The mess, the chaos and the fragrance of Darjeeling

The mess, the chaos and the fragrance of Darjeeling

Arrived in Delhi now. Managed to sleep on the plane but when I arrived, the promised sign with my name and the waiting driver were nowhere to be seen. Fortunately my mobile works here too, and i had to call them, explain several times who I am and the man answered:"One ting you can dho, madam, is take a prrepaid tak-si...."
Oh great. Once I was rolling down the road in some rusty old wreck of a taxi what seemed like an unsuitably long time for one night, I started asking myself what on earth I am doing here. We were surrounded by strange looking dilapidated vehicles, huge trucks which looked like they were stapled togerther from pieces of scrap metal, there was no seat belt, and for a while I wondered whether we were even going into the center of the city and not somewhere out into the unknown countryside...
But then a sign "Karol Bagh" appeared and the driver turned off into some dirty looking part of town and started asking for Channa market.
So here I am. The driver apparently left half an hour after my arrival time for the airport, never called them, never returned so far...
They may or may not have discovered my reservation, anyway, I got my room, and they agreed to provide me with a car back to the airport at 7am for my flight to Jodhpur. Had to ask for towels several times, got some room service for an omelet and toast (food considered "safe" in India though my guts are bubbling a bit already) but the taste of the tea made up for it all. Nothing like Indian tea drunk in India.
So, I guess, I am in for another bumpy cross country ride tomorrow, once I land in Jodhpur I have to find a "private bus" to Jaisalmer.
At last Queen Harish has answered my mail and will probably see him soon in Jaisalmer, before he leaves on another tour.
Wondering whether I will be ok without malaria pills, reading all the side effects I just did not feel like spending those 250$ they wanted at the Tokyo hospital for another few weeks of medical aggravation, and did not renew that awful typhoid vaccination either. For now, I am safe from Hep A and B and diphteria and tetanus at least, I got all those shots when I was thinking of going to "Kurdistan" 2 years ago.
So, in for another adventure, I am feeling a bit like Eric Newby on one of his mad travels.

Sat, September 12, 2009 -