Delhi
After a couple days of doing nothing in Jaipur we headed to Delhi and tried to keep busy.
We took a bus instead of a train into Delhi which was actually really nice. The trains arrived in Delhi at around 10pm which was later than we wanted to be wandering around a new city so we decided to take a morning bus up so we could be all settled in the afternoon.
The area of our hotel was a bit sketchy but the room ended up being not too bad. The room had a bit of a leak but you can be surprised considering how much it was raining.
We got lucky on this trip in regards to the rain. Considering we were traveling through out monsoon season we only had a handful of days where it poured down rain. I had expected it to be raining on most days even if for just for an hour or so. Thankfully that wasnt the case. Depsite how lucky we were it unfortunately rained for a good part of the two days we were in Delhi. Even with the rain we still got out and did a few things.
We visited the railroad museum, a strange shopping complex inside the Air Force Base, Planetarium, Cultural Center with a diner inside, and a tea shop. That was more than we had done in like 4 days. It was nice to get out and do something instead of just sitting in our room.
I think we were both surprised about Delhi. It wasnt quite as chaotic as some of the other big cities we had been to in India. There is an area of Central Delhi that is just a bunch of tree lined streets with parks and buildings here and there. It was so different from the other parts of Delhi that we ended up spending most of our time at places within this area. It was definetly a nice change from the crowded streets.
The most exciting part of our time in Delhi was actually at the airport. We headed to the airport quite a few hours before our plane was leaving mainly to get there before it was dark. Once we arrived we tried to go into the building to check in and the security guards wouldnt let us. Since we didnt have a paper copy of ticket we couldnt prove that we actually had a flight, therefore they couldnt let us in. I kept trying to explain that we werent going to have a paper copy since there was nowhere we could get one now. I also tried to convince him to follow us to the desk so we could prove that we have a ticket when they check us in. That didnt work either. Finally he pointed us in the direction of the Continental office where they could print out our e-ticket so we could go in the building. It works out fine, but I was still annoyed he wouldnt just let us in the building.
It continues…
We got in line with our printed out copy and our passports to check in. We were handed all the customs forms to fill out as well as some tags for our bags. While filling those out the lady who had printed our ticket walks up so I say hi. She says that she is going to ask us some questions. Little did I know at this point I would be repeating our entire itinerary with the names of airlines we flew, how long we were in each place, the places we visited while in India and all our modes of transportation. She made me feel like we had done something wrong. Thankfully I have a good memory so I was able to pretty much recall the information she needed. While she was asking these questions she was also looking through our passports. Sean has used two passports on this trip and she was only looking at his Canadian one so we thought she would notice that only a few of the countries were in it, but she didnt say anything. She asked about my Turkey stamp and then was a little confused why I had so many stamps from Egypt. If you look in my passport you will see 3 pages devoted to visas and then since I left the country on 3 occassions there are 6 exit and entry stamps. Thankfully she understood after I told her that I left the country on so many occassions. After probably 15 minutes of her questions she finally let us go. I was surprised there were so many questions.
It wasnt until we went through security to get into the boarding area and then another security to get on the plane that i realized they are being extra careful. Possibly this is due to the bombings that had just recently happened.
Thankfully we made it through all the checks and got on the plane to head out on a 15 hour flight to New York City.
Filed under: Uncategorized on September 21st, 2008
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