Saturday, December 29, 2007

A Passage to India

The trip to India was a lot less stressful than we expected. We went SFO to JFK to Heathrow to Dehli. All of the flights were smooth and on time. We used frequent flier miles to go business class so the seats were comfortable and we could even use the lounge in London and take a shower.

We arrived in Dehli at 1:30 in the morning and today was just to relax and recuperate with nothing scheduled. This meant that I spent about 3 hours roaming the streets on foot. Leaving the hotel you always pick up an unofficial escort who tries to steer you towards their favorite store. Dehli streets are crowded with all sorts of traffic including lots of 3-wheeled motorcycle taxis. We let one such taxi take us off to his favorite shopping spot. I've learned lots about carpets from Kashmir today. There are a few very persistent beggars (with cute kids) and lots of smog. We take a proper tour of the city tomorrow and then off to Agra and the Taj Mahal the next day. This will be a very different experience from the past.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

"Unofficial escorts" - are these just random people looking to take you to places they have an interest in? What is their motivation?

Sounds fun.

Gene Ward Smith said...

So how is your back?

Joel said...

The "unofficial escorts" are people who hang out by the hotel. They make money by steering tourists to stores that give them kickbacks. They have some sort of protocol so that only one would claim you rather than a mob. Ignoring them works best though one trailed along behind me for quite awhile.

I was having quite a bit of back pain the last few days before leaving but it has been mostly gone so far with just a twinge here and there.