Arrived!!

---

---

Hello everyone !
So here we are....
Delhi appears to be a city of extreme contradictions. We got off the plane to be greeted by a troop of women, all in brightly coloured beautiful saris with pick axes and shovels and carrying mountains of broken concrete on their heads. They were carrying out major road works whilst carring their offspring - from there on it has gotten steadily wierder!
Cows just dander up streets, street vendors sell everything from roasted peanuts to ear cleaning services... and don't even ask about the roads.
Traffic in Delhi is completely mad, no lanes and no law. From what we can gather the rules of the game are to drive as quickly and creatively as possible in the general direction of all other vehicles, constantly bumping your horn. Drivers only stop when they actually really are about to smack into the vehicle in front. People on bikes or pedestrians don't seem to count. In fact you probably do get extra points for knocking a few off on the way. It's amazing that 10000s of people aren't killed every day in horrific traffic accidents. Maybe they are - maybe it's aform of population control by the government. At best it is an extreme sport.
After 24 hours of travelling, we just felt like hitting the deck for a few z's. We woke up at around 6pm local time, a bit disorientated and a bit afraid of 'the outside', but we ventured out regardless. The streets/alleyways were dark and really busy but we found a nice wee place to eat close by. The menu was all local so ordering was complete pot luck. We ended up with some veggie curry stuff, chick peas, rice and naan. It was absolutely gorgeous washed down down with a couple of quality Kingfisher beers. The total bill came to a staggering 3 quid so our goal of finding fine food and cheap beer was realised within 4 minutes of leaving our hotel!
Confidence boosted, we decided to take on the district of Pahar ganj. Chris Armour was right - we were'nt prepared for the Delhi stare. People stare, really stare at you and follow you and sometimes break out into a cheer when you walk pass. Don't know if it's Gareth's highlights but we definitely seem to be a peculiarity. They stare and then they try to sell you something. We battled down the street for a bit and then decided to get out of Kansas. Gareth effectively negotiated an autorickshaw ride into town. He bargained from a hefty rs100 to a more local price of rs30 and off we went.
Another white knuckle ride through the Indian version of the Wacky Races and we found ourselves in a recommeded bar, DV8. It was like an oasis from the madness outside. The Doors, Hendrix and Clapton played at a sane level in the backround. We were led to a couple of comfy armchairs and treated like royalty. We chatted to a couple of Americans and just absorbed some of the local banter. A waiter told us that a hotel up the road had a late bar and a funky discotheque. Here we met a Sikh guy who ordered drinks for us before we had the chance to sit down. Can you see that happening down at the Garrick !? He wouldn't let us buy any drinks all night and kept touching our feet (apparently an Indian gesture of respect) !
So our first night in Delhi was a definite success.

---