Conquering India Again Part 1

Once again, it is time for India. I waited until the last minute before I booked my air ticket and hotel bcos I was so reluctant to go. Hoho. I contemplated postponing the trip but both my passport and visa are expiring and it will take time to renew both. No choice. 

Flying to Mumbai means 7.40am flight and I was up at 4.30am. I thought I barely slept and then the alarm rang. 

This is always the favourite part of my trip, other than returning home.

This time, I decided that I needed a teh before the flight. 

The cup is so fancy; I think majority of my $2 went into paying for the packaging. 

My flight.

I realised that I flew so much on SQ that I now have the Krisflyer Elite Silver status that allows me priority boarding. I had that status for a while and just realised that it gives me priority boarding.It is that “KFES” printed in the ticket. 

Priority boarding is cool. At least I have plenty of time to settle down and didn’t have to worry that there isn’t space in the overhead compartment for my hand carry.

The flight was not full and the middle seat was empty. Yay! 

Bfast time! Double yay!

I caught 1.5 movie before deciding that I needed to nap to survive the long day ahead. The 2nd part of the flight was hit by turbulences and at one part, it was bad enough to make me gan cheong and want to grip the arm rest. I napped bcos I have the super power to nap everywhere. 

I eventually landed safely. The pilot was good, such that there was no bump when we hit the ground.  The immigration wasn’t particularly crowded but murphy’s law must be at play bcos they kept opening up new lanes and directing people behind me to the new counters, such that I ended up as the last few to cross the immigration. 

The ride to the office was decent and I started my meetings. Bcos I had back to back meetings/ calls, this was my lunch, portioned out of my colleagues tiffen lunch. 

This was from 3 different kitchens. The 2 yellowish color things were sago and very flavorful. This is supposed to be common staple during this fasting period - it was one of the gods’ birthday the next day. The 2 curry puffs thingy were super sweet and coconut was wrapped inside. It was like soaked in sugar syrup.

I left only at 6.30pm, in my half dead state. I decided on to stay in a 3 star hotel that is nearer to the office so that I didn’t have to spend 45 mins traveling. A colleague dropped me on the way to home. He was very discouraging over my choice of hotel. It should be alright, some other colleagues stayed in the same hotel some weeks back. 

The Majestic Courts Sarovar looks decent from the outside. It was beside a busy road but I didn’t explore anywhere. I realised that the hotel was with age once I entered and it has a funky musky smell. I was shown to my room. It was smaller than the usual hotels that I stayed for business trips but very decent sized for 1. 

I don’t have problems with the size but the room has a very musky smell. I called to order in room dining and feedback about the smell. The staff said that they will send housekeeping. 

So what did housekeeping do? He came armed with an air fresher. T.T He said that he would check if I could change the room if the smell persisted. Did the smell go away? Of course not lah. The air refresher was only a temporary solution and barely masked the smell. They eventually did give me a room change after I had my dinner. Comfort food. 

My changed room was on the 6th floor. While the musky smell was much lesser and tolerable, the aircon was weak and the bed soft. The springs creaked like it had been around for ages. lol.

It is ok, it is only for 3 nights. I thought I would have problem sleeping on the 1st night but I slept very well despite the hard rock pillows and the roughy bed linen. I must be very tired. 

Mummy Lim