Leh Airport Security, Flight Over the Himalayas and Arrival Back in Delhi
Next morning we left for the airport at 5:30 to fly back to Delhi. I always thought that Ben Gurion had the tightest security of any airport in the world...well...not any more. You cannot believe what went on in Leh airport. We were searched and frisked no less than 5 times, no hand luggage is allowed on the plane...they even take away lighters and matches...you have to sign a book before you go through more security checks, and you have to identify your luggage personally before it is loaded on the plane...this is after it has gone through a security check.
All of this takes a lot of time, but the staff and soldiers are so pleasant and peaceful, that we just took it all in our stride and eventually boarded the plane. The Jet Airways company is fairly new, the planes are beautiful, the staff very pampering, all in all a flight like to Eilat of less than an hour but in addition to drinks and snacks a full breakfast is served!!
The flight over the Himalayas is no less impressive than the overland route we took from Manali and both have to be experienced to be appreciated. The magnificence of the snow capped peaks flying above the mountains and below the clouds is truly awesome...no words can really describe ...as seems to be the case with alot of things in India...it must be experienced!!
We arrived very easily into Delhi and we are already experienced travelers here and had no trouble getting to our hotel...the driver again started to try and rip us off but realized very quickly that we were not novices to be made fools of..
As preferred customers, we received a really nice room this time in the hotel...too bad it is only for one nite...We relaxed a little and then an Indian guy I had met on the Internet from down south came up to visit and we spent quite a good part of the day with him...it is always interesting seeing places through the eyes of Indians and seeing that they too have certain problems coping but they certainly do it much better than we do...like crossing a busy street for example. We did it only once before and it took ages and we were scared out of our wits...there is no right of way or anything for cars, pedestrians...it is like a free for all and quite frightening...Well he just walked out into the confusion as if he were in an armored vehicle and no one could touch him and held up his hand to stop cars and bicycles and rickshaws from killing us and those that didn't stop he just put his hand on the bumpers and stopped them and kept walking...terrifying...and the two! of us behind him...and we did it twice!!
We ate in a local fast foods restaurant which was very modern and very clean and pleasant and had a nice light sandwich and lassi for lunch. They have all kinds of food including continental and Indian and Italian and snacks and cake and coffee and great ice cream and it is certainly a lot nicer than McDonald's for example which is also right down the road.
This morning, we finished our packing for leaving tonite by train for Dharamsala and thought to send a package home with extra stuff but the post office is only open until 1 on Saturday so we missed it.
All of this takes a lot of time, but the staff and soldiers are so pleasant and peaceful, that we just took it all in our stride and eventually boarded the plane. The Jet Airways company is fairly new, the planes are beautiful, the staff very pampering, all in all a flight like to Eilat of less than an hour but in addition to drinks and snacks a full breakfast is served!!
The flight over the Himalayas is no less impressive than the overland route we took from Manali and both have to be experienced to be appreciated. The magnificence of the snow capped peaks flying above the mountains and below the clouds is truly awesome...no words can really describe ...as seems to be the case with alot of things in India...it must be experienced!!
We arrived very easily into Delhi and we are already experienced travelers here and had no trouble getting to our hotel...the driver again started to try and rip us off but realized very quickly that we were not novices to be made fools of..
As preferred customers, we received a really nice room this time in the hotel...too bad it is only for one nite...We relaxed a little and then an Indian guy I had met on the Internet from down south came up to visit and we spent quite a good part of the day with him...it is always interesting seeing places through the eyes of Indians and seeing that they too have certain problems coping but they certainly do it much better than we do...like crossing a busy street for example. We did it only once before and it took ages and we were scared out of our wits...there is no right of way or anything for cars, pedestrians...it is like a free for all and quite frightening...Well he just walked out into the confusion as if he were in an armored vehicle and no one could touch him and held up his hand to stop cars and bicycles and rickshaws from killing us and those that didn't stop he just put his hand on the bumpers and stopped them and kept walking...terrifying...and the two! of us behind him...and we did it twice!!
We ate in a local fast foods restaurant which was very modern and very clean and pleasant and had a nice light sandwich and lassi for lunch. They have all kinds of food including continental and Indian and Italian and snacks and cake and coffee and great ice cream and it is certainly a lot nicer than McDonald's for example which is also right down the road.
This morning, we finished our packing for leaving tonite by train for Dharamsala and thought to send a package home with extra stuff but the post office is only open until 1 on Saturday so we missed it.
posted by Jane @ 3:01 PM
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