Mango Maniac

Yesterday:

Iluka, what do you want for breakfast? Müsli or Marmeladenbrot?
Iluka: Nein, Mango!

Iluka, do you want Pasta or Rice for lunch?
Iluka: Nein, Mango!

Iluka, what do you want to eat for dinner? Chicken or Sausage?
Iluka: Mango!

Luckily, the hotel seems to have run out of Mango for the moment...

Iluka: Like mango juice!

Boozeless in Karnataka

Imagine Matthieu as an involuntary teetotaler. For the past 48hrs the whole town of Chikmagalur and surroundings (including the restaurant, room-service and mini bar of our hotel) is on an alcoholic dry spell. The reason: election time! Come to think of it this actually sounds like an absurdly wise decision - who would have thought. Or maybe it's just a tell-tale sign of how well the government knows its people?

Certainly not Matthieu, who, on his 2nd day without beer is starting to have rings under his eyes and uncontrollable sudden trembles. Just kidding. This might actually be the coffee... Another day to go and hopefully an ice cold Kingfisher will await us in our luxury suite. Prost!

Matthieu: Can you stop with your blog writing and come to bed? I want to watch my movie.

Iluka: Mama! Mama! Komm her!

DELHIrious

What's worse: Spending 3 (yes 3!) frustrating hours online trying to book a plane ticket or spending one hour in congested Delhi traffic to go and pick up said ticket in person from the airline office? No need to take position - I did both and now it's done. So, let's not talk about it anymore.

Here a few thoughts that floated through my head while watching the traffic float by my taxi window.

Thought: Finally understood the meaning of 'stifling heat' - or is 'oppressing' a better word? Dead air? Blow drier?

Matthieu: Bla, bla , bla...

True or false: If it wasn't for the trees and parks, there would be no oxygen in Delhi.

Thought: Should I have booked an air-con taxi instead?

Fact: Out of here tomorrow - we are heading to Bangalore and from there to Chikmagalur for some relaxing, splurging and Indian coffee tasting.

Matthieu: Yeah, well. You enjoy, while I work!

That's the plan my dear.

Iluka: Oh, airplane. Yes! Tshadshikistan!

Old habits die hard

Biding our Time

At 45ºC in the sun, the usual insane Delhi traffic mix of honking cars, rickshaws, cows and begging children it's kinda hard to come up with things to do with a 2-year old. But whatever we do end up doing, whether it's hanging out in the blazing heat for 30min in front of the Tajik embassy or going for a nightfall rickshaw excursion to the local sabzi mandi (vegetable market), Iluka's eyes take it all in with amazement.

Iluka: There are a lot of Bagger (= digger) in the street...I wish we could stop more often to have a look. Mama and Papa seem to obsess about holding hands (which is annoying when I want to carry my rubber ball, the little truck I stole from Diran's room and still keep my thumb in my mouth and my finger in my nose... oh, look at this little piece of shiny candy paper in a puddle...wait, there is ice cream... little Indian boy... I need water!)

As for Dubai... after a gazillion e-mails and phonecalls, still no luck in securing a plane ticket from Dubai to Dushanbe. The excitement continues!

Oh, and while reseaching yet another lead on Tajik Airline, I came across this eye-opening blog entry from a fellow adventurer. Sounds promising...

Made it to Delhi, but now...?

Admittingly, we've been here in Delhi now for a few days. One might think that this should have given us enough time to organize ourselves. Well, getting to Tajikistan is not that easy!
After one short attempt from our travel agent in Hong Kong (proposed route: Delhi - Moscow - St. Petersburg - Dushanbe - Urumchi - Guangzou - Hong Kong), we quickly decided to leave the route planning (Delhi - Dushanbe) to our very talented special travel agent Matthieu himself.

Matthieu: Did you mention that we only came to Delhi in the first place, because there was a Delhi-Dushanbe flight? That we found out it got cancelled 24 hours before we left Hong Kong...?

So, since we arrived at our dear friend Simone's place on the 16th, we've been pouring over Russian aviation websites of airlines unknown to even the most astute Indian travel agent. Exploring every possible option, we, at some point or the other, were ready to pretty much cover all the 'stans' (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) or to fly 4500km west to Istanbul to then get a connecting flight back to Tajikistan (some 1000km north of here!). In our desperation we even considered spending a night in Kabul and a flight with (by local Afghanis highly UNrecommended) Ariana Airline.

But yesterday the search finally produced a possible solution. For the moment everything seems right: price, flight and connection times, airline safety... Dubai here we come! Let's call it the Triple D solution.



Oh, and to put some timeline to all this - we'll be in Delhi until the 28th of April, then fly down South to Karnataka for a week. Return to Delhi on May 3rd and then the big trip (die Große Reise) will finally begin.

Iluka: Delhi is very hot, but there is no Kranz' (Strand = beach) here anywhere... Mama and Papa are getting a bit too obsessed with this whole thumbsucking business - apparently it's 'DIRTY' here. There is a park with lots of squirrels and butterflies and a rusty old swing. My new friend Diran has so many toys that I guess it's ok to stay in the house. In the evenings we go and get ice cream. Yum!