It was a leisurely morning with no deadlines – sleep in, breakfast, wander, sightsee to kill time before our flights.
Kari and I headed out after breakfast to visit the National Museum and the National Museum of Modern Art. Somewhere along the way our plan was derailed by bad timing — not open yet, an amazing Tuk Tuk driver and his brand new machine, and a stop at our driver’s favorite tourist shop!
So we never made it to a museum, but Sanjay did drive us around from sight to sight, most of which we had seen before. Still a fun ride and Sanjay spoke better English than I did.
Eventually, he took us to a large and very nice tourist shop (where I’m sure regularly gets a kickback for each customer he brings in).
Ultimately, we ultimately bought a bunch of stuff at the shop, enjoyed talking with the friendly staff, and got free sodas while we wandered around! It ended up being a happy change to what we had planned. The shop included rooms for costume jewelry, fine jewelry, art work, carvings, marble items, clothing, musical instruments, and many more.
By the time we finished shopping, we changed our mind of the museum visits although they were now open. We had another driver drop us at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences – a massive public Hospital. Not sick, just interested. We wanted to wander through to get a sense of general healthcare facilities here. As long as we strode confidently and acted like we knew what we were doing, we were barely challenged at any point.
Certainly not surprising that the emergency room and inpatient areas were hopping on a Sunday, but the monkeys wandering the hallways was interesting since they can be quite aggressive. If you try to stare them down, they will come at you rather quickly. Fortunately, a swinging bag to the head discouraged a particularly aggressive one and a hospital guard eventually chased him down a stairwell.
Like hospitals in many countries, family members were sleeping in the hallways, on floors, and on walkways outside the buildings. They are all staying close to their hospitalized loved ones to provide support, care services, sometimes meds, meals, etc.. The ER was packed with gurney after gurney lined up side by side in large open rooms. I’m sure someone knew the secret to patient classification and needs, but it was pretty chaotic in comparison to most Western facilities.
Then it was off to the airport for our late night flight home!
A short & witty ending…
Could have stayed longer. Might have needed better shoes.
