Helen Stephenson's India Trip - June-July, 2006 - Arrival at the Trident Hilton

Sunday June 18^th

After I’d changed out of my sleep suit, which I didn’t do until the rush down the aisles had cleared, I was one of the last to leave the plane. It turned out not to matter at all, as the baggage was only just arriving on the carousel when I got to the baggage claim area. My bright yellow suitcase strap turned out to be an excellent idea, as I spotted my suitcase on the carousel and was able to grab it as it went by.

Then it was over to Thomas Cook with a wad of Pounds Sterling, which I changed into India Rupees. Then I proceeded through Customs and Immigration. I’m not sure I’ve got the order of that right, as I think I may have gone through Passport Control prior to claiming my luggage. That’s what comes of writing about it a couple of days later!

The Trident Hilton hotel had sent a car for me and the driver had a good clear sign with the hotel’s name and my name on it, so I found him immediately. He took charge of my baggage trolley and took me outside and told me to wait while he brought the car across. Then it was fasten seatbelts time and my first experience of travel on Indian roads.

I certainly saw some interesting sights on the journey to the hotel. They don’t appear to have lane markings on many of the roads and it seems like you can drive anywhere on the road you feel like. I thought we were on a dual carriageway as the traffic seemed to all be going the same way, but every so often something would come the other way – usually a motorcycle or rickshaw or bicycle. The Indians hoot their horns a lot, and after a couple of days, I figured out that the horn is used to announce that they are going to change lane or overtake or turn across the traffic so the traffic had better give way and let them do it! I don’t think I’d want to try driving there!

When I reached the hotel, I was taken to my room, which was on the ground floor. Most of the Gurgaon Trident Hilton rooms are on the ground floor, although the rear wing is two storey. I was told that you get a good view of the water-filled quadrangle from up there and I did go up for a look during my stay.

I found I could barely keep my eyes open, and although it was only about midday local time, I decided to go to bed and have a sleep for a couple of hours. I set the alarm so that I wouldn’t sleep for a huge length of time, as I wanted to try and be on Indian time.

The sleep refreshed me, and also meant I was inside during the hottest part of the day. Once I woke up, I took a shower and had a wander around to find my bearings and then I decided to try the swimming pool. It’s a beautiful pool and it’s not too hot or too cold. The pool is surrounded by flowering trees which turned out to be frangipani trees, and there are loungers around the pool as well. Anything white on the pool surrounds is likely to be a fallen frangipani flower! The first bird I noticed here was an urban pigeon, but the staff seem to be well on top of anything that pigeons may choose to deposit.

After my swim, I headed for Saffron, the Indian restaurant within the hotel. I was assured that I needed a starter as well as a main course and I had fresh Bay of Bengal bahkti followed by chicken in a curry sauce which also contained fresh mangoes. I drank sweet lime juice, which was lovely.

They have live musicians in Saffron. One musician played a stringed instrument which was a sitar; one played drums; and the other has an instrument with strings which he strikes. They mostly play music which tends to repeat on rhythms or chords, but do play melodic music from time to time as well.

I wanted atmospheric pictures of the musicians, so I used one of my old prime lenses wide open with a high ISO setting. The results aren't the sharpest pictures I've ever taken, but they have a lot more atmosphere than if I'd blasted these guys with a flashgun.