Somehow I ended up going to India. It’s a work trip, but India turned out to be farther away than I thought. At the very least, it’s farther than Cambodia..
Pacsafe
I’ve been into bags lately and had been eyeing this brand, which is supposedly great for anti-theft. Since I was going to India, I wondered if I should pick one up. Looking at it, the price wasn’t bad and neither was the design.. it’s a bit heavier than a regular sling bag, but it seemed fine. But this trip was for work, and I wasn’t going to be wandering around on my own or sightseeing, so I decided to buy one next time.. (that next time still hasn’t come..)
Compression socks
I’d heard compression stockings? socks? are good for long flights, so I was looking at various models. Honestly, though, all they need to do is compress, and nobody sees them, so you don’t really need a special brand. But for something you’d use that casually, the prices weren’t exactly cheap, you know? So I skipped this too.
A meal at Incheon Airport..
Since I was about to set off on a long trip, I kept it light.
Incheon Airport Terminal 2
It’s way nicer than Terminal 1. The trade-off is that it’s a bit farther out, so you need to leave with about 10 extra minutes to spare.
There’s a Venchi.
The airport seems to have gotten a lot better..
Baekgyeong Distillery
They have one in Terminal 1 too. Selling liquor this good, the airport is doing something right..
Korean Air’s in-flight meal
It’s Indian-style, sort of. The taste was so-so..
The second in-flight meal
Never thought the day would come when I’d take a trip with two in-flight meals..
New Delhi Airport
The official name is a bit long.. anyway.. the facilities aren’t bad, but they aren’t great either, it’s just, well, like that..
Where you get your visa and go out
Normally you’re supposed to get your visa in Korea before going to India, but that takes several days. My business trip got scheduled at the last minute, though, so I decided to get the visa on arrival at the airport in India. This is possible because I’m Korean, and the passport power is pretty impressive.. The catch is that the process is a bit complicated, so if you haven’t studied up on it, getting out isn’t easy. It’s also good to have cash ready in advance.
Duty-free shops in Delhi
There are a ton of staff in suits. I’ll go into detail later, but the selection of liquor was enormous. That part was really impressive..
The way out
There’s military, not police, posted all over the place. There was a conflict with Pakistan going on around this time, so I suspect it was tighter than usual. More importantly, once you go out you can’t come back in, and once you go in you can’t come out.. I shouldn’t have been thinking in Korean terms, but I feel like I was way too complacent.
Indian banknotes
Once you’re on the ground, you need some emergency local currency. Even if cards work everywhere, there will inevitably be times when they don’t, and being without cash then is a real problem. SIM cards, on the other hand, you can just apply for in advance..
Food court area
It’s tiny, but there is a spot like this. I think it’s small because it’s the departures area; the arrivals area doesn’t really have much either, while the duty-free zone is laid out to be enormous.
The airport
We headed over to the Uber pickup area to get to the hotel.
A place like this..
When you get there, there are tons of cars waiting. I’d booked a slightly bigger car on Uber, but it seems the driver had switched vehicles while running Uber, and when he went with the big car the fare could only be charged at the small-car rate.. so in the end I paid the difference in cash. When something like this happens, you can’t sort it out without cash, so even in India you really do need at least that minimum level of preparation..
Namaste Hyundai
Spotted it on the way, so I snapped a photo.
A temple in view too..
The streets of India
This neighborhood had a huge number of budget hotels. I’d booked a reasonably decent hotel, but there are plenty of cheap ones too.
Street vendors
Reminiscent of Korea in the ’80s..
Street scene
Street scene
Street scene
Street scene
Street scene
This isn’t really Delhi proper, just a town near the airport, but I got a rough sense of “so this is what India is like.” It’s not bad. Only.. from the fact that almost nobody wears shorts, that lots of men grow beards, and that a high proportion wear collared shirts, I got the feeling that this is a country where those kinds of rules run strong. That impression only got clearer the more I met Indian people.
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