Around India in 18 Days
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Apr. 24, Vancouver
Just arrived about 1/2 hour ago. The flight here really wasn't very exciting. Hey - German speaking people just walked by! Something about "die Machine", high German - very high... This airport is quite nice; I can't remember ever being here. If I ever was, it must have been a while ago. It's raining outside - a guy on the plane was complaining about how it always rains when he's here. He prefers "sunny Saskatchewan." Overhearing conversations can be cool, unfortunately only few are in English (or German). A few people here are running around with masks (SARS), mostly Asians. I should go to the Singapore airlines desk and ask if there's any chance for me getting into a hotel in Singapore... I'm still trying to figure out how this journal will be used after I'm back... I guess it will depend on what I write in it - at least family members should be able to read it... ... a few minutes later... Ha Ha! Success! I just talked to my pals at Singapore Airlines and after making a few calls, they told me I would just have to pick up the voucher in Singapore at the Night Stop desk. Ha Ha! The sweet taste of success. Now Daniel won't bug me about wasting $100 by not getting my hotel room. Let's hope it's nice... Let's hope it's not full of SARS infected people... :) I've decided to call BenG "BenG" because I don't know how to spell
Stupid me... 1:52 pm I just rewarded myself with a meal at Burger King (for the hotel success). It was a "Henkers Mahlzeit" (no clue what that is in English) because it's my last meal on Canadian ground for a while. I wanted to take a picture of BenG going up an escalator, but I feel stupid when there's so many people around... but the more people there are around, the funnier it is... what a dilemma. Another dilemma: the "freedom" of not wearing socks has caused a blister at my toe (right foot, big toe) - I might have to use one of those band-aids we bought today... |
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2:55 Hey Hey :) My theory on why no-one is sitting beside me: SARS. Or they simply
don't fill the flights this time of the year. SARS sounds better
- more adventurous… Still haven't taken off yet… this is getting boring… I'm excited about the special Scientific American issue I just
picked up at the airport…
Finally in the air. When I look out the window, I see a wing. It's moving. Stopped now. Maybe I'll take a picture later to show you my great view of the wing. Stupid wing. They should make airplanes without wings so no-one's view is blocked. LOL (not actually laughing out loud) 3:20 3:21 8:30 It's just over 5 hours to Inch'On airport. And I'll only be there for an hour. What a waste. I'm still unsure when I should sleep… I'm not feeling too tired yet. But I don't want to land in Delhi and then have to adapt to the new time zone. BTW, Adaptation was a great movie. It was strange, but the kind of strange that I like. Gonna try to sleep a little now. G'night mate. Why the Australian accent? Maybe too much wine... |
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3:30 (Vancouver time) And I think it was the first time in my life I saw a full rainbow. Unfortunately I couldn't get a full picture of it. I'm starting to get vewy vewy sleepy…hope I can concentrate enough in Singapore to get to the Hotel :) ZZZZZ… Gonna try to have a nap now… 9:10 (Singapore time) Now that they've turned off the lights in the cabin, I can see the stars outside. Very cool. The best part is, that there's nothing to block the view (except the wing). |
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2:35am I'm in Singapore! I'm soo happy I managed to get the hotel! My plane only leaves at 4:00pm so I'll have enough time to sleep, do some quick site seeing, and get back to the airport. This hotel is quite nice too... Cab drive was great - got to see Singapore at night, and chat with the driver. Cab fare was paid by the hotel, same for the way back - I'm a king! 10:45am Wow! Still feeling like a king... Just had the best sleep of my life and a shower, now some coffee - and the view from here is awesome. I missed my free breakfast, but I'm planning to use my free lunch coupon! But for now I'll see if I can wander around and take some pictures. 12:00pm Man it's humid outside! Had to wipe the camera lens before taking pictures. Beautiful city! But I'm not too sure I'd want to drink the water from that river... The humidity and heat are tolerable, though there was a little wind too. It's kind of like standing under a warm shower - much better than the dry dead air on the airplane. Hope the pictures of the lizard turn out... they walk funny :) Must be equivalent to a gofer (sp.?) in Saskatchewan. 1:10 Oooh... That was just the most delicious meal I've had in ages: Fried beef with vegetables and some kind of pistachio desert with a cherry on top. I think I improved my chopstick skills a fair amount during that meal. Sweaty hands and a sauce over everything make it tricky to eat fast. I bet if North America required people to eat with chopsticks the problem of obesity would be gone in a matter of months. I've decided I'm moving here some day. |
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Flight to Delhi 7:20 Delhi time Trip back to the airport was great again. Raining most the time. Nice taxi driver - chatted about SARS, Canada, Education,... Did a lot of wandering around at Singapore airport. It's quite big... walked ll the way from terminal 2 to terminal 1 and took the sky-train back. Hope I got a nice picture of the kid leaning on the window. There are many shops in that airport. Almost bought a set of wireless Sennheiser headphones for S$ 350. Just kidding. They sure looked nice though. There was a cheaper pair for S$250 should check those out when I get back to Canada. Unfortunately most Canadian's don't have such an expensive taste... might be hard to find. I should stop dreaming. The $350 pair seemed soo cool though :) some kind of noise reduction system - could use those on the plane! Just listening to Jeff Buckley - "Hallelujah" on the entertainment system. Wow. How many times can you listen to a good song before it stops giving you goosebumps? I've heard it before, but sung by someone else. I think I've *actually* got something in my eye :) Say's here he died when he was 30, drowned while swimming in the Missippi. Kind of crazy. I wonder what his other stuff is like. Now they're playing "Hey Manhattan" by "Prefab Sprout" - super cheesy slime jazz pop. Next is "One" by U2. Who arranges these channels? (I can't think of an appropriate cynical answer). Well I'm on the plane, just in case you were wondering. The display shows we are just starting to fly over ground again. Another 2 hours or so to Delhi. If it wasn't for that hotel stay in Singapore, I bet I wouldn't be feeling so great right now. My stomach still isn't feeling perfect though, I think it was the white wine (I actually asked for water). I guess the flight attendant caught the first letter of what I said and then made an "educated guess". Now they're playing "I'm ready" by Tracy Chapman. There was a not-so-good song before this (and immediately after U2). So, I can conclude if you skip every second song, you might get a decent line-up. Enough complaining. But now it's "Walking on the moon" by the Police. My theory just failed. What a disappointment. Interesting observation: the screen shows the map in 3-D so you can see the elevation of everything. In the north part of India it's very very flat, and right at the north border the elevation increases from quite low to quite high very rapidly. How did that happen? One tectonic plate shifted on top of another? I bet Daniel would know the answer. Or Quentin. Or Daniel would make something up so he doesn't have to admit he doesn't know :) Ha ha. The whole Himalaya area doesn't make much sense to me anyways. Or maybe Amy would know - she just took a geography class if I'm not mistaken. I wonder whether I'll go through any culture shock type thing in the first days. The phrase used in some of the articles I've read about India was "sensory overload". Wouldn't be surprised if that happens. The last weather forecast I saw for Delhi said the high was 42ºC. uuuu I think that's gonna be more of a problem than "sensory overload". |
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