First day in Delhi

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Well we made it :-)

We arrived early morning India time, sometime around 10pm uk time, which is what our body-clocks were still using. A driver from our hotel picked us up at the airport and whisked us away to a waiting car. There didn't seem to be the barrage of touts plying for our business as I'd expected, but it was still a great relief to see a little sign with 'Carol Oshaunessy' on it. The journey to the hotel gave us our first glimpse of Indian driving - and what fun it was! We've only been here a day and I think already I am used to the constant horn blowing. It seems to be used to tell other drivers that you are behind them, so move! Most cars, trucks and tuc-tucs have 'horn please' on the back ... not something you would see in Gourock. I've only seen a handfull or cars that have wing mirrors (mind you that is something you might well see in Gourock, particularly Barrhill Rd ;-) and any I havee seen have been tucked well in while the car is in use.

Today we visited The Red Fort, Raj Ghat, India Gate and The Lotus temple. And we've seen so many sights I don't know where to begin. It is sad to see the very poor people - children begging in the car window when you are stopped at lights - but we knew what we were letting ourselves in for before we came, so are determined to not let things get to us. At Raj Ghat we saw an elephant strolling down the street. Saddo's we are, we took loads of photos. Later our driver took us to a restaurant for lunch and there was a snake charmer outside. I didn't look. When we got back to the street that our hotel is on there was a young girl - she couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 years old, walking across a tightrope about 10 feet in the air, with a crowd gathered round, cheering. Scary stuff.

So far, touch wood, our tummies have been fine. We ate a delicious Indian meal at lunchtime and have just had something similar for our dinner at the 'rooftop restaurant' at our hotel. The hotel, by the way, is nothing to write home about and yet, ironically, here I am writing home about it.

I found the lack of - for want of a better word - 'white' tourists a bit strange. The majority of tourists appear to be Indian and there are so many of them. Everywhere.

After our trip to the Lotus temple this afternoon Mick seems to have taken a unlikely interest in the Baha religion. He even went so far as to buy a book ... An Introduction to Baha. He says he's looking for the catch.

Our plan for tomorrow is to visit Connaught Place and do some shopping. Tomorrow night we get an overnight train to Varanasi. So far everything has lived up to expectation and I imagine the only thing that will prevent the rest of our trip doing the same is our inhibitions and paranoia. Hopefully by the time our 3 weeks are up we will have lost at least a little of both.

-Carol

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