Late update!

Well thursday morning Raju and his beautiful wife picked us up at the hotel in at about 11:30, they were so apologetic for being late due to such awful traffic. We had reasurred them that we figured out very early that '10 minute drive' was somewhere between 5 minutes and an hour and a half depending on cows, accidents and general confusion! They brought both me and Doug a bouquet of flowers as welcome! My heart melted...how sweet! So we loaded up and off to shop! We hit about 4 stores and then off to a small restaurant for lunch. We barely eat here in India with the heat and our excitement being here, we find we don't have much of an appitite so they kept feeding us figuring that due to our size we MUST be able to eat more! LOL Raju made sure it was a clean and safe hygene place and the food was wonderful! water puri, papdi chaat, aloo tikka and something at was like a baseball sized crunchy filled with curd, potato, chickpea and lots of other crunchy and creamy goodness! So after waddling out of there we hit more shopping. Shoes in my size that I like are hard to come by. If your a medium to bigger girl, shopping will be a chore and expect alot of dissappointment in outfits and shoes!!! I'm only a size 9 but if your a 10 or 9 1/2, don't get your heart TOO set on that awsome pair of heals!!!

I did pick up next year Karwa Chouth saree! It's a stunner!!! Can't wait to wear it! So afer all that they kept telling us "let's keep going!" but I could tell that Mrs. Nagpal was fading fast. "No NO! We are here for you and time is too short! Don't worry, we are fine" Riiiighhhht. So we resorted to telling them we were tired and needed to leave. They knew we were full of daisy fertilizer, but it was a good face save for all of us. Well their home in Gurgoan was HUGE, lots of marble and probably the worlds fastest houseboy! Grandma and his son were jems! So we were fed some nice chai and more snacks of fresh paneer with chaat masala and corriander and almonds and cashews. Didn't need or want any of the food, but it was too good to resist! The boys retired to the other room for scotch and conversation. So at about 9:30 it was announce that they were taking us out for dinner! (DINNER?!?!) So I freshened up and off we went to a cozy little place where we had about 5 waiters watching us like hawks, serving our plates and anitipating every need. Not sure how that was....felt like royalty but it was a bit unnerving... Didn't have the heart to say "Hey dude, relax...I'm just a nobody!" Butter chicken, crispy butter naan, and the best dal we've had so far!! NOW I am really almost exploding. BUT it's time for the best kulfi! Now normally this is a BAD idea if your from the west and haven't been 'Indianized' yet, but he knew our weakness and assured us that this would be great and safe! It was and it was!! It was like burfi on a stick and when I told them so they howled with laughter as it *IS* like cold burfi on a stick, but this had never occured to them. Glad I could make them smile!! So off to home and off to bed....NOPE! Time for fireworks!! Awsome! Got a couple of nice ones on video! NOW it is time for bed after a bath.....cold bucket Indian style! Brisk and refereshing experience! My do that at home actually...but think I'll stick to warm water thank you! Tough changing clothes tho....always on the lookout as that houseboy is like a ghost! He's apparently the only servant in the house till sunday as it is a holiday for the other staff. (Other staff?!?!)

Next morning the sneezing and sniffling started....Uh oh. Hopefully it's just the pollution. The Diwalli pollution in Delhi this year was pretty harsh. And it's still hanging in the sky and every nite fireworks are STILL going off. Not helping! Don't ask me the gory detailes about nose blowing. After a huge and hearty breakfast it's off to see Raju's plastics factory. He makes the polio droppers for Unicef. At least right now...they do just about everything plastic as the order comes in. WONDERFUL people work there....all like family. Bit more shopping for a nice new pooja tray, stop off for an eyebrow threading and back for lunch of granny's awsome rajma! MORE food...geeze! We didn't eat this much all last week! I had to have some even though food was dead last on my list of want's but had to try it. It was heaven, but I think grandma didn't think I liked it cause I ate so little.. Kept trying to tell her it was awsome but I think she may have been a bit dissappointed. I hugged her lots to make up for it!

Off to the airport. Delayed....delayed...delayed....FINALLY on the plane. Hour past due and now I'm feeling pretty sick. Met a wonderful couple with an NGO that were living in Mumbai for two years with thier ....wait for it.....***5*** boys! Gotta say, she looked awsome for 5 kids! And we chatted pros and cons. I was so sniffly on the plane and asked forextra napkins, then more and when the stewardess figured out what it was for, she gave us a whole handful and when we disembarked said that she hoped I'd feel better. Very nice gal. So the nice couple who was waiting for thier bags I asked if there was a place I could get western medicine and she said that alot of the 5 star places had them, will be be costly...she asked if her driver could get a cab for us. Awsome! Thanks! 200 rps is what we paid to get there when leaving and that is what we wanted to pay to get back. The driver found us a cab but when the cab guy saw us he upped it to 500 rupees. No way but thanks so much for trying!!!!!! We went back to the queue. We told them 200 rupees or we'll just wait. finally one guys said ok. We loaded up then the guy who flagged him down wanted a tip. Fine...10 rupees...his buddy sticks his head in...there were two of us maam...more money! Please for two! Nope.....thanks. Off we go. Back at the hotel we aske about a chemist and head down the street. sewer pipe burst...ugg...I'm sick and it's stinky. My worst day in India by far. But luckily the chemist is close and cheap. Get my meds and back to the hotel.

Yesterday spent sleeping, sniffling, blowing and coughing. We take one meal at 11am. Fade in and out watching tv.

Today have overpriced but good breakfast at the hotel! MUCH better morning and looking forward to chaat in the afternoon at our favorite dhaba. G0nna REALLY miss that place alot!
Off to the internet cafe to tell all those I love about our days! XXXOOO to everyone and as much as we adore India, we are missing your lovely smiling faces! See you soon!!!