A word on India...

Asian Patience is a must, especially when one visits India. As M said, alot of patience is needed when one spends great time in Asia, or in the developing world in general. We are white women, and to many people the color of our skin defines the money in our pockets. And in many cases this is true. Yes, we felt annoyed and even violated. Yes, we missed the comfort and privacy of our everyday lives. And yes we shared these complaints with you, our dear readers, on this blog. But India is not something to miss. It was tough, one of the toughest places we have ever visited, but equally, India is important and I am so happy that we found enough patience to visit. It is important to find yourself out of your comfort zone and see how the world lives, not just your world. It puts some perspective into your life and changes you. There are a billion people in a land 1/3 the size of the US sharing their space and their lives. There are more people that watch Bollywood flicks than Hollywood flicks. Think about that for a second. India is beautiful and incredible. But it is poor and filthy and hot and stinky. India really makes you think and for that reason alone, it is worth all of the hassle and uncomfort to glimpse into the lives of those that don't have as much as you but somehow have enough to put a smile on their face, give a wobble of the head, and ask for baksheesh. Incredible India!

Mumbai...India gets her last licks on M

We were thrilled to be touching down, by air, in Mumbai...M especially since this meant just one more day of India before she sees Greece and Cyprus again after 12 long years. After that whole Amritsar fiasco, we were left with no choice but to purchase a last minute flight to Mumbai to ensure we'd be there for our departure flight from India. We arrived late and figured we'd splurge a bit and stay in a hotel that was a few steps up for us which was conveniently located within close proximity to the airport, making it easy for us since we had a 5AM departure flight to catch. Though we knew we'd venture into the city center, where the glaring and staring disappeared, where the architecture was stunning AND where people stopped to help two lost tourists out of the kindness of their heart, we thought spending the night near the airport was a wise decision...until...

M wakes up numerous times to announce that there are bedbugs in "this f-ing place!" P says she hasn't noticed anything and doesn't feel "creepy crawly" as M states she's feeling, so back to sleep we go. A while later P's awoken by M shouting that there are bedbugs in "this f-ing place!" and again, P tries her persuasion techniques, until a critter is spotted.

Bedbugs they were and bedbugs we had. Lucky for P, she sleeps in her sleepsack liner just about everynight, while M can't stand to be wrapped up like a cacoon and so refused to get into her sleepsack. So P finds herself in the lobby explaining to the not so nice manager that there are bedbugs in room 5 and we need to be moved ASAP before M starts kickin' ass and takin' names (ha). M managed to have everything packed before P made it back upstairs and we were moved to a MUCH nicer room, free of bedbug signs. We got a few hours of shuteye then ventured out to see some of Mumbai before our early morning flight.

We strolled the streets of Mumbai on LP's walking tour as we: took in the great architecture, enjoyed being left to walk down a sidewalk without the constant hum of "hello madames... buy something!" got crazy excited over the simple act of not one, but TWO LADIES stopping to help us when we had our face in the LP to check our path, escaped the heat browsing FabIndia's great collection of goods, got some quality people watching time in as the crowds enjoyed a night out at the gate of India and caught a glimpse of the stunning nighttime view of the Taj Palace before stopping for some ointment for M's bitten up body and making our way back to grab our packs and head to the airport.

Though we wished for more time in Mumbai, we were so thrilled to have completed our time in India, we embraced in a 5 minute long hug at the check-in gate at the airport repeating over and over "We did it! we did it! we did it!" attracting many last stares from the locals. Yes, we've been traveling since October, yes we know what we're doing, yes we've been annoyed and harassed by tons of people along the way, but we truly had a tough time in India. We've come up with this explanation:

we left India to be our last stop in Asia, where, aside from Japan, we heard the phrase "Madame, hallo, madame, buy something!" over and over again and everywhere we went, it was a task in itself to find some quiet time away from it all. The truth of the matter is that our "Asia Patience," as we've dubbed it, was on it's last leg and India surely depleted it and drained it rather quickly.

And so are even entertaining the thought of making another trip back to Incredible India! to see some of the southern part of the country...but not for a few years of course, we need to build up some of that valuable "Asia Patience" before we venture back into it all.

Amritsar...not where we would have picked to get stuck

Though Amritsar's Golden Sikh Temple was stunning, reflecting off the surrounding pools and being visited by thousands upon thousand of devout pilgrims on a daily basis, Amritsar itself was nothing to write home about it. We visited the temple at a couple of different times during the day to glimpse how the sunlight changes it's appearance and decided one day in Amritsar was enough...so we thought.

As we visited the holy temple, there was some trouble in Austria, where a Sikh guru from Amritsar was shot and killed. Apparently the logical response to this is to begin an uproar in and around Amritsar where riots broke out bringing all public transportation into and out of the state of Punjab to a halt...fun. We were stuck.

OK, let's back up a bit...we didn't actually know we were stuck due to the situation just explained. We initially didn't get on our morning train (which turned out to be canceled due to the aforementioned incident) due to the violent illness that put both of us in the hotel bathroom for hours upon hours. M awoke around 6AM to begin her puke rally while P slept in 'til about 8AM before she began hers. After taking turns staring down the face of our porcelain friend for a few hours, it dawned on us that we can get our tickets refunded and book the next day's train outta Amritsar. P was finally stable enough to walk outside to bring back water for our dehydrated selves when she noticed not a soul on the streets (VERY odd for India). We later hear the state of Punjab is basically under strict orders to shut down between the hours of 12 and 5PM due to riots. RIOTS?! And here we thought our worst problem was our need to be within 5ft of a bathroom at all times. We learned that our train was cancelled and an automatic refund would be credited to our account, but as for the connection we were going to catch in Delhi onwards to Udaipur, that would be up to us to visit the "station supervisor" to arrange a refund.

To make a long story short, the next day, we felt OK to venture away from a bathroom, so we visited the "station supervisor," who proceeded to shout at us about "our problem" and how a refund cannot be granted because we didn't risk the dangerous streets of Amritsar and get to the train station at the time of our train to ask for a refund. SO...because of that, we have to file for god knows what and trust this man on his word that our money would be delivered to our address in NYC in 3 to 5 months...hahaha, yea ok. Why an urge to vomit all over this man and his 6 man posse didn't overtake M's body, we're not sure, but we were surely ready to rip him to pieces. Fortunately, P, the calm, composed one of us 2 managed to re-explain our situation multiple times in hopes for a different answer from this evil man, while M sat back turning different shades of red as she held it all in. We finally gave up and signed our ticket over and kissed our money goodbye, but who knows...maybe we'll get a check in the mail from India Rail around December and this excititing story can be retold over Christmas and Hannukah dinner!

After 5 days of hanging out at the hotel, which luckily had cable TV and English channels (whoo!!) we were free from the state of Punjab. Now our only dilemma was how we'd make it to Mumbai in one and a half days instead of the 4 we alotted...

McLeod Gang, home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

If you're looking for some peace and lots of quiet while in India, head to McLeod Ganj. Granted the bus ride to the small mountain town is nothing short of insanity, but you'll see that it was worth every second upon arrival.
We boarded a local, overnight bus out of Shimla to Dharamasala then took a minivan to McLeod Ganj. The first hour of the bus ride was insane. The bus filled to the max before we left Shimla's station, all men of course and all on top of one another, packed in like sardines, smushed up against those of us who paid for a seat and hanging out the door with one foot in the bus just to get to where they need to be. The bus would stop, 10 people would get off and 15 would get on, wonderful. Having the very front seats by the door proved to be a great annoyance, but quite the experience as men glared and stared at the two white girls while more men packed in to any available slice of space. P won many staring contests during this time. Finally after about an hour of this chaos, the bus aisle cleared and we were off along the long, winding dirt road into the hills for Dharamasala.
McLeod Gang, is home to HH the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government in exile and countless Tibetan refugees...oh and the best museum in India, the Tibet Museum. M took advantage of every opportunity to stop at any of the numerous roadside MoMo stands and P enoyed taking endless photos of the amazing, snow capped Himalayas and passing maroon robed monks. Our evenings consisted of catching a free film at one of the local restaurants around town and taking in the fresh mountain air. MoMos weren't the only thing M wanted to stay for, there were tons of workshops where she could work on her secret passion of being a silversmith around town. The Tibet Museum was another highlight of McLeod, a definite must see for anyone in town. The museum chronicles Tibetan history and China's invasion as well as testimonials of the refugees who currently reside in McLeod and put the museum together. It's truly a moving experience, go see it.
Strolling through the town where the smiles on people's faces are contagious and the "Namaste" greeting is rarely followed by "buy something," made us want to stay forever. Unfortunately, we had a flight to catch out of Mumbai, so staying forever wasn't an option...guess we'll just have to come back!

Chandigarh & Shimla

Not much to report on regarding Chandigarh, the city that prides itself on it's "amazing city layout." OK, it's a grid people...a grid layout! But let's not piss on their bonfire, they have an entire museum about the planning and construction of the city, they are damn proud and anyone you meet will mention how you "are so lucky to have visited the amazing city of Chandigarh." Amazing is an overstatment, but we did enjoy our time in Chandigarh and it is where were were introduced to FabIndia, which deserves the title of an "amazing" store. Another highlight of the amazing Chandigarh, for P at least, was the Fantasy Rock Garden. The garden takes you on a maze like walk through tiny doorways as you take in all the structures built up around you, all made of recycled garbage from a building that collapsed on the site. The last highlight of Chandigarh was Narinder Singh. Anyone with a stopover in Chandigarh, will, without a doubt, meet the ever so friendly, Narinder Singh. We're not quite sure how he does it, but he manages to meet all the backpackers that travel through the city. We took photos of him presenting us with a city map and then a scarf. Not sure where he gets these things from, but he was such a pleasant man to meet and gave us a great feel for Chandigarh. But even Narinder Singh couldn't make the museums less boring. So, we left.

Onto Shimla. Shimla was a cute city set on a gorgeous cliff. Our LP didn't seem to have much good info on lodging, so I asked the girl next to me on the bus if she could make a suggestion. She told me her dad was coming to pick her up from the bus stop and would drop us off at the passenger lift [ie: elevator that you pay to take you from the lower part of the steep city to the upper] and we could find a place easily on the top of the hill. The moment we get in the car and meet her dad, they insisted that we accept their invite as their houseguests for the night. How could we resist the chance for an impromptu homestay? So we gladly took the offer. The girl we met, Sheena, was 24 and just finished her MBA in Delhi and was coming home for a bit before her interviews began. Her Englsih was flawless, but though she claimed her parents understood English as well, we doubt that. Mom certainly understood nothing but wagged and wobbled her head along with the convo anyway. Dad's understanding was very selctive for what he was interested in talking about. No matter what the conversation was about, he would cut in at any moment and tell Sheena to translate for him as he talked about the orchard the family owned a few hours from Shimla. He was very proud of the orchard and was so cute as he just couldn't stop talking about it. After a delicious home cooked meal, Sheena suggested we go for a stroll. So we went upstairs to the roof of the building, walked in one direction for 30 feet, then turned around and walked the opposite way for 30 feet, etc etc. We paced back and forth chatting about arranged marriages. Sheena's folks say she's at prime marrying age, but Sheena has a different agenda in mind, which includes entering the professional world and becoming a successful working woman. She told us that her parents are already bringing suitable bachelors over the house to meet her, but she'll continue to turn them all down until she's ready. Go Sheena! However, since Sheena's family means everything to her and disappointing her parents is the last thing she wants to do, she'll eventually select a suitable husband from her cast and have the blow out wedding...to which we are invited to attend! Finally over an hour into our stroll, and after countless family photos on the rooftop, M admitted to feeling dizzy and we retreated indoors. We were awoken for a second delicious home cooked meal, stuffed parathas, homemade jam, fresh cream & chai, yum! We hung out a while, then packed up, exchanged hugs and contact info and headed to the lift to find the guesthouse Sheena's dad booked for us. We enjoyed every moment with Sheena's family and feel so lucky to have had the experience of a true homestay.
THANK YOU SHARWA FAMILY!!

Rishikesh

One more early morning rickshaw driver without a clue though insistant that we he had quite the clue and we wound up at in a little area called Highbank. And then, we found peace. Unfortunately, we also found stomach bugs. Ugh. Beth and Crystal spent the last of their days with us in Rishikesh and M and I enjoyed it so much we stayed a week longer. Rishikesh doesn't feel much like India. Or perhaps it does, but more like India on a tranquilizer. Its a great place to iniate yourself to India, or a great place to get away from India after you've been initiated and want out. Either way, we enjoyed it thoroughly. But little did we know this would be the start of month long stomach problems, doses and doses of antibiotics, and weight loss. Ugh. We did nothing but relax in Rishikesh. The town was split into 2 areas on either side of the Ganges which was a gorgeous shade of turguoise, though you couldn't pay us to step foot in there. It is the Ganges after all. Our days were spent lazily milking our stomach aches, though it seemed that Beth took the worst beating of all at first. M and I quickly caught up after the girls had left. Rishikesh is called the yoga capital of the world and we certainly talked about doing yoga alot. But the thought of being more than 20 feet from a bathroom at any given moment only allowed us to partake in one early morning session. We summoned enough strength and antibiotics to make it to the other side of the river for some photo shoots of magnificent temples and ashrams. We spent the evening at the ashram where the Beatles reportedly wrote most of the White Album.
The nightly evening riverside ceremony was something we will never forget. The singing, chanting, colors, and spirit of the event were very moving. We spent hours enthralled by the ceremony before the offerings were delicately placed into the river and floated away downstream. We also begrudgingly made our way to check out some unimpressive waterfalls as we all felt a bit quesy but insistant upon doing something. With no swimming costumes in hand and hordes of 40-something Indian men, we hid away in a crevice by one of the falls for a photo shoot before hitching our way back to town. No worries B. The ladies caught an early morning taxi to a hellish bus ride back to Delhi to catch their plane back to the US and so their "charatcer building vacation" had come to an end:( And M and I were alone, with no plan but a ton of time. And so the week of sitting around in Rishikesh began. We finally came up with a plan, figured out the corrupt system of buying train tickets and made our way to Chandigarh.

Jaipur

Jaipur was beautiful, chaotic, infuriating, hot as a god damn furnace and as smelly as a porto-potty. That's a pretty good summary. But beautiful stands out most in my mind. Our obnoxious driver dropped us at the entrance to the Pink City in the morning and we spent the day shmoozing our way around. We started by climbing a steep hill to an unimpressive "Monkey Temple", thankfully none jumped on my lap this time! We got followed by some young boys who couldn't resist tagging along with us all the way back down the hill, and of course, posed for some photos with them. Then a 5 year old slapped my ass. We spent the rest of the day within the beautiful City Palace painted entirely pink to welcome the Prince of Wales in 1853. Talk about a welcoming! We were lucky enough to have an audio tour which entertained most of us quite well (echem, M) for the day. We got trapped in a crazy rain storm which is very atypical for the dry season and one of the few times M and I had seen rain in a while so we delighted to have it cool things off. And the after-rain photos are superb if I say so myself. After the City Palace was when things got frustrating. Again, 4 white women, one tall and blonde, walking down the road in India, especially in Rajastan, attracts A LOT of attention. We tried shopping, and we succeeded, but were hassled way more than we had bargained for. At one point, it actually got so bad, that we decided it was time for a group hug to escape the "Madame, you buy," "Miss, come in my store. Misssssss" for just one minute. With our renewed strength, we headed straight to the silver district, pretended we spoke no English, and got our shopping done. The most impressive part of all the touts however are their abilitites with foreign language. Normally we speak Spanish to eachother to talk when we are being hassled. In Jaipur, no es possible porque todos hablan en Espanol! Not only do all the touts speak Spanish, they can whip out Japanese, Mandarin, French, Russian, German, etc etc. It is amazing what people in India will do for a buck. We finally found some peace over delicious dinner, played some cards into the wee hours of night and crashed.
Our second day in Jaipur was spent at the Ahmer Fort and the Water Palace before heading back to to Delhi. The Water Palace was nothing to write home about but the Fort was pretty gorgeous. Flanked by a bright blue sky, the huge fort climbed up rocky hills and was a great way to spend a few HOT hours. Finally got back in the car with obnoxious driver and made our way back to Delhi. Of course not before him stopping at an overpriced tourist restaurant so he could sneak in the back and eat for free with the drivers. We refused to eat there and he refused to take us elsewhere. And this guy had the nerve to ask for baksheesh. Asshole. Back to Delhi, ditched the driver, got some food, got ridiculously lost from eachother trying to head to the bus stop in 2 separate rickshaws, had 4 heart attackes (one each) and got on the coldest, most uncomfortable overnight bus we have ever taken to Rishikish. Woke up at 6 AM in a garbage dump, I mean bus station. What a welcoming.

This is why our blog is not up to date...

Flat Tires

There is an "s"after flat tire because we had 3 of them. 3 flat tires on a 6 hour journey. Crazy! But imagine driving on a road in Indian heat and the friction of the tire against the "road"and it seems to make much more sense. First flat tire and our driver took off with the spare that was also flat. We thought he might've left us for good as he was gone for nearly 2 hours. Let me tell you, 4 white girls standing on the side of the road sure causes some commotion in the middle o'nowhere, India. We stopped counting the number of cars that stalled as they drove so slowly past us. 2 men parked their motos, jumped off, stuck their cameras in our faces and snapped away. No "May I take your photo," No nothing. Why must we practice these rules of respect that Lonely Planet is insistent upon when it doesn't go both ways? Ok sure, different culture, blah blah, we don't need to hear about culture, I think we know all about it now, but it's just plain weird. And not weird in that "Japanese snapping photos of white people" way either. When you can't beat ém, snap their photos too. So we did. A few ladies walked over from the local village, stood a few feet away from us and giggled. Not in a creepy way but showing us that they were interested in making some contact but didn't know how. Finally one of them got the courage to come a few feet closer and ramble on in Hindi. After 2 days in India, our Hindi went as far as "Hello"and "Thank you"so we tried that a few times. Then we made out the word "chai"so we placed our hands together like we were preying to say yes please as is done in Asia. The ladies hurried away and we were ecstaic that A) the first women in India had spoken to us and B) they weren't single creepy men taking our photos. We tried hard to imagine the conversation that must've gone down when they went back to their village to let them know that they had spoken to the white girls AND we're going to drink chai together. Promptly, half the village sneaked out of hiding and was amazed by us standing on the side of the road. It is pretty amazing afterall. Our obnoxious driver returns in the interim and instructs us to get back in the car. We let him know that some lovely ladies were bringing us chai and he brushed it off like it ain't no thang. Since we felt that it was quite a thang, especially after him telling us a woman's place is in the home, we adamantly waited for our new friends to return. A few cups of chai, many smiles, "hellos" and "thank yous"later, we got back in the car. 20 minutes down the road, puncture #2. This went much more smoothly. We munched on some Western snacks (thanks girls!) chit chatted the time away and didn't feel bothered by the delay. Many hours later, we arrived (with a flat tire!) in Jaipur, stepped out into the furnace and played the "find a hotel at 10PM not having eaten dinner game." Naturally, a lot of fun. Finally some Kingfishers and dahl and chapatis later, we headed to bed with the excitement of Jaipur awaiting the next day.

Taj Mahal

Alright alright, so Delhi didn't make us happy. Actually Delhi made us annoyed as hell and we couldn't wait to get out of there. M and I have been playing this game for quite some time now and were thrown off our gaurd and spun around until we realized we had entered a new world. Welcome to India. So, we hid out in our room and caught up a bit on our different lives for the last 7ish months. We got picked up bright and early by our driver to head to Agra to see the Taj. After a 6 hour ride we were told would take 3 and many obnoxious comments by our obnoxious driver, we arrived at one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. Welcome to the Taj Mahal. It was a good 100 + degrees and we were ready to tackle the monument of love. The tough was a tough place to visit. Thpush beautiful as anything, 4 white women, one of which is tall and blonde, parading around the the Taj was a hard feat to conquer. We attracted wayyyyy more unwanted attention that we could have imagined leaving us feeling a bit violated. We figured if you can't beat them, join them and started snapping photos of people snapping photos of us. Needless to say, we have quite a nice photo album from Agra. Seriously though, it was hard to find peace at the Taj because of all the men (Read: Single, creepy, slyly taking photos, will likely wind up on mantles or photoshopped on naked bods) so we did a lap, took it all in and bolted out of there. It is hard to comprehend that the Taj is nothing more than a monument for a man's wife after she died during childbirth. Seems a bit over the top, but I am thankful for the amazing monument we are left to gaze longingly at. Now that is true love. M even said she'd build me one too <3

The moment we left to head back to the car, we were attacked by touts offering everything and anything, inclduing camel rides to the gate. We thought it was a bit over the top but we did notice lots of crowds inching along on a rickshaw-cum- camel ride. Crystal finally got suckered (or maybe just annoyed enough) to give in and trade her carabeener for a a dinky Taj snow globe key chain. Awesome. Made one kid go away, thats for sure. But we do know enough not to give into kids banterings and pleas as the money únfortunately winds up in the wrong places and only encourages more begging. We have all seen Slumdog Millionaire havent we? All the tout commotion made us lose our way and we had to backtrack to figure out where we wound up. Back to the car, back to the oboxious driver, 6 more hours to Jaipur.

"Most Welcome to India"

So we learned the hard way that you pretty much can't trust anyone who approaches you in Delhi, even the ones that approach with a warm smile and sweet, gentle voice. We hadn't made a stupid tourist mistake in quite a while, so I guess we were due for a big one...and boy did we fall into quite a trap. Leaving the LP behind in the guesthouse was our first major mistake of the day (strike 1). After avoiding tons of shouting touts and finally making our way through the tourist ghetto of Paharganj to the New Delhi railway station, we were approached by what we thought to be a kind, gentle and trustworthy security worker who directed us to "tourist information" in Connaught Place (strike 2). We arrive at "tourist info" where a man behind a desk claims he is a government employee and we were in fact at the government tourist office...NOT. After listening to his sales pitch for flights to a north Indian city and talking amongst ourselves that we were in the wrong place, we were abruptly escorted out by the "government employee" as he cursed us and our good ol' U.S of A. Lovely. When he got in M's face and shouted, she may have lost her temper and may have used physical force against him, guess you had to be there to know the extent of this altercation. So, strike 3, but not out yet...

We (ah hem, M) managed to settle our (her) tempers and move on to another travel agent to ask some questions. After numerous confusing head wobbles and some alone time to make a decision, we agree to get ripped off and hire a driver for 3 days of adventure through the "Golden Triangle" of India. What were we thinking?! (strike 4?)

OK, it was hot...very, very hot and we had just walked away from what could have become a very ugly interaction with several Indian men and Beth & Crystal were only here for 10 days, oh and did I mention that it was HOT...we fell into a trap and definitely struck out big time.

Oh and the REAL government tourist info office turned out to be closed anyway (this makes us feel a little better).

So, it was set- our driver would pick us up at 7am so the fun could start, yay!

Stay tuned for more exciting stories from "Incredible India!"

Getting to the Motherland...

proved to be more difficult than we imagined.
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")