A few factors played a part in this...
Numero Uno: The Terai region of Nepal was striking against the government for not fulfilling their demands. This basically meant that buses to the Indian border may or may not be able to get through the strike zone, food items grown and produced in the region were not transported to the rest of Nepal and gas prices were rising for the little fuel that was left in the country OH and travellers headed to India were stuck. We got advice to "go ahead, no problem, buy tickets, tourist bus no problem madames" and we heard the opposite, "no madames, cannot possible, you go to India maybe next week or the next week...when strike end, OK?"
Umm, no not OK, we have 2 friends flying all the way from NYC to meet us in Delhi to spend time with us and to see what they can of India in the 10 days that they were able to take off of work!
and
Numero Dos: M was on day 3 of vomitting nonstop and not being able to keep anything in her stomach, FUN!
"what to do, what to do"
So, we made the decision to hit up this fancy airport, as seen in this photo
to fly to Kathmandu to catch a connection to New Delhi. This would land us in New Delhi approximately 8 hours before Beth and Crystal were due to arrive. M held it together for the flights only to continue the vomit rally on arrival in "Incredible India." On a positive note, we got out of Nepal just in time as the strike situation got worse and citizens of Kathmandu started their demonstrations, which would have kept us in Nepal indefinitely.
So, we land in India, have a quick health check for swine flu...we're still not sure how M passed, but alas, they let us both in without delay. After checking out a Tibetan colony for a quiet place to stay and finding nothing under 25 US dollars, we hopped in an autorickshaw and headed to the tourist ghetto of Paharganj. It was hot...not as hot as we expected, but it was hot. So after checking a couple of filthy places, we dumped our packs at a cafe and split up. P took over searching for a place while M relaxed, nibbled on some plain bread and focused on not puking. After checking in to a guesthouse, jumping under some cold water and relaxing for a few, we headed back to the airport to collect our visitors! Hours after their expected landing time and many shot nerves later, we learned that their flight would be the last one out due the swine flu screening process. Phew! We thought we missed them while we argued with our cabbie about paying a parking fee. So the girls were in fact in the airport and not out braving New Delhi alone.
We spotted the ladies coming from baggage claim and were so excited to share a happy airport meeting with two familiar faces, we embraced until a guard waved us along with his baton. Back at the guesthouse, we stayed up way too late catching up, sharing stories and stuffing our faces with all the Trader Joe's snacks we could dream of!
After many detours & delays we made it to India AND found our friends, we were happy as can be!
until...(stay tuned for our first few experiences in "incredible india")
and
Numero Dos: M was on day 3 of vomitting nonstop and not being able to keep anything in her stomach, FUN!
"what to do, what to do"
So, we made the decision to hit up this fancy airport, as seen in this photo
to fly to Kathmandu to catch a connection to New Delhi. This would land us in New Delhi approximately 8 hours before Beth and Crystal were due to arrive. M held it together for the flights only to continue the vomit rally on arrival in "Incredible India." On a positive note, we got out of Nepal just in time as the strike situation got worse and citizens of Kathmandu started their demonstrations, which would have kept us in Nepal indefinitely.So, we land in India, have a quick health check for swine flu...we're still not sure how M passed, but alas, they let us both in without delay. After checking out a Tibetan colony for a quiet place to stay and finding nothing under 25 US dollars, we hopped in an autorickshaw and headed to the tourist ghetto of Paharganj. It was hot...not as hot as we expected, but it was hot. So after checking a couple of filthy places, we dumped our packs at a cafe and split up. P took over searching for a place while M relaxed, nibbled on some plain bread and focused on not puking. After checking in to a guesthouse, jumping under some cold water and relaxing for a few, we headed back to the airport to collect our visitors! Hours after their expected landing time and many shot nerves later, we learned that their flight would be the last one out due the swine flu screening process. Phew! We thought we missed them while we argued with our cabbie about paying a parking fee. So the girls were in fact in the airport and not out braving New Delhi alone.
We spotted the ladies coming from baggage claim and were so excited to share a happy airport meeting with two familiar faces, we embraced until a guard waved us along with his baton. Back at the guesthouse, we stayed up way too late catching up, sharing stories and stuffing our faces with all the Trader Joe's snacks we could dream of!
After many detours & delays we made it to India AND found our friends, we were happy as can be!
until...(stay tuned for our first few experiences in "incredible india")
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