Travel Date: 13 February - 20 February 2010
Number of pax: 9 adults and 3 children
Cities Visited:
New Delhi
Srinagar
Agra
Jaipur
Currency: Ruppee, RM10 for Rs128
Total Expenses including air ticket: ~RM3,500 per pax
International Flight: MAS, JB-KL-Delhi RM1,600
Domestic Flight: 14 Feb 2010 8.50am, Returned 16 Feb 2.35pm Spice Jet, Delhi-Srinagar RM300
Booking for CheapFlight-Yatra
Weather
Sunny days throughout our visit.
Srinagar: Very very cold all the time, especially at night when temperature falls below zero.
Delhi and Agra: Very cold early in the morning and middle of night.
Jaipur: Cool in the morning and hot in the midday.
ACCOMMODATION
All hotels need passport details of every person in the group which we did not prepare before hand. Some need to keep a photocopy of our passports.
13 February 2010
Shalimar Hotel, Malhipalpur
Cheap hotel near airport, room is clean but noisy outside the door. There are always people talking. Double Room RM115
14-16 February 2010
Swiss hotel Kashmir, Srinagar
Double and triple room Rs1500. One mattress is given for triple room but no electric blanket is provided, therefore the mattress is useless. Guess that's why no extra charges.
No central heating system. Freezing in the room. Electric blanket is provided for sleeeping. Never try to get out of bed in the middle of night. It's minus degree Celsius.
Electric blanket in my parents' room is not functioning well. Sleeping at night is like going through hell for them.
There is hot shower but limited water.
The owner is friendly and helpful. We are their only guest during our two nights stay. The breakfast consist of Kashmiri bread with butter and jam, eggs, coffee, tea and Kashmiri tea.
15 February 2010
Ivory Hostel, Karol Bagh
Double room RM90.00 Old but clean in the room. Close to Ajmal Khan road where there are plenty of stalls and shops. No lift.
17 February 2010
Tourist Rest House, Agra
Double room Rs600 (RM50). Cheap and clean, hot shower available. Business is very good. They did not prepare our rooms as requested in the e mail. They set up two more rooms on the spot and did not provide blankets in one of the rooms. There are guests who check in late without calling them in advance and all rooms are taken up. The breakfast starts at 7.00am but they agree to prepare toast and hot drinks for us at 6.30am.
18 February2010
Hotel Kalyan
Double Room RM70. Lift available. Room big and clean. Bigger room comes with 4 single beds. Rooftop breakfast with more choices available and delicious. One of our most enjoyable hotel.
19 February 2010
Hotel Blue Sapphire
Booked through our travel agent on a last minute basis as we want to come back to shop at Karol Bagh. Double room Rs2000 (RM156) which was sold at Rs1799 at their website. Triple room Rs2700 (RM210) comes with a single bed. Room is quiet and clean. Staff of the hotel and its restaurant provide very poor service with a really disgusting attitude. We did not take the breakfast at the hotel after a bad experience during the last dinner.
TOURS WITH CAR AND DRIVER
Srinagar and Tangmarg: Two big cars with drivers. Srinagar sightseeing, excursion to Tangmarg and airport transfer, Rs5600.
Tangmarg to Glumarg:
One minibus, include winter jacket, gum boot and sledge on the snow Rs750 per pax. One person holding my father Rs400, another person holding the child Rs400. We pay out Rs9000 for this short trip, the ultimate rip-off.
We make a mistake of not discussing properly at Tangmarg. We were brought to one agent, no chance to meet the others. They actually push us into the minibus together with the 11 locals to push the sledge. When we reach Glumarg, I was feeling dizzy, everybody were pushed to the sledge. We were unable to make any discussion by that time.
Glumarg is a beautiful place, but people created sin for themselves because of tourist like us...
Thanks to Heaven that it was snowing when we were there...
Delhi, Agra and Jaipur: 12 seater tempo with one driver and his assistant
17 February - 19 February 2010
Rs17,600 with 10% tax exclude entrance ticket. Guide provided at Agra and Jaipur.
Driver is quiet all the time. Only ask about what time to where.
The travel agent, Saj, is introduced by the counter staff at Ivory Palace. No comment on his service. We don't have time to make comparison with other travel agents.
Delhi sightseeing to Qutab Minar, shopping at Janpath Market and airport transfer:
Two cars with driver at Rs2050. We pay the money to Hotel Blue Sapphire.
One of the driver is very tricky, he's a Singh. He sent us to Connought Place, told us that there is no parking. I told him to bring us to Janpath Market then but he stopped the car in one of the commission shops. I have to yell at him and throw him some colours and finally he stopped us near Janpath market.
At the end of the trip, we gave him 400 ruppee tips and parking fees for two drivers and he ran away with all the money leaving the poor second taxi driver grumbling at the airport. We just pay him another 100 ruppee for the parking. Too bad...
SHOPPING
Srinagar - Sunday market (lots of cheap stuff), Polo View street
New Delhi - Ajmal Khan Road, Janpath Market
Agra, Jaipur - No time for shopping except being brought to the commission shop owned by government
Mineral Water - price printed on bottle, varies between cities, Rs10-20 per litre.
13 February 2010
Flight KL-Delhi 18.50, arrive Delhi 21.50 local time. Flight journey is 5 hours ++.
Government Prepaid Taxi to Malhipalpur, about 10 minutes drive - Rs150 per cab with extra charges for luggage.
No queuing at the taxi stand. Most people jump ques.
Waiting for the taxi...
We reach hotel around 11.30pm.
14 Ferbruary 2010
6.30am Get ready to airport. Hotel staff called a big car saying it can take all of us but can only fit 8 people with luggages. We call for another cab. Total Rs300.
Air tickets must be shown in order to enter the airport.
SpiceJet check in counter needs to verify credit card used to purchase air tickets. Luckily I brought the right credit card with me.
Every hand luggage including plastic bags and handbags need to tie a card for verification stamp when going through security check.
We board the plane in time but flight is delayed about 45 minutes due to bad weather. There is an hour stop over at Jammu.
We reached Srinagar closed to 12.00pm.
Upon arrival, foreigners need to submit a personal details form which we are not aware of. The officer have to fill up our passport details one by one. We are given another form to fill up for departure.
Taxi to Swiss Hotel - Rs850 for two taxis include extra charges for luggage. It's a 45 minutes - 1 hour drive.
Owner of Hotel Swiss, Rouf help to discuss on a price for our sightseeing tour but the taxi driver refuse to accept the price. He called another two drivers which offer a better price.
Srinagar Sighseeing
Takht-e-Suleiman Hill for phototaking, we did not go up to the Temple.
Nishat Garden and Shalimar Garden along Dal lake. Entrance Fee: 10 ruppee
Nishat Garden
View from the Hill
Shalimar Garden
At 6.30pm, we stop by the local market and manage to buy some cheap woolen clothes (Rs60 per piece, we asked about the price for a few times, can't believe our ears...should have bought more of them...) and blankets (Rs250 per piece for double bed).
15 February 2009
9.00am We started our journey to Tangmarg where we need to change to another vehicle to go uphill. It's about an hour's drive to Tangmarg and another hour uphill.
When we arrived at Glumarg, there were so many locals, the agent and his gang led us to a stall to change our shoes to gum boot and put on another layer of jacket. Then we were practically pushed to the snow walkway and made to sit on the sledge. One person pulled one sledge. We were brought to the cable car station through the walkway. It was snowing along the way.
We can actually walk there, maybe a 10 minutes' walk. It was lunch time when we reach the cable car station, nobody wanted to take the cable car. We wanted to have lunch in the hill top restaurant but the agent said it is fulled and insisted us to go downhill to Tangmarg. As there is a distance from cable car station to the restaurant and most people are feeling either tired or dizzy, we couldn't walk to check if it is really full. But I believe this is just another tactic from the agent.
In Tangmarg, the restaurant is also full...
I guess I'll enjoy more at Glumarg without these touts walking around and interrupting us.
For anyone who would like the experience of snow, Glumarg is actually a very cheap place to go comparing to Hokkaido and Korea. Just have to beware of these ugly touts.
16 February 2009
10.00am We check out from hotel and stop at Polo View street for last minute shopping.
**Silk Scarf bought from a shop - turn shapes when make contact with water.
Fresh walnut, almond - Rs500 per kilogram.
11.30am Get ready to airport.
One kilometer before Srinagar airport, there is the first level security check. Upon arriving the airport, we have to show the air ticket with passports then go through baggage scan.
Flight is punctual. We reach Delhi at 4.35pm.
Taxi to Karol bagh cost Rs186 per cab. We took three cabs and were charged Rs620 in total.
We reach hotel, took my first bath after 3 days in Srinagar. The counter staff introduced a travel agent, Saj, to us about our tour the next day. No bargaining on the price, I have no time to search around anyway so I just agreed with it. The price is the same from the one I obtained through e mails, I believe it can be lowered but we have time constrain.
Saj brought us to a family restaurant for dinner and show us the shopping area. He suggested us to stay at Karol Bagh on our last day as there is plenty of shopping opportunities in this area. I told him our budget and asked him to book the room for us. He just asked me to call him again.
17 February 2010
8.00am Breakfast at hotel.
9.00am Journey starts for sightseeing. India Gate, Humayun's Tomb (Entrance Fee: Rs250) and Lotus Temple.
We were brought to Delhi Haat, a commission shop. I bought a bedsheet cover (Rs2750) and a punjabi suit (Rs1050) which is a bit expensive.
4.00pm++ We travel to Agra and reach hotel at around 8.30pm. We took dinner at the hotel while waiting for them to set up our rooms.
18 February 2010
6.30am Get ready for breakfast.
7.30am The driver arrived late (supposed to be 7.00am). We proceed to Taj Mahal.
Entrance Fee: Rs750
We first meet the guide for Taj Mahal, he is not very professional. Rushing us most of the time, but we didn't bother.
We took about two hours in Taj Mahal, then was brought to the commission shop that sold marble table top, then we went for lunch. The guide told us that Agra Fort is occupied 80% by the army and told us that it is not worth visiting. I believe he is just trying to run away from his job.
2.00pm As time is late, we decided to drop Agra Fort and visit Fatehpur Sikri instead.
3.00pm We started our visit at Fatehpur Sikri, hiring a government guide at Rs175. I thought I'd spend half an hour taking photos inside but there is a long story in the fort. We ended at the stalls selling some marble souvenirs. My brother bought a souvenir at one third of original price when we were walking away.
Entrance Fee with Taj Mahal ticket: Rs250 (Rs300 without Taj Mahal ticket)
A meeting hall, Fatehpur Sikri
5.00pm We leave Fatehpur Sikri for Jaipur.
8.30pm We enter Jaipur, stop for dinner.
Then another half an hour's drive to Hotel. Luckily the hotel has a big room with four single beds that accommodates our three members comfortably.
19 February 2010
7.30am We started our breakfast at roof top restaurant.
8.30am Get ready for sightseeing. Phototaking at Hawa Mahal, then proceed to City Palace.
9.30am City Palace opened for public. Our guide gave good information about this place, no photos are allowed in the Musuem. The current Royal family is still staying in the Palace.
City Palace Entrance Fee: Rs300
After City Palace, we proceed to Amber Fort before taking a late lunch.
2.30pm The guide said he will bring us to the local market for shopping but it ended up a commission shop. We refused to go in and asked him to stop us at a tea shop to buy the marsala tea spices.
100g Rose tea Rs350
100g Masala spices Rs400
After that, we continue our journey back to New Delhi.
By this time when I call Saj, he is still not confirmed with the hotel. He just said that he will bring us to the hotel when we reach Karol Bagh.
8.00pm++ We reach Karol Bagh, Saj brought us to one hotel which he said is fully booked, then he brought us to Blue Sapphire, which is quite costly. The hotel in-charged person promise to set up extra single bed instead of a mattress on the floor. I took up the room then.
I requested Saj to arrange for our car and driver for the next day, he quoted me a price and we agreed. He said the driver will come at 12.00pm the next day.
Those who are hungry ordered their dinner at the restaurant. The staff refused to serve their table and kept them waiting for the food.
20 February 2010
9.00am After the bad experience the night before, some members refuse to take breakfast in the hotel. We walk out to search for other hotels but we couldn't find any along the way. I called Saj for direction to the shopping area, and he told me to look for Ajmal Khan road.
It took us about 15 minutes walk. We bought fruit juice and some fried stuff on the road side to fill our stomach.
There is a Mc Donald at Ajmal Khan road. We scroll around the stalls and bought some handbags while waiting for McD to open at 10.00am.
After breakfast, everybody continued with their shopping spree and agreed to return to the hotel by 12.00pm. I gathered my family members at 11.30am and hired two auto-rickshaw back to hotel at Rs50 each. The other members walked back to the hotel saying that no auto-rickshaw is willing to take them.
The hotel staff arrange two cars with drivers. My initial plan is going to CP, then Qutab Minar, rest at Gurgaon then go to airport. The staff said there will be heavy traffic at Gurgaon and Qutab Minar in the evening. Then eventually the driver suggested to go Qutab Minar first and turn back.
12.30pm We proceed to visit Qutab Minar. About an hour's drive away.
2.00pm++ We had our lunch in a Thai restaurant.
We drive back to Connaught Place for shopping. The tricky driver refuse to let us down and try to drop us at the commission shop. I started to throw my temper, and finally he stopped us at Janpath Market.
5.00pm We spread out to do individual shopping and agreed to meet again before 6.45pm.
There are plenty of stalls, we only managed to look at one third of them. Cotton blouse are selling at Rs100 as starting price. Better ones sold at R250.
6.30pm We packed some burgers at McD near Janpath Market.
7.00pm We headed to the International Airport. Traffic is smooth. We reach airport in half an hour's time and plenty of time for us to do our packing.
Again air ticket and passport check at the airport entrance.
We check-in our luggages, took our burger and went through the security smoothly. Those who carry a lot of items in the handbags will require a thorough check.
I check-in most of those odd shape items into the luggage to avoid the trouble.
11.10pm Flight back to KLIA, ending our rush and tiring trip. We reach KLIA at 7.00am local time.
India has to be appreciated in a slower pace...
But I will remember the snow in Glumarg.
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