Back In Singapore Again

It has been more than a week now since I last blogged. A lot of things has happened especially the trip to Delhi, visiting Taj Mahal, friend stuck at Delhi Airport, etc that I don't know where I should begin. Instead of my usual way of describing my visits to all the places and writing a super long essay, let me start off with the latest happening - my friend being stuck in Delhi Airport.

It happened when we were clearing immigrations. The immigration officer did not allow him through because his visa was supposedly expired. This is due to the fault of some miscommunication on my friend's side as well as BAD english on the Indian government side. It was written on the embarkation/disembarkation form that one would need not report to the immigration office if staying less than 180days. We had assume that the visa validity is for entry only - as in when we are in, we are allowed to stay for 180days. Somehow, my friend's visa was only valid for 2months (60days). We tried to plead his case with the customs officer but the guy just would not listen. It ended up we had to leave him behind and fly back first. He was left to stay in the airport visitor's lounge (like Tom Hank's Terminal). The officer treated him like as if he was a very bad criminal. Fortunately when we got back to Singapore, we informed our manager and got the staff in Delhi to help him out. It was a horrible experience for him. Fortunately he did not met up with much problem and was has returned to Singapore this morning.

As for my trip to Delhi, I'll have to say Delhi is a marvelous place. It is well-planned and not messy like in Chennai. The roads are straight and well maintained. The level of cleanliness is better and public toilets are available (well... kind of... is just an open area with running water to wash hand and a hole to pee in. At least better than peeing on the wall.) The first thing we did when we arrived in Delhi was search for Mc Donalds (the only restaurant we are confident with the pricing and food quality.. hahaha). For travelling, we have visited almost all the historical or monumental places in Delhi (both New & Old) such as Connaught's place (shopping arcade), Jama Masjid (the largest mosque in South Asia, very beautiful), Qutab Minar (the advertisement that we see often on billboards here in Singapore for visiting India), Red Fort a.ka. Lal Qila whose main entry is Lahore Gate facing Pakistan (very significant to Indian history & independence), Old Fort a.k.a Purana Qila (another fort.... nothing special after visiting like 2-3 forts before), Lotus Temple (very beautiful at night, people of any faith can go in and pray to whatever you believe in) and some other places in Delhi which I can't recall at the moment.

We went to visit Taj Mahal on Saturday as the place is closed on Friday. The Taj Mahal is magnificent. It is the symbol of Emperor Shah Jahan's love for his wife Mumtaz. My friends and I took lots of pictures at this place. Although I had a normal 5megapixel camera, the pictures taken are still breath-taking. The Taj Mahal is really amazing with so much planning put into it. I mean, if there was to be a natural disaster in Agra, the Taj Mahal would very likely be the last structure to collapse. The four minaret built are slightly tilted outwards so that if it collapse, the central building will still be unharmed. The main tomb is built on a base that is more than 100feet deep. It is quite amazing that the people who built this structure had such foresight and took 22 long years to complete it. (ps. I learnt one thing about marble - Real marble is white and translucent. If you shine a light, it will penetrate through the marble, unlike plastic)

Now that I'm back in Singapore, there seems to be so many things that I would need to settle. I'm feeling a little lost at the moment but I think is because of the bombardment of things to do. I'm sure that if I plan out the things I need to settle, it is actually very easy - haven't really sat down to do the planning yet.. still in a little holiday mood and confused by the situation around me. Is this why there is a need for reintegration?