So I don't usually bother to take or post pictures of the hotel rooms we stay at, because even the nice ones are... just hotel rooms. And we are most certainly not traipsing across Asia in search of the perfect hotel room. The perfect beach, the perfect noodles, the perfect monkey, the perfect scenery- yes, but the room is just a necessary part of the transaction. However, in Delhi, at Le Meridian, we really hit the hotel room jackpot. Its almost as if the Starwood gods were apologizing to us for all the lackluster SPG properties we have stayed at in the past year. Apology accepted, for real.
On the way to the hotel, K. was joking that we were spoiled and probably got a suite. Well, turns out, we are spoiled, and we did get a suite!
This is our living room and dining room. Holler. Additionally we had a lovely bar and a guest bathoom. Too bad we didn't know enough people in Delhi to throw a party!
And this beautiful room, with 180 degree views of Rajpath, is our humble bedroom. In addition to the lovely, albeit, hazy view, our ceiling had stars on it. As a child who constantly stuck those plastic glow in the dark stars all over her ceiling with sticky-puddy (much to my mother's chagrin I am sure) it was a childhood fantasy fulfilled to have a room of stars, except the first night when my husband couldn't figure out how to turn them off so we were blasted with color-changing stars all night long. Luckily I managed to unlock the secrets of the light controls the next day and the remaining nights in the hotel were more peaceful.
Seriously- can we take this bathroom home with us?
I asked Dave to make a mental note of every feature of the bathroom so that he can build me one just like it someday. I am a huge huge fan of baths, huge- so it s a massive hardship to not have a bathtub in our apartment in Singapore. I nearly cried tears of joy when I saw this BIG ol' soaking tub, and promptly spent copious amounts of time in the tub over the next four days. Bathroom of my dreams- I miss you already.
The lobby was pretty cool too-complete with trippy carpet, a glass elevator, and an SPG club on the top floor seemingly suspended over the lobby. I have a thing for hotels like this, with the rooms facing the interior, so it was pretty much just the icing on the cake. We also got to check in early, which was much appreciated. Le Meridian- you rock, thanks a lot.
OK- enough about the hotel room- we were there to see India- not laze about the lovely hotel!
After K. dropped us off, we were left to our own devises and took off for Humayun's Tomb, one of the top Delhi sights and a UNESCO World Heritage Sight. And it did not disappoint. Completed in 1572, it was the first Persian-style garden tomb in India.
Its really beautiful and we lucked out and got there when not too many people were about, so we had some peace and quiet to leisurely explore the grounds. My camera (and my ego) would like to point out that while the pictures look a bit fuzzy, it cannot be blamed on the camera (or the photographer) because it was actually just really exceptionally hazy. While we were prepared for cold winter weather- we got hot hot hot sticky weather and something about the unusual winter warm snap just locked in the Delhi pollution and made a clear view of anything nearly impossible.
One thing I really liked about this tomb, and most of the sights in Delhi, is that you are able to get up close to them and really explore. We walked all over the grounds, and all over the tomb structure, which was very cool. I think too often in the US you are stuck looking at things from behind ropes, so it was nice to have relatively free reign to explore.
This was my first (of many) admirers. It seems that Indian youth get a HUGE kick out of using the few words of English that they have learned. This little fellow and I had at least a 10 minute long "conversation" that consisted entirely of "hello" in escalating volume and pitch. His English vocabulary also consisted of shouting "two for one" and "run from police"- not sure if they two are related...
After a delicious lunch at O'Calcutta with K. and some of his friends, we were off with our trusty driver Jagir in search of more sights and adventures. We got very accustomed to the cacophony of horns, breaks and yelling that is Delhi traffic.
Next stop was the Baha'i Lotus Temple in South Delhi.
Again, the late afternoon haze pretty much eliminated any chance of a clear picture.
Our final stop on Day 1 was Dili Haat for my favorite activity in the world, shopping. And there was 1 thing that was on my list for India shopping- a lovely pink Saree. And this fellow was more than happy to help me out with that goal.
So this is the fabric that I ended up getting. Bad lighting, but its bright pink with gold detail.
Unfortunately this didn't turn out to be one of my finer moments in my shopping career. I should have realized I am no saree expert and taken experts with me, but I got a bit overwhelmed by the beautiful fabrics and the hard-sale tactics of the sales people...and ended up with a sub-par "ready made" saree with a fairly disappointingly tailored top. Oh well, live and learn, it will make a fine costume someday.
Sari, Sari, everywhere!
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