10 Oct 09
So, here I am on Saturday morning waiting in the departure lounge for the boarding call. I arrived at about 9am with the thought that I could beat the maddening hordes. For once I got it right. There were a handful of the really keen and, ha, me. I whizzed through check in and spent the next half hour or so with Fiona and Beaulah. In that time we sat and watched as the airport started filling up. People everywhere.
I think the luggage that people have can be most entertaining. As people were passing us we could see all shapes and sizes of luggage. Extremely long and narrow. Fiona imagined someone’s granny being in that one. Then there was this tiny little suitcase attached to a handle pretending that it was grown up. Some fella in a business suit was towing that one behind him. Then there was the multi-coloured one that looked like ‘Flower Power’ was back. There were the suitcases that looked like they could easily drive themselves. Some on two wheels, others on four. Then there were the, ‘lets all look the same cause we are part of a tourist group’ variety. The most spectacular one was the suitcase that had pictures of various places around the world on the outside of it. You certainly got the impression that this person had travelled a lot. That is until you realised the suitcase was scratch and dent free. Then there was a fella that looked as though his every possession was on the trolley he was pushing. A young girl about four years old was towing a teddy bear behind her. And of course the compulsory Thomas the Tank Engine.
Can you imagine getting a window seat where there is no window? Yes? No? Well, I couldn’t, … until today. Now, as you can probably guess, it takes quite a while to get to Singapore. (It’s about 10 hours and what seems like another hour to taxi to the terminal) What can you do when you are in a window seat with no window and a full plane. Ah, I know, lets watch movies.
At least the two ladies sitting next to me were gracious. They let me scramble past when I needed to, and when you are starting to move along in age like me (A fella to boot) you’ll need to scramble more than others. The two ladies were Krishna in religious persuasion. Not sure whether that would make them Nuns? They were heading to India. I saw them again later on the flight to Delhi. It’s kinda odd to see one of the girls typing away on her MacBook. About as odd as a Buddist monk busily walking down the street with a cellphone attached to his ear.
We had about an hour once we landed to get to the next gate. Which is just as well. Another NZ lady and I were heading off in the wrong direction. We would have landed up at gate 54 realising that gate 60 just happens to be on the other pier. But, the staff at the airport were very helpful, and off we trekked. I must admit, I needed the walk.
So, another five hours in a plane. At least it was an Isle seat this time. It also seemed a little more spacious. Could be wrong. Around about now, it’s way past my bed time. But planes are not the most comfortable place the sleep. Ah, there’s always another movie. I was sitting next to a young Indian lad who was going home for his sister’s wedding. At the start of the flight, he asked if I would swap places with his uncle. When he told me his uncle was in a middle seat, I had to politely refuse. He was really good about it. It was about 10 pm local time when we arrived, (5am NZ time). Just prior to landing the cabin crew got out their spray cans and dosed the whole cabin. I felt like curling up and twitching my legs. The Indian government are very worried about the swine flu.
11 Oct 2009
My room is very comfortable. I packed my own pillow. Hotels always have fat pillows and very rarely have skinny substitutes. I slept for a while until the natural alarm clock went off. ‘Time to get up now!!!!!’ What. Nar. Can’t be. Its still dark outside. Silly alarm clock. I swear it went off at least four times during the night.
Finally surfaced around 9am. Feeling a little jaded.
There’s nothing quite like taking a trip out into the Delhi day. I thought I might stick to tradition and be the ‘mad Englishman going out in the midday sun’. A bit of a tour around some of the famous place and all that. Problem is, everyone else thought they might do the same. I guess its because its Sunday.
You know how some people say you only put your hand in the fire once before you learn. Well, I must be a bit thick. Last time I was here the driver took me to a whole lot of carpet shops. I thought that was a bit eccentric. This time, after telling the person arranging my trip to explain to the driver that I wanted to go to a funny t-shirt shop, I landed up visiting a whole lot of craft shops. Not that I’m complaining you understand. The craftsmanship of some of the items was quite something. I saw carvings of elephants inside elephants inside hollowed out latticework balls. All in stone. (Must have taken them weeks). Coasters made of marble with intricate coloured artwork engraved into them. Fancy jewellery. Fortunately I didn’t need any of that, plus I have to watch my weight. (Baggage, that is).
Out in the yard was a mini Taj Mahal (about 2 foot tall).













We managed to visit a place called Isa Khan tomb. Its quite old. It’s a large area surrounded by a stone and mortar wall. Not sure how good the mortar was but there are lots of areas where the wall is crumbling. My driver seemed to think it was about 400 years old. Further down a long pathway is a mosque. Similar in looks to the Taj Mahal. Quite grand.
And that was it really. Because of the traffic, we didn’t get to see very much at all. There was one other place that we went to. It was some kind of tall tower thingy. But we didn’t get in. It was closed for renovation. All part of preparing for the Commonwealth games next year. And, yep, you guessed it, no funny t-shirt shops.

12 Oct 2009
Today started somewhere in the early hours of the morning. I had set the alarm for 6am. But there’s still that good old faithful natural one. Persistent little blighter.
The domestic airport at Delhi is quite something. You arrive of the motorway to a barrage of soldiers in what seems like an average of of building. Once you’ve ‘politely’ worked your way past the non-smiling fellas with guns, you enter into an airport similar but grander than the one a Wellington. As you look out over the runway you see planes of all sizes as far as the eye can see. (That’s actually not that far this morning. There’s a haze in the air on a par with the recent Sydney dust storm)
My boarding call came close to schedule and I headed down to Gate 13. There to meet us was a bus. It’s sole purpose in life is to ferry us to the plane. Sterling job it did too. For all of thirty yards. (That’s how far the plane was from the terminal) The plane wasn’t very big. My biggest worry was that someone forgot to feed it’s wings. They were thin scrawny things!!! They couldn’t possibly hold up the plane. I had visions of the two propeller engines taking of without us!!
Ah. But no. Those engines followed us all the way to Chandigarh. I was a little curious during the flight as to whether the pilot knew where he was going. It seemed that he made a number of course corrections along the way. We were only in the air for about 45 minutes. I was tossing up whether he was thinking ‘let’s see what this baby can do’, or ‘let’s play tip the cabin crew over’. In the end I considered the possibility that he was avoiding military airspace.
The got a window seat (which probably wouldn’t have mattered on this plane. There are no middle rows) The view was really interesting. Flat land stretching to the horizon. Pockets of towns and villages. Mostly cultivated countryside. I pondered how all this land gets its water. We only passed a few small rivers here and there. But, then this is monsoon country I suppose.
Chandigarh airport is a small, rather quaint place similar to Palmerston North. Its biggest contingent of planes were all military. In talking to Ashutosh (The person I had come all this way to work with), he told me that the airport was being upgraded to an international status. Looking over to the side of the existing terminal I could see a fancy looking shell, which I guessed, was the beginning of the make over.
I met Ashutosh at the airport. We were soon on our way into the city. We chatted a little on the way in. Discussed some of the plans for the course. He dropped me off at a hotel and suggested I rest until the morning. I was grateful. I was quite tired. My room is quite big. It’s a twin. It’s fairly basic. A few light bulbs missing. A cupboard door with no handle. An air conditioning unit that only works on full. He he. Never a dull moment.