Haridwar, 7^th December 2016

Click here for latest Google Earth track and photos

This morning I had an omelette, toast and tea delivered to my room as a wake-up call. I didn't ask for a call or breakfast but this is India after all.

When I checked out, the hotel phoned for a taxi to take me to the airport but they said sorry but there was nothing available. So I went out into the street and selected one of the five million or so taxis cruising past that were not quite so busy.

The departure area in the airport was really crowded. After an hour I managed to get a seat where I could see both the advertised gate and the information screen. Both of which I watched like a hawk anticipating problems. I could have been in the business lounge but I thought being closer to the gate would be safer. On the information board there was just "Delayed", an increasing ETD and a gate number. Then almost two hours after the original departure time the "Delayed" flipped to "Departed". Oh oh!

Another flight, same airline, same destination, was boarding just then. I spoke to the check-in guy and he said "It's the same flight, go, go". He scanned my ticket and I was on the shuttle bus to the plane. As I was just about to actually step on to the plane, I thought this can't be right. What's my seat number? So I asked. It turned out my original plane had left from some other gate without them ever feeling the need to update their information and now this plane was completely full. My first hissy fit of the day was under the belly of a plane on the tarmac at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

I got a new ticket for a later flight. Went through the intimidating but useless security process one more time and went to the business lounge for a curry and a beer.

When I arrived at Dehadrun airport I knew I had no onward transport and I needed to go some distance to Haridwar. I had tried to rent a car by email several times but got no sensible replies. There was no car rental desk so I got a taxi using up a lot of my now precious rupees. The drive was hellish with bikes, trucks, cars and tuk-tuk's all screaming along nose-to-tail at maximum speed and jostling for overtaking space on rough roads through dusty mountain villages. I was very very glad not to be driving myself. Even my driver, who seemed to be able to squeeze though any gap, had to stop about a quarter of a mile from my hotel as the streets became narrower than the car. I had to take to a cycle-rickshaw for the final leg. From what I could see in the dark the town of Haridwar was the usual ramshackle mess but the Haveli Hari Ganga hotel turned out to be really nice. There was a sitar player in the lobby and they gave me some Hindu beads and some hot welcome soup.

The Ganges runs down one edge of the building. At this point the river is very fast flowing and about 100 metres wide.

I had something off a leaf plate and a nice thali in the restaurant for dinner but without any meat or alcohol. Can't get that stuff here at all. I'll survive.

M