17th KIP 27/04/2011

27th April 2011, Wednesday.
Day 2 of Hotel Arrest =( well it is not that bad but of course being in India and staying in doors is not much fun. we would rather be out doors and exploring this amazing city!!

The first KIPLET that we met was PRIYA RAVEL from USA. very nice young lady. BONUS it is her birthday today. how exciting!!

Slowly other participants started coming in.
There were
9 participants from South Africa.
5 from TnT.
2 form Suriname.
1 from France
1 from Peru.
2 from USA. And of course us
4 from Fiji.

Over dinner we got meet each other (others were still jet legged - poor people).
I remember while we set for dinner Mr. France (Ranjit) came in and mumbled something. I just got ..... Ranjit Singh from Fronce (yeah that is how you pronounced it Ranjit) and than he mumbled something off after and set to eat.

It was an eventful evening - Pratima (the other care taker who we had. She was LOVELY) got a cake for Priya and we all sang Happy Birthday for her. Pratima also smashed some cake on Priya's face (AWESOME).

From tomorrow the main purpose of this travel begins... the 17th Know India Program (April - May 2011)... Chalo Delhi :)

Day 1 in India. 17th KIP

26 April 2011
Waking up in Room 228, Hotel Rockland Inn, CR Park, New Delhi - next to me is Parishka Sharma. Time on my watch is 9.30am (India Time) Gosh! That means I only slept for some six hours. Walked over to the window and stared out. The hotel signage was blocking most of my view of the road but I could still see partially. People driving like mad. People crossing anyhow. Some selling goodies to passer bys. Some yarning by the roadside.

By the time a freshened up the other two girls were awake and came over to our room. We made our way down to the lobby only to find out that breakfast ends at 10am! HAH!! We missed breakfast. We can't go out of the hotel. What will we do?

The very nice lady at the counter came to us and told us we can go and breakfast =) Phew. That was such a relief. So we went and had breakfast. Enjoyed out first meal in India. It was similar to that back home :)

The chef came and met us - he was really nice - and told us to make our way back to the dinning area at 1pm for nice Lunch. So after our wonderful breakfast we made our way up to room 228 and watched TV. So many channels to flip through so we did not mind staying in doors. Plus this was a bonding moment for us as well. We all got to know each other a little better and this was time well spent.

at 1pm we went down for lunch - very yummy Pasta and salad and we also had delicious Butter Chicken and Naan :) And for dessert we had strawberry Ice cream :D

After lunch we returned to the room and watched TV and told jokes and stories =) It was fun.

For dinner we had pasta, aloo (Potato) curry and a very nice noodle dish. Mr. Sharma came to visit us and complimented on us being well behaved (a very LOL moment). it is very exciting that more participants will be coming down tomorrow :) :0    
can't wait :D

So begins the 17th KIP 2011. (Getting from Fiji - India)

Good Morning,
So last week (April 2011) four of us young ladies were told that we are going to India for three weeks to represent FIJI under the 17th Know India Program. Yes such an honor for the four of us.

Kormal Devi, Dipika Kumar, Parishka Sharma, Alzima Elisha Bano.

This was the first time for a full female team to represent Fiji for the Know India Program <we thought it was real cool that this lucky opportunity was granted to us>

We were up around 5am, 25/04/2011. Got to the Nadi International Airport at 6am for check in and waited for our 8.30am flight to HongKong. This trip was very exciting for Parishka as it was her first time on a plane =)

 It took us ten hours to reach HKG and I was just not sleepy at all. I can't say the same for my fellow friends . . .

 . . Yeah they slept most of the time <some people> but they were up when it was time to eat.
We flew over.


 PNG: Papua New Guinea



Manilla, Phillipines.













Next stop Hong Kong. . .
(Photos from the hongKong airport are here )

We departed from HongKong airport at 7.30pm (Hongkong time) and had a 5 hour flight to New Delhi, India. It was probably the longest 5 hours of my life. The passengers on the flight were just impossible. I felt so sorry for the flight attendents, they had to reason and explain some very basic things. Things like what you may ask.
Things like: Sir, please sit down, the pilot has turned on the 'seat belt' sign. This passenger did not want to sit down. The pilot commented twice that we were about to land but the runway was not clear so we still circling over the airport. But this grown man did not want to listen. He wanted to walk in the flight.

Anyway, we finally landed at the Indira Gandhi Airport. By the time we collected our bags and got throught customs it was 1am 26/04/2011 (India time - 7.30am Fiji Time) and all this time I had not slept. I did have a half hour nap on the way from Hongkong to India.

Mr. Vandan Sharma from the tracel company picked us up from the airport and at this point we did not know that we will be looked after by him through out the three weeks.
As soon as we stepped out of the airport a gust of heat slapped us on the face <being tired and sleepy made it feel worse than what it was). I saw a real neat Billboard on a building across from the airport. It was the billboard for a cell phone with lights and all <I wish my sister was here to see this - she is a Graphic desinger and works for a prominent advertising company back home>
The drive from the airport to the hotel was long (Mostly because we were tired).
On the way we saw:
1) People working at construction sight (reminder: this is around 1am!!)
2) Families sleeping on the side walk with little children.
3) People sitting around and chatting.
4) Passengers travelling to and from the airport.

Finally at 1.45am we reached the hotel. we were greeted with refreshing cold drinks and friendly smiles of the staff :) our rooms were assigned <Parishka and I were going to be roomies, while Dipika and Kormal would be roomies>
After they took our bags up to the room and we set for a little, Mr. Sharma came up to us and said Ladies, I will see you tomorrow. Call the staff here if you need anything. PLEASE do not leave the hotel! <hearing this we could have had heart attacks. you see we arrived two days before the program starts>
We went up to our rooms and decided we will follow the rules. Time to get some sleep...
HOTEL ARREST who would have thought . . .

I set by the window for a little while, watching the traffic flow... Finally we are in India. This is something I wanted to do for a very long time. Visit INDIA. :)