Saturday, September 25, 2010

New Delhi International Airport

In the newly opened Delhi International Airport, this large sign is posted on the wall above immigration. Something interesting for you to think about as you wait in line to enter the country. There is tremendous preparations activity in Delhi for the upcoming Commonwealth games. Be forewarned, even if you have an Indian multi-entry or work visa: no one is now allowed to “arrive” in India more than once in a two month period without visiting an Indian embassy in-between arrivals and obtaining a special stamp permit. This process takes a day or so; and could be enjoyable if hours of people-watching in an Indian embassy is considered an entertaining tourist attraction for you.  If you do technically arrive to enter India (to leave the airport) more than once in two months without a special stamp encompassing that particular dated arrival, immigration will put you on the next flight back to wherever you last came from. No leniency. This would apply to circumstances such as using the Delhi airport as a hub for South Asia travel or swinging to Nepal (to visit us!) and then going back to India. I’ve heard stories from those who’ve had travel plans suddenly changed mid-path because of it. Luckily for me, I had a prearranged connecting flight in less than 24hrs and was offered the option to sit in the new airport transit zone area for 18hrs. There is supposed to be free wireless internet – but you have to provide a mobile phone number to access it without explanation as to what will be done with your number. Phone spam is an issue in India. No thanks.  

Water is out

This happens every once in awhile – but today I caught a photo for you. The water pipes leading uphill must have broken again. It is nearing the end of monsoon, and there have been some landslides along the road that curves around the mountainside to reach Anandaban. Some hospital guys took a tank and a small pickup truck to go find water. So, in this pic, you see one of them transferring two buckets of water to my house buckets. Sometimes it takes a few days for the pipes to be repaired.