Guwahatti

Today we had a leisure morning in the Taurus Hotel enjoying quiet time of renewing and the buffet breakfast provided with the room.  The weather in Delhi is hot and sticky, so we enjoyed the air conditioned rooms as long as we could.

Then we were shuttled back to the airport and thought the process of procuring the ticket, back outside and down to the third entrance to check luggage.  Although we only had one bag each, domestic flights in India are limited to 15 kilos each.  We were over by 14 kilos, so it was off to the cashier to pay the overages then back to the bag check booth.  Next was the hand baggage check point to obtain tags for our overweight carry ons!

Indian airports are about as unique as each other airport I have visited recently.  I was very careful to go through the "ladies" scanner and into our private screening booth.  (Connie, I did point out signs to Mark just before we were separated by a group of four women who pushed their way right between us!

We got to do a good bit of walking through the airport, but we enjoyed the stroll with plenty of time to browse the modern shops.

The flight to Guwahatti was comfortable as we were seated across from each other...both on the aisle with a vacant middle seat!

Ray McMillan was sitting on the porch reading when we drove up to the Nakshastra Hotel in our taxi.  After checking in, we visited while Mark and I grabbed a late, light lunch.  

Our afternoon was an adventure!  Dimbeswar's son Michael is in town serving as translator for Ray.  He met us in the lobby to accompany us to Dipak Ray's home and church.  We took two tuktuks and maneuvered the city streets fine.  We even did pretty well going up the red dirt road for a while.  Then the trek up the side of the hill began...I only wish I had been warned to wear tennis shoes instead of sandals!  Huffing and puffing, we two old city folks finally asked for a couple breathers before we spied Depak's daughter Eesha waving from above.  As we rounded the last bend, we found Depak waiting outside his home.  We gathered in the church building for a visit while Jyoti and Eesha served us water, bananas and apples and then sweets and tea.  The trip down to the tuktuks was much easier though there was always the concern of slipping in the slick mud.

After several minutes of scraping, I finally had to wash my sandals in the shower!

We unpacked the visit in the fourth floor lobby before returning to the hotel restaurant for dinner.

The end of the tuktuk trail...

Dipak lives just beyond the cell tower at the top of the hill!

Dipak Ray and our tuktuks...