end of the road

I finished out my trip with dinner at Pete and Solvi's house last evening (Tuesday evening Delhi time).  In case some of you don't know the connection, Pete is the brother of Paula, who is married to my brother Clay.  The evening was very nice, great food (and I didn't have to worry about what might not be safe to eat!) and wonderful company.  We ended up chatting about traveler's tales we've read and other books.  Getting there was a little bit of fun.  The person at the desk at the hotel said they could not call a taxi, so I walked down to the train station and haggled with a guy there.  After we agreed on a price, I asked him if he was going to be my driver.  He looked a bit affronted and told me, "I am the owner".  Then when I saw the car I was going to ride in, I had to laugh.  There were some decent looking cars there, but I got the one held together with baling wire and the slightly surly driver who did not know where he was going but would not take any help from me.  But it all worked out, he got us to the general vicinity and then asked directions a couple of times.  I had an easy ride home, Solvi sent me with her driver.  What a fun way to wind up the trip!  When I got back to my hotel, I went up on the rooftop for a little bit but it was a bit chilly, and there was a faint aroma of....how shall I say this delicately...poop wafting up over the rooftop from below. 

No time at all on my layover in Taipei, our flight was a bit late arriving so I walked from one gate to the other and on to the next plane.  They fed us dinner almost right away, then I took a couple of dramamine and slept about 5 hours.  Then it was time for breakfast! (I'm telling you, the non US airlines feed you pretty well). 

Took forever to get my checked bag full of Indian goodies and then I got out and Clay was there waiting to drive me home.  I'm eating peanut M&M's for dinner as I type this.  I should go to bed but I'm not quite ready for that yet.

I'll post a link on here for the photos in the next couple of days.  Thanks for reading this blog, it's been a blast writing it.