Today we shopped in Delhi, then took a flight to Ahmedabad.
Our first stop shopping was at a cottage industries shop. It’s enormous. Leena and I head downstairs to look at rugs. They’re beautiful. We look at dozens and narrow it down. We have tea while we shop. We zero in on some 6’x9′ rugs. The price starts at $1650. We decide early on that we won’t buy today since we’ll be back in Delhi for a day and a half at the end of the trip. This gives us a starting point for selection and price. We’ll be shopping in Ahmedabad and Mumbai as well.
All I can say is that patience is valuable. By the time we leave 90 minutes later, the price is $800. We promise to return. They promise that we won’t get that price again. We’ll see.
We head to Connaught Circle for more shopping. We need a bathroom, so we head into a Pizza Hut (regarded as an upscale eatery here!). We can’t resist; we have some pizza for lunch. Then we head into a pedestrian mall that’s packed with people between two rows of stalls. It’s like Saturday Market in Portland. Leena and Ami buy skirts, bartering to half price. Niraj and I get beach shirts, also around half price.
I’m a target for touts. They’re taught me how to say “No, I don’t want any” in Hindi. The Hindi works better. Why? Well for one thing, it makes it seem like I’ve been around the block here, so I’m not as easy a target as I appear.
“Nahi, chahiye.”
We head back to the guest house, have a snack (we’re always eating here), and pack. We tip the help and head for the domestic airport. It’s about the same as a US flight, but there are a few differences.
You have to have a ticket to enter. They they X-ray all of your bags – including those you will check. Then you check in at a counter to check bags and get boarding passes. Next is security – metal detector and a pat down.
There are only five gates; the doors are about 10 meters apart. Our flight is called, our boarding passes are checked, and we step outside. We’re directed to a bus to our flight. Once it’s full we drive out to our plane – it’s perhaps 1/2 km. The sun is setting; I wish I’d snapped a picture.
Boarding passes are checked again at the base of the stairs and we pile on. They have never checked for ID! Three or four busloads eventually board. It’s 90 minutes to Ahmedabad.
We collect bags and meet Jayesh and Kopesh, cousins or Niraj and Leena, at the curb. Niraj forgets his jacket on the plane. It’s retrieved – his plane tickets were in it! – and we drive 30 minutes to Jayesh’s. We meet more family, have another meal (our fifth of the day), and turn in around 11.