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Goodbye India!
I slept in as late as possible to take full advantage of my time left in the comfort of the Te hotel and had another great breakfast after which I made my plans for the day which basically included buying some deodorant and finding something to do to pass the time before I had to head to the airport around 6pm. I asked a really friendly guy at reception where the best place was to make my purchase and he told me to take a rickshaw to the "N block market" and also for some reason pulled his own deodorant can out from under the desk and made me smell it, I didn't know what to say really but nodded and said thank you. So after I had checked out and my luggage was taken care of in a safe place to pick up later I went and found a rickshaw just round the corner and asked to be taken to the place the man at reception mentioned. I arrived at a small courtyard with lots of up market boutiques selling sarees, traditional wedding attire and home furnishings but it took me a while to find a small chemist tucked away at the side. I aske for deodorant (and mimed spraying my under arms!) and he brought down several dusty cans of deodorant of which there was only one of each kind and it all looked a bit dodgy at first but nonetheless they were all geniun and full as I found out while trying them all individually, I ended up buying a can of garner deodorant in the end which Id never seen before and had to haggle the price down even though it was written on it, but I had spent 2 weeks in India so my bargaining skills are up to scratch, success! I then saw a shop called 'Fab India' which was highly recommend by guides as a good one stop shop for gifts from all over India at reasonable hassle free fixed prices, I popped in and ended up spending ages browsing and got carried away upstairs in the changing rooms having fun trying on different traditional Indian clothing! I then went back downstairs and went a little wild buying spices, teas and so on not knowing how the hell I'd manage to bring it all with me. I then tried to go in search of a courier to see what the possibilities where if any to send the stuff either to my family or to my sister on OZ but after trawling through little dirty backstreets and asking for directions I found a place which quoted me a price which was about 5 times as much as I had paid for my shopping so no deal. I then headed back to Nehru Place to the market and found a DHL but they were the same but these places only did express air delivery not a slower cheaper service.
I gave up and went back to the hotel and managed to squeeze buy shopping into my hand luggage. Then I used the wifi to look up the cinema times round the corner and decided to go see a film to use up some time till airport time, I went across to the cinema, which has very tight security and metal detectors by the way, and bought a ticket for the film 'Priest' which was being shown in english. I also bought a drink and some food which there was a great selection of including sandwiches, wraps and it would almost have been possible to combine dinner and cinema in one in India, would make for a very short date though!
The film was avergage at best but vampires are always entertaining to me (unless it's based around some soppy romance story, yes Twighlight Saga, you!) It was however perfect timing as I just had to go back to the hotel, get my bags and sort out transport to the airport which again wasn't as easy as it sounds, I wanted the cheapest method possible which was rickshaw because I didn't want to withdraw anymore Indian rupees as I was leaving the country. The doorman stood out on the road for me trying to flag down an empty rickshaw of which there was none but he managed to get a taxi but he wanted about 500 Rs and I only had 200 max in mind for the journey but then a fleet of vacant rickshaws drove past and we waived to get one to stop which they all did and then we were surrounded by 4 vehicles trying to haggle and bargain for a good price, I finally got one for 200 but to the free shuttle bus stop to the airport which was good enough for me. A 20 minute drive, I started to feel a little sad to be leaving India behind but super excited about the times ahead. I then caught the shuttle bus right to terminal 3 and only had 30 minutes to check in for my AirAsia flight to Bagkok but my luggage was slightly over so I had to move some things around until I was just under the limit and by that time check in was open, bag sent through, boarding pass in hand and through security to departures where I took advantage of duty free ciggies (200 for $17!) and waited around for my flight. It felt like I had ages to wait till my 23:10 flight but it passed so fast (I also had a wee skype call to my padre) and I was the second person to board the plane and be greeted by the Thai air staff. The plane, I felt was a little like the asian version of easyjet with not much room and no tvs etc but was only a 4 and a bit hour flight over night and I needed to try and get some sleep anyway. Shortly after take-off I was served my pre-booked meal and comfort kit (blanket, eye mask and blow up cushion) which I had ordered online and I dosed off to sleep.
India was everything everyone said it would be and more, I wouldn't regret a second of it, it was all such a great experience and I feel so lucky to have been able to be there, see it, smell it, taste it and live it. Thank you India, you were indeed incredible!
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