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=0=| Just a couple of hundred yards after Bus 333 reached the end of its line there was a mall, the Pacific Mall (when I have internet access again I will look up what suburb it was in). There were loads of street vendors with interesting fare, but I decided to continue being cautious and instead ate in the malls food court. Oddly enough you paid to get a debit card before entering and then got a refund when you left. I had chicken fried rice. I guess I am not very adventurous.... The mall was air conditioned and had a very large central courtyard, but really didn't have the feel of a mall in the U.S. (too flashy with not enough consistent styling). Just beyond the mall was a metro / subway stop on the blue line. |
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| The mall itself did not have any internet cafes so I crossed the highway and finally came to a promising neighborhood. On the way I saw a 'Tourist' bus where the driver was strapping a bicycle to the top. Of further interest is that the bus was a sort of double decker with sort of sleeping compartments where the overhead luggage racks would go. How intriguing? I guess I will have to wait for my next visit to India to experience India by bus in a sleeping compartment. On the return trip I was asking which bus stop to use and was told to take a different bus (971) at a different stop and it was just pulling as I got there. Cool. I had to stand for a bit and these to passengers asked that I take their picture. Cool! |
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| I also took a picture of the person who rides just above the back door entrance. I learned that you tell him your destination and he tears / marks a ticket for the appropriate fare. He is really fast at counting and sorting his money. I once observed him give wrong change (he put a 20 rupee note in the section for 10 rupee notes and returned the 20 rupee note as change). The passenger noticed the error and it was corrected with thanks. There were still a lot of soldiers at the Tibetan Camp. |
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| Here is an Air Force bus which explained all the soldiers in dark blue fatigues. Another thing I noticed that there is a lot of public affection between same sex friends in India (men with men and women with women). I even noticed two soldiers holding hands which really struck me as odd (not part of my image of soldiers in the U.S.). I imagine that it is healthy, but still seems odd to me. The gate I wanted to take out to catch a cab on my trek to the airport was closed, but there was a female soldier there and when I looked questioningly at her she indicated I should open the gate (it wasn't locked) which I did. I asked about going to the airport tomorrow morning at 2AM and she seemed to indicate that would be fine. |
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| I allowed plenty of time to get to the airport as it was early (2AM) and I hadn't made any reservations. There were the three wheeled cabs at 2AM and I asked to be taken to the local Metro / subway, but was told that they are closed until 6AM. My next fallback was to ask to be taken to the New Delhi airport express subway station, but was again told that they are closed until 6AM. My next fallback was to just ask the cab to take me to the airport. We agreed to $12 which was perfect as I had only $13+ of rupees left. I made a short video of the ride at night. |
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| There was a small disagreement as we approached the airport as the cab driver wanted another $2 for the bags (he stopped at a gas station and suggested I should get 'change'), but as I only had another $1 we agreed to that. Then he left me off just outside the airport where there was a shuttle as three wheeled cabs weren't permitted to enter the airport proper. The shuttle left every 20 minutes, but I had plenty of time as my flight wasn't until 6:05AM. |
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| Here is are the drop off areas for the International departure section of the New Delhi airport (at 3:30AM). I noticed there were signs for the shuttle to take three wheeled cabs. Below is a map of the Delhi International Airport. They have a long 'duty free' shopping section that you have to walk through to get to the gates (also below). |
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This page was last updated on April 5, 2012.
