Leaving Kathmandu

On Monday July 27th, I left Kathmandu, going back to Delhi (This blog is not in real time - yet). Until then, the monsoon rains had been scarce, limited to a few showers now and then. Waking up on Monday, it rained. Seriously. As most of the roads in Kathmandu are comparable only to the dirt road leading up to our cabin in the mountains back home (before they improved it), I figured it was a good idea to allow plenty of time to get to the airport. But my taxidriver knew what he was doing, and we got there without major difficulties. And then the queuing began. For three hours straigh, I waited in approximately ten different lines: To enter the terminal building, to have all of my luggage checked (twice), to enter the inner part of the terminal building, to check in my luggage, to have my hand luggage checked (thrice), to hand in a health certificate, to have my passport stamped, and so on. The woman didn't even look at my health certificate, although it stated that yes, I'd had both a fever and a cough during the last week. Who cares about H1N1? I guess the queuing was the main point.

During these hours, my only respite was observing a group of about 70 Korean teenagers, wearing similar pink t-shirts, who milled about and were way more confused than I was. The flight was quite turbulent because of the bad weather, and when I landed in Delhi, it was 34 degrees and raining. Still, the efficiency and the clean and neat interiors of Indira Gandhi Int. Airport made me feel like coming back to civilization. In the evening the rainfall got heavier, and I had fun wading in the street with water above my ancles from the flat in Nizamuddin to the corner dhaba to get some dinner. The day after, newspapers reported that in addition to the floodings in Delhi, stalling all traffic for more than 24 hrs in some areas, the situation had been bad at the airport. Many flights had been redirected as they could only keep one runway open. Water had also leaked into the arrival hall, reaching the level of the luggage conveyor belt (that's knee high!), leaving passengers to wade around with their belongings. In addition, the jams in the city led to a shortage of taxis at the airport, and there's really no other way to get to the city from there, so people were stuck for hours. Ah, Delhi... But my own timing was impeccable, this time.