3 days to go

I have not been a good blogger, as have not been able to post for quite some time now. Will continue the Nepal experience at later stages.

I am flying out of Delhi on Friday that is 15th of June. For past week the temperature in Delhi has become unbearable. It has been above 41 C all this while, it had crossed 44 C couple of days back. So anyplace outside Delhi is a welcome relief.

Even though I am going there to attend a friends wedding, which is scheduled for 19th of June in Siliguri.

You can see a picture of his, posing in a traditional Achkan. Even though this is not his wedding dress but he would be using it for some other ceremonies.

Raj, in an Achkan

Since Siliguri is gateway to two beautiful places in India, I took this opportunity to see whatever I can. I had two choices, either Darjeeling OR Gangtok. But after much advice from various sources, I zeroed in on Gangtok.

This time again Naveen is the one who would be accompanying me. But we have 2 new companions, his wife Pooja and 1 year old boy, Chunnu. You can see both of them in the pic below.

Naveen's Wife Pooja and their child Chunnu

So as per the current plan, we would be landing at Baghdora airport on afternoon of Friday that is 15th June and from there proceed towards Gangtok in shared jeep. It would be late in the evening when we would reach there and hence would prefer to see local markets or simply stay in our rooms.

Next day we plan to hire a local taxi which would take us for 7 Point sightseeing trip around Gangtok. This will almost take entire Saturday. and on Sunday we plan to Visit Nathu-la. I have seen some pictures of it over the internet and find that place to be breathtaking. Monday we have kept as a buffer day, we have to see how the tot reacts to climate and travelling.

Finally on Tuesday we would be attending the wedding in Siliguri and on Wednesday we have our flight back home.

As of now these all are plans, and lets see how successful this trip is. I have seed most weired things happen at the last minute, so I am waiting with my fingers crossed !!

Leaving India ..

November 3rd, 2006

Okay, all the festivities over, it’s time to say goodbye to Delhi and Hello to Kathmandu. If I remember it correctly our flight with Indian Airlines, was IC-813 and was scheduled for around 1 pm IST. And there was another problem, we are not supposed to carry currency note of 500 (INR) into Nepal, its not that we cannot carry, but it wont be accepted, so taking all the cash in 100’s was a headache. We stocked some bundles in our pockets and rest went securely into luggage.

So lets come to the Legendry Indian Auto Rickshaw, contrary to popular belief that they rip western tourists, they do not spare even their Indian brethren, and when you tell them you want to go to International Airport, then it automatically rings a bell that you are more moneyed than the average man on the street. So after lot of haggling we hired an Auto Rickshaw and reached Airport at around 11 AM.

At the air India counter we were given some immigration forms, which we filled promptly, collected our boarding passes and the rest of the process was like a breeze. We were asked couple of questions at the immigration and there were no major hassles.

So there we were sitting in the waiting terminal of International Airport, surrounded with well heeled Indians and foreigners. In fact I have heard a lot of criticism about the condition of Airports in India, however since I have not seen any airport other than Indian ones and now Nepalese, I somehow still find them quite okay. Maybe that’s because I have nothing to compare them with. So we were sitting there observing the mannerisms of all sorts of passengers, kids, staff, Air Hostesses ;-).

Boarding started quite late from the scheduled time, which made us worry about Mr. Manjit Thapa, as he was supposed to pick us up from the Airport in Kathmandu as 3:15 PM. And once we were on the place, it didn’t take off for another 30 minutes or so, as there was no slot for it on the runway.

Finally we were airborne by 2 pm, and anxiously started to wait for the meals to be served. We were quite glad that the staff didn’t waste much time and started serving as soon as the seatbelt sign went off. I don’t exactly recall what was served, but it was not very filling, however was of decent quality.

I struck a conversation with a fellow passenger was quite a regular visitor to Nepal. He told me that we could have booked Royal Nepal Airlines instead, as they served liquor on board. So next time it would be Royal Nepal Airline for me. He also told us about the distance between Kathmandu and Pokhara, various means of transport. He told me that there was no need of changing the IC (Indian Currency) to NC (Nepalese Currency), as everyone in Nepal would welcome the IC and would give us the change in IC or if they return the balance in NC they will give it according to exchange rate. All across Nepal they followed the standard rate of 1 IC = 1.6 IC. So it means that if I purchase something worth NC 80, and hand over a IC 100 note, so they assume that they have got NC 160 and will return NC 80 back. It might sound confusing but its very simple concept.

Anyways as we were nearing Kathmandu, we were able to get some awesome views of the snow capped Himalayas. It was a thrilling sight. I am uploading some pictures that we took from the plane.

Waiting for Festivities to Start !!

Late August 2006

So things have started to heat up now. We were somehow biding out time, before we went to Kathmandu. Actually for Naveen, this would have been first opportunity of Air travel. Infact I myself flew for the first time in February of 2006 itself. But till this time I had already made 3 trips ‘by air’, all to Mumbai for business.

Flying for middle class was not as easy as it is today. Before the low cost carriers like Air Deccan, Spice Jet , and others started their operations few years back, flying was almost out of reach for average Indian, barring people who flew on company business or who got travel reimbursements from their employers. A two way Delhi-Mumbai ticket used to cost anything in range of Rs.10, 000 (USD 225), however that figure has come down to Rs.5,000 (USD 115). This has brought Air Travel in reaches of middle class families.

Coming to the buildup to Kathmandu, preparations were on in full swing, we were discussing about the trip with anyone we can get hold of. Collecting a lot of information about currency, prices, casinos, nightlife, bike rental, trip to Pokhara. Infact we were waiting for October to come, as from September end the festival season would have started, triggering a whole lot of festivities. Navratri , Durga Puja, Dussehra, Dhanteras, Bhai Doooj, Ramzan, Id-ul-fitar, Guru Purab, Diwali and many more. You can check this list of Public Holidays in India to realize how much we celebrate ;-).

So more than a dozen festivals thrown in 40 days time, add to that 1 billion people, with a growing economy, and you can imagine the kind of time we have in that period. So we were waiting for second half of September, as next 30-40 days would be filled with excitement after that period within a week we will be headed to Kathmandu.