Off to the Himalayas!

Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007--Delhi (Continued)

Well, I bought a ticket to fly from Delhi straight to Kashmir. I went to a travel agency recommended by my guidebook. The ticket cost me just a little under $100. And it saves HOURS of overland travel. It means I will miss visiting Jammu, but that is one of the less attractive areas of Kashmir as I understand it. I fly out on Thursday morning.

After that was out of the way, I realized that my plan would be very flexible. I will go from Srinagar to Leh (a two-day bus trip with an overnight stop in Kargil) when I am ready to leave Srinagar. After a few days in Leh, I will take another two-day bus trip (overnight at a campground with a tent) to Manali. I can then work my way through the other stops I had planned to make with the knowledge that the last 1-2 stops can be cut out if I run out of time and can be visited at another time, since they are only 10-14 hours from Delhi.

For dinner, I went to a kebab place where I ate when I was in Delhi before. I had a double-chicken, single egg wrap. It had chunks of chicken from the grill, pieces of onion, and a thin layer of fried egg. It was wrapped in a fried flat bread. I used a nice hot green sauce to flavor it more. And I drank a wonderful fresh lime soda with it.

Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007--Delhi

I've communicated some time with a film maker here in Delhi. He makes documentaries right now and had one entered into competition at the Cannes Film Festival last May. He plans to switch to making feature length films for the international audience within the next year and has lined up a Danish actor to play a lead role. He even hopes to do some of the filming in Denmark, although he realizes it would be expensive. Anyway, we agreed to meet at a coffee shop that is halfway between where he lives and my hotel this morning at 10:30. It is in South New Delhi which is a pretty area of town, so I got up early and walked. It took about 2 hours for me to get there. We sat in the cafe and had a cold coffee, then each ate half of a sandwich, and finally each drank a fruit drink. Of course, it was an expensive place and just that little bit of food cost what I normally pay for two big meals. But we sat there and visited for about 6 hours. It was nice to talk about books (He had read everything I have read for the past two years), films, etc.

I took the bus back to town. It is just too hot in the afternoon to walk, and there wasn't an altermative route anyway that would have let me see new sites. So I was back at the hotel in only 30 minutes via the bus. I stopped to visit two Kashmiri souvenir salesmen I had met yesterday and to get them to show me on the map a hotel they had recommended.

I had a wonderful meal this evening at a small restaurant opposite the New Delhi Railway Station. I had fresh parata bread, a big dish of paneer tikka masala (VERY spicy), and a small dish of fried dal. Ummmmmm. It was one of the best Indian meals I have had in some time. I wish I could get Indian food that spicy in Texas.

I am now here at the cyber cafe and will go back to the hotel. My hotel is in the backpacker area of town. It's a local shopping street that is crammed with people. It's fun to watch the wide-eyed tourists who are just arriving in India as they see the condition of the street, the dirty street urchins, the mass of traffic in the narrow street, the wandering cows in the street, etc., etc., etc. It's REAL India REAL quick for them. Of course, I have seen it all before elsewhere, but it would have been a shock for me, too, if I had never been here before.

Note: Tomorrow I leave for Kashmir. It is very remote. I will spend about 4 days in Srinagar, two days traveling to Leh, about 5 days in Leh, and another two days traveling to Manali. I know that Manali will have a halfway decent Internet connection. I don't know what to expect in Srinagar and Leh. If I am not online again for 10-12 days, it will be because they have slow and/or expensive connections there. Probably, I will find something occasionally. If the connection is only slow, I may just post a sentence or two to say I am okay. Just don't worry. I'll be safe and fine there and will be in touch when I can.