91 Wednesday Sep 1

91 Wednesday Sep 1

My son Travis took me to the airport. The flight leaves at 1 pm and I like to be early in case there are any problems. Travis had an appointment lasting from 9 to 10 so we left home about 8:30 and got to the airport by 10:30. The first problem of the day occurred before I even got to baggage checkin. I wasn't able to use the new scanning devise to get your boarding pass so Travis and I got to stand in for and extra hour. This device allows you to scan your passport but the instructions are very incomplete (they were produced by someone who is much more computer literate than I). There was no one there to help and many of the inexperienced people were asking the next person for help. A great case of the blind leading the blind.

After that it was smooth sailing for the entire rest of the trip including customs in India. Last time I was honest about having expensive camera equipment on my luggage. This time I devalued the worth of the equipment and went right through. The Commonwealth Games (Olympics for former British colonies and Britain) are coming to Delhi in October, so all the prices of taxis and hotel rooms have been raised. I paid 40% more for my hotel room. I was in it for 5 hours but it was air conditioned and boy did I need it. The humidity was high and it was between 85 and 90 degrees.

The trip from Delhi to the mountains took about 9 hours. I had to get to the train station early so I would be among the first one to get on the train. There are only 2 spots that are large enough to hold my suitcases and if you are not early they will be gone. (The suitcases are too large to fit into the overhead racks.) We stood on the platform (I was not the least bit interested in sitting down after 18 hours in a plane) and waited for the train to arrive. By the time it was available I was no longer the first one wanting to get on. In India there is no such concept as waiting in a line. It is everyman for themselves and the devil take the hind most. I had to show the coolies where to put the cases. I tried to get them to got to the end of the carriage where the 2 magic spots are but they just got on the train as fast as possible. We got on at the front of the car and they ended up putting the suitcases back on their heads and carry them though the other passengers down the ail of the car. It worked out and we got the magic spots.

In Delhi the skies were hazy with no clouds in sight. I have been following the weather reports on the internet and rain was forecast in the mountains. As we got nearer the hills the sky was cloudy. In the taxi ride up the hills the tops of the mountains were obscured by clouds. I have been here for 15 hours and there is no rain yet.

I had forgotten how damp everything is during the monsoons. My towels feel like I had just dried off after a shower. The sheets and blanket are damp and the smell of the rooms is one of mildew. I had left 2 pairs of jeans and packed them with some moisture absorbing packets and they are drier than the towels and sheet. I put them on and I can feel the moisture in them while typing this. With everything you wear damp, it is a little hard to keep warm. I have the front door open and I am comfortable in shirt sleeves but my legs are cold.

I have a full apartment. It has a living room, a dining area, a kitchen (the cook comes in and prepares my meals in the kitchen - boy life is rough) bedroom and bathroom. The bathroom is interesting. It actually has a shower but I have not been able to get Nazan (the cook) to explain it to me. The Indians do not use toilet paper but clean their bottoms with water. So, attached to the toilet seat is a means of cleaning ones self. A jet sticks out from under the back of the toilet seat about an inch. If I sit back on the toilet seat the metal end hits me right in the tail bone. So I have to scoot up a couple of inches to avoid being impaled. I never realized how uncomfortable it is to semi perch on a toilet seat. So I shall not be having any relaxed throne time.