Oct 23, 2001 – Back in Delhi.

The ride from Jaipur to Delhi was uneventful and very
fast as we drove in a new car, a Tata something, forgot
the name of the new Indian car but we drove as
fast as 90 kph and the driver was a madman!!.

WE came to a different hotel which was recommended by
Dyanne’s husband Yossi in the main bazaar, Star
Paradise, and for the price, it was perfectly suitable
for our purposes, and very convenient.

We had a very busy and productive day today of “making arrangements”.
For The first time I went to buy tickets at the railway station and sure enough,
just as I had been warned, all these people tried to tell us “there is accident”,
“closed”, “across the street”, not working today-holiday”…on and on and they
really ambush you…block your way so you can’t walk…shlomo was astounded
–had no idea what was going on and kept telling me perhaps I should listen to
them…it can’t be that so many people are wrong, etc. but I stuck to my guns and
just went past them almost forcibly and found my way to the right place as described
to me. Filled out the reservation form very easily since I knew all the necessary
information from my last trip and we bought tickets. By the way, for the first time
I rode in a bicycle rickshaw just for the experience…nice for a short trip! Poor guy
though who had to pull shlomo along!

Then we went to Royal Jordanian and confirmed our
Flight for Monday (with a 7 hour stopover in
Amman…thought that was bad enough, never dreamed we
would be spending the whole night there!!), then went
to a really nice coffee house which we found by
chance, but it is highly recommended (STARBEANS NEAR
ROYAL JORDANIAN-G BLOCK NUMBER 53 ON CONNAUGHT PLACE),
which had apparently just opened a couple of weeks
ago, and we drank REAL ice coffee and REAL cappuccino
with Irish Cream and REAL brownies and we ordered also
REAL sandwiches for the train ride made to order, with
either whole wheat bread, or fuchacha or japetta and
any filling we liked.

Then we went back and took only
a small day pack for the 3 days in McLeod. Rested and
were getting ready to go for dinner before going to
the train station, when Mati (the amazing lady you
read about from my very first day in Delhi) called me
at the hotel to tell me she had money that Milan (the
guide) owed me and hadn’t been able to get to me. So
we took a taxi to her house. I was so pleased to see
her again. And this time I met her daughter, Milan’s
mother…so now I know 4 generations of women from this
wonderful family. We stayed only a short time since
we had to eat and catch a train, but it was a very
warm feeling to be hugged again by her and to see her
serene smiling face.

We ate a nice dinner and before you know it, we were
again on our way to the train station to catch the
Jammu Mail. I had tried to describe the Old Delhi
station to Shlomo but he was also overwhelmed by it,
but since we only had small packs, at least we didn’t
have to repeat the exercise of running after a porter
carrying our stuff.

When we got to the train, which I
thankfully knew exactly where to find it, who was waiting
there to greet us, Joshi!! The same attendant I had on my trip
together with Darya back to Delhi.

And not only did he remember me and give me a big
smile and handshake, but when he took our tickets said
“What, no 1st class this time??” I explained that
there was no room, so when he checked our seats in
2-tier and saw they were not in a good location and
also 2 other people were to be with us, he crossed out
our names on the computerized list posted outside the
train and put us in a better compartment with no other people!!.

Also introduced us to the attendant for 2 tier, who is his brother
by the way, and made sure we were properly taken care of. He was
of course also properly taken care of by us. Told him we would be
coming back 1st class on Saturday but that was his day off and so
we promised to look for each other next year on the same train!!..