Welcome to Delhi

Well we made it! After
many months of nervous waiting, we kicked off the first leg of our Asia trip.

We left on Wednesday morning at about 12pm, our flight was at quarter
past three. Had a final coffee and cake with my mum, then had some tearful goodbyes as we boarded the plane :o(
The flight was 8 hrs long - the furthest Ive ever flown is to Spain so I was NOT looking forward to this!! The first six hours were ok, we watched films and ate airline food which passed the time, then about 2 hrs to go, we hit some bad turbulence... my chicken hotpot was bouncing around in my stomach and I felt quite ill. Luckily we eventually made it into Delhi, tired and worn out.

Oh my god.... Delhi is MAD!!!! I mean its proper like you have stepped into another world. The airport seemed normal enough, but the instant you step out the smell hits you (you do get used to it after a while though!). There were beggars hanging around outside, they come up to you, arms outstretched, eyes pleading. Very weird. Because I am fair we were getting a lot of funny looks. Thankfully our hotel included pickup so the driver was there waiting to take us.
Driving to the hotel from the airport was an eye opening experience. The slums are shocking - families living in makeshift huts with tarpaulin over the top of them, small children sitting in dirt and wearing next to nothing. There were cows and horses aimlessly strolling along the road!!! It made for an interesting journey anyway.
We arrived at our hotel, which to our horror is in a slum of a Delhi suburb. The hotel itself is ok, pretty clean, western shower and toilet etc, but you step outside and its like something from a horror film, dirty streets, ramshackle buildings. Me and Jon both looked at eachother when we arrived and thought "what the hell are we doing!!"
After a bit of sleep we popped out again, thankfully the street looked slightly more normal, the shops had opened, cars were driving around etc. We jumped in a rickshaw and headed into Cannaught Place, which is the main shopping precinct. Well, dont expect no Selfridges if you come here put it that way. Everywhere just confused us, the sheer weight of traffic, people beeping their horns, street traders screaming, beggars following you.... it was just a totally scary experience. Luckily we werent the only tourists there, so although we did stick out, we werent THAT obvious.
Finally located an underground bazaar where they sold cheap clothes, bought an Indian style top and bottoms, and some slippers. We did haggle but as time went on we were getting them for cheaper and cheaper so Im sure we got skanked on our first purchases!!
Popped into Delhi Tourism office where we sorted out a tour of Delhi for the next day. Finally got back to our hotel and tried and tested our first true Indian curry.
Our first night in the hotel was very strange. We went to bed at about 10pm Delhi time, but of course it was only 5pm UK time. I couldnt sleep at first, kept thinking all kinds of scary thoughts, I guess the enormity of where you are finally hits you, you realised that you're thousands of miles away from home, and the people you love are a different world away. It still scares me now even as I type, cant believe I cant even ring anyone up for a chat!! arrghh! Finally dropped off to the noise of the street below (very loud).

Today we embarked on our tour of Delhi. From 9am - 5pm we visited sights such as Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Raj Ghat, Laskhmi temple, Lodi park and another Sikh temple, where we had to take our shoes off, cover our hair, and splashed ourselves with a bit of holy water (very dirty with massive catfish swimming in it!).
Our tour guide Rakesh was a very nice, if not a bit annoying!! He invited himself out to lunch with us, then came for a nice romantic stroll with us around Lodi park, plus he probably now knows every single detail about our lives as he asked about 1000 questions! We've got a lift off him tomorrow am to the airport then we are determined to ditch him otherwise I fear he'll be with us for our entire 6 month trip!!!
Well it's 8pm in Delhi at the moment, its a nice cool evening, although the days are really hot.

Tomorrow we fly up to the Himalaya range - something I have always wanted to do but doubted we'd have time. Anyway we've had enough of Delhi so want to get out, so we have 2 nights in a village somewhere up in the Himalayas - how amazing is that gonna be!! Slightly scared at the thought of flying over mountains but I'm sure I'll survive. Then the plan is to fly back to Delhi on the 20th, then head down to Agra for the 21st. So far so good re: India. It's mad, Delhi is everything I'd heard about, busy, smelly, rushed, a pure eye opener. But as time goes on you kind of get used to it, I think we're doing ok so far, hopefully the rest of India will be just as enjoyable.




To be continued!! .....