The whole India thing!
It very well could be my fault for the initial opinion of the place …almost. I had found a guide age 19, and told him I was on a small budget. He was so frugal with my money that I FINALLY HAD TO commit to something out of my price range just to survive for a few days.
The initial landing and meeting of our guide at The Locknow Airport was a mistake. I realized it after going to the large International airport in Delhi which was Number 4 for International Terminals in the world I am told. Locknow, like Alexandria, Egypt were best described as TOILETS. I heard that from an Egyptian and I must say, it was a great description.
Picture this: we are coming off the brand new FlyDubai plane in India, and we are being met by a large bus with no doors over 15 years old, rusted, missing windows at 2:15 am, we stand in line for customs amongst 45 Indians in a line to be designated for women and children only to be turn taking with the pushy men who wanted through the special line as well.
That experience is followed by a Tuk Tuk ride from a man ( with no teeth) for 10 minutes in the cool air down the dirty smelling streets of urine and trash, to a hotel with a 1 star rating for the first night. The morning brings no hot water for a shower, a walk down the roads past men spitting and snorting, not haven eaten for over 14 hours, as well as urinating men on walls and bulls on the street, among dog poop everywhere and anywhere, large puddles of muddy water to walk over which you had no idea what was in it as well as stepping over trash piles of garbage constantly. The dogs have mange, the children are persistent beggars, and the smell of the street food can turn any stable stomach to its weakest moment.
If I had just taken a Tuk Tuk to the train station, gone to Delhi and skipped the train ride from Locknow to Agra with 8 Indians with three meals in the same open cabin as ours as well as next to the toilet, not gone to sit on the train bench that had dog poop on it, not walked down the road to The Taj Mahal with 3 Indian men snorting and spitting, I just might have had a better start to India. I saw the Taj from climbing a hill next to the gate which was spotted with cow dung from a distance as the Taj is closed on Fridays.
I then traveled 6 hours by Taxi into Delhi for 5500 rupees. As we pulled in the parking lot, Hannah rose up from laying down, raised her arms and loudly said…Stop the Car, Stop the Car…she proceeded to run over to the bush, under a tree to let loose what little she had. We went to our Guides house to find a typical Indian home filled with incense, spice, and an eastern toilet as well as community sink and toilet that seemed to have never been cleaned. We joined the family around a table similar to Egypt where we sat with a tablecloth of newspaper. We shared a tasteful meal. Hannah was beginning to hit rock bottom for the night and I was thankful she had just an apple and white rice. The following 8 hours were spent with vomiting and diarrhea as we lay on a bed that was no softer than a board.
I searched throughout the house for bags for Hannah to vomit in so she would not have to use the communal toilet, we used all the Kleenex we had bought, we sprayed perfume whenever the door was opened and searched the internet for a hotel .That morning we gathered our wet clothes off the clothesline from outside, asked for a towel and bag, and entered the taxi in the street as Hannah kept her head in the bag for 15 minutes to the hotel.
We entered the hotel with Hannah still having her head in the bag and I proceeded to ask to see the room. It was decent and did not have the typical moth ball smell that most 1 star room’s have. We took the room and for 2 days Hannah never left the room that was sealed from smells under the door with a gray towel. The sheets did not fit the bed but luckily we had our silk bed sheets, and the blankets were old tan colored army blankets made of scratchy wool. Things were looking up as long as we didn’t open the door and Hannah did not eat anything for almost 6 hours. I went to get medicine for vomiting and was so happy that the pill was no larger than tic tac. We tried making an Electrolyte drink but found the taste disgusting so I gave Hannah an ounce of water and one cracker every 30 minutes till we made some substantial progress in keeping things in the body. I was thankful (somewhat) that Aunt Terry had nursed me back to health one time at her house as I remembered the measure ounce of coke and one saltine routine from her practice. We were thrilled to find a flat screen TV in the room and several English speaking channels to occupy Hannah’s experience in India.
Hannah felt comfortable on day two so I left her locked in her room so that I could get something to eat. I went with TREE real name Tarun (our guide) to a Pizza Hut. I drank an ice tea with peach flavoring which was a mistake. It did not come in a bottle and had ice. I made it home to the hotel after the first bout in the men’s room at pizza Hut. It was another start of diarrhea which started 14 days ago in Dubai. I had enough. The thought of public bathrooms (if I was lucky) as well as just coming out of the men’s room at pizza hut as they only have one toilet and the girl’s was filled was vivid in my mind. I had to wait 15 minutes for the hot water to come from the boiler in my hotel room and when it did I was elated to say the least. What we take for granted.
On day three she ventured out with a shawl across her mouth and nose as well as a fresh spray of perfume in her coat. She carried the bottle of cheap perfume we bought in Turkey and sprayed the car every time the window was opened or door. We did a drive tour of Delhi’s heritage sights as Hannah piped up from the back…No we can’t get out, I can’t do it. Our pictures are through the windows as we drove to the airport to travel 30 hours to come home.
Getting in the airport was relatively easy and it reminded me of the nice airport in Bangkok. We entered the duty free shop to find that we had to have American dollars not Indian Rupees’. We looked for an ATM but was told that they were on the other side of security with the money exchange window as well for our rupees so we were out of luck. Later we found that our last 1500 rupees could buy us a few snacks for the plane and Mom a coffee Latte. We entered the plane three hours later and found our seats. Much to our dismay, within minutes of seating down in our seats, the man behind our seat starting hacking and snorting about every 10 minutes for about 45 minutes till he fell asleep with a loud snore. I stretched the blanket I was given over the cracks of the seat so the germs might be caught by the blanket. It wasn’t long till the flight attendant came to us and offered us to move to a better location. I didn’t even ask to be moved which is hard to believe…but that tells you how bad it was from the airlines point of view.
We are traveling on our last leg from Paris to Atlanta and we are seating in the last two seats next to the toilet. I cannot believe the luck of pot we have seemed to have on this India leg. I must confess when I was offered Champagne and wine free of charge on this plane I eagerly accepted. I am sitting next to a man from Cuba and his wife is Indian. I would love to find out how that came to be but his English is very limited. I will just have to let that question pass and hope for the best. Hannah is starving. I have begged for 4 tangerines as well as coffee, water, and Pepsi. The movies aren’t bad but two 9 hour flights back to back have made a little difference in the shape of my derriere.
I can find many, many pleasures on this plane. I am very happy to be on this plane and I am happy to be out of third world countries. I might think that this could have been different. I also will miss the Thailand and China chapter, but all in all I made a good decision to head back to the states and cut our losses. The airfare from India is really rather cheap….does that tell you something? Half the cost if I would have flown home from Thailand if this health problem had continued.
Hannah and I saw many things together that you could honestly say were priceless. We were much more involved in the everyday living standards of Egypt and India than when I travelled with Taylor. In hindsight, that is what made the turn for the worse I think. We did five countries with varied degrees of comfort. We slept on the floor, an air mattress, a warm cozy bed, a stiff bed, a bed with the springs coming through, as well as almost the airport floor in Dubai.
We lived with the language of German, Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Arabic, Hindi, (Pakistan) and French.
We used Euros, Turkish Liras, Arabic Dirhams, Egyptian Pounds and Indian Rupees.
We rode subways, trams, trains, busses, tuk tuk, camels, cars, boats, and planes.
We held chimpanzees, lions, crocodile, fox, elephant and feed bears rice with honey with our fingers.
We sand boarded, sand duned, ran with a camel, and bowled two times. I went to an Armenian wedding and danced.
We saw Harry Potter twice as well as ate in Ruby Tuesday and Chilis. We found McDonalds in every country and almost found Starbucks for Mommy too!
We saw snow in Paris.
We played and sang songs with kids in Germany, Turkey, Dubai, India, and Egypt.
We went grocery shopping in every country as well as washed our clothes by hand and used the hang dry method.
We found angels as well….first in Dubai from Muhammad. He greeted us at our hotel in Dubai with the news that we had to be moved to another hotel down the road as they were full. To be honest, when we first went to the desk and they searched for a few minutes to find our name, I panicked thinking maybe I didn’t make that reservation afterwards…so when he said he was full and had to move us, it seemed so minor compared to not have had a room at all. We moved graciously, as he drove us, walked us to our room, took us back to a corner supermarket, bought our small groceries, came the next day to shuttle us, and continually checked on us by phone only to find that we were really ready to spread our wings and go for it alone.
Our next angel came in the Mall. They were a family with a little two year old who were sitting next to us in the food court. They had nothing to do as it was a Muslim holiday EID for them so they were delighted to have a new family for the holiday as their family lived in Jordan. They drove us around the city to see Bur-Al Arab, The Atlantis, The beach, and the tallest building in the world.
We met an American and 3 Turkish men at the Desert Camp and they were kind enough to
hand deliver a package I forget to leave in Istanbul.
When we missed the plane and had to change our direction we were helped
again by another angel who sat in front of us in the airplane to Alexandria Egypt. He led us by taxi, train as well as buying us snacks for the ride to Cairo. He waited after he called our guide outside the train station with us. We helped him with his luggage as he was moving back from 7 months living in Dubai as there was no work in Egypt. We struggled with his English, but we managed and had a laugh when I asked if he was going to have our guide pick us up at his house…He made a signal/hand gesture that his neck would be removed if he came home after 7 months with 2 women. We laughed!!!
Our guide Wael could not believe we were leaving Egypt through Alexandria. As I mentioned earlier, the Egyptian called the airport a toilet and it definitely concerned our Egyptian guide Wael when he got us there. All other people using him as a guide come into Cairo which is a functional airport. He could not believe that the airport was so un-functional that the people waiting for their planes had to wait outside in the sun as the terminal was not big enough. He went to the front gate and he was so insistent that we be taken inside that soon the police called out to the line..Who is here for Dubai? We raised our hands, as well as, another gentlemen, and from that moment on the new Egyptian looked after us. He bought us the usual tea as well as met his friend in Dubai at the airport and we shared Starbucks. We left Dubai to India that same night to meet Tarun at the Locknow India airport (the next toilet).
In closing, my special time with Hannah is at its end. It is bittersweet. I know that through it all I would never say that it was not worth it. It was always a moment of living my famous line “It is what it is.” I am thrilled that we will be reunited with our family and we have a special meaning for Christmas this year..simple and sweet…and that family is all that matters.
As I close, I believe that God has given me so many blessing to share with the world, and that we made a difference in ourselves and others. So many of the people we met were trapped in their life from the country they lived in. No way to get a visa, or to move ahead for a better life for their family. We saw a lot of people who smoked cigarettes as we were with the common person. It was so hard to excuse them but yet they had found some peace from their vice. I couldn’t find a way to judge them but rather always wished they could break the habit, even though I am not sure a long life was part of the plan anyway.
