Friday, November 03, 2006
28 October, 2006
We woke up at 3h30 am so that we could grab a quick breakfast at 4am. The chef promised us that it would not be a problem and he would wake up and prepare our food before we left. We thought this was quite amazing. We found our way in the dark to the dining hall and the fellow was sleeping on the dining table along with some other chaps sleeping around. Breakfast was nowhere to be smelt or seen and so we got our bags and walked to the gate. Suresh was not around and neither was his car. I was thinking that he had left in the middle of the night without us and we were now stranded in Jhunjhunu. We did not trust Javed (the tour operator) and at this stage I was really thinking that there was no ticket confirmed to Kathmandu either. Luckily Suresh appeared and we set out in the pitch black for Delhi. The roads were extremely dark but quiet and we were worried that Suresh would get lost. Previously on the trip he didn’t quite know his way around a couple of times and had to ask for directions. Now, there would be nobody to ask! Well, we did make a few wrong turns but we found our way and it took us about 5 hours to Delhi. He promised us that he would get us to the airport by ten o’clock and we were at a hotel where we were supposed to pick up our flight tickets by 9h30. BUT, our tickets were not waiting for us. Now Rich was fuming since they had all morning and the previous evening to get the tickets to this hotel which was about 2km from the airport. Suresh was almost in tears and we were starting to panic. He kept phoning the driver on the way who was stuck in Delhi traffic. Anyway, eventually the tickets arrived and we got to the airport. The next incident that happened was not great at all. We so didn’t trust Javed that Rich did not believe that they were genuine tickets and so he asked Suresh to wait at the drop-off until we were checked in. It took a while and by the time we went outside to pay Suresh his well-deserved tip he was nowhere to be found. Perhaps he circled once or twice and so we waited. It was about 40 min now and so we phoned him. No answer! We were really upset now because the only person who really deserved a tip wasn’t getting it. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we got to the Diners Club lounge and a fellow there helped us to phone him and told him to come back to the airport. By now he was back at his offices in the heart of crazy Delhi because he thought that we were not going to tip him and that we were cross with him. Even though we reassured him a hundred times that it was his boss we were angry with. So just before we had to fly the fellow from the lounge walked me through security and I could say good-bye to Suresh properly. We were so relieved and off we went to Kathmandu, Nepal. We were so happy to be on the plane and out of India. We arrived in Kathmandu (The Du) and found a hotel at the information counter at the airport. We got to the hotel and it was a regurgitation of India - totally unacceptable. So we drove around and finally at 18h15 found a hotel for one night. We were exhausted and our friend Kristal whom we met on the plane was with us and even more exhausted since she had been on a train the previous night - not any train - an Indian one. We had a bite to eat and searched for chocolate cake. We had about 4 slices whilst walking in the city streets in Thamel going from one bakery to another. It was fabulous.
We woke up at 3h30 am so that we could grab a quick breakfast at 4am. The chef promised us that it would not be a problem and he would wake up and prepare our food before we left. We thought this was quite amazing. We found our way in the dark to the dining hall and the fellow was sleeping on the dining table along with some other chaps sleeping around. Breakfast was nowhere to be smelt or seen and so we got our bags and walked to the gate. Suresh was not around and neither was his car. I was thinking that he had left in the middle of the night without us and we were now stranded in Jhunjhunu. We did not trust Javed (the tour operator) and at this stage I was really thinking that there was no ticket confirmed to Kathmandu either. Luckily Suresh appeared and we set out in the pitch black for Delhi. The roads were extremely dark but quiet and we were worried that Suresh would get lost. Previously on the trip he didn’t quite know his way around a couple of times and had to ask for directions. Now, there would be nobody to ask! Well, we did make a few wrong turns but we found our way and it took us about 5 hours to Delhi. He promised us that he would get us to the airport by ten o’clock and we were at a hotel where we were supposed to pick up our flight tickets by 9h30. BUT, our tickets were not waiting for us. Now Rich was fuming since they had all morning and the previous evening to get the tickets to this hotel which was about 2km from the airport. Suresh was almost in tears and we were starting to panic. He kept phoning the driver on the way who was stuck in Delhi traffic. Anyway, eventually the tickets arrived and we got to the airport. The next incident that happened was not great at all. We so didn’t trust Javed that Rich did not believe that they were genuine tickets and so he asked Suresh to wait at the drop-off until we were checked in. It took a while and by the time we went outside to pay Suresh his well-deserved tip he was nowhere to be found. Perhaps he circled once or twice and so we waited. It was about 40 min now and so we phoned him. No answer! We were really upset now because the only person who really deserved a tip wasn’t getting it. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we got to the Diners Club lounge and a fellow there helped us to phone him and told him to come back to the airport. By now he was back at his offices in the heart of crazy Delhi because he thought that we were not going to tip him and that we were cross with him. Even though we reassured him a hundred times that it was his boss we were angry with. So just before we had to fly the fellow from the lounge walked me through security and I could say good-bye to Suresh properly. We were so relieved and off we went to Kathmandu, Nepal. We were so happy to be on the plane and out of India. We arrived in Kathmandu (The Du) and found a hotel at the information counter at the airport. We got to the hotel and it was a regurgitation of India - totally unacceptable. So we drove around and finally at 18h15 found a hotel for one night. We were exhausted and our friend Kristal whom we met on the plane was with us and even more exhausted since she had been on a train the previous night - not any train - an Indian one. We had a bite to eat and searched for chocolate cake. We had about 4 slices whilst walking in the city streets in Thamel going from one bakery to another. It was fabulous.
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 5:11 AM 
