Departure & New Delhi 2 Dec 2012

64kg of luggage - 4kg over grrrrr

Poor Jim is already hot and sweaty and we haven't even left home.  He volunteered to wear his fleece lined shirt, fleece lined jeans and heavy walking boots to help reduce our luggage weight, you notice I didn't volunteer.

After a two hour delay in leaving Brisbane airport we assumed the worse and thought we would miss our connecting flight out of Guangzhou (formerly Canton) but luckily all connecting flights from were being held.  We did have to run though from arrivals to departures and that was difficult with ski boots on your back and the obligatory duty free bag (in my case Jurlique face products).

The familiar smell of India hits you as soon as you land - it is difficult to explain, it is a heavy mix of ???  Jim says burnt diesel!  In a way I guess it is seeing the country runs on diesel.  I meant it is more of an ingrained smell.
It was 12.30am when we landed and 14 degrees.  Funny to see all the locals in balaclavas or scarves wrapped round their heads, they feel the cold.  We thought the traffic in Sydney was bad but you forget that there are traffic jams in India at midnight.  Nothing a few blasts of the horn and flashes of the high beams to move it along.
We organised the driver from Hotel Ajanta to pick us up from the airport, so much easier than trying to haggle on a fare on arrival.  We recognised faces from previous visits at HA which is always nice.  We all love familiarity wherever we are in the world. It gives you a safe and reassuring feeling.

Eventually got to bed after being awake for 24 hours.  We slept for about seven hours this morning so can't complain about that.  Took a couple of Aspro clear to relieve the puffy eye syndrome and headache.  Plan is to take it easy today, go for a walk and look around, decide on what to do next.  Jim is watching the cricket on TV (live from the WACA) and I am fluffing around, a normal day at home really.

Talking of the cold, as most of you know we will be spending the winter (Jan to March) in Gulmarg for the snow season.  Checking emails this morning we were sent photos of the snow which has fallen over the past few days in Gulmarg.  It looks promising but I guess we say that whenever there is early snow.  Have attached a photo for you to look at.  We are also writing blogs on Ski Himalaya's site www.skihimalaya.com   Have a look if you plan to meet us for a ski.

Gulmarg 1 Dec - early snow