The visit to The Red Fort

Looking all Indian-ised and ready to go!

Finally reached our destination after an hour plus (pretty fast for water clogged Indian roads) BTW, it rained this morning again! N we can tell how rain-deprived the locals are by how they react when they see rain - dancing and playing in skywater. It really is quite a romantic thought.

The famous Red Fort - Lal Quila. The battlement walls stretch over 2.5km and enclose the fort and rise to a height of 33.5 metres at one point with a wide moat at its base. This was once connected to the river before it shifted to provide water to the moat.

The entrance to the Red Fort which is also the place where the Indian flag was hoisted for first time when India get its independence in 1947. Security is pretty tight with body searches (which also applies to the cinemas) and the bag detactor and scan procedures. However, the body search was compensated by special treatment for touristy me includes: personal 'handicap' toilet that is cleaned before I use and no queue for the tickets.

This is the sight we saw after the body searches. The official entrance to the exciting Fort city. Many people perceive that forts were meant to defend a city... BUT this was like a city itself inside the fort, stalls and entertainment meant for the owners or protectors of the fort. Will load those pics in the next post.

We were posing in front of Naubat Khana which means Drum House (to announce arrival of guests) which I thought was a Mosque so I had to act Muslim. Anyway I think the red turned out really well in the picture :) This three-storey building was also known as Naqqar Khana, it was here that music was played five times a day. It has another name which was 'Hathi Pol' (Elephant Gate) because visitors dismounted from their elephants here.

This is the entrance to the Museum that had information, paintings and sculptures of Indian's revolutionary past. It was a lovely sunny day after morning showers, so the sun was bright and clear, and surprisingly free from haze and pollution. Dont you like my Indian top? I like it too cos its a pretty deep shade of green.

This structure I believe was to house some birds cos I spied some flapping animals flying within the net. Somehow it reminded me of this scene from Aladdin cartoon where Princess Jasmine opened the beautiful white bird cage to release dozens and dozens of doves. On further research, it is actually the Emperor's throne, held in the Hall of Public Audience, made of a marble canopy or baldachin with pietra dura and floral motifs which were inlaid with polychrome semi-precious stones. It faces the main courtyard where civilians gathered to 'complain' to the Emperor.

The locals love to stop and gather to watch us while we posed and took pictures. Felt like a film star surrounded by hundreds of fans. if we charged everyone who stopped and stared at us 1 rupee, we could easily recoup our ticket costs. PS: we were all sweating despite looking fresh in pictures, being in the shade just lessened the burning sensation from the sun.

Look at the beautiful carvings! See how the daylight beckons and the rich shade of copper brown on the ceilings. One could marvel at the beauty and majesty of such sculptures filled with so much history and love which its sculptor patiently carved out.

I bet this place was reserved for Royalty. They really should let me in. I am princess in the eyes of my parents! The Diwan-i-Khas with an inscription on the wall which says “If on Earth be an Eden of bliss, it is this, it is this, none but this”. It truly is. I can only imagine how magnificant this fort must have been in the past with all its proper jewels and marble clean floors.

See the beautiful marble walls and carvings? How I wish my house would resemble this in the future, when I become power, rich and influential... hehe *dreams*

And I should have a pond in my garden too. Preferably with fountains and maybe kois. How about flamingos? hmm

View from the fort. The whole string of wires in the distance was covered with pigeons! To have a roasted pigeon, one should just electrocute those birds with those wires.

The out of place British barracks.

Ok we headed to CP for lunch at 5pm!! Hungry Singaporeans walked around for half an hour and the good Indian restaurants were packed and had a queue! Thankfully we came across this place called Zen. Guess what they serve?

Chinese Food! Although a tad too salty (maybe they spilled the bottle of salt into it), this wholesome meal put big fat grins on our faces. Yum yum. Lamb in Sze Chuan sauce, Cabbage and Xiao Bai Cai in Oyster Sauce, Pan Fried seafood noodles.

It ended off with a visit to the bakery to buy desserts. Halleluja! Haha cookies galore! Yes mommy Im watching my diet and exercising ;)

FRIDAY FUN

The office invited a tarot card reader as part of a HR engagement project. That metal thing sort of shows which part of your body holds tension with each tme u hit it with.

Power Stones that aid in loads of things like romance, wealth health or to ward off evil.

The cards to my five questions that I asked in my head and then picked. She will then tell me what the card is about. In the end it is up to me interpret the answer to my question

The Empress which symbolizes love and growth in relation to my question. I still think your future is up to you and not predicted by a tarot card reader.

It rained today and everyone was so happy. The nterns at Airtel emailed to tell me it was raining too :)

It's also the last day of work for Aakash and they held a farewell party for him. This choc cake is HEAVENLY - yummy!

Some of the indian snacks n loads of chips (Kun, stop drooling)

The boys. The one in pink is the one i report to.

The girls. The girl in th emiddle is 25 n have been married for 6 months. Holy!

Awesome Connection with Food!

It was Sari Day (supposedly) but alot of the indian ladies pang sei here. So only a few wore this beautiful garment. Just learning to fold the cloth to pleats n preventing the cloth from falling off is as delicate and graceful as the skillfulness of an artist's hand.

Velma and Del in their lovely outfits - Dont they look stunning? To wear a sari requires skill, to wear a sari when u are not an Indian girl is a thin line between stupidity and courage. The difference is grace and elegance. Let's hope this Chinese girl will rise to the occasion... one day

My usual partners (Ashima, Swetha and me of course) in crime decided to scoot off from the office canteen to have lunch at this atas restaurant called Fox.

It really was a foxy adventure, with lots of complaints about the waiters not observing our private space n me catching a tobasco sauce bottle that the waiter dropped before it could fall n shatter into a million pieces.

This is Swetha. I thought she looked lovely like that. With big eyes that portray longing and a subtle sadness. just that moment spoke volumes of elegance n quiet serentiy for me.

Swetha is scrutinising the menu for her choice of food. She decided on diet coke and a salad. healthy choice eh? The poor girl had to leave lunch early to get back to work as she had a departmental meeting and decided to take away her food. When she brought it back to the office to munch on, it was filled with pastsa n greens! She really should have stuck to the prawn salad.

Appetizing bread buns and bread sticks. The best part of this starting dish was the butter. It was a lovely minty mix of herbs and cold butter. The melt in the mouth effect made the normal bread invitingly fragrant.

Chicken Soup of the Day - Not too creamy with tiny bits of minced chicken in every scoop!
Ashima with her chicken. It was mainly breast meat cooked with a rich creamy white sauce. But it definately wasn't authentic as it had the distinct flavor of Indian spices. Really a huge portion that she could not finish!
This is my dish! Lamb Burgundy. I love the grilled tomato n freshly boiled veg. The lamb mixture was awesome for the first few bites as the fresh button mushrooms gave it a punch with each bite that I took. But I was huffing and puffing away while trying to finish the meat. Didn't touch the potatoes as I have had my fill of potatoes here in India. Would have been perfect IF the meat pieces were bigger so that one can enjoy the tenderness of it and the gravy could be less thick n rich. "More muchrooms and veg for this true blue Singaporean girl!"

Ok the food culprit n her partner in crime- Me Myself n I.
Desserts - Vanilla Icecream topped with choc syrup . Ashima was too full to have her icecream. What a waste. We were afraid we might end up falling asleep at work. Siesta!!!

I usually dont like Vanilla (right Kun?) but this version was more like Gelato than milk so I finished every sccop. The climax was the cherry at the bottom. Not the usual preserved ones that Cherie avoids, but it felt different, even the seed was still present. Very nice ending - like a Happily Ever After.
Oh! Dinner was SO GORGEOUS! The cook is undergoing training as we usually have a fixed routine of daily food- Indian daal/ Intercontinental Chicken n Chowmien/ Roti n Rice. So this time, he fished out a true blue chef skill - MOMOs! These are the Indian equivalent to our Chinese Guo Te Dumplings but are stuffed with chicken instead of pork meat. It tastes so heavenly as it's one of the rare things without spices or gavy. It even came complete with a familiar tasting Chicken Rice Chilli.

The whole feast - Italian Veg Pasta, French Fries ( not in pic, too much potatoes), Momos AND Chicken Broth! It's semi-clear soup. Might have been cooked using the chicken bones as stock. Really wonderful. Dinner ended with the boys trying to scare with stupid ghost stories, totally empty plates n all of us smiling with inflated tummies.

More pics

The colours of India all rolled into one, baking in the sun.
Crossing the shaky bridge, women and children goods and bags in hand.
Big strong Indian man, YF you like.
Er.. even knows how to use sunblock lotion.
Im still scared of cows.


MEXICAN FOOD! Kun I know u love these nachos topped with gooey cheese.
Celine has to take photos with funny things.

More pics from the trip: New friends I made. Funny, entertaining and surprisingly very intelligent
A picture of a beautiful temple taken while we were in the raft floating on the river surface.

The Scary shaky suspension Bridge where thousands of locals cross everyday either by foot or on their two-wheeled motorcycles. "dont rock the boat baby..."
Sunblock 101: Always keep the visor on, even when you have a rafting helmet on.
Tempting streetside food which the guys indulged in but I stayed away from.
I love being the girl.
This somehow makes India unique.



Chotiwala! Literal Translation: "Got Pony tail" Legend has it that the two brothers had a fight and split up to have competitive restaurants beside each other.

I saw a beautiful sunset and HAD to catch it on film. So romantic.
Looking chirpy in the morning cos of the food!
Marcorni n cheese with mushrooms! - Breakfast!