Jet Setting
Between the first week of May and the first week of June I did the most travelling I’ve done in my life. Sadly none of it was for pleasure, though they all had their moments. During this period between May 9th and June 7th, I set foot in 5 countries, 7 airports and spent 47 hours in the air. I traveled a distance of 37690km, and my average speed for the entire month was 56km/h. I was effectively breaking the Colombo speed limit as I slept. And thank heavens it’s over. Most ppl i speak to think it’s glamourous and exciting to travel for work, but it really isn’t unless you’re very lucky. Late last year I was very lucky bc I had to go to Delhi and present a paper at a conference where I didn’t have to be present at any other sessions, so I had a free hand to do whatever i wanted over the other 2 days. But that’s a very rare gem, most of the time there’s no chance to breathe between work, formal receptions and mandatory sleep. This was pretty much the case for the 4 trips last month, but somehow I managed to squeeze in some amusement for each of them. But as I said, i’m glad it’s over. It’s an extremely tiring process, particularly hanging around in airports, lugging bags back and forth, living out of a suitcase, jet lag and the lack of time between trips. I miss my dog a hell of a lot, I miss home cooked food and annoyingly I had to work on every weekend of May, missing two trips in SL with friends. A few snippets from the different journeys will follow.
Delhi - I touched on Delhi in a previous post about the civil service. There really was very little free time in Delhi, there were 2 days worth of discussions and dinner reception on the first night, leaving the 2nd evening off to explore. I was really tired by then, and since I had already done Delhi before I had half a mind to just kick back and chill for the 4 hours before going to the airport. But thankfully common sense prevailed and I flicked through the Delhi pages of my Lonely Planet and discovered that Humayun’s Tomb was close by and I hadn’t seen it last time. I got into a pair of shorts and T shirt and stepped into the dry heat of Delhi, side stepped a couple of cabbies who tried to convince me to go shopping to Connaught Square instead. “Tomb? what tomb, only dead people. Come I take shopping, handicrafts, spices, saris for your girl, come come, only Rs. 100.” I smiled and walked away as he clicked his tongue in annoyance. If ever possible I prefer to walk to my destinations when i’m exploring another city, there’s no better way to experience a place. The half hour walk took me past a few street cricket games, some slums, a drain that was particularly harsh on the olfactory system and some pleasantly wooded government buildings. Humayun’s Tomb is one of the first major pieces of Moghul architecture in the city, and I read that the Taj Mahal would later be modelled on this. It’s a stunning complex, the main building is breathtaking with its perfect symmetry, and typical moghul domes and curves. I walked around the gardens, trying to imagine what it would have looked like when it was abuzz with action, servants running back and forth, guards and messengers on horseback, and royalty living off the luxury. A peacock’s cry helped my imagination take flight. Besides Humayun’s tomb, the tomb of his wife, Haji Begum, who had Humayun’s tomb built by a Persian architect, is also within the same complex.
The tomb closes to visitors at sundown so I headed back to the hotel where I was due to meet a Bhutanese participant for dinner. We ate at a Thai restaurant, and the coconut milk based hot and sour soup was the best Thai food i’ve ever had. Fresh kaffir lime leaves, lemmon grass, corriander and juicy prawns. I can’t think of too many better combinations. The Bhutanese guy was interesting, a trade negotiator by profession, he was on his way to Mongolia to meet some negotiators over there who had been arrested for making a mess of Mongolian negotiations in a bilateral agreement. I’m going to try and stay in touch with him bc it’s notoriously difficult to travel to Bhutan, and he would be a useful contact to facilitate things. There was a short, sharp shower just before I left for the airport, and it was sharp enough to submerge a couple of roads leading to the airport. My transport was a smallish Maruti, and while cars and jeeps took the more circuitous route to avoid the water, my guy decided to take the partially submerged road and avoid the traffic. The water level looked ominous, and just ahead a van had stalled and its driver was on the road, sarong hitched up, trying to coax it back to life. A little way ahead a couple of cars had given up the ghost too. I was nervous, I wasn’t wearing socks, I decided then that if he gets stuck it’s his problem, I’m not stepping out of the vehicle. By some miracle we ploughed through the flood, not before raising my blood pressure to more than a healthy level, and got to the airport. One down, three to go.
