


After I received my boarding pass


I had to go to ‘International Departures’ where on the far left there’s a small entrance for ‘Domestic Flights’ from International Terminal.

Before you enter you’re crossed out from a list, then you need to proceed with boarding pass scan before you’re allowed to go to security check.

There were so many people, I was really lucky to be able to use the First- & Business Class line which was quite empty – but unfortunately they found my lighter deep, deep inside my backpack.

After passing the Duty Free- and shopping area I went upstairs where Air India Business Class Lounge is located,


huge and – this time – very empty.


The food selection was quite poor, by the way.


At 1015 I left the lounge and went down to Gate 18, where boarding should have started 1025. But, when I arrived, there wasn’t even any aircraft. I especially had asked at the lounge if the flight would be in time, since otherwise I would have left later.

At scheduled take-off time (1055) boarding started, I saw Valentyna already taking off,


and only at 1125 they announced ‘boarding completed’, closed the doors. Valentnya was already in the air for nearly 30 minutes…

I had seat 1F reserved and, by luck, the neighbouring seat stayed empty (Business Class was booked 6/12 while Economy seemed to be fully booked).




The aircraft, such as the interior was pretty old, run-down and very dirty. The seats were hard, because approximately 1 Million passengers already used their cushions.

We had a long drive towards the runway, but at least I saw some interesting aircraft, such as a DC-3


and a B-767 of our national carrier, Ukrainian International Airlines (MAU).


At 1135 we took off, eastwards over Delhi’s outskirts, then turned south towards Goa.

When we reached flight altitude a small lunch was served, I selected the non-veg Indian dish, asked for some Dal and Indian bread in addition.


I wanted to sleep a bit, but since everything was so dirty I even didn’t want to put my head on the wall.

With a delay of 30 minutes we landed at GOI,


got a parking position directly next to the brand new A320neo with which Valentyna arrived 25 minutes earlier.


Out of the aircraft towards immigration/passport control where we had to show our boarding passes. For domestic passengers there was a way around passport control down to baggage claim.

Valentyna on the other side of the glass wall spotted me first and, after I collected my suitcase, we met outside.

A staff of our hotel was standing outside, told us to wait 15 minutes for the next shuttle bus.

The last 3 years we stayed mainly in Northern Goa, where at Vagator Beach W Hotel is located. The W is a very nice hotel – but has one minus: no beach area. So basically you’re laying at the Rock Pool on a small hill above the beach and when you want to go to the sea you’ve to pass the gate, lay on a towel by your own, without security. Not the best idea for a blond girl in a bikini.

Since this time we decided to stay for 8 days, ‘beach’ was important.

In the past I often stayed at the Park Hyatt in South Goa, which converted to an ITC Luxury Collection Hotel a year ago. I liked the Park Hyatt very much, especially because of its Goan style architecture and the beautiful beach with beach beds. That’s why for this year’s stay I selected ITC Grand Goa.

The shuttle arrived at 1445,


brought us within 30 minutes to the hotel, where we arrived together with a huge wedding group. Due to this there was loud ‘New Orleans style’ music and some Slavic girls dancing in Hawaiian costumes – a rather strange picture, a bit of a shame what clowns we became for Indians.

Check-In was performed a bit slow from a very high-nosy Indian lady. It was very clear that Europeans are 2nd class customers.

We got an upgrade to a pool view room, the available Suite wasn’t within the upgrade pool. Also the standard suite, available from 9th, would not be available for us, she told straight away.

The hotel has no Club Lounge and they don’t offer, such as other hotels, free cocktails or soft drinks at a bar. Also the 20% restaurant discount would be only available at the coffee shop, but not at the other restaurants – quite strange.

I asked ‘why ?’ and I have been told that they’re not a Marriott hotel but just a franchise partner. Further I’ve been told that with the upgrade to the pool view room and the free breakfast (which I selected instead of Welcome Points) they already would have done more than enough for us. Welcome to incredible India.

We went to our room, pretty much the same as during Hyatt times, didn’t see any major upgrade or renovation.




But at least from the balcony, when we starch our necks, we’re able to see the sea in the far distance.


After we unpacked and changed clothes we went to the beach. The beach is really stunning, wide and very, very long. After a short walk we rested at the beach beds, enjoyed the slowly disappearing sun.

Back to the room, we both were very hungry, me with the small AI lunch, Valentyna with only a veg sandwich on Business Class of G8.

We decided to leave the hotel for dinner, went to the beach,


turned left and walked 500 meters until we reached a beach shack with tables at the beach.

We took a seat – and 3 friendly dogs around us also.

For dinner we ordered Chicken Tikka Masala, Paneer Butter Masala, Shrimps Fry (a Goan dish) and Butter Garlic Naan.


The food was ‘ok’, nothing to write home about. Paid US$ 25 and left the place with same very happy dogs which got a nice dinner also.

When we arrived back to the hotel we walked through the beautifully illuminated park, were surprised how empty everything was, the restaurant at the beach, the once at the market square. Where did all the guests go ?

Back to the room where we enjoyed a very comfortable bed.

ChristianKiev

In Bangkok a box is US$ 50, in Ukraine it very much depends on the brand, mine are US$ 25/box (Marlboro and WEST are cheaper).

But it's not about the money... I don't get my brand in Singapore, Thailand, India and Western Europe (Parliament Platinum with recessed filter).

miuk

Now that's a rare brand in SEA region. Usually i will buy a couple of boxes back to Malaysia for my friends that used to smoke them when they were studying in the US.