Wednesday Becomes Thursday

Thursday was a travel day for us. And when I say travel day, I mean the entire day! We spent four and a half hours packed like sardines in the Little Flower School vehicle traveling from Bangaigaon to the airport in Guwahati. Dimbeswar and the driver in the front seat, Mamu, Maram, Jonnie and I in the middle seat with our backpacks and Michael in the back seat with seven suitcases! Then we had three hours in the airport before a three hour flight wedged into the seats with literally eight inches between seats. After arriving in Delhi at a most beautiful airport with cut flowers lining the hallways and lobbies, floating in ponds of water, set up on pedestals or in pots on the floor, we were met by our travel agent here in India. He had vouchers for each of our hotels along the way for the next week and leis of marigolds to drape around our necks. He called for the driver who drove right up and gathered us into his car for the forty-five minute trek across Delhi to our hotel. We have now gotten a glimpse of the other side of India. We are spending two nights in the Svelte Hotel executive suite on the top floor! We have pillow-top mattresses, and full kitchen and a den. Our hotel is connected to a lovely modern mall. Needless to say, we were glad to fall into bed and sleep Thursday night.
Friday morning our guide for the day met us in the lobby after we had enjoyed a full breakfast buffet. The driver had arrived at nine, but the guide was very punctual to arrive at the set time of 9:30 to gather us for the city tour of Delhi. He was quite knowledgeable about the history and culture of India, and we enjoyed our day with him tremendously. Jonnie and I both like history and knew very little about the history of India. There have been eight cities of Delhi dating back to the early 12^th century. We toured several historical sites including the India Gate and the great Tower.
After they dropped us off at the hotel, Jonnie and I walked the length of the mall twice. We stood wide-eyed at the three stories of name-brand shops, stopped in at a tailor-made women’s clothing shop and made a couple purchases at Pantaloons which I would compare to Sears or Penney’s back home. We stopped for gelato and a Segway ride for me before returning to the hotel for a rest before sleep! I was pleased to find my sleep bag had been freshly washed and ironed and sealed in plastic sitting on the end of my bed-ready for another journey into the unknown!
We will leave Delhi Friday morning at 9:00 heading to Jaipur.