Day 1 and 2

Wednesday, March 3rd day 1 in India

At 5:30 am I got a taxi from the hotel to the New Delhi Train Station. Upon arrival I started looking for 3 coolies I was informed by a younger coolie that I only needed 2 coolies and it would cost 1,000 rupees($20.22 USD). I gulped but was in no position to argue having remembered how over priced the coolies were the year before. Just go with the flow, Leon. In Dehradun (the railhead for Landour)the coolies only charged 500 rupees. I was told by my landlady that she had ordered a taxi for me and it would be 600 rupees. The taxi never showed up so I went to the taxi office and was informed that the price was 700 rupees. Flowing right along I got to the top of the hill and found Kilmarnock on my own.

Thursday, March 4th day 2

There is one additional young man living at the guesthouse who is studying Hindi and is an Italian student of foreign languages. He had been here for only a week and is evidently doing very well. I am typing this sitting on the front terrace and he is sitting on the other side studying. The reason both of us are outside is that the electricity is shut off between 1 and 3 pm every day. Fortunately my laptop runs well on a battery.

The only person here is the cook and he speaks almost no English. The Italian student is my sole means of communication. My lack of a mind yesterday (maybe from lack of sleep, do you think?) is not a help in trying to communicate. I have gotten across to the cook that neither of us like the food to be too spicy. My stomach is agreeing with his diet so far (all of one supper, breakfast and lunch).

I appear to be not bothered by the elevation, close to 7,000 feet (if you believe the signs put up by the Indian government, always suspect). I walked over to the Internet cafe and back without any huffing or puffing. I will leave on another walk soon. Back from the walk with the same results except that I could feel the stress in my legs and I was a little tired. In the evening I had a headache (which is a sign of high altitude problems) and my mind was very fuzzy (that is an accurate medical description).