We made it!

We landed late Thursday night. We booked a hotel close to the airport for one night, so it was easy getting there and crashing for the night.

The time difference from the east coast is 11.5 hours. The flight attendant said India is one of two countries that has a half hour time zone, Venezuela being the other. I wonder if it’s just New Delhi or the entire country in the same time zone. What was the thought process that decided a half hour change was necessary over an established hour.

We got a little sleep on the plane, however, we were still exhausted by the time we got to the hotel. We slept about 10 hours before waking up 8 minutes before check out time. Whoops! We’re now driving to our next hotel in Noida. Well, being driven. Driving in Asian countries is a skill neither Ben nor I care to possess. I do enjoy watching traffic though, it fascinates me. It’s semi organized chaos. It reminds me of Beijing with more motorcycles.

We’re getting a reprieve from the very poor air pollution that’s plagued northern India this fall. It rained yesterday and earlier this week, so 2.5PM levels are only in the poor category. So normal smog-ridden levels. We’re able to walk around without face masks at least. We got to see a little of New Delhi as we headed to Noida.

The hotel we’re staying at in Noida is beautiful. It’s a resort with a golf course. They greeted me by name right out of the car! We assume no other foreigners are checking in today; otherwise, it was an amazing guess. All hotels here have security and screen bags at the door. They check hoods and trunks of cars before letting them on the grounds. Today we’ve just stayed around the hotel. We walked the grounds a little. Not sure what we’ll plan for tomorrow.