The Morning of Our Return

Arleta and I are packed and ready to check out of our last hotel stay. We are in Delhi.

Last night, Gopal and his niece took us to an amazing Punjab (Gopal's nationality) restaurant. It's appropriate that our last meal was probably our best. Before the meal, however, I went to the "Man's Salon" and got a shave (I've never had anyone shave me before!!), a facial and a full body massage for 550 Rupees (= approx. $15 US). I tipped more than I paid because, hell, I'm leaving and it's good to be generous.

The hotel (Hotel Shiv) is another experience. For about $100 US we stayed in something that we wouldn't pay $20 for at home. Somewhere in the middle of the night I kicked the cord for our electric heater out of the wall and the air conditioning went on. The tricky thing is the switch which provided power for the outlet for the electric heater ALSO provided the power for the air conditioner. Since I didn't know how to turn off the air conditioner, I had to run power to both the air conditioner AND the heater at the same time. I guess this is considered FULL SERVICE??

Anyway, the trip has been amazing, adventurous, full and we owe a lot to Gopal's generous nature - taking care of us, haggling with driver's and merchants, planning our trip, and JUST sharing himself unconditionally.

Namaskar
(Sanskrit for Namaste)

Namaste: The Highest part of ME reaches out to the Highest part of YOU; and we meet in the middle.