Last Days in India

Unfortunately, I woke up on my second to last day with the Delhi Belly again. We've been alternating between the two types - the kind we all dread from bacteria and the kind from eating way too much good food. I had had a good week of the second kind, so this was maybe a good weight loss tactic. Luckily they'll sell you Cipro over the counter for $1, so I was almost back to normal within a day. I spent that day online and shopping for shoes for my Japan trip, which I finally found after trying on every pair of shoes in Delhi. Although it's chilly there now, it's never quite cold enough to warrant warm shoes. In the winter they just put on socks with their sandals.

I spent a leisurely evening with the Nandis, since everyone else had headed back to their home cities, and got up early for some shopping with Mrs. Nandi. I got so much done in 2 hours! More than I could have gotten done in a week on my own. I had two bags repaired (for a grand total of 50 cents), my cell phone fixed ($3), 4 shirts bought and altered ($20), and obtained 1 1/2 meters of fabric ($10) and 4 pair of socks ($1). Then back home for a quick lunch and off to the airport!

At the airport they whisk you through immigration and on through security. Unfortunately, the airport lounges (which I could access) are in between the two, but the only way you would find them is if you turned around while standing in the security line. So I go through security and see that all there is there are chairs for waiting for flights. And it's 2 1/2 hours before my flight. So I ask if I can go back out and am told absolutely not. This is the first airport I've ever been in that is like that! Dozens more people ask when they realize they can't get food or shop. India is determined to not let people spend money at the airport! I finally get to the manager and play the "I'm really sick" card and he lets me go back out. The lounge is nothing spectacular, but it has a couch and pop, so I watch Mr. Magoo (never saw the ending, does it all turn out ok?), eat bland cookies (this is a good thing this time) and sip on a Fanta until my flight and am feeling much better before I board. It didn't hurt to have an uneventful business class flight! The only downside is that I didn't sleep at all. I thought the timing of the flight was good - leave at 8pm, arrive Tokyo at 6am, but didn't think about the fact that we were landing at 2am Delhi time. So by the time I started to feel sleepy it was time to get ready for our descent. Oh well. At least I got the most out of the inflight entertainment center!

Talk about a shock to the system - going from Delhi to Tokyo! More on that in the next post...