Why India?

When I told my friends that I was going to India for a holiday, they all asked me the same question – WHY? WHY INDIA?

Wel, the only answer I can give them is I dont know, even myself is clueless why of all destination I chose India. For us, India is not a popular destination unlike Hong Kong or Singapore. Most of us have little idea about India but the Taj Mahal. As a traveller, its normal for me to feel this way because I have to sizzle my sense of adventure. 

Last January 2011, India announced that it eases its visa requirements to Filipino’s and they offer VISA ON ARRIVAL (VOA) at some major international airports in India and that includes New Delhi,  Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai. This is a great news for me since applying visa is a hassle since I dont live in the Philippine capital, Manila where the embassy is located. Aside from that, Air Asia came up with an incredible discount fare to India and in no time I booked a round trip ticket, though its not that cheap compared to my previous international trips but its cheaper compared with other airlines flying to India.

Since Philippines to India has no direct flight until March 27 where Philippine Airlines fly to New Delhi direct 3x a week from Manila and so I flew to Singapore to Kuala Lumpur to New Delhi, the capital of India.

ARRIVAL IN INDIA

I arrived in India via Air Asia X from Kuala Lumpur. When I was at Kuala Lumpur my documents have been checked for validity since I will be availing of the VOA services at India. Make sure you bring copy of return tickets, hotel booking and for extra assurance to get through the immigration, bring any certificate of financial standing and credit cards. They asked me how much money I had and asked for exta picture ID. Since I dont have that, they advised me to photocopy my passport because I will need it once I arrived in India.

Arriving at 2200 in New Delhi, I was very impressed by their new terminal building, its one of the best that I’ve been to. You will walk towards a carpet and several travelators. When I was already at the VOA counter, I was greeted by friendly immigration staffs contrary to some reports that Indian immigration officials can be so rude, some say that VOA is a headache that its better to obtain visa in your country. Fortunately, everything went on smoothly during my application. There were four of us during that time, 2 Filipino’s coming from Dubai and 1 New Zealander with the same flight with me. Overall, it took me about 1 hour and a half to finally stamped our passport because I had to wait for the foreign exchange personel to convert my money to rupees. VOA costs about US$60 or about PhP2100 and they only accept rupees. ATMs are located after the immigration counter and only 1 ATM from Citibank that accepts my Cirrus, Maestro Bank of the Philippine Islands card. 

After all the immigration procedures, I went out of the terminal building and a thick haze welcomed me. Its so hazy that I felt I have glaucoma because of the poor visibility. 

Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) is located south of Delhi and various transportations are available to take you to the city and your accommodation. There’s a Metro or train from airport to city center which is quicker and cheap but I chose taxi sout can take me to my hostel’s doorstep. I took a metered taxi from airport to my hostel and my driver speaks little english, we circled around Pitampura area North of Delhi to look for Mystique Moments Hostel which I booked from hostelworld. All in my bill was 800 rupees. 

Feeling exhausted, I jumped to my bed and finally rested for the big day tomorrow. I talked with the owner and I’ll be joining a tour with a british girl. We could share the taxi for a whole day city tour around Delhi.