(his is all backfill, I apologize...)
July 12
Left Beirut on time, with papers. Daruuze drove us in his friend's 72 Dodge something or other. The biggest car we've been in in Beirut, and pretty shaky. But so sweet of him to drive us, after bringing us fruits, and flowers, and making coffee for us. He wants an American wife... thinks we can help (any takers? photo enclosed...)
We flew Eremites Airways and changed planes in Dubai, landing at 1 and leaving at dawn. A wicked busy airport all night, trying to find some place out of the glare of the gold and other duty-free. Dubai is a duty-free theme park. We have seen lots of covered Muslim women the past few weeks, but nothing compares to the robes some of these women wore. Embroidered and very subtly patterned. And as they floated away in the swoosh the gowns made you could make out the high heeled shoes, and the black net stockings, sort of. And I sat there while night turned light, and Leslie and Phoebe slept a little, listening to the most remote names being call out over the PA - Mali, Azerbaijan, Bagdad, Beirut, Colombo, Islamabad, Istanbul. It all peppered the half sleep I drifted into until we boarded the plane.
Three hours later we landed in pouring rain and sweltering heat, and needed to navigate with our shiny new visas through Immigration, and did, and were met by Pardip, the Nepalese driver from the hotel who throws the weight of his little car through early morning monsoon Delhi traffic jams. Leslie said she's glad we acclimated some in Beirut; to the heat and the traffic, the bang and clatter, otherwise this would have all been even more stunning than it was. But it was, through the density and smell of Delhi to the smallest street, crammed with jitneys and cabs and carts and bicycles, into a small and comfortable hotel 2 stories above Arkashan Street, full of other hotels, dogs and horns and whistles. The people are helpful and sweet, and keep the shades drawn for the most part to keep the business of the street out of their small business I suspect. And to make someone like me feel I can catch my breath in the lobby, before being aurally pegged . There's a small restaurant attached and we ate supper there after another whirlwind tour through Delhi with Pardip. To the ministries, some temples, some tombs, all of which are wrapped in the wet blanket of this heat and humidity, mud and scent. And everyone is completely engaged in whatever it is they're doing, unlike Beirut, where though it was a little less crowded, people seemed to take a little more notice of what their fellows were up to. Maybe because there were more guns there than here, and they have to, whereas here, anything that's going on seems just fine, and very unlikely to disrupt whatever anyone else might be trying to do.
We rest awhile then meet with some people, talk about plans and understand our hopes of traveling in the north are dashed by the heavy water falling all over that, and floods, and the potential for slides and washes, so we change our plans. Will travel west, leave tomorrow for 14 days through Rajasthan. We'll spend tomorrow and tomorrow night in Agra visiting monuments and government shops, then we'll go to Jaipur, Pushkar, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikner, Mandawa, and then back to Delhi. A couple of days in most places, and a lot of driving across country. But we're happy and excited to be here and happy to be going on the trip we're taking. These are places we've dreamed of seeing, but didn't think we would this trip. Things change. More reason to plan for the unexpected I guess. We'll meet our diver tomorrow. Hopefully he'll enjoy our company as much as we hope to enjoy his.
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