India Day 2 (Wednesday the 7th, 2011)

As you can see from the gap in my posts, I'm blogging post trip since the rest of my India adventure was early rise and late nighty-night time due to a fully jam packed schedule. I'm back in Chicago now and can recap my trip from my notes and time stamped pictures...technology is a wonderful thing...:)

India Day 2 (Wednesday the 7th, 2011)

 Today is the first day of the 2011 PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) PATA Travel Mart [PTM]. I had a nice buffet style breakfast at the hotel with eggs cooked to order, fresh squeezed juices (mango and pineapple-yum!)...

PATA Travel Mart Venue- Pragati Maidan

PATA Travel Mart Venue- Pragati Maidan

 It only took about 15 minutes to drive from my hotel (The Park) to the Pragati Maidan conference center, which is in the center of New Delhi and arrived around 9:30 am.

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 This was outside the main entrance of the PTM.

 Incredible India says it all...

 Greeted by music playing monks from Bhutan. Bhutan will be a 2012 PATA destination for a PATA meeting with the PTM being held in Manila in 2012.

 This was the PATA meeting area and computer station in the back. They were raffling off a car made in India by TATA. It looked like a mini-Mini Cooper with an Indian flavor.

 This was the 9:30-10:00 am pre-PTM meeting area for un-scheduled meetings...I had 6...sort of like speed dating, but for buyers and sellers to exchange business cards and a 30 second elevator pitch about their company and what they offer/do.

 View of PTM from after entering it. It was multi-tiered with a ground floor for mostly sub continent sellers with a 2nd floor divided into SE Asia, NE Asia and other.

Meeting with Incheon International Airport at the KTO- Korea Tourism Organization booth.

 Meeting with Incheon International Airport at the KTO- Korea Tourism Organization booth.

 Lunch-went for the Indian Bento box with rice, veggie-curry with fried goodness and a salad...the fried breaded meat was chicken. It was 400 Rupi or about $10 USD...Convention food is expensive in every country...

 View of PTM looking down onto the main floor with Philippines in the very center with the best location since they are PTM 2012 destination.

View to the left with China booth left, then HK then other Asian destinations farther left.

View to the right with other Asian destinations and Middle East











After the PTM finished at 5 pm I took the coach back to the hotel and went to the pool bar in the back of the hotel and tried a local beer called King Fisher. I had two 330cl bottles (12 oz) and surprisingly the beer was great and tasted like a heavy smooth lager like Stella. A bit about Kingfisher beer...

Kingfisher's heritage started with five small breweries in South India, the oldest of which, Castle Breweries dated back to 1857. Then in 1915, Thomas Leishman, a Scotsman, combined these breweries to form United Breweries Ltd.

The popularity of their beers soon spread and within a short time, bullock carts carrying huge 'hogsheads' of Kingfisher became a familiar sight in Madras, the Nilgiris and Bangalore, the headquarters of United Breweries Ltd. Almost immediately, the brew from UB became a favorite, especially with the British troops.

So began the history of Beer in India...

Kingfisher, the flagship brand of United Breweries and the best-selling Indian Lager worldwide, is now available in over 55 countries and is exported from the UK to 19 Continental European Markets and Canada and from India to major markets in the Middle East, South East Asia, the Far East and Australasia, and it is also served on board 10 international airlines.

Kingfisher was first imported to the UK and USA markets in the years 1982 and 1983 respectively in the traditional large 650ml bottles. It rapidly gained a foothold in the fast expanding Indian Restaurant markets. In the UK within three years, demand for the brand was so great that production had to be switched to England. Shepherd Neame, Britain's oldest brewer, was selected to brew Kingfisher under licence and to the Indian specification at their brewery in Faversham, Kent. Similarly, demand to launch Kingfisher in the mainstream markets in the USA was so compelling that production had to be switched under license to the state-of-the-art breweries of Mendocino Brewing Company, internationally renowned as a brewer of full-bodied traditional beers and as a pioneer in the American Craft Brewing Renaissance.

The bad part of trying two small local beers is that they cost 800 Rupies of $20 USD and the nice bartender told me afterwards I can buy the same bottle of beer across the street for 60 rupies ($1.50) from a small off license.

After I went back to my room I had a knock on the door about 7 pm and I was greeted at the door by one of the hotel staff with a tray of very nice looking fruit tarts. I found out that every evening they came by and dropped off a small desert and of course I did not want to be rude, so I accepted it.

Each night I began to wonder what little delicious morsel they would be dropping off...

I had an early night and skipped dinner, but later made the mistake of going down to the Park Hotel 24 hour cafe and had a bacon cheeseburger with fries...did not take a photo...note to self, stick with the Indian food!