TVC (definitely NOT the TVG) (Dec 16 - 17)

The last day (Friday) I was not feeling well and opted to stay in bed. Brad attended the teachings in the morning. The afternoon was a question and answer session for the Korean and Japanese students only. Brad said the Dalai spoke of altruism, wisdom and compassion. In the end, we did not find answers to the "Great Questions", just more questions. Somehow that's ok... since life lives in the questions.

We checked out of the Hotel Tibet and left our bags with reception. Our bus leaves at 6 pm so we've got plenty of time to grab a bite to eat and have a last walk around.

We walked down past the taxi stand with our bags (which seem to have been reproducing over the last 2 months as we now have an additional bag we didn't start out with!) There was a long line of buses and taxis and there were plenty of people everywhere. It seemed like the whole village was leaving tonight, all at the same time! We checked the bus number on our ticket and located, what we figured was our bus. There was an official looking gentleman standing at the back where they were loading the bags and he confirmed for us, this was the bus! We loaded our bags in and climbed aboard. This was, by far, the most luxurious bus we'd been on while in India! The seats were nice bucket style and leaned back, there were individual lights and even a sound system. This was going to be great (or so we thought). We found our seats and settled in. The bus ride to Delhi is 12 hours.

The bus filled up quite quickly and we seemed to be the only non-Tibetans on board. There was a great deal of commotion and loading and crashing about while they all climbed on board. The official looking man was on board arguing with a Tibetan man and woman. We're not sure what they heck was going on but it seemed that they had more people than seats purchased. I guess they figured they didn't have to buy seats for the 3 kids? Who knows! Eventually it seemed that it got resolved because everyone was sitting and we started moving.

The shocks on this bus are outstanding! The ride is so smooth, even on the crazy, pothole infested, windy mountain roads. Of course, my thinking that this ride was going to be smooth sailing was quickly dashed. The Tibetans are the most hardy people you could imagine. They walked across mountain ranges for days to escape Tibet carrying everything they owned and braving harsh conditions... but don't ask them to take a 12 hour bus ride. Apparently, motion sickness is not something that toughness can make you immune to.

There were 35 or so Tibetans on our bus.

We were the only ones who were not sick.

Shortly after we departed, I started to notice some noise and activity going on. People were throwing up out the windows... into plastic bags... into plastic containers... pretty much every single person on the bus was vomiting, except us. It got so bad that I had to grab my headphones, turn up the music really loud and open the window for fresh air (but not too much... you didn't want any backsplash!) We were riding the TVC (Tibetan Vomit Comet).

We stopped at a roadside rest area and I looked at my watch. It was only 9:30!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! It had to have been longer than 3 hours! We still had another 9 hours to go - if I only had gravol, I would have passed it out in spades.

You had to feel bad for them really. They looked like they wished they were dead. All we had to contend with was some discomfort, they were feeling awful. At one rest stop later in the evening, one of the bus attendants tried to wash down the sides of the bus (the bus had started out white). It was pretty bad.

Eventually, we all got some sleep. The bus dropped all the Tibetans just on the outskirts of Delhi at the Tibetan settlement and we were alone. We continued on into Delhi and, after 65 days, even with all that crazy traffic, we saw our very first fender bender. There were a couple of cars in an intersection as we were on our way to Connaught Place in the centre of Delhi. This is where we got off. After that, It was a short rickshaw drive to the Hyatt.

Yep, for our last night in India we're going big time and staying at the Hyatt (thanks to Boe!) The rickshaw dropped us on the road out front and we had to walk up the driveway (only cabs and limos are allowed through the gate.) It was everything you could imagine a Hyatt to be. Everyone welcomes you and wishes you a good morning. Everyone is efficient and friendly.

It's only 6:30 am and we can't get early check in until 8 am so we check our bags and head to the cafe to relax. It's quite stunning, done in white marble with a waterfall. Marble, again, seems really in abundance!

Once we check in we are in total heaven!! The bed... the bed!! It's so, so soft... and fluffy, the pillows are like giant marshmallows... the shower is hot and steamy... this place is amazing!

We took showers and took a much needed nap!