Today is our last day in Kathmandu. We met for breakfast about 8:30 a.m. There apparently are several groups who are booked in the hotel right now as the dining room is very full. Dan showed up just as we finished to help us navigate outside the walls of the hotel to do more shopping. Most of the stores didn’t open until around 10 so we really didn’t have any rush. We only walked a couple of blocks down one side of the street and then back up the other. When we finished we were right across the street from the hotel so Sam & I crossed by ourselves! We deserve a graduate degree in busy street crossing! We were met at the hotel by Dilli who has come to thank us for coming and to say goodbye. Then it was just hanging around, making sure we were all packed up and waiting. We ate a light lunch and said goodbye to Divina, who is staying in Kathmandu for a few more days. Both Dilli and Dan have taken in upon themselves to look out for her and make sure she stays safe. She is remaining at the Hotel Himalaya and plans to takes a couple of hotel sponsored tours. The hotel shuttle was ready to take us to the airport at 1 p.m. This was a nice ride as the vehicle was well maintained and had good shocks. The airport was very crowded. We had a couple of checkpoints to go through before even getting to the ticket counter. Darrell, Mike, and Gordon are scheduled to leave 5 minutes later than Sam & I. They are returning to Seattle via Seoul, Korea. They will have a 19 hour layover there so plan a little tour while waiting. We said goodbye to them when we were downstairs at the ticket counter as we didn’t know for sure if we’d see them again before the planes took off. Then upstairs to fill out departure immigration forms and stand in the foreigner line for nearly an hour to reach the desk to have our papers and passports stamped. We then were in the duty-free area. While standing in the immigration line we noticed that our Air India plane to New Delhi has been delayed, according to the scrolling departure sign. Our original departure time was 3:55 p.m. It is now 4:20 p.m. We’ll see what time it actually leaves! Another line to stand in. This one is the gate security check. One line for men, one for women. The men don’t always get patted down….every woman does. Sam said this time he did. Our boarding passes had to be stamped at the end of this line because there was one more checkpoint to go through…that of making sure the boarding pass was stamped. Then finally to the glass walled enclosed waiting areas. It was very hot….no fans and no air conditioning. Time to wait.
Finally about 4:45 the door labeled “gate 1” at the end of the waiting room opened up and somebody called out “Delhi”. Everyone got up and made their way to the door. Again, we passed through the doorway in male and female lines, where we were once again patted down. Then down another hallway to an outside door where our boarding passes were again checked. Walking outside we boarded a bus to be taken to our plane. There was an Air India plane fairly close to where we got on the bus but I assumed ours was farther away. The bus started and we were driven a literal distance of 20 feet away..to the tail of the plane that was so close. We then exited the bus and walked back about 10 feet to the forward staircase. In front of the staircase was a portable building through which we had to pass, again in male/female lines, in which they opened our carry-ons again, checked our boarding passes again and initialed them and then patted us down….again. I was beginning to think they really enjoy doing that as much as they do. Sam nearly didn’t get to board as the person checking his bag didn’t sign off on his boarding card. There was a big discussion between two different people about it but they finally let him get on the plane. Glad for all the security checks but I think they went overboard on some things.
Finally got in the air about 5:30 for the 1-1/2 hour flight and was served a small meal. Landed at the New Delhi airport about 7 p.m., disembarked, boarded another bus, taken a great distance away from where we landed to the immigration area and customs and finally to pick up our luggage. It is a huge airport and very modern. Finally found the hotel shuttle driver and made it to our hotel close to 8:45 p.m. The hotel is small but nice. It is clean and has a real bathroom! Time to get ready for bed as we again have a 5 a.m. wakeup call.
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