Contrasting Germany with India

Sunday, Sept. 2, 2007--New Delhi (Continued)

Well, I took a final walk around the center of Delhi today, and I had the old shit-on-the-shoe trick tried on me. People use some kind of process to project a liquid which then expands and solidifies to look like shit. It must be a bit like the long-distance bug sprays as far as allowing for an accurate long-distance shot at the shoe. Then they point it out to you and want to clean it for you. Well, I know the trick (and even had it tried on me once before in Delhi). As usual, I told them to stay away. When they tried to say, "But you have something on your shoe," I responded, "Yes, and I am going to leave it there all day so people can see what happens to tourists in your town." Later, in my room, I cleaned it off. It wasn´t easy, however. I had to use a knife to scrape it off and then clean it with a brush and water.

I ate a late western breakfast today at a Tibetan restaurant by my hotel. It was good--better made than most of the similar breakfasts I have had here and cheaper.

I stayed inside the room most of the day watching TV and just waiting for the time to pass. I went back out in the evening and had a spicy Indian dinner at a place I had liked before. This time I had peas in a masala sauce with paneer cheese and ate it with naan.

Monday, Sept. 3, 2007--New Delhi to Berlin via Munich

My sleep was interruped several times by loud talking in the hallway. International flights mostly arrive and leave in the middle of the night here. So guests come to see rooms at 2:30 in the morning and guests check out at such strange hours, too. When I awoke around 4:15, I couldn´t go back to see. I finally got up and got ready for heading to the airport.

Check-in, security check, and customs were a nightmare. The airport is just too small to handle it all. There are only 9 gates for 20,000,000 passengers a year. Corpus Christi has 7 gates for only 1,000,000 passengers! Another problem was disorganization. For instance, there were two lines for security with one being longer than the other. Well, the long line was funneled to only one set of scanners and x-ray machines, whereas the shorter line was funneled to two sets! It doesn´t take much of a brain to figure out that should be changed, but don´t expect anyone in authority to step up and deal with the problem; the Indian way is to leave things as they are and not worry about them.

Fortunately, I was upgraded to business class for this long flight. This was the second long flight since I left (of only two long flights) that this has happened, so I have been lucky. I sat in luxury in a fully-reclining seat and watched movies I could start at my leisure. It was still a long flight, though. I was so glad by the time we got to Munich and I could exit the plane and stretch my legs walking through the terminal.

I actually had too long in Munich. There were two earlier flights I could have taken. But I scheduled the later flight to make sure I had no problems with my connection. Since our flight arrived early, I had 4 hours to wait. It´s a nice airport without much traffic, so it was quiet with lots of places to sit. I read a couple of newspapers and a magazine. I went by the ticket counter to look for my friend Wolfgang who I think now works at the airport ticket counter, but I never saw him. Eventually, my flight took off.

Dieter was outside the gate waiting for me in Berlin. They have an interesting system with the luggage carousel being right at the gate. My bag had zippers coming apart in two places, but everything was still there. They are repairable zippers, so I just opened and closed them to get everything back in order.

The gifts I brought Dieter were not a big hit. It is very difficult to find good gifts for people in India. But I did my best. He lives in a very nice neighborhood--one where many diplomats and government leaders live. And he has a nice neighborhood shopping area just outside his front door. We went walking through the neighborhood and talked along the way. Then we stopped at a restaurant. I had German food, and it was nice for a change--wienerschnitzel with mushroom sauce, fries, and salad. We had apple juice mixed with sparling water to drink. I will be here until Thursday when I head to Copenhagen.