Trip to India - part 1

Hubby and I had been to India during New Year holidays. On the evening of 28th December 2013, we took a domestic flight from Akita and reached Haneda Airport at about 6 pm. Haneda Airport is formally known as Tokyo International Airport. It is one of the two primary airports in Tokyo area. We had a lot of free time, so we moved around inside the airport terminal building. Since it was Christmas-New Year period, there was a lot of lighting and illumination inside the terminal building. We enjoyed viewing the illumination and felt that the inside of the building looked marvelous. Afterwards, we went to the fourth floor where there is a market place named Edo Koji Zone, which is modeled after a typical street from the Edo period. The market place has many gift shops and is lined with restaurants selling traditional Japanese dishes and cuisines. From there we bought a few gifts to take to India, and afterwards had dinner at a restaurant. After dinner, we went outside the building complex and got a nice view of the international terminal building and many airplanes of various countries. After enjoying the views for some time, we returned back inside the building complex. Later we went to a nearby hotel where we stayed for the night.

Illuminated Haneda Airport terminal building

 

More lighting and illumination inside the building

 

I am standing in front of an illuminated stage

 

I am having dinner at a restaurant in the fourth floor of the terminal building

 

Outside the international terminal building at Haneda

 

View from the international terminal building

 

An airplane

 

 

The next day, on 29th December, we left the hotel early in the morning and went to Haneda Airport at about 8 am. We reached the departure terminal located on the third floor of the building and went to the Cathay Pacific check-in counters. We got our boarding passes and checked in our baggage. Then after security check, we went to the boarding gate of our flight and waited for some time. The flight left the airport at about 10.45 am and reached Hong Kong International Airport at 15.00 pm (local time). It was a five hours very comfortable flight.

Hubby waiting at the boarding gate area in Haneda Airport for Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong

 

Outside view from our boarding gate area at Haneda Airport

 

 

After reaching Hong Kong International Airport, we went through the security check and reached the departure hall of Terminal 1. From the departure hall, we got beautiful views of the outside. We had five hour transit stopover in Hong Kong, so we just walked around inside the departure hall. While walking, we saw many exhibits giving glimpses of the history and culture of Hong Kong. We enjoyed seeing various shops, and bought a bottle of duty-free whiskey for my older brother from one of the liquor shops. Afterwards we had lunch at a restaurant located inside the terminal. After having food, we realized that we still had about half an hour to wait, so we just sat and relaxed near the boarding gate of our Cathay Pacific flight. Our flight left Hong Kong at about 20.10 pm and reached Mumbai at 00.20 am (30th December local time).

Outside view from the departure hall of Hong Kong International Airport

 

Another outside view from the departure hall

 

I am standing in front of some exhibits giving glimpses of Hong Kong

 

Hubby standing in front of a shop

 

I am relaxing after having lunch at a restaurant

 

 

We finished the arrival and customs procedures by 1.45 am at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai. After that we took a taxi and reached Hilton Mumbai International Airport Hotel within ten minutes. We stayed at this hotel for 3 nights. The lobby of the hotel is gorgeous and we loved our room. I wished to look around our room a bit to see what all amenities were available to us, but we were very tired and so we slept immediately.

Lobby of Hilton Mumbai International Airport Hotel

 

Another view of the lobby

 

Yet another view of the lobby

 

I am standing in our room

 

Toilet and bathing area in the room

 

Waiting to sleep

 

 

On the morning of 30th December, we got up at about 8 am and had breakfast at one of the restaurants located inside the hotel. Both western as well as Indian food was available and almost everything tasted so good, or may be we were just hungry. We spent almost an hour having a relaxed breakfast.

Outside view as seen from our room

 

We crossed the lobby area to reach the restaurant

 

The restaurant where we had breakfast

 

Another view of the restaurant

 

Hubby’s breakfast

 

Hubby having breakfast

 

Hubby having soup

 

I am having breakfast

 

 

Later, we hired a taxi for the entire day and did sightseeing in Mumbai. It was very nice to see various interesting sightseeing spots about which I will write a post later on. In the evening our taxi driver left us in front of ISKCON Temple in Juhu area of Mumbai, where we met my friend and her family. I studied with my friend during undergraduate as well as postgraduate studies, and I was really excited to meet her. We all walked up to the nearby Juhu Beach and chatted a lot while walking along the beach. Later we returned to ISKCON Temple and had dinner at a restaurant located inside the temple premises. It was really nice to talk with my friend and her family. Hopefully we can meet more often in future. By the time hubby and I returned back to our hotel, it was almost 11 pm. We were extremely tired of all the walking we did during sightseeing, and so we slept immediately on reaching our room.

Hubby, I, my friend and her husband (left to right) standing at Juhu Beach

 

We all are having dinner at a restaurant inside ISKCON premises

 

My friend’s son is also there in this photo

 

Hubby and my friend’s son

 

My friend and I

 

Hubby slept immediately after reaching the hotel room

 

 

On 31st December, we had breakfast at the restaurant located inside the hotel and then went to see a beautiful place named Elephanta Caves located on Elephanta Island (also called Gharapuri Island), which is one of a number of islands in Mumbai Harbor. I will write a post about our visit to Elephanta Caves sometime later. We returned back to our hotel at about 6.30 pm and took rest for about an hour. Later we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant named Imperial China located near the lobby inside the hotel. Since it was the last day of the year, we ordered a special five-course set menu for dinner. Although wine was served free that day, we were not in the mood to drink wine. Hubby ordered a glass of bear for himself and I had cold drink. The food was absolutely delicious, and tasted authentic and flavorful. We really enjoyed the food and the ambience, and the service was great. A professional person played piano at the lobby of the hotel and we enjoyed the music while having dinner. Later we sat in the lobby area and enjoyed the music some more.

I am waiting for dinner at Imperial China restaurant located near the lobby of the hotel

 

Two types of pickles

 

Fried dumplings

 

Soup

 

Hubby’s main course

 

Hubby having the main course

 

My main course

 

Dessert

 

A professional person playing piano at the lobby of the hotel

 

I am sitting in the lobby area and enjoying the music

 

 

On 1st January, we checked out of the hotel at about 10 am and hired a taxi to go up to Pune City where my parents live. My parent’s home in Pune is located about 160 kilometers southeast of the hotel we stayed in Mumbai, and it took us about 4 hours to reach home due to heavy traffic that day. It was about 2.30 pm when we entered the home. It had been a long and tiring travel, but the tiredness was all gone on meeting my parents. Hubby and I were so happy to meet my parents. We talked a lot and took a few photos for the sake of memory. We had some snacks at about 4 pm. Later hubby helped in washing all our dirty clothes that had accumulated over the past several days. My mother cooked a simple meal of fried fish, a vegetable curry dish, Dal curry, rice, and salad for dinner. My father helped her out while cooking in the kitchen. It felt so good to eat my mother’s cooked food after such a long time. Hubby also loves her food preparation style very much, and he ate nine pieces of fish-fry during dinner. We were so busy to eat food that we completely forgot to take photos of various dishes. After dinner, we all relaxed and chatted for a few hours. While chatting, hubby helped in removing peas from peapods that were used for preparing a dish for breakfast the next day. But he ate almost half of the peas as they were very fresh and tasty. At about 11.30 pm we went to our room and retired for the night.

My father, mother, and I

 

Hubby along with my parents

 

Hubby having some snack

 

Hubby helping in washing our dirty clothes

 

Hubby is spreading the clothes

 

He is hanging the clothes from a clothesline to dry

 

My mother preparing dinner

 

Father helping her while cooking dinner

 

Mother making fish-fry

 

My father and hubby chatting after dinner

 

Hubby helping in removing peas from peapods

 

My mother relaxing and enjoying watching some television program

 

 

Hubby and I felt really nice to meet my parents after three years. We stayed in Pune and relaxed for another four days. In the next post, I will write about the remaining five days of our trip to India.