Retirement, Part VIII: India

September 16-25
From Los Angeles, it took me 24 hours to get to India in 2002, but now that I’m on the East Coast, it’s a more reasonable 18 hours with only one stop in Amsterdam. Very nice – I like. I left on Sunday and arrived late on Monday night. Lisa was home to greet me, but Asit was in Singapore and would be there for the next few days, or not… As it happens, he came home early to surprise Lisa and surprised me too! Since he came back early on his time, he more or less hung out with us in Old Delhi on Tuesday, although I think he regretted it shortly thereafter. Hanging with 3 women while they’re shopping can be excruciatingly painful for a guy.

India’s 9.5 hours ahead of VA, yet jet lag never hit me too hard. I suppose when you’re unemployed and taking naps any time you want, what does a “normal” sleep pattern mean anyway? Or, maybe my “sleep 33% of every flight” concept did the trick…

Both Lisa and Asit’s mom were incredible hostesses, feeding me great food and taking me all over the city for facials, massages, pedicures, etc. I’m still amazed at how inexpensive services are there. For example, a 1 hour massage is only $25, and a pedicure is only $5. I like!

Since I’d done all of the touristy things the last time I was there, I really just wanted to eat lots of good food and get to know Delhi a little more. Of course, I had to have a day of photo taking, so I went downtown and walked Connaught Place, Janpath, Rajpath, India Gate, etc. and sucked up all that Delhi had to offer that afternoon/evening.

Thankfully, I lucked out and was able to watch India win the Cricket 20-20 World Cup on my last night. We’d watched all of the games leading to it, including 6 six’s, but hearing the city go nuts after winning was priceless. I didn’t know anything about the game before I went, but I’m a fan now…

No trip to Amsterdam would be complete without a visit with Robin, and fortunately, we were able to make that happen. I had a 7 hour layover on the way home, and he had a flight to London during that period. We spent a few hours chatting, looking at photos and drinking coffee.