Down and Dirty in Delhi

Finally arrived about 2-3pm, a couple of hours late. Poor taxi fella was still waiting for 'Mr Rebecca Watchorn'.

The journey to the hotel was really interesting - loads of cars, tuk-tuks, rickshaws, trucks and buses all trying to make their way on the rutted rocky roads. Who needs lanes and signs anyway!.
Horns are used often and liberally - the roads are the second most dangerous in the world and it is easy to see why - they are all crazy!!. Had to play 'super frogger' (classic 80's electronic game to get the frog across the road) to get across the roads - just an absolute mess - best tactic was to tag onto a local and follow his lead....

Stayed at Hotel 55 - which was clean and tidy and central. The photos were very attractively taken and we did get an initial shock - but it was fine. There was another hotel down the road 'The York' which looked a little plusher, but we did not check out the price.

Went to the station to confirm our onward train journeys - the walk from the hotel (which is on a british invention called Connaught Place - circular collonaded, segmented district with roads going round and through) was a real introduction to life in india. Touts tried to mis direct us, sell us all sorts of foods and rickshaw drivers take us to all places in delhi.

Smells of rubbish, dirt and urine is a bit strange to our western tastes - it's gonna take a while for us to get used to this new environment.

Really tired by the end of the day and we were in bed by 8:30 pm.

I Woke up about 1am convinced that we had actually slept about 14 Hrs - Beckie did not share my enthusiasm for getting up, so we managed to get some decent sleep in the end.

Breakfast on the terrace and then off on the Delhi Metro to see the Red Fort. After a couple of false starts we ended up finding our way to Chandri Chowk - the nearest place to the Red Fort. It was a real melting pot of sights, sounds and smells.Wandered down the street passing people selling chicken legs, curry and roasted nuts.
Passed the delapidated 'Indian Life Assurance' building which looks like it should be condemed - they definitely do not get our money!.

The Fort has the hordes of touts and hawkers we are now coming to expect!. once inside it was fairly calm and we managed to fend off a few 'offical guides' to spend a nice morning wandering amongst the ruins of this once bustling military complex.

After a slap up lunch of $1.50 we wandered down to Raj Ghat - the resting place and memoral to Mahatma Ghandi. Unfortunately the eternal flame was out. It took three fellas and about twenty onlookers to relight it.

Short Tuk-Tuk ride later (no road rules for these motor bike taxis - cool!), we went to Hanyumans Tomb. This was Shah Jehans first attempt at the Taj Mahal - cant blame him for not getting it right first time. Mugal Arhitecture was pretty cool. Lots of formal gardens with moving water all around the mausoleums - lots of inspiration for the back garden (Charlie dimmock would love it!) - although in restro spect tiling the kitchen was hard enough to get even - not sure how these guys did it without a spirit level - must be in the hand of the gods!.

One thing we have not seen before is an entire family on a moped/motorbike - man driving has a helmet, child or two in the middle and then the sari wearing wife perched side saddle on the back. These guys have a lot to teach the london 4x4 drivers about the school run.

People are quite forward and friendly and will come and ask which country you are from - its just really difficult to differentiate between innocent friendship and the hard sell. Unfortunately the hard sell is far more common....

Managed to survive Delhi with out the talked about 'Delhi-belly'. the worst was a few tummy growls - thankfully we are used to a very spicy diet.

No photos for the moment - will upload when we can.

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