Day 1.5+
-Rather than write a separate blog , I have decided to join Steve on this one. Since the whole reason for this trip was my birthday, which we ended up spending it in transit. November 2nd began early for us as we changed time zones on our way to England, with the 6 hour time difference, and the day ended early as we changed time zones again on our way to Delhi with the 9 ½ time difference between Delhi and Washington. On The Delhi flight, one of the flight attendants gave us a bottle of Taittinger Champagne just before we arrived. AHS
3am in Delhi. Just arrived to a city full of smoke/smog, smelling like a forest fire. I asked our driver if there was a problem, and was told, “It’s winter”. The smoke is thick, and somewhat burns my eyes. We’ll see in the morning if it persists. It doesn’t look as bad as the smoke in Xian, but time will tell. The flight was only interesting in that as we were getting ready to land, I suddenly felt something fall on my head. I looked up and saw the oxygen masks hanging down. “Oh shit” I thought, but I looked around and saw that none of the other seats had their oxygen masks hanging. Just a snafu of that door, but it startled me.
This hotel, the Taj Palace, is nothing that my son would ever be found in. The place is on lock down, with armed guards at the gates. They looked under the car with mirrors, and opened the engine compartment and trunk. We went through xray screening coming into the front door. Wow. The room looks like one we were in in Beijing, with a glassed-in bathroom. Similar architecture around the world for high end hotels.
Thursday
Slept late. We were picked up for lunch by Paul’s friend/mentor/older brother, Venkat. We went to “Venkat’s Clubhouse” for a delicious meal of veggies. Maybe Ann can fill in the details of what exactly was in the meal, but it was good. Then off to a government crafts fair where Ann bought some pashmenas and some stones for Ellen. We also stopped to watch a Bollywood movie being shot in the market. Nobody we knew or ever that Raj (Venkat’s cook) had heard of. They tried to take us to another Emporium for more shopping, but we had had it. Tonight we’re going to the home of a former neighbor from Bethesda. Unfortunately, we have to drive there. Driving in this town is crazy. The drivers are not watching where they are going, and lane markers are merely suggestions. It is not unusual to squeeze 3 or even 4 cars across a 2 lane road.
-Rather than write a separate blog , I have decided to join Steve on this one. Since the whole reason for this trip was my birthday, which we ended up spending it in transit. November 2nd began early for us as we changed time zones on our way to England, with the 6 hour time difference, and the day ended early as we changed time zones again on our way to Delhi with the 9 ½ time difference between Delhi and Washington. On The Delhi flight, one of the flight attendants gave us a bottle of Taittinger Champagne just before we arrived. AHS
3am in Delhi. Just arrived to a city full of smoke/smog, smelling like a forest fire. I asked our driver if there was a problem, and was told, “It’s winter”. The smoke is thick, and somewhat burns my eyes. We’ll see in the morning if it persists. It doesn’t look as bad as the smoke in Xian, but time will tell. The flight was only interesting in that as we were getting ready to land, I suddenly felt something fall on my head. I looked up and saw the oxygen masks hanging down. “Oh shit” I thought, but I looked around and saw that none of the other seats had their oxygen masks hanging. Just a snafu of that door, but it startled me.
This hotel, the Taj Palace, is nothing that my son would ever be found in. The place is on lock down, with armed guards at the gates. They looked under the car with mirrors, and opened the engine compartment and trunk. We went through xray screening coming into the front door. Wow. The room looks like one we were in in Beijing, with a glassed-in bathroom. Similar architecture around the world for high end hotels.
Thursday
Slept late. We were picked up for lunch by Paul’s friend/mentor/older brother, Venkat. We went to “Venkat’s Clubhouse” for a delicious meal of veggies. Maybe Ann can fill in the details of what exactly was in the meal, but it was good. Then off to a government crafts fair where Ann bought some pashmenas and some stones for Ellen. We also stopped to watch a Bollywood movie being shot in the market. Nobody we knew or ever that Raj (Venkat’s cook) had heard of. They tried to take us to another Emporium for more shopping, but we had had it. Tonight we’re going to the home of a former neighbor from Bethesda. Unfortunately, we have to drive there. Driving in this town is crazy. The drivers are not watching where they are going, and lane markers are merely suggestions. It is not unusual to squeeze 3 or even 4 cars across a 2 lane road.
1 comment:
Jealous, nbd. Biochem is more interesting anyway...
Post a Comment