Photo: Photo: Building in Agra, India
Sep 16, 1993 Nita Ommen, Phil Breland, and I arrive in Bangkok near midnight. We take a taxi to a hotel downtown.
Sep 17, 1993 Getting up mid-morning, we have breakfast and then tour the Buddhist temples nearby. We find traveling the riverboats to be faster than the snail paced taxis. Most cars are new Japanese or Korean models. There are no rickshaws or bikes on the streets.
In late afternoon, Nita & I take van to airport for night flight to Delhi. Upon arrival in Delhi, we take taxi to YMCA. We see hundreds of people sleeping on the sidewalks. The driver tries to take us to a different hotel. Midnight, the YMCA receptionist attempts to give us the most expensive room.
Photo: Taj Mahal in Agra, India
Sep 18, 1993 Delhi is a filthy, crowded city. There are many rickshaws, motorized rickshaws, and taxis in the streets. We are barraged by people wanting to do just about anything for us, for a price. A young shoe shine boy sneakily smears chicken (?) excrement on Nita'a boot and then offers to clean it up.
Sep 19, 1993 We took an all day tour to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and other sights.
Sep 20, 1993 In the morning we went to the Red Fort and visited Phil's jeweler friend A.P. Singha. A motorized richshaw driver told us that he had a wife and three children in another town. He had no education, but his children were receiving schooling. He hoped to buy his own rickshaw in 6 or 7 years. Our train left at 7:30 PM from the rat-infested New Delhi train station.
Photo: Taj Mahal in Agra, India
Sep 21, 1993 The overnite train arrived in Gorakhpur and we then transfer to a crowded, old, uncomfortable bus. In 3 1/2 hours we reach the border. The Nepalese immigration officer is very friendly, as are the others we encounter at the hotel where we stay that night.
Sep 22, 1993 Nita cuts her hand as we load bags on the 9:30 AM bus to Pokhara. The long 10 hour bus ride went east, bordering the mountains, before turning north and then west to Pokhara.
Map of Nepal
