I'd Rather Have the Cockroaches
Ok, so traveling in Asia is known for being ridiculous at times. I was just thinking how lucky I had been to only have been subjected to cockroaches and nothing else too alarming. My flight was supposed to go Singapore-Delhi-Kathmandu in a nice clean time span of about 6 hours. Let me now tell you a tale of a young woman and how this simple plan turned into a freefall into the dirty snakepit of India.
My family drove me to the airport for my scheduled departure of 9:10am on January 2nd. Due to the fog (most likely smog) in Delhi, my flight was cancelled and would depart the following day. No big deal; another day to spend with my family. Ha. Not so fast. We call and discover that the flight is actually leaving that night at 9:00pm. No at 11pm. No definitely at midnight. We go back to the airport for my midnight flight and I bade goodbye to my family. Although the gate number on my boarding pass says 32 and the tv screen says 30, it is actually 49. Oh and the flight is delayed until 1:30am. By this point, I had been up since 6:00am and I was very tired. I crawled onto the plane and marveled at how lucky I was that I had gotten three seats to myself so I could lay down and sleep.
I managed to sleep for a few hours and woke up when we landed. It was 3:00am Indian time, two hours behind Singapore. We were off to a bad start. We had to remain on the plane for almost two hours while they 'sorted out' customs issues. Eventually, close to 5:00am they announced that we would have to surrender our passports to the crew before disembarking. I wasn't having any of it. I had never heard of a procedure like that. I put up a big stink and refused to give them my passport. They refused to let me off or anyone else behind me until I gave them my passport. Being 5:00am and having 75 livid Indians in line behind me, I handed over my passport.
While we were waiting to get the shuttle to the airport, I argued with a crew member as to why I had to give up my passport. He explained that they needed to get us transit visas because this wasn't an international airport. "Delhi isn't an international airport??" I balked. "Yes, it is, but we're in Kolkata". (Culcutta) Of course we are! Why wouldn't we be!? Perhaps they could have mentioned that to the passengers.
We were ushered into the airport where we were hearded from room to room for no apparent reason. Tempers began to flare and everyone started yelling at everyone and waving their arms. We were finally given vouchers for taxi cabs and after waiting for about an hour for one to show up, we had to argue with the driver to take us to a hotel. We loaded our bags into the car and piled in. But this cab was not assigned to us so we had to unload and get out. But since no one else was assigned to that cab and there were no others around, we loaded our bags back into the cab and piled in. The drive to the hotel took almost an hour. I'm not sure why the airline couldn't find a closer hotel but I was too tired to wonder for long. We got to the hotel at about 7:00am and I was assigned to a room with a woman from Delhi. Well, at least they had the courtesy to put the two single women together. It was freezing but we passed out anyway for a good two hours.
We had to get up at about 9:00am to grab a quick breakfast and get back on the busses to go back to the airport. I ate little and ate it quickly so I could go and soak my feet in tepid water to try to warm up. After the hour ride back to the airport, we were left outside the airport to wonder what was going on and to reignite some tempers. At about 11:00am we were finally ushered to another room where they yelled out names and gave us back our passports. They didn't stamp anything. They just wanted to keep our passports to ensure that we wouldn't skip the flight and stay on in Kolkata. Ya. That's pretty much unheard of. Who would want to do that? If you saw Kolkata, you would understand what I mean.
We waited long enough for another yelling match to ensue before we were finally told what time we would be heading for Delhi. We got on the plane sometime after 1:00pm and headed for Delhi. We arrived sometime after 4:00pm, missing my connecting flight to Kathmandu by a good three hours. There was only one daily flight to Kathmandu and I would have to wait another day for the flight. Instead, I insisted that they put me on another airline and get me there a.s.a.p. They put me on Royal Nepal Airlines, a notoriously bad airline. The flight was to leave at 7:30pm giving me a small but possible window to get to Kathmandu and get a cab home before everything shuts down. This is the point in the story where everything could make a turn for the better, but alas...
I ask a number of times about my bags to ensure that they get switched to the other plane and that they end up in Kathmandu. They graciously bring me my bags to ensure that they are mine and as I breathed a sigh of relief at least for my bags, the man carts them off in the wrong direction and the airline staff chase him down to redirect him. Great. Fingers are really really crossed. I called auntie Vicki to tell her that I just arrived in Delhi and the b*stards charge me $15 for the three minute call.
So remember my flight? The one that leaves at 7:30pm? Well, now it leaves at 10:00pm. Like the spoiled westerner I am, I tell them that I really need a food voucher since I was supposed to be in Kathmandu yesterday and I am now very hungry. No problem. Just wait here and they will be right back. Fast forward three hours. Kelly is still sitting there and still hungry. 30 minutes before my flight someone rushes up, asks me if I have gotten anything yet and rushes off when I say 'no'. Someone different runs up and asks if I have gotten anything and rushes off when I again say 'no'. Only one of them comes back, takes me to get food and finally gives me my damn boarding pass. I wolf down a sandwich and go to my boarding gate. 10:00pm comes and goes. Close to 11:00pm we get on the plane and head back to Kathmandu.
I got my visa quickly and my bags a little less quickly but they surprisingly, were all there. I argued with a number of taxi drivers who insisted on ripping me off and finally found one who gave me a decent price. I arrived at the house sometime after midnight and woke up one of the volunteers to let me in. (The front gate was luckily unlocked. Thanks Bill) I rummaged around and had to unpack all my bags to find the key to my room. Longing for a hot water bottle and my bed, I open up the door to find that that damn devil rat has had a party in my room. He has gotten into the food I hung from the ceiling (he must have climbed up somewhere and leapt onto it), he's crapped on the tables, window sills and of course, my pillow. At this point, I don't even care. I brush off the crap and crawl into bed. I woke up this morning with a cold and no drinking water in the house. Argh.
Well, just another chapter in the life of Kelly in Kathmandu. It's not too bad to have a couple bad days out of a couple months. I'm going to go see the kids this afternoon and that should cheer me up. I had been regretting not taking time to travel India and now I'm going to need a big long break before I'll be able to go back there. It's funny how things like that work out. Oh right, so about the title of this segment: I'd definitely take the cockroaches with Biman Air than my flight from Singapore to Kathmandu anyday.
My family drove me to the airport for my scheduled departure of 9:10am on January 2nd. Due to the fog (most likely smog) in Delhi, my flight was cancelled and would depart the following day. No big deal; another day to spend with my family. Ha. Not so fast. We call and discover that the flight is actually leaving that night at 9:00pm. No at 11pm. No definitely at midnight. We go back to the airport for my midnight flight and I bade goodbye to my family. Although the gate number on my boarding pass says 32 and the tv screen says 30, it is actually 49. Oh and the flight is delayed until 1:30am. By this point, I had been up since 6:00am and I was very tired. I crawled onto the plane and marveled at how lucky I was that I had gotten three seats to myself so I could lay down and sleep.
I managed to sleep for a few hours and woke up when we landed. It was 3:00am Indian time, two hours behind Singapore. We were off to a bad start. We had to remain on the plane for almost two hours while they 'sorted out' customs issues. Eventually, close to 5:00am they announced that we would have to surrender our passports to the crew before disembarking. I wasn't having any of it. I had never heard of a procedure like that. I put up a big stink and refused to give them my passport. They refused to let me off or anyone else behind me until I gave them my passport. Being 5:00am and having 75 livid Indians in line behind me, I handed over my passport.
While we were waiting to get the shuttle to the airport, I argued with a crew member as to why I had to give up my passport. He explained that they needed to get us transit visas because this wasn't an international airport. "Delhi isn't an international airport??" I balked. "Yes, it is, but we're in Kolkata". (Culcutta) Of course we are! Why wouldn't we be!? Perhaps they could have mentioned that to the passengers.
We were ushered into the airport where we were hearded from room to room for no apparent reason. Tempers began to flare and everyone started yelling at everyone and waving their arms. We were finally given vouchers for taxi cabs and after waiting for about an hour for one to show up, we had to argue with the driver to take us to a hotel. We loaded our bags into the car and piled in. But this cab was not assigned to us so we had to unload and get out. But since no one else was assigned to that cab and there were no others around, we loaded our bags back into the cab and piled in. The drive to the hotel took almost an hour. I'm not sure why the airline couldn't find a closer hotel but I was too tired to wonder for long. We got to the hotel at about 7:00am and I was assigned to a room with a woman from Delhi. Well, at least they had the courtesy to put the two single women together. It was freezing but we passed out anyway for a good two hours.
We had to get up at about 9:00am to grab a quick breakfast and get back on the busses to go back to the airport. I ate little and ate it quickly so I could go and soak my feet in tepid water to try to warm up. After the hour ride back to the airport, we were left outside the airport to wonder what was going on and to reignite some tempers. At about 11:00am we were finally ushered to another room where they yelled out names and gave us back our passports. They didn't stamp anything. They just wanted to keep our passports to ensure that we wouldn't skip the flight and stay on in Kolkata. Ya. That's pretty much unheard of. Who would want to do that? If you saw Kolkata, you would understand what I mean.
We waited long enough for another yelling match to ensue before we were finally told what time we would be heading for Delhi. We got on the plane sometime after 1:00pm and headed for Delhi. We arrived sometime after 4:00pm, missing my connecting flight to Kathmandu by a good three hours. There was only one daily flight to Kathmandu and I would have to wait another day for the flight. Instead, I insisted that they put me on another airline and get me there a.s.a.p. They put me on Royal Nepal Airlines, a notoriously bad airline. The flight was to leave at 7:30pm giving me a small but possible window to get to Kathmandu and get a cab home before everything shuts down. This is the point in the story where everything could make a turn for the better, but alas...
I ask a number of times about my bags to ensure that they get switched to the other plane and that they end up in Kathmandu. They graciously bring me my bags to ensure that they are mine and as I breathed a sigh of relief at least for my bags, the man carts them off in the wrong direction and the airline staff chase him down to redirect him. Great. Fingers are really really crossed. I called auntie Vicki to tell her that I just arrived in Delhi and the b*stards charge me $15 for the three minute call.
So remember my flight? The one that leaves at 7:30pm? Well, now it leaves at 10:00pm. Like the spoiled westerner I am, I tell them that I really need a food voucher since I was supposed to be in Kathmandu yesterday and I am now very hungry. No problem. Just wait here and they will be right back. Fast forward three hours. Kelly is still sitting there and still hungry. 30 minutes before my flight someone rushes up, asks me if I have gotten anything yet and rushes off when I say 'no'. Someone different runs up and asks if I have gotten anything and rushes off when I again say 'no'. Only one of them comes back, takes me to get food and finally gives me my damn boarding pass. I wolf down a sandwich and go to my boarding gate. 10:00pm comes and goes. Close to 11:00pm we get on the plane and head back to Kathmandu.
I got my visa quickly and my bags a little less quickly but they surprisingly, were all there. I argued with a number of taxi drivers who insisted on ripping me off and finally found one who gave me a decent price. I arrived at the house sometime after midnight and woke up one of the volunteers to let me in. (The front gate was luckily unlocked. Thanks Bill) I rummaged around and had to unpack all my bags to find the key to my room. Longing for a hot water bottle and my bed, I open up the door to find that that damn devil rat has had a party in my room. He has gotten into the food I hung from the ceiling (he must have climbed up somewhere and leapt onto it), he's crapped on the tables, window sills and of course, my pillow. At this point, I don't even care. I brush off the crap and crawl into bed. I woke up this morning with a cold and no drinking water in the house. Argh.
Well, just another chapter in the life of Kelly in Kathmandu. It's not too bad to have a couple bad days out of a couple months. I'm going to go see the kids this afternoon and that should cheer me up. I had been regretting not taking time to travel India and now I'm going to need a big long break before I'll be able to go back there. It's funny how things like that work out. Oh right, so about the title of this segment: I'd definitely take the cockroaches with Biman Air than my flight from Singapore to Kathmandu anyday.
posted by Kelly in Nepal at 12:44 AM
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