Day 1: Bangkok ✈️ New Delhi
Gabby and I went to school on Tuesday and finished up all of our last minute paperwork to end the year! What a relief to get everything done and turned in! Our flight wasn't until 2am but we wanted to get into Bangkok and enjoy one last Mexican dinner before our travels!
We met our friend Becca (who will be going back to the states while we are traveling) and indulged on so much delicious food! We said our see ya laters and Gabby and I strolled around until jumping on the airport rail link to head to the airport!
As soon as we got to the check in area it started to feel more Real that we are actually going to India! The line was already super long as everyone was waiting for the counters to open for check in...right away we noticed that we were definitely the minority. There were maybe one or 2 other foreigners in the line and only a handful of women (us being the only foreign women).
In Thailand, we get stared at all the time...especially in the non touristy Thai towns (like Saraburi, where I live)...but when you make eye contact with a Thai person they quickly turn away, not wanting you to catch them staring.
This is one of the first things we noticed about the men, just being in the Bangkok airport, is that they will stare...a lot...but when you make eye contact with them they Don't look away! So then you find yourself in this awkward staring situation with a random person.
We got checked in and to our gate with plenty of time. We were both exhausted and ready to get on the plane and sleep for a few hours! Our first flight was Bangkok to Kolkata. We arrived in Kolkata around 330am, grabbed a little bite to eat and then headed over to our gate for our next flight. Our flight took off at 620 putting us into Delhi around 9. This is where we ran into our first little issue!
Because we were so sleepy when we got to Kolkata we didn't even think about exchanging money... so we fly domestically from Kolkata to Delhi, land in Delhi and need to exchange money so we can get to our hostel. No big deal...except there is absolutely No Where in the domestic airport...okay we'll just head to the international terminal and exchange and be on our way.. after looking around for a good 10 minutes we realize we have to take a 10 minute shuttle bus to get to the international terminal...the shuttle bus cost about 25 rupee and we have no money!
The guy at the ticket booth giggles at us and then sees the bus pull up and just tells us to get on...we still have no money and no ticket... this is our first out of the airport experience and holy moly it was definitely overwhelming! The driving was insane and the cows and people and all sorts of things we saw on the drive from terminal to terminal was crazy! The guy on the bus starts walking through collecting money and of course we have None...some random on the bus helped translate and got it all settled for us!
So problem number 2...we get to the international airport and just need to exchange money and be on our way! We can't get into the airport!! Not through arrivals, not through departures...you have to buy a visitor pass just to walk inside and you can't bring any bags inside with you...well again, no money yet...the guy at the counter just said sorry, can't let you in...as this is going on a random man comes over to us and asks us what we need...we tell him we need to run inside and exchange money...he asked us how much money we had...umm random..and no I'm not telling you how much money I have on me..?! He tells us to give him all of our baht and he will take it and exchange it for us?!! 🤔😮...um No! We'll pass, thanks tho!
So gabby ended up buying a ticket with her Thai card and I stayed outside with our bags! Then we switched and I ran inside to exchange like!
So that was the sketchiest process! Gabby told me about her experience before I went in but I still didn't know what to expect. I was trying to exchange 10,000 baht but the guy at the currency exchange told me I could only exchange 3,000 every week... so he takes 3000 exchanges it and while he is doing that he makes eye contact with me and mouths *wait 5 minutes* I was definitely confused and he was being really odd and secretive...but I wasn't really sure and didn't want to ask questions.. I took my money and just stood off to the side...a few minutes later he looks at me and in a quick manner tells me to give him the rest of the money...I throw it over to him he quickly counts in and throws the rest of the rupees at me...is was the weirdest transaction But in the end, I got all my money exchanged!
We finished at the airport and went over to the metro station. We took the metro station about 4 stops and then had to take a tuk tuk to the hostel!
Our first tuk tuk ride was so crazy!! As I'm sure they'll all be! :) I thought driving in Thailand was crazy but Thailand has nothing on this!! The honking and commotion is non-stop. Everyone is honking...all the time!!
We safely made it to the hostel and got checked in but had to wait about an hour before going to our rooms. We are staying at STOPS Hostel in New Delhi. For $8.88/night with free breakfast it seems great so far! *and it has 3 sweet little babies living here*
We were completely exhausted from the last week of school and traveling so we decided to shower and spend the day relaxing and reenergizing for the rest of the trip! We woke up starving and decided to go try and find some dinner! We chose a place recommended by the hostel called Saravana Bhavan. We are still new to everything so we had no idea what we were ordering! We picked 3 different dishes and absolutely devoured them! >Paneer Dosai•Onion Vadai•Onion Masala Dosai< All of this and a couple sodas costing us only $11!
After dinner we walked around a bit before heading back. We ended up coming across some kind of night market. It was neat to see the different kinds of things they were selling. Of course Gabby made a purchase at the first place we came too 😂(she's a shopper and I'm definitely not).
Walking around in the evening was interesting but I felt more safe than I expected I would. We were very aware and cautious of our surroundings but it was really exciting. Everything is so different than Thailand and it was really neat to start taking it all in! We stopped at The Beer Cafe for a drink before calling it a night. We were definitely surprised by how many bars and clubs there were in the area we were in.
The amount of homeless people tucked away in the corners of the walkways/on the sidewalks broke my heart. It felt a lot different than what I see when I'm in Bangkok. I'm not sure what made it feel different or if it's just being in a new area and different culture but it tugged on my heartstrings in a different way.
We finally got back to the hostel and hung out in the common area for a bit watching people play pool and fusball but decided to call it a night..we were still pretty exhausted from the day of traveling!
🇮🇳 Can't believe we are actually here and I'm so excited for what the next couple of weeks has in store!! ✌🏼
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