Delhi at Midnight, on to Leh

Long delays on the Mahananda Express, from Hasimara to Delhi. During an unexplained 3-hour stop in a town, we got a close-up view of village life: drying rice, washing clothes, drawing water from a community well, shooing away the goats, boiling teapots, chatting with neighbors, all within inches of the railroad tracks.
36 boring hours later, we arrived at Old Delhi Station, at midnight. Our connecting train had departed already, so we got a (partial) refund on that ticket. We had planned to train up to Chandigarh, then get a busride up to Leh: three days long. We already held a plane ticket returning us to Delhi on the 19th. We were dreading yet more long hours in a vehicle...

I called AirDeccan: "Yes sir, we have tickets to Leh, departing at 5am".
We booked 2 beds in the Retiring Room -- a cavernous room in the station with about twenty cots and a few men sleeping. Room temperature there equaled body temperature -- several ceiling fans made it almost bearable. But it was remarkably clean.

Three hours later, we grabbed a taxi to the airport, purchased 2 tickets (oh, the price now is a bit higher...), walked through security (they confiscated my favorite Swiss Army Knife) and boarded the half-empty plane, no problem.
An hour later we landed at The Highest Airport In The World, at 3500meters altitude.

Be careful of the altitude!