curry and cumin and cardamon, oh my

The first indication that we were on a plane to India was when we boarded and were immediately greeted with the pungent funk of whatever the majority of people had eaten for dinner. I wonder if they thought we smelled like french fries? The flight was fairly uneventful. I watched a couple movies...tried to read and spent about 5 hours in a fitful sleep. We disembarked in Delhi, only to find that Carol's carry-on was missing. Tim went ahead to baggage claim to see if someone had 'mistakenly' taken the wrong bag. Long story short, they wouldn't let us back on the plane to search, but fortunately the cabin crew found it and we were on our way. Carol called the hotel and they confirmed that they were sending someone to pick us up. When she asked how we would recognize our ride, the hotel said they would have a black car with Classic Diplomat Hotel on it. The hotel is very close to the airport, so we went outside to wait. After 45 minutes, we decided we'd waited long enough, so we hailed a taxi, piled all our luggage and ourselves into it and took off. Apparently our cab driver was bluffing when he said he knew where our hotel was. He took us to a bank of hotels in the opposite direction of the airport. I don't know if any of you have seen "The Amazing Race", but he was a textbook A.R. cab driver. He finally stopped in a not-so-great area to ask for directions. We ended up turning around and going back the way we came. Just for the record, I used to think traffic in Phnom Penh was chaotic, but that was a cake walk compared to New Delhi. I didn't take this video, but here is a little taste of our ride back to our hotel. I told Susan she would have been white-knuckled and screaming.



When we finally arrived at the Classic Diplomat, the hotel clerk asked where we had been. They had sent a taxi and the driver had waited at the airport for an hour and a half. I asked where the driver's car was and he pointed to a very small white Hyundai. (no way were we all fitting into that) Besides, they told us they were sending a black car. Come to find out, the hotel clerk didn't say "black car with Classic Diplomat Hotel on it", he said "placard with Classic Diplomat Hotel on it".  We're going to hose out Carol's ears the next chance we get. =)

Tomorrow...fly to Siliguri and then drive several hours to Kalimpong. More to come.