Tuesday, January 12th, 2016
There’s nothing like getting Delhi Belly right before a 12-hour drive! We were both feeling it, so we popped some Imodium pills, then met the others in the truck. I was so tired, my eyes felt like they were on fire, so I attempted to nap during the drive.
After making it through a traffic jam caused by a nasty looking truck accident, we passed by many industrial parks including the Nissin “Cup o’ Noodles” factory, Harley Davidson, and Honda’s Hero Bike factory. Carmel accessed the Alabama-Clemson college football score for Trevor right as we stopped for lunch halfway to our destination. Trevor was ecstatic to hear Alabama won the championship game.
We ate at the “Khana Khajana Restaurant and Sweet Corner” right outside of New Delhi. Trevor ate two samosas and one pyaz kachori; an onion-stuffed fried pastry. I could only finish one of my two pyaz kachori’s and ordered a sweet lassi to help with the heat.
The restaurant owners were quite the swindlers. Trevor gave them 100 rupees for his 65 rupee order. He received a 30 rupee and a mini “5-Star” chocolate bar in return for change. They claimed the 5 in the “5-Star” made up for the 5 rupees he should have gotten. To avoid getting the run around from them with my order. I gave them exact change of 30 rupees. He insisted I owed them 40 rupees instead, but I pointed at the price on the menu. He shot me a grin and a head wobble as he started backpedaling to the kitchen. India is a funny place.
As we made our way to Bikaner, we traveled along one of the most narrow paved roads I’ve ever seen and made a tight squeeze through a very busy street full of temples and beautifully painted buildings.
The scenery was getting sandy as we approached a railroad crossing. As we waited, a group of young boys approached our windows begging for money while holding baskets displaying snakes and rupees. One of them was quite chubby and kept asking for chocolates. Nick handed him a hard boiled egg. Trevor passed over his 5-Star chocolate bar.
Eventually we arrived at the Harasar Haveli Hotel. Trevor was bummed out that the WiFi wasn’t working too well. He anticipated gloating about Alabama’s championship win. We sat down to eat a buffet-style dinner and one of the new members of the crew Sian, questioned Trevor’s favorite team’s name.
“Your favorite team is the Alabama Crimson Tide? Isn’t that terminology for women’s periods?”
This had all of us laughing; all of us except Trevor, of course. We enjoyed some live music after dinner and Gulab Jamun (kinda like a round, donut hole covered in syrup), for dessert.
Jump Back to Part 18: Farewells & Shopping with the Swear Jar
Jump Ahead to Part 20: Rat Temple, Pizza & Magic Bedsheets
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Start from the Beginning at Part 1: Don’t Forget to Pack Your Anxiety
Stubbs Rambles On 