We did NOT do well.
Alright folks buckle up because this one will be a doozy. I’ve got quite the line up for y’all as I walk you through our last few days in Delhi.
And, now don’t cry here, but this will be the last of our series in India for this time around.
But don’t fret! While I’ve been doing my actual job, I’ve also been doing some thinking about next steps.
So stay tuned. And. Subscribe.
Right-y-o!
Delhi part two.
We’re on our way back from Jaipur, along the (sincerely) fantastic highway roads. That’s another new thing – it’s like the US, the gas stops and gas stations are FANTASTIC.
Coffee shops, grocery stores, snacks a-plenty, my goodness. It was fantastic. I love gas station coffee. And that’s not even sarcasm, I mean it.
Ok I’m procrastinating because what I’m about to write next isn’t terribly pleasant.
So we get back to Delhi, its around 2pm, which of course means its lunch time.
Jean and I decided to order room service.
It was the last time Jean and I decided to order room service.
We ordered a sandwich with chutney.
It was the last time we ordered that sandwich with chutney.
…
Ok so here’s what happened. Around dinner time, Jean says “I’m not feeling great, I’m going to the room.”
I go back up to the room after a bit, with a general feeling of “meh” in my stomach.
It’s at that point that Jean makes a beeline for the washroom, expelling everything he had eaten in more than 24 hours.
I was a bit delusional and thought I was fine.
Nope.
About 30 minutes later, I made a beeline for the washroom, expelling everything I had eaten in more than 24 hours.
I’m going to spare you from the gory details, but essentially: Jean and I alternated using the bathroom to make ourselves feel better.
Yeah it was awful. For literally the entire night we vomited. We quite literally did not sleep at all.
It got so bad we had to call a doctor. This was the conversation we had with him:
Doctor: so whats happening?
Me: Yeah it’s been nonstop for the last 10 hours, and we can’t keep anything, not even water down
Doctor: you need to go to the hospital
Me: I’m not going to the hospital
Doctor: uh. Yes, you are – you are severely dehydrated and need an IV drip
Me: uh. No, I’m not going
Doctor: fine, take these 20000000 pills and if you’re not better in 4 hours, you’re going to the hospital
Ok so basically I think (heavy on the think) that this was the conversation, but I can’t be sure. I was essentially unconscious.
And we did indeed take the 2000000 pills, which consisted of: anti-vomit, anti-diarrhea, anti-nausea, electrolytes, probiotics, prebiotics and “an emergency pill that should help”.
We passed the F out after that.
And then we felt better!
That evening we called for (literally) plain toast and butter. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more confused face than the woman who brought us the bread.
It took us more than 48 hours to fully recover.
In parallel, Jeans parents we’re absolutely fine. They felt great. We had sent them to visit the Red Fort, a 17th-century Mughal citadel built by Emperor Shah Jahan, and Humayuns tomb (I’ll get to that in a bit).They also went on a day-trip to the Taj Mahal with an exceptional guide*.
*Not me – I wasn’t the guide. I was dying in bed.
Finally, a full 3 days later, when we felt better, we decided we could venture out into the open. Jean and I decided to:
- Visit Humayuns Tomb
- Go to the mall for AC and refuge
- Go back to bed and sleep
Humayuns Tomb is also one of my absolute favorites. It was built before the Taj Mahal and serves as the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. The Tomb was commissioned in 1565 by Humayuns wife, Bega Begum – Empress. It became a Unesco World Heritage site in the 90’s. It’s the first “Garden” tomb, meaning emphasis is also placed on the surroundings rather than just the tomb. It’s really a marvel to look at. It was the first structure to use red sandstone so extensively, accented with white marble, creating a signature Mughal aesthetic.
After our (lets be honest here) quick visit, we headed over to the mall because I needed (ok need is a strong word) clothes that I knew I’d only be able to find in either Ritu Kumar’s Labels/Aarke or FabIndia.
Aaaaand I was successful. Like. Really successful.
Jean was introduced to Indian mall life, which is essentially American mall life complete with Cinnabon, Krispy Kreme, and Taco Bell.
Did we eat any of that? Absolutely not, we did not feel well and we ate McDonalds.
Anywho.
That was that day.
The next day was our last official day.
OH RIGHT. I forgot! The war had started! I knew we would be safe, Jeans’ parents managed to fly back easily a few days before via Munich, which was to be our flight path as well.
But so that was weird – being so far from home, not fully sure if we could get home. I mean, obviously we made it home, but still.
Okay so our last official day: we had a late checkout, we hung out by the pool, had probably the most satisfying pesto with penne ever (as we still couldn’t eat well), and then went to the Jama Masjid in old Delhi by metro.
The Jama Masjid was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan between 1644 and 1656. It’s one of India’s largest and most famous mosques and is a must-see, together with the Red Fort and the market Chandni Chowk. It can accommodate up to 25,000 worshippers. As you can see, most of the historic monuments were built around the same time.
The metro was super easy, super clean, just an all around good experience.
Our flight later that day was only at 2am, but we figured we could probably just head to the airport early, check in our luggage, go through security and eat. Right?……… Right?
Well not exactly. India airport security is one of the toughest in the world and if you do not have a paper ticket that they can stamp, you cannot go to your gate early.
We could check in our luggage no issue, but we had to wait at the check in area for another 3 hours essentially, till it was 11pm. Yeah our bad on that one.
It is what it is! And we made it onto our Lufthansa flights and made it back to sunny (it was actually sunny and 20 degrees???) Brussels.
We picked up our car from the airport, got the pettos and restarted our lives here, along with this series.
And that is that! That was our trip in succession. It was a fantastic experience and I’m really happy that I could share it with Jean.
We cannot wait to go back next year and celebrate.
What’s next for this newsletter? Well, we’re not married yet so we’ll need to keep this series going. Here’s what we’ve got coming up:
- Bruges
- Dinant
- Should we do a Brussels one?
- Jean’s off to Paris for the day
- Other random wedding prep tidbits
- Costa Ricaaaaa
- Philadelphia (and Pia’s wedding!)
- Our legal wedding!
- Summer
- Our Belgium Wedding!
- Recovering and prepping
- Our Indian wedding!
I cannot wait.
