So, half way through writing this blog, there was a power cut (an hourly occurence in our hotel in Agra, during which time the fans stop, the air-conditioning ceases, and we slowly start to suffocate in the humid heat) In this last case, my entire blog was lost as the computers shut down. So, I'll try again... Last week, I rather flippantly told concerned family and friends "of course I'll get sick, because, like, it's India, but with any luck it's not going to be anything worse than, you know, Delhi-belly..." Anything WORSE than Delhi-belly?? What would that be, exactly?? Having spent two whole days lying in bed, trying not to move as any movement hurts my digestive system beyond belief, I'm finally feeling better, not great, but better. Poor Jason has had to put up with my moaning and crying, and, at some points during yesterday evening, my unfounded assertions that I was, in fact, going to die. Lying awake during the night, I tried to map out in my head the easiest way to get to an international hospital, and, waking Jason to confer on several points, tried to plan out the logistics of getting a sick person on an international flight home. However, this evening I am feeling better, and no longer hampered by delusions of impending death, am looking forward to going to the Taj Mahal tomorrow morning. We managed to get ourselves up early this morning (very early - 4:30am) and were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves on our 6:15am train as it departed New Delhi on time. If only the two of us had been feeling better, we would have greatly enjoyed the ride and the free food that was served as matter of course. Within half an hour of leaving Delhi every person on the train was given a bottle of icy-cold water (the only part of the complimentary food and drink Jason and I let ourselves enjoy) followed by several different types of tea and biscuits, and a personal kettle of hot water to make your own tea. This was accompanied by free newspapers, and followed by a meal (of aeroplane quality, but a meal all the same) and more tea. If only we had been able to eat anything!! Still, knowing that this is in store on the train, we're looking forward to our trips in the future once we have recovered! Once we arrived at our hotel, we crept upstairs and napped, awaking only to find the room was full of mosquitoes and that I had been bitten (so now I'm looking forward to malaria... or worse, japanese encephalitus, though common sense dictates that this is almost an impossibility as we're not in the right region for either disease. I think it's impossible to be in India, and be surrounded by so many hideous diseases without turning into a hypochondriac) Luckily, we brought a mosquito net with us, and have now put it up and coated ourselves in bug spray. Hopefully it'll do the job. So, with a digestive system newly aclimated to new bacteria, and a firm belief that this too shall pass (sooner or later), we shall journey onwards, further into this new continent that we've barely begun to explore.
India's Flag
Map of India