April 24 - 25, 2010: USA to Delhi, India

6:30am and off to the airport to begin the long day's journey into the east! The flight to JFK was uneventful with the exception of a stopover in Detroit. The pilot got lost once landing on the ground and drove to the wrong gate. After sitting on the tarmac for about an half an hour he announced his error and drove around the Detroit airport looking for the correct one!! JFK was quiet considering the week before where the volcano of Iceland shut down the European airports and created a backup all over the world. The flight to Brussels was nine hours on Jet Airways and was great. A few hours in Brussels and then off to Delhi, India. 30+ hours of flying and sitting and checked into our hotel for the night!! It is 11:30pm Delhi time. The guide gave each one of us the traditional lei of marigolds, (in Sanskrit = Guest of the Gods) as a welcome and then wished us a good nights sleep.

April 25: Awoke to a sight of horror. We are in a four star hotel just outside the main section of Delhi and as the curtains were pulled back to welcome in the morning sun, the view was "slumlord millionaire" life, but in reality. Across the street from the hotel was a slum village with the residents just starting their day. Many sleep on the roof because the heat would make the home an oven. Communal bathing were going on with all fully dressed to preserve modesty as they poured the city water down their fronts or pants. Cows and boars roamed freely among the homes eating whatever they could find. Pathways lead away from the village into a field directly behind where one could see people relieving themselves. One side of the street was for the "rich" on side for the "poor"!

After a leisurely morning it was off to the airport and the continuation of the trip to Kathmandu!

Mt Everest Hotel -- new guide (Dave) -- welcome scarf and the hope for a good night's rest before starting the true trip!