August 6th
We arrived safe and sound back in St. Louis last night around 7:00 PM. After most of a good’s night’s rest, we’re feeling like refreshed and rejuvenated is something we may feel someday later.
Our last day in Delhi was a wonderful one. We started out in the morning with a trip to Humayum’s tomb, where many of the royal family of the Mogul Emperors are buried.
It’s a beautiful place, with a huge garden, and elegant structures all around. It was a little warm, but we had a nice time. Just as we were getting ready to leave, the monsoon clouds opened up, and we got our first taste of real rain since Andrah Pradesh. We ran to a rickshaw, and overpaid for a trip back to Old Delhi, since Samuel wanted to see the Jama Masjid, the largest Mosque in India-it holds over 25,000 people. It’s in the heart of Old Delhi, and is a simple but elegant structure. However, we didn’t get to see it. After waiting out most of the rain in a local shoe shop, we ran over, only to learn that because it was Ramadan, the mosque was closing early for midday prayers, at 12:00 rather than the 12:30 our guidebook had suggested. We were a little sad, but we looked around from the outside, watching people getting ready to pray, and then finally had a successful orienteering adventure, when Samuel successfully took us back to the Subway station nearby.
We also managed to get back to the hotel with only one minor incident- Rachel slipped on the wet pavement and fell hard on her back, which has been hurting ever since (30 hours of travel over three plane flights didn’t help…)
In the afternoon, we went shopping. At lunch, we found a tremendously helpful woman (thanks Mina!) who introduced us to the Delhi official dish-Chaat, which is a big mix of lentils, bread, yogurt, chickpeas, and the red and green sauces you often get in Indian restaurants. Mina also pointed out the best shops for things like spices, art, and shawls in the market area in which our hotel was located- Karol Baugh. We had a great time looking through a local spice market, collecting various spice mixes to take back with us, and then Samuel indulged Rachel with a venture into a textile store to look at beautiful Indian scarves (Rachel has a thing for scarves). Finally, we went looking for the last thing on our list- some kind of art to hang in our home in remembrance of this fabulous adventure. We had already noticed a shop called Art Warehouse, and Mina had said it was a good place to look, so we went into the basement shop and spent some time looking through piles of work by local artists. This was by far the most pleasant shopping experience we had in all of India, with helpful but discreet salespeople who mostly just left us alone to browse. After a while, we found a beautiful painting showing a stylized Indian market, with women in beautiful colors which we both felt spoke to our experience of the chaos and beauty of India. We made our purchase and headed back to our hotel to take a short nap, and do a little packing and planning.
Then, for our final meal in India, we went to Swati restaurant, for an all you can eat Thali meal, recommended by Joshi, our guide from the mountains.
It was excellent, with all the wonderful things we’ve loved eating in India, with some new tastes besides. It was a high class place, and we really enjoyed being pampered a little.
Finally, we returned back to the hotel, for rest before a long day.
On our final day, we got up at 3:30, to get in the taxi for the airport at 3:45. Our taxi driver was as sleep deprived as anyone we’ve ever driven with, it was a little frightening to drive with him, but there was no one else on the road, and he drove very conservatively. The airport went smoothly, with a minor worry about the spices we brought (apparently, chili powder isn’t allowed on Indian airplanes, and many of our spices include chilis, but the security lady let me slip by).
The flight was uneventful, although the seats in the Air India plane left a lot to be desired. We sat next to a nice young woman getting her masters in London in Environmental development, something India needs a lot. She had come home for two months to do thesis research in a tribal forest. We both dozed a little, but not enough, we were kind of worked up after all our travels.
The transfer in London was SHORT, with less than 2 hours from landing to takeoff, with a transfer of terminals and another security check in the middle. However, Heathrow is clean, efficient, and polite, and things went smoothly, for us. So, we can say we’ve been in England now. It was cool, sunny and partly clouding, and green. It looked pretty much like England is supposed to look in our imaginations. Hopefully someday we’ll spend a little more time there.
London Chicago also went well, we had great seats- we didn’t get seats assigned until we walked up to the gate, but they offered us exit row seating, so we had all the leg room we could ever want! It was a treat. Sam enjoyed Kong Fu Panda 2 on the flight over.
In Chicago, we were happy to be welcomed back to the US by cheerful US customs officials, including a friendly greeting from the guy who welcomed us in line, a nice conversation about how we experienced India with the person checking our passport, and a wave through from the customs official we talked to. Rachel even almost started tearing up at the cheesy welcome to America video with patriotic music and Americana photos. (we had of course been at 24 hours without sleep at that point).
In Chicago, a disappointment. Our luggage did not arrive with us. We don’t know where it went missing, probably in the switch between Air India and American in London, but it didn’t make it with us. Sigh. That was rather disappointing. They told us to check in St. Louis.
Chicago to St. Louis was our last flight, where we learned our luggage was unknown (but this morning, they found it, and it should arrive here sometime). We were welcomed home at the airport by saint Cathy Lichti, who brought us back home. Home. Yeah. We are happy, though tired, and very glad to have gone on this adventure together. Thanks for reading along.
We’ll probably come up with some final thoughts, but for now, blessings on all your voyages, wherever they may take you.
We arrived safe and sound back in St. Louis last night around 7:00 PM. After most of a good’s night’s rest, we’re feeling like refreshed and rejuvenated is something we may feel someday later.
Our last day in Delhi was a wonderful one. We started out in the morning with a trip to Humayum’s tomb, where many of the royal family of the Mogul Emperors are buried.
We also managed to get back to the hotel with only one minor incident- Rachel slipped on the wet pavement and fell hard on her back, which has been hurting ever since (30 hours of travel over three plane flights didn’t help…)
In the afternoon, we went shopping. At lunch, we found a tremendously helpful woman (thanks Mina!) who introduced us to the Delhi official dish-Chaat, which is a big mix of lentils, bread, yogurt, chickpeas, and the red and green sauces you often get in Indian restaurants. Mina also pointed out the best shops for things like spices, art, and shawls in the market area in which our hotel was located- Karol Baugh. We had a great time looking through a local spice market, collecting various spice mixes to take back with us, and then Samuel indulged Rachel with a venture into a textile store to look at beautiful Indian scarves (Rachel has a thing for scarves). Finally, we went looking for the last thing on our list- some kind of art to hang in our home in remembrance of this fabulous adventure. We had already noticed a shop called Art Warehouse, and Mina had said it was a good place to look, so we went into the basement shop and spent some time looking through piles of work by local artists. This was by far the most pleasant shopping experience we had in all of India, with helpful but discreet salespeople who mostly just left us alone to browse. After a while, we found a beautiful painting showing a stylized Indian market, with women in beautiful colors which we both felt spoke to our experience of the chaos and beauty of India. We made our purchase and headed back to our hotel to take a short nap, and do a little packing and planning.
Then, for our final meal in India, we went to Swati restaurant, for an all you can eat Thali meal, recommended by Joshi, our guide from the mountains.
Finally, we returned back to the hotel, for rest before a long day.
On our final day, we got up at 3:30, to get in the taxi for the airport at 3:45. Our taxi driver was as sleep deprived as anyone we’ve ever driven with, it was a little frightening to drive with him, but there was no one else on the road, and he drove very conservatively. The airport went smoothly, with a minor worry about the spices we brought (apparently, chili powder isn’t allowed on Indian airplanes, and many of our spices include chilis, but the security lady let me slip by).
The transfer in London was SHORT, with less than 2 hours from landing to takeoff, with a transfer of terminals and another security check in the middle. However, Heathrow is clean, efficient, and polite, and things went smoothly, for us. So, we can say we’ve been in England now. It was cool, sunny and partly clouding, and green. It looked pretty much like England is supposed to look in our imaginations. Hopefully someday we’ll spend a little more time there.
London Chicago also went well, we had great seats- we didn’t get seats assigned until we walked up to the gate, but they offered us exit row seating, so we had all the leg room we could ever want! It was a treat. Sam enjoyed Kong Fu Panda 2 on the flight over.
In Chicago, we were happy to be welcomed back to the US by cheerful US customs officials, including a friendly greeting from the guy who welcomed us in line, a nice conversation about how we experienced India with the person checking our passport, and a wave through from the customs official we talked to. Rachel even almost started tearing up at the cheesy welcome to America video with patriotic music and Americana photos. (we had of course been at 24 hours without sleep at that point).
In Chicago, a disappointment. Our luggage did not arrive with us. We don’t know where it went missing, probably in the switch between Air India and American in London, but it didn’t make it with us. Sigh. That was rather disappointing. They told us to check in St. Louis.
Chicago to St. Louis was our last flight, where we learned our luggage was unknown (but this morning, they found it, and it should arrive here sometime). We were welcomed home at the airport by saint Cathy Lichti, who brought us back home. Home. Yeah. We are happy, though tired, and very glad to have gone on this adventure together. Thanks for reading along.
We’ll probably come up with some final thoughts, but for now, blessings on all your voyages, wherever they may take you.
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