On the last day we took the 6h train from Amritsar back to Delhi and went straight to the airport where we arrived at midnight; our flight was at 3:30am. It was there and then that Danny discovered he had lost his passport, and the airport staff made it clear there was no way he could leave the country without it. Getting new papers would take at least a week of running around ministries and embassies. Needless to say, this was a bad moment in our trip. But Danny called the hotel in Amritsar and it turned out they had found the passport there, so that made the situation considerably less bad: he could go get his passport and take a flight three days later. I left Danny with the Lonely Planet guide and my bank card, and started checking in.

I'd felt bad that day and while spending hours queueing I got feverish and sick; I threw up somewhere between the security and customs lines. I spent half the night on the plane's toilet making funny noises. So after the Nepalese bacteria of the last day of our trek I now got a special goodbye from Indian bacteria as well. The Nepalese bacteria were worse. Anyway after a seemingly endless journey my parents picked me up at Brussels airport, took good care of me and called a doctor, and by Sunday evening the medicines had made me a lot better. I'm still on sick leave now but tomorrow I go back to work.

On to happier tidings: I managed to get all my 2100 pictures home safely and can now begin the task of filtering them out and making a selection, something I enjoy almost as much as traveling itself. Check back here for a picture report over the next few weeks!