Taj Pic

Ashish, Rohit, and I.

Delhi May 2008

I came back to Delhi on May 5th. The month has been cool due to the rain storms at night. They say that rain is not prevalent this time of year, and they blame global warming for the cooling that the rain has caused. If it rains, snows, gets hot, gets cold, it must be global warming. I told them of such skeptics as Dr Roy Spencer.

I made a trip to the Taj Mahal this time. Ashish, Rohit, and I left about 5 AM, and spent the day touring the Taj. Our Guide took a lot of great pix for us. It was a marvelous day. Towards the end of the day, we were all dead tired due to the lack of sleep. We all got off work at 3AM, then spent the rest of te time getting ready and having a bite to eat prior to our trip.

one weekend I went to the mall with Vinita and her sister. We went to see Narnia 2, and it was a fun time. I was able to pick up some souvineers for the wife and kids at the mall there.

Today is June 1. Yesterday I took my team out for touring in Delhi. We made it to: Akshardham Temple
Parliament House
President's House
Connaught Place
Paddle boating by an old fort in Delhi

I miss the family, and am excited to get back next week. I am stopping in Amsterdam again, and plan to do a breakfast canal cruise.

Ciao for now.

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I left India at 1AM India time. Ashish and I went to TGIF to chat about the trip and new Initiatives we were planning. Unfortunately, it was 2 for 1 happy hour. By the time we left TGIF, I was a bit buzzed, and Ashish was happy as well. There was much road construction on the freeway, and he missed his turn since it was unfamiliar now, and being "happy" made it a bit tougher. When we arrived at the departure gates, some guy offered to help me with my luggage. In a better state I would have said no. He asked for 20, and he did not mean ruppees. Oh well, I thought, and away we went. He dropped me at a door that had no line and no waiting. I gave him $20 american, and he said "EUROS". Here I could care less about what he said, and I told him (in not nice language) he can take it or leave it as I took it out of his hand. He graciously agreed to take it, and I handed him the $20 bill.

The airport is Chaotic when perfectly sober, and even more so after TGIF. I asked several people with flight badges where to go, and I was finally able to get my luggage checked in and to the gate. I had packed all carryon luggage except for my laptop bag so that I could get around well in Amsterdam. When I finally was set at the gate, I waited, and waited, and waited for the flight departure. There was no information to tell you that we were leaving late, and everyone just hoped that they were in the right place. We finally boarded the plan about an hour or more after the scheduled time. I slept as much as I could on the flight, about 5 hours of the 8 in the air.

I was excited and anxious about my 10 hour layover in Amsterdam. I had ideas of things I wanted to see, and I also knew that I had to budget my time in order to get back to the airport.

I arrived in the Schipol-Amsterdam airport around 7 AM. I explored the airport to find the train station just outside the front entrance to the airport. By 8:00 I was on the train headed for Amsterdam Central station. Central station is humongous. It took about 15 minutes to get from my drop off to get to the front of the station. It was about 8:15, and it was still dark out. I decided to go find a cafe and get some coffee. When getting into the cafe, I noticed a menu for some pot and other non tobacco products. I ordered a capuccino, and sat by the front window to watch all the bikers ride down the streets. There were thousands of bicycles, and there presence made me feel safe in this unknown area. I noticed at the cafe the presence of some pot smoke, and I laughed to myself about how in MN we don't even allow tobacco in bars and restaurants anymore.

It was quite chilly outside. I was wearing layers of clothing in expectation of this, yet did not have a cap to keep the head warm. The sunrise started about 9:30, and it warmed into the 40's. I wandered around to find the red light district by about 10:00. It was not happening in the morning, and I only had 2 ladies try to get my attention among the thousands of windows that stood vacant. Toward the end of my Red Light tour, some 20 something kid approached me for some change. We chatted as we walked, and he would not leave until I gave him about 5 euro. He said he was from India, and I felt safer knowing that he may believe in karma.

I was back to Central station by about 10:30. Here it was even an adventure trying to find where to purchase tram tickets. I was directed to a bookstore to purchase the tickets, and I purchased a round trip to Liedspold area of Amsterdam. Here I walked around to find the Rijsk Museum. I plan to go to Van Goht, but thought it would be good to see Rembrandt instead. The tour of the museum showed how Amsterdam was pivotal in the art movement. It was surreal to see the paintings in person that I had only seen before in text books and magazines.

After leaving the Rijksmuseam, I wanted to see my last point of interest before leaving back to the airport. The Hard Rock Cafe was about 6 blocks away, and it had opened at 11AM. I was able to finally order some BEEF. It was welcome to finally have a hamburger after a month of Lamb, Chicken, and Vegetable dishes. The waitress was very cool, and we chatted through my lunch about America and India. She was planning a trip with her boyfriend to see the Taj in a few months, and it was fun to chat about the things I had seen the prior 25 days. After lunch I went to the souvenir desk, and purchased Hard Rock parfanelia for the wife and kids.

I walked part of the way back to Cetral station, and it was a beautiful morning. Every few blocks I found little stores selling waffles. The streets were alive with all the people getting to whereever they were going, and I thought again about how far away I was from my family. I found a tram stop and went back to Central station.

By the time I reached my destination of the airport, I had about an hour or more before my plane was to depart. I found my gate, and waited to be called. In the Schipol airport, you don't go through security as in the MSP airport. Here you get to your gate, and then when they call your flight they send you and your carryons through the xray and metal detectors. When you get done with that, you enter a secure waiting area that looks similar to the area you were just in. I found a seat, and a gil ending up in Texas sat next to me. She was in the military and was going home for awhile. She would be going to Afghanistan in 6 months, and she had originally been looking forward to going to Kuwait. She was anxious about Afghanistan even though she said it was safer now then it had been previously.

Everything went well on the flight home. I sat next to a young lady from Lakeville who was on a foreign exchange program with the U of MN. We chatted about the things she saw in her semester in Italy. It was neat to meet so many people who were going through different experiences.