We're here! We actually made it to India. So far I've only seen the Indira Ghandi International Airport and the hotel. It was night when we arrived. I'm pretty sure the roads we drove on to get to the hotel were all dirt roads, and the only thing I know for sure is that Indian drivers use their horn as much (or more) as they use their gas pedals.
Here are some photos of my first experiences.
Getting ready to fly from Newark to Delhi. We'd already been traveling for 14 hours and we still had 14 hours to go. Can you say tired?
And you thought American food from a plane was bad? Try Indian food cooked on a plane. Not good, at all. Well, the rice wasn't too bad, if I'm being completely honest. Oh, and that sad little salad was edible. But really, plain yogurt? Luckily for breakfast I stirred my jam into it and it was only marginally inedible. ;)
Never has a sign been so welcome! Oh, and I had my first person do namaste to me this morning. Why is that so exciting?
This is us in the body heat scanner. Getting through customs included three stops--a health screening station, an immigration station, and a declarations station.
Every single one of the people lined up here is holding a sign for a guest--these are drivers waiting for their customers. Ordinary people who were at the airport to pick up their friends and family waited outside. The airport was actually quite orderly and functioned seamlessly. Jeremy says that it was quite different when they came her two years ago. Then, chaos reigned.
I took a whole Ambien and slept perfectly last night. This morning we went down to breakfast. I decided to dig right in and have some Indian food. As far as I can tell there's no diffence between meals here. It's all the same food. So I tried a potato dish (I can't remember what it's called--must keep my notebook with me at all times!) with some fried bread, a stuffed tomato, a steamed pork bun (not Indian at all!) fresh fruit, a mini chocolate iced donut and some sweet lime juice. Yum!
My body is screaming at me to lay down and take a little nap. That would be a mistake. I need to get my sleep rhythms onto Indian time as quickly as possible, but oh, how wonderful a nap sounds about now. Fortunately, one of Jeremy's colleagues, Pankaj, is coming in half an hour to take us out cell phone shopping for the afternoon. You know, we can't be without our communication while we're here. Perhaps later we'll go out into Delhi and do something. We haven't gotten that far yet. I'm excited to go out and see this place we've come to, though. And of course, I'll keep you all posted.
