June 2nd was the day of our train to New Delhi, so we boarded a bus to Siliguri. While driving out of the Himalayas along a river we saw lots monkey families on the road, as we had seen during previous trips. In a way I was glad to leave the area for sunnier ones, because we did have mostly cloudy or rainy days. But then again I was reluctantly leaving the cool temperatures and as soon as we hit the plains the heat of summer in India engulfed me once again. We had too much luggage to carry it all by ourselves so at the station we got help from a coolie who must have balanced at least a 50 kg. on his head�He could easily have gotten a job at the circus! We had to wait quite a few hours, but finally the Radjhani Express from Assam to Delhi arrived, stopping for only a few minutes, enough for us to board. We got a compartment with 3 other foreigners and settled in for a 20-hour trip. This train was all air-conditioned and our meals, tea and snacks were included in the fare, so meant for the more upscale traveler. I felt quite comfortable with our fellow passengers and ended up having some animated discussions with them. And so the time flew by. We arrived the next morning at New Delhi station and were hit again by the heat AND the large crowds. With the help of a coolie (they flood the coach before it even comes to a halt) we got to the taxi stand and Papa managed to negotiate a reasonable fare by auto-rickshaw to the YMCA. Boy was it hot!! Driving through town like that it felt more like being inside a hairdryer� OK, it was dry heat, but still, 45 C was not easy for me.
The YM turned out to be too expensive so we headed to the nearby YWCA. There we got a basic a/c room for US$ 26, incl. breakfast (still not cheap�). We ended up staying in Delhi for a few days and the heat didn�t relent: the following days were between 46 and 48 C!! In all fairness I just couldn�t stay outside for more than an hour at the most. So my days were spent between the room and the attached modern restaurant called �Ten�. An appropriate name as this place was truly fantastic. (this actually turned out to be practically the only restaurant we ate at in New Delhi}. The menu was somewhat limited but with Indian, Mexican, Greek and western dishes but everything the cook made was delicious. All for just $ 2-4 per dish (very inexpensive�). Mommy went on a couple of errands to get her films processed and Papa went to get train tickets at the station. Laundry was easy as it dried on our balcony in only 1 or 2 hours. Oh, and I got an ice cream cone at Nirula�s.
