My third trip to India wasn't solely my idea. About a year ago, I was simply inspired by my colleague Jasper when I saw him going for a long trip to Egypt in January. He was taking a break right after New Year's day, but before CNY! It felt like a good idea that I hadn't done before, so I told him that.
As Jasper and I talked, it turned out that he was keen on visiting Taj Mahal. For me, I never travelled with anyone to India before. My first two trips,
Kolkata and
Bangalore, was
done solo because nobody wanted to join me. So a chance to
travel with a buddy to an exotic destination with
Hard Rock Cafe was too good to be missed!
Around July 2024, we hung out with Mitesh, our colleague from New Delhi. We discussed about the trip and the itinerary was more or less done. The trip was on! I asked Surianto and he was excited. Boon would be the fourth guy to join. And since India is nothing like Japan, Mitesh recommended us to use Jetsave Holidays, a travel agency he knew about.
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While waiting for our flight to depart. |
Fast forward to wee hours on 11-Jan-2025, there we were at Gate B5, waiting for our flight to depart. It was Surianto's first time flying with SQ and it was delayed for 1.5 hours. An experience to remember! The night sky was dark as we flew northwest across the time zone. Then the plane descended into the foggy, greyish sky of New Delhi.
Indira Gandhi International Airport was... unassuming. Immigration was smooth, luggage collection was all right, toilet was clean, but as Boon put it, there was no visible landmark for us to take a photo. Our driver Manish met us at gate 4 and, after a car ride of 30 minutes, we reached Welcomhotel in Dwarka Sector 10 area.
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The photo taken by the professional photographer. |
The hotel was booked from the night before, so we got our rooms immediately, including the breakfast! It was fantastic, as one could expect from the
Indian cuisines. Right after that, we headed to our first destination: Swaminarayan Akshardham. It's dedicated to a holy man that we as tourists had never heard of before.
What I can tell you is this: no phone allowed. And that caused us to have a digital detox involuntarily. The withdrawal symptoms immediately showed. With no ability to google or to take pictures, we were quite unsure how to appreciate the meticulously built temple. On top of that, both Boon and I were sent back to the parking lot as our belongings contained cables and powerbank, haha.
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As we headed to the Lotus Temple. |
Second destination was the Lotus Temple. This was again another
culture lost in translation. I mean, it is grand, all right, but since we didn't speak Hindi, I totally had no idea why we queued only to enter a quiet hall that had no attraction inside.
We had our dinner at Gulati, a recommendation from Mitesh. Great butter chicken and mutton biryani! From there, we headed to Hard Rock Cafe. Up until then, I had visited a total of three Hard Rock Cafes (Bangalore had two when I was there) and the t-shirts collection had been a letdown. Apparently Hard Rock Cafe New Delhi was no exception, too.
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Having dinner at Gulati. |
That rainy night, after a futile attempt to queue for KFC, we took Uber back to hotel. We were soon reminded again of what our driver said earlier that day. Three things were required to drive in Delhi: good horn, good brake and good luck. The honking never stopped and the traffic jam was worse than what I encountered in Jakarta! Even when an ambulance was blaring its sirene behind us, it seemed like none understood the urgency to give way!
The vehicle that had a better success in parting the crowd was the rickshaw. The experience was equal to sitting on the front seat to see Moses parting the Red Sea. The sea of people in Old Delhi market would just give way to our rickshaw. One pedestrian was clumsy enough to get his banged by the rickshaw and they all just moved on like nothing happened! How incredible!
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When Surianto entered the door at Jama Mosque. |
Anyway, we took the rickshaw because we were visiting Jama Mosque. For the third time in a row since yesterday, we took off shoes to visit the site. For this one, we even gotta fork out INR 100 to pay for the thin sandals that had the name J.W. Marriott written on them. But the mosque, said to be the third biggest in the world after the Blue Mosque and the one in Mecca, was indeed quite impressive. I like the part where Surianto spontaneously opened the door, creating a gap for a faint ray of light to shine in.
Once we were done with Jama Mosque, we skipped the Red Fort and headed to Rajghat and India Gate. We also drove around to see the Presidential Palace and other government offices. Then came the time for lunch at Connaught Clubhouse. The place was classy. We opted for light lunch and German Beer. Soon we were in the car again, going to Humayun's Tomb.
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Lunch at Connaught Clubhouse. Photo by Boon. |
One of the emperors from Mughal Empire, Humayun died at the age of 47 after he fell down from the stairs. He was the great, great grandfather of Shah Jahan, the one that built Taj Mahal. His mausoleum was like a palace, but as I walked into the centre of it, there was this anticlimactic feeling when I saw the marble tomb. In the end, the king was still a human that only occupied the human-sized tomb like any of us.
The last attraction of the day was Qutub Minar. I found this very uniquely carved. The surface combined the shapes of round and square, making it very unusual. No wonder it was featured in
Tintin, too, when he visited India during
Tintin in Tibet.
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Qutub Minar, the impressive minaret behind me. Photo by Jasper. |
As the tour ended, we asked our driver to drop us in Khan Market. An interesting place, it felt like high-end shophouses for the riches. We had our dinner here at Breadtalk of all places! Boon and Jasper tried the laksa and they thought it tasted more like tomyum.
Then we walked to the metro station and experienced the 1.5 hours that included the slight confusion of the train detour. The train we were taking turned back before reaching our stop! Turned out that the concept was similar to Circle Line. Certain trains only reached Stadium whereas others would bring you all the way to Harbourfront.
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Taking the metro to Vegas Mall. |
We stopped at a station called Dwarka Sector 14 and walked to Vegas Mall. Not bad. Probably one of the higher buildings and I finally got my
localized KFC there! That pretty much ended the journey of our second day in Delhi. At the time of writing this, we were on our way to Agra and up until now, I hadn't seen any CBD area with tall buildings like Raffles Place in Delhi!
Seminggu Di India: New Delhi
Liburan ke India untuk kali ketiga ini bukanlah sepenuhnya ide saya. Kira-kira setahun silam, saya terinspirasi oleh kolega saya Jasper saat saya melihat dia libur panjang ke Mesir di bulan Januari. Dia cuti setelah tahun baru berlalu, sebelum Tahun Baru Cina tiba! Saya katakan padanya bahwa ide bagus ini belum pernah saya coba sebelumnya.
Tatkala Jasper dan saya berbincang, ternyata dia berminat mengunjungi Taj Mahal. Bagi saya sendiri, saya belum pernah berlibur bersama siapa pun ke India. Dua perjalanan sebelumnya,
Kolkata and
Bangalore, saya
lakoni sendiri karena tidak ada yang mau ikut. Jadi petualangan
bersama orang lain ke destinasi yang eksotis dan memiliki
Hard Rock Cafe rasanya tak boleh dilewatkan!
Sekitar bulan Juli 2024, kita minum bersama Mitesh, kolega kita yang berasal dari New Delhi. Kita berbincang tentang liburan dan rencana perjalanan pun lekas tersusun. Saya tanyakan pula pada Surianto dan dia juga ingin ke sana. Boon lantas menjadi orang ke-empat yang turut bergabung. Karena India bukanlah Jepang yang praktis, Mitesh menyarankan agar kita sebaiknya memakai tur dan ia perkenalkan Jetsave Holidays.
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Saat menunggu keberangkatan pesawat. |
Setengah tahun kemudian, di subuh hari pada tanggal 11-Jan-2025, kita berkumpul di Gate B5, menanti penerbangan kita. Ini adalah pertama kalinya Surianto terbang dengan SQ dan penerbangan kita tertunda 1,5 jam! Pasti jadi kenangan tak terlupakan. Langit tengah malam terlihat gelap sewaktu kita terbang menuju ke arah barat laut melintas zona waktu. Kemudian, saat pesawat turun dari ketinggian, terlihatlah langit New Delhi yang berkabut dan senantiasa abu-abu.
Bandara Internasional Indira Gandhi tidaklah istimewa. Imigrasinya lancar, pengambilan bagasi tergolong cepat dan toiletnya pun bersih, namun seperti kata Boon, tak ada bagian yang menarik untuk berfoto. Kita dijemput oleh Manish di Gate 4 dan setelah berada di mobil selama 30 menit, kita tiba di Welcomhotel yang berlokasi di Dwarka Sector 10.
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Foto di Swaminarayan yang diambil oleh fotografer resmi. |
Karena hotel sudah dipesan semalam sebelumnya, kita langsung mendapatkan kamar dan juga makan pagi. Menunya lezat, sesuai harapan penggemar
makanan India. Sesudah sarapan, kita menuju ke tempat wisata pertama: Swaminarayan Akshardham. Kuil ini dipersembahkan untuk orang kudus yang tak pernah kita, sebagai turis, dengar sebelumnya.
Pengalaman yang bisa saya jabarkan adalah seperti ini: tak boleh ada telepon selama di sana. Jadi kita pun dipaksa berwisata tanpa teknologi. Dampaknya langsung terlihat. Tanpa kemampuan untuk google dan berfoto, kita kesulitan untuk menikmati kuil yang dibangun dengan banyak ukiran detil ini. Selain itu, saya dan Boon juga disuruh kembali ke mobil di pelataran parkir karena tas kita ternyata berisi kabel dan powerbank, haha.
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Sewaktu kita berjalan ke Lotus Temple. |
Destinasi berikutnya adalah Lotus Temple. Yang berikut ini adalah kasus
budaya yang gagal dipahami. Ya, bangunannya memang megah, tapi karena kita tidak mengerti Hindi, kita tidak tahu untuk apa kita antri masuk ke aula yang sepi dan tidak ada atraksi.
Kita lantas makan malam di Gulati yang direkomendasikan oleh Mitesh. Ayam mentega dan biryani daging kambing terasa empuk dan sedap! Dari Gulati, kita lanjut ke Hard Rock Cafe. Sampai sejauh ini, saya sudah mengunjungi tiga Hard Rock Cafe (Bangalore memiliki dua kafe sewaktu saya berada di sana) dan koleksi kaosnya terasa mengecewakan. Ternyata yang di Delhi pun sama saja tanpa pengecualian.
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Makan malam di Gulati. |
Di malam yang rintik-rintik itu, setelah kita sia-sia mengantri di KFC, kita pulang ke hotel menggunakan Uber. Perjalanan itu mengingatkan kita kembali dengan ucapan supir kita. Ada tiga hal yang penting untuk mengemudi di Delhi: klakson yang bagus, rem yang bagus dan keberuntungan yang bagus. Klaksonnya tiada henti di tengah kemacetan! Bahkan ketika ambulan di belakang kita membunyikan sirene pun tak ada yang peduli dan memberikan jalan.
Kalau ada kendaraan yang berhasil melewati keramaian, maka itu adalah riksaw. Pengalaman ini serupa dengan duduk di kursi paling depan dan menyaksikan Musa membelah Laut Merah. Lautan manusia di pasar Old Delhi memberi jalan bagi riksaw. Satu pejalan kaki yang ceroboh langsung terbentur kepalanya oleh riksaw, tapi semua biasa saja seakan tak ada apa pun yang terjadi. Memang menakjubkan!
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Ketika Surianto membuka pintu di Mesjid Jama. |
Oh ya, kita naik riksaw karena kita mengunjungi Mesjid Jama. Untuk ketiga kalinya sejak kemarin, kita melepaskan sepatu untuk mengunjungi situs. Khusus yang satu ini, kita mengeluarkan INR 100 untuk membayar sandal tipis yang bertulisan J.W. Marriott. Namun mesjid yang konon merupakan ketiga terbesar di dunia setelah Mesjid Biru dan yang di Mekah ini memang mengagumkan. Saya suka dengan siraman cahaya yang masuk ketika Surianto kebetulan membuka pintu.
Sesudah Mesjid Jama, kita tidak mampir Red Fort dan langsung pergi ke Rajghat dan India Gate. Selain itu kita juga melewati Istana Presiden dan gedung pemerintah lainnya. Lantas tibalah waktunya untuk makan siang di Connaught Clubhouse. Tempat ini klasik dan berkesan. Kita makan pizza ayam tanduri dan Bir Jerman. Tak lama sesudah itu, kita pun berangkat lagi, kali ini ke Makam Humayun.
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Makan siang di Connaught Clubhouse. Foto oleh Boon. |
Humayun adalah raja kedua dari Dinasti Mughal yang jatuh terpeleset dari tangga dan akhirnya meninggal di usia 47 tahun. Dia adalah leluhur Shah Jahan, raja yang membangun Taj Mahal. Makamnya besar seperti istana, tapi ketika saya masuk ke tengah ruangan, ada perasaan antiklimaks saat melihat peti marmernya. Pada akhirnya, seorang raja tetaplah manusia biasa dengan peti seukuran rakyat biasa pula.
Atraksi terakhir pada hari tersebut adalah Qutub Minar. Saya terpesona dengan arsitekturnya. Permukaan menara ini dipahat dalam bentuk melingkar dan persegi sehingga benar-benar terlihat unik. Tak heran bahwa
Tintin pun mengunjungi situs ini dalam petualangan
Tintin di Tibet.
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Qutub Minar, menara mengesankan di belakang saya. Foto oleh Jasper. |
Tatkala tur berakhir, kita minta pada supir agar diturunkan di Khan Market. Tempat ini menarik dan kesannya seperti deretan ruko klasik untuk orang-orang kaya. Dan kita makan Breadtalk karena tergelitik dengan keberadaannya di India. Boon dan Jasper mencoba laksa dan ternyata rasanya lebih mirip tomyum.
Selanjutnya kita berjalan ke stasiun metro dan kembali ke arah hotel. Perjalanan pulang itu memakan waktu 1,5 jam, termasuk kebingungan yang terjadi karena keretanya tiba-tiba berbalik arah sebelum mencapai stasiun yang hendak kita tuju. Setelah ditelaah lagi, konsepnya sama dengan Circle Line di Singapura. Kereta tertentu hanya mencapai Stadium sedangkan yang setelahnya akan membawa anda sampai ke Harbourfront.
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Naik metro ke Vegas Mall. |
Kita turun di Stasiun Dwarka Sector 14 dan berjalan ke Vegas Mall. Bangunannya tergolong tinggi. Selain itu, akhirnya kesampaian pula niat saya untuk mencoba
KFC di India. Dan malam itu pun mengakhiri petualangan kita di Delhi. Saat tulisan ini ditulis, saya sudah dalam perjalanan menuju Agra. Sampai sekarang, saya masih tidak melihat gedung-gedung tinggi yang menjulang seperti di Sudirman, Jakarta!