Lisbon - Weeks 27 & 28

From Cabo Ruivo to Parque das Nações..

[07/03/2013] - EMDC 2013 batch now received the official invitations, and they are being added to the Facebook group of EMDC. The group is getting more and more active. The excitement of the students remind me the early 2012, when I was expecting the day to join EMDC - good old days. ;)

[05/03/2013] - I have been elected as an Erasmus Mundus Course Representative for the EMDC, for the year 2013. However, since the GA is scheduled on the day of the AVExe exam, I had  to let one of my colleagues from UPC, Barcelona to represent EMDC in the General Assembly. I will miss the GA though.

[27/02/2013] - I bought a Sony Xperia J from fnac, and realized it was locked by Vodafone. It keeps asking "SIM Network Unlock PIN", when I start the phone with the MOCHE SIM, instead of the Vodafone SIM that came bundled with the phone, and without it, it was not working with the MOCHE SIM.

From Spain to Portugal - A boat of descubriter.

I visited fnac and asked whether they could unlock my phone, when I realized that I couldn't unlock it myself or via online services, without paying for their service. Fnac pointed me out that I should contact the service providers to unlock the phone. I reached Vodafone and paid 47.47 Euros to unlock the phone, which included the discount due to the bond with the service provider and the service charge + tax.

I was told I will be sent an sms with the unlock code, in 3 days, which is supposed to be a Saturday. I didn't get any. Assuming they may not work in weekends, I waited further, and eventually waited till the Monday. I still didn't get it! So I reached to them again on the Tuesday, where they unlocked my phone, by entering the unlock code themselves. Never mind, I got it sorted out, at least! :)

[22/02/2013] - Parque das Nações never fails to amuse me. It is full of interesting restaurants, seagulls, and cold wind. The small port of Parque das Nações provides a stay for the mini boats. Parque das Nações surely is a highlight of my year 2013.

A culturally rich summer at Delhi..

Mid Summer Break (10th - 19th of July, 2012)

Recently I had an awesome mid summer break of 10 days at New Delhi - the capital city of India. It was a nice experience, visiting many worshipping places, such as Lotus Temple (The Bahá'í House of Worship), The ISKCON temple (The International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, and Birla Mandir Laxminarain Temple. I have also paid a visit to India Gate and Qutub Minar. HOHO bus is an ideal option to travel around New Delhi for just 300 INR, in two days, where you can tailor your own journey covering 19+ tourists attractions of Delhi. India is a multi-cultural and multilingual country where you can experience a diverse cultural experience.

Roaming

Make sure to set your roaming to the correct network provider to get the cheapest roaming rates for SMS and Calls. I had mistakenly let the "Mobile Network Selection Mode" to be "Automatic". The rate was initially very cheap, as my mobile picked IDEA Cellular networks as the network in Pahar Ganj, New Delhi, as my mobile network is Dialog Telecom. However, when I moved to Chanakyapuri, the network changed automatically to "Reliance", which cost me 2000 LKR for just 3 calls, where I had taken around 10 calls for 1000 LKR in the previous days! So make sure to set the Mobile Network Selection Mode to "Manual" from Options -> Mobile Network -> Network Selection Mode, and Mobile Network to the relevant network, as advised by your local mobile network provider.

Graffiti on a road side wall

Pick your accommodation!
Pick your hotel carefully. Some economic hotels are located in a highly congested areas such as Pahar Ganj or Arakashan Road. Some of these hotels may be nice. But may not suit all the travelers. Travel  review sites such as TripAdviser provide useful information on planning your trips. Make sure to add your own reviews, once you come back home after your trip! During the summer days, Delhi gets really hot. 45°C is pretty average for a summer noon. Be prepared for that. Take a bottle of water or two, with you, always. Some of the economic hotels or hostels tend to have a limited water supply. That is an interrupted water supply in the high demand time such as the morning time, or water with very low pressure. Be aware of this, and be prepared.

Colourful India
Getting into a three-wheeler and paying only for what you traveled is an art, and it needs some experience. I have blogged it as New Delhi by tuk-tuk, as it tends to make this blog post longer. Make sure you read it. :)

Don't forget to explore the yummy North Indian food. If you turn on the Tv, you will be impressed by hundreds of Indian channels, with local movies and songs! Road side walls are often filled with graffiti in many parts of New Delhi. Some of them have interesting messages too. Some roads have rickshaws that run in the local roads, which sometimes create traffic jams, along with the other careless drivers, who never seem to obey the traffic rules.

Love India
India is full of cultural marvels. It takes lots of time to explore it completely. This was my second trip to India, where I had already visited Bangalore and Hyderabad last year. Hope to see more of India in a later trip.