Mom & Dad Arrive

Yes, we're here in India, not Indiana! Our flight is worth blogging. We left Buffalo late and were not allowed on our flight to Delhi, because they closed the doors. Continental Airlines put us up at Howard Johnson's near the Newark airport. The accommodations left something to be desired.

After 16+hrs in the air we finally touched down in Delhi at 8:30pm local time. I needed to go to the bathroom, which are called toilets in India. The urinals were built for someone like Michael Jordan. I decided to try the India toilet, just a hole in the ground. Hey gravity works great.

We waited for our luggage, but it was not on the carousel. I went to the baggage questions area and asked about our bags. I was told to speak to the guy with a grey coat and a turban. Yeah, right! Sharon spotted him and we asked. He said that our bags arrived the previous day, on the flight we "missed". Now for the fun part. We had to go to one window and were told to wait for a worker to help us. He took us to the "Baggage Questions" window where we filled out the form. Then off we ran to the original window, where the guy filled out two more forms. Now our helper person had three forms in his hands. He said he could now get our bags. 15-mins later he arrived with our bags. He also got bags for another family of 5 from Mexico who had also missed the flight. Now all 7 of us went to have the bags x-rayed. One person loaded them onto the machine, one person viewed our bags and another person put them back on the cart. Almost out of there! We had to go back to the original window where all the paper work was stamped. We then had to leave the paperwork with the last guy. Out of the airport at 10:00pm.

We were supposed to have a cab pick us up, but never found anyone holding a sign for us. When we left the airport we became familiar with the sights, sounds and smells of India. There is garbage everywhere! Motor vehicles beeped all the time. And, the smell of urine and burning garbage was prominent. The air was sweet and fragrant! We bought a prepaid cab fare for 250 rupees, about $6. After a 30-min drive, we arrived at the hotel. On our trip I discovered that everyone drives without rules. Nobody stops, they just beep and go. Cows and bigger vehicles have the right of way. Yes, we did see our first cows in the streets in Delhi.

We were tired and wanted to go to sleep. The problem with our room was the noise outside. Cars and auto-rickshaws beeping & dogs barking!But we were tired so we slept anyway!

After an Indian breakfast ranging from vegetables to sweets we were off to explore Delhi. It is a constant crush of rushing humanity! We wandered through streets full of stalls selling everything from wrapping paper to clothing & the stalls went on endlessly for what seemed to be miles. We saw a huge fort called the Red Fort & a famous mosque.

Next morning we took a luxury train to Agra.The sights from the window were daunting. Village after village of people living in conditions most of us have not seen in the US.
Agra was amazing! The Taj Mahal was amazingly beautiful & our favorite sight of it was at sunrise. yes, we were there at 6:30 after hiring a guy to trek us across the river in his boat which was pushed by a pole.

Next was my only unpleasant experience thus far in India. The sleeper train to Bundi- my own personal view of Hell on Wheels! I couldn't sleep due to noise, lights, smoking & best of all the gagging stench of urine.And I had to pee so bad that I finally forced myself to go in the stinky room & use the hole in the floor! A really fun night that I will never forget!
The people in Bundi are extremely friendly, have parades & funky temples everywhere(300) & we bought some nice Art. Last night we saw a festival the Goldsmiths were having with dancing & singing & we are invited back for dinner tonight. Bernie thinks we must be related!

The saris are sooo beautiful, the food great, the sight unbelievable & we are having a great time with Deb & Dan & hopefully haven't driven them too crazy yet. More next time!
Bernie & Sharon