I'm so sitting in a hip trendy (British?) bookstore/coffee shop/internet cafe. I've just eaten my fill of quiche, fries and strawberry lassi (yogurt drink). I expect my total to be about $5.00.

Not counting food, I've noticed plenty of things in this city are a bit pricey.

I just tormented some carpet dealers for about 45 minutes. They showed me about 2 dozen carpets and half a dozen bed covers, I had no intention of buying anything, but they sure were doing their best to get some "good luck" from me.

The carpets were Kashmir wool 5'x7' 400 knots per inch for the "special price" of 17,000 rupees also known as $377.78. Actually that doesn't sound so bad. I'm going to check around for better. What I'd really like to do is go to Kashmir to look, but that will have to wait, and I want a carpet soon.

After consulting an Indian map it seems I have (unbeknownst to me) been to India before. Pakistan says it's theirs, and everybody else in the world calls it a "disputed area" but according to India, I've been to India! Gilgit on the Indian map.