After touring the grounds of the Taj Ganj area, we headed back to our hotel and had breakfast. Then we took a nice warm shower and checked out at noon. Our train was scheduled to leave at 10pm so we had all day to hang out and do pretty much nothing. We went for a walk up the street and stopped at the beer shop, bought a couple beers and sat on the sidewalk and talked to another traveler from Australia. After that we got bored and found a mall hidden down a side street. By now it was about 5pm and we saw something we hadn't seen in a long time, a theater. There were 3 movies playing, all Bollywood films. We bought our tickets and watched a movie for about an hour, but then decided we weren't understanding anything anyway since it was all in Hindi, so we left for the hotel.
It was time to check our train ticket status before we headed for the station, turns out we were still wait listed. Which in the past mean't nothing for us to worry about, even when we had a high wait list number we always still got our tickets confirmed. We headed for the station anyway since we were at wait list 3, we had full confidence we would get on the train to Gorakhpor. WRONG! for the first time in almost 4 months of travel in India our wait listed status was not converted to a confirmed ticket. At this point we were hustling to figure out a way to upgrade to 1st class or get a different type of ticket. We got the run around from every window agent we spoke to. I was starting to boil over with frustration and Heidi was too. Finally we gave up and walked out to get a rickshaw back to the hotel. Then the rickshaw driver was inquiring about our troubles and offered to go talk to the station inspector/director about helping us. He said we should offer him some "baksheesh" or a bribe to get us a ticket. So we three went back into the station to try it on. No luck, the director wouldn't help us. We were screwed, no ticket to where we needed to go. We both had a bit of a meltdown, we were tired and just wanted to get to Nepal ASAP, and our plans were crushed. On the way back to the hotel I told Heidi there must be a silver lining here somewhere, we just didn't know it yet, and there was, but we'll get to that later.
We started looking into buses, other train schedules, etc, etc. no luck at all. Then as a last resort we checked out flying. No flights from Agra to Kathmandu were available. Only from Delhi to Kathmandu, so we called a taxi and hit the road at midnight for Delhi. The drive took about 3 hrs and cost 3500 Rs, about $70. It was well worth it!!! We got on our flight we booked just a few hours prior and were Nepal-bound. Note: airlines don't jack up rates at all with short notice bookings, our flight was only $87 each.
By the way, New Delhi airport was an amazingly nice, and very large...just a couple pics
The Silver Lining - the whole reason to go to Nepal was to see the Himalaya's and catch a glimpse of Mt Everest. Earlier that morning the typical fog and low visibility moved into the Kathmandu valley. This chain of events caused all flights in and out of Kathmandu to be delayed by an hour or so. Of course ours was delayed for departure from Delhi as well. This was the greatest thing that could have happened, in addition to not getting on that train the night before. As we approached the Kathmandu Valley the flights were still backed up and we couldn't land. So air traffic control places all planes waiting to land in a holding pattern. Basically we were doing very large circles above the valley and mountain range. Thankfully this holding pattern put us in perfect view of the Himalayan mountain range and Mt. Everest, we did a total of 8 laps in this pattern and got to see the mountains in all their infinite beauty over and over again. It was perfect!! What better view could we have asked for but a front row seat at nearly the same altitude. We were in a pattern at 33,000 ft, Everest peak is at 29,035.
While we are here in Kathmandu, we heard you can get a view of Everest from Nagarkot, so we may take a bus up there one day and try our luck. If its a clear morning we are told it should be visible.
It was time to check our train ticket status before we headed for the station, turns out we were still wait listed. Which in the past mean't nothing for us to worry about, even when we had a high wait list number we always still got our tickets confirmed. We headed for the station anyway since we were at wait list 3, we had full confidence we would get on the train to Gorakhpor. WRONG! for the first time in almost 4 months of travel in India our wait listed status was not converted to a confirmed ticket. At this point we were hustling to figure out a way to upgrade to 1st class or get a different type of ticket. We got the run around from every window agent we spoke to. I was starting to boil over with frustration and Heidi was too. Finally we gave up and walked out to get a rickshaw back to the hotel. Then the rickshaw driver was inquiring about our troubles and offered to go talk to the station inspector/director about helping us. He said we should offer him some "baksheesh" or a bribe to get us a ticket. So we three went back into the station to try it on. No luck, the director wouldn't help us. We were screwed, no ticket to where we needed to go. We both had a bit of a meltdown, we were tired and just wanted to get to Nepal ASAP, and our plans were crushed. On the way back to the hotel I told Heidi there must be a silver lining here somewhere, we just didn't know it yet, and there was, but we'll get to that later.
We started looking into buses, other train schedules, etc, etc. no luck at all. Then as a last resort we checked out flying. No flights from Agra to Kathmandu were available. Only from Delhi to Kathmandu, so we called a taxi and hit the road at midnight for Delhi. The drive took about 3 hrs and cost 3500 Rs, about $70. It was well worth it!!! We got on our flight we booked just a few hours prior and were Nepal-bound. Note: airlines don't jack up rates at all with short notice bookings, our flight was only $87 each.
By the way, New Delhi airport was an amazingly nice, and very large...just a couple pics
Goodbye India - be back someday...
The Silver Lining - the whole reason to go to Nepal was to see the Himalaya's and catch a glimpse of Mt Everest. Earlier that morning the typical fog and low visibility moved into the Kathmandu valley. This chain of events caused all flights in and out of Kathmandu to be delayed by an hour or so. Of course ours was delayed for departure from Delhi as well. This was the greatest thing that could have happened, in addition to not getting on that train the night before. As we approached the Kathmandu Valley the flights were still backed up and we couldn't land. So air traffic control places all planes waiting to land in a holding pattern. Basically we were doing very large circles above the valley and mountain range. Thankfully this holding pattern put us in perfect view of the Himalayan mountain range and Mt. Everest, we did a total of 8 laps in this pattern and got to see the mountains in all their infinite beauty over and over again. It was perfect!! What better view could we have asked for but a front row seat at nearly the same altitude. We were in a pattern at 33,000 ft, Everest peak is at 29,035.
Hello Kathmandu
While we are here in Kathmandu, we heard you can get a view of Everest from Nagarkot, so we may take a bus up there one day and try our luck. If its a clear morning we are told it should be visible.
Pics approaching the range
and Everest...
Someday we will come back to Nepal and see it properly, from base camp :)
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