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TAJ PALACE HOTEL
Natalie and I spent three nights in New Delhi at two different hotels. The first two nights were at the eight-storey, two-tower, 462-room Taj Palace Hotel. There are three Taj Hotels in New Delhi, which by the way, is the capital of India. The Taj hotel we stayed at was the Taj Palace, which is on Diplomatic Row, so as you can imagine, lots of heads of state from around the world stay here. Even Bill Gates. Before our taxi went into the driveway, the undercarriage was searched and the trunk checked for bombs -- and this was a few days before the November 26th terrorist attacks. The moment we pulled up, an army of Taj staff, all wearing colorful and beautiful traditional attire, greeted us. They're ready to help and make sure you never have to open a door. The lobby is incredibly grand, full of white marble and ornate furniture. It's huge and sprawling and the staff is polite almost to a fault. For example, when I called down to the front desk to see if I had a package, the clerk would wait for me to say it's okay for them to put me on hold while they checked.



THE ROOM
I was excited to be in India and staying at such a prestigious hotel (though this isn't Delhi's grandest). But the moment I walked into the room, I found myself wondering if I was still at the same Taj that had just moments before greeted me with its lavish lobby. The room was so outdated and in need of a renovation (the same goes for the pool area). In turns out that the rooms on floors six through eight had already been remodeled and our floor (five) was next. Don't get me wrong: The room was comfortable but I bet it was nothing like the plush, renovated ones on the floors above. For those addicted to TV, there was a flat screen with a ton of English, American and foreign channels: HBO, National Geographic, Discovery, Travel & Living, Animal Planet, Hallmark, Fox History/Entertainment, Australia Network, TV5 Monde ... All I cared about was Wi-Fi Internet, which they had for 749.00 INR ($15USD) for 24 hours.

WATER
Each room comes with a bottle of water which wasn't enough for Natalie or me because we were both paranoid about getting sick. We even brushed our teeth with bottled water, which the hotel representative said was unnecessary ... but we weren't taking chances. In fact, when I take a shower, I usually love to stick my mug under the spout and let the hot water splash on my face with my mouth open. Not here. Instead, when I took a shower, it was as if I was under water -- I held my breath when shampooing and rinsing my hair and kept my pie-hole shut. The windows weren't soundproofed so I could hear horns beeping most of the night and a train every once in a while but nothing too bad. What's interesting is that the Taj has designated certain rooms as Earth Rooms. Ours was one of them, which meant that the linens were changed every two days instead of daily, the pad of paper was made from recyclable paper and there are no plastic bags. I know it's kind of a joke but hey, at least they are trying to be aware.

FOOD AT THE TAJ
Breakfast is served in the 24-hour Mediterranean eatery Kafe Fontana. There's no dress code here though one of their restaurants is semiformal. Inside Kafe Fontana we found a number of wealthy travelers and fantastic service. The breakfast buffet had everything a high-maintenance American could want ... and then some. There were fresh smoothies, pastries, pancakes, eggs, omelets, bacon, beans ... you name it. There was even a dessert table and a salad bar. I thought the people eating salad were nuts because everything I had read and heard before going to India had advised travelers to stay away from cold stuff, especially salad (since the lettuce and veggies have to be rinsed). But we sat next to a Canadian tour group with 30+ travelers who were in India for three weeks and were just wrapping up their journey. The seasoned travelers said it was their best trip ever and not one of them had gotten sick from the food -- and they were eating the salad in the hotel. That eased some of my fears but not all of them. The hotel has a restaurant called Masada that serves Indian artistic style cooking and they use olive oil to make it healthier. You also don't want to miss having tea or coffee in the lobby. The hotel offers 94 different teas and 18 coffees. Taj Palace Hotel, 2, S.P. Marg, Diplomatic Enclave, New Delhi, Tel: 011-26110202.

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