Delhi

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First impressions of old Delhi is that it will surely and inevitably strangle itself to death with traffic. I thought the traffic in Saigon was horrendous but at least there most of it was motor bikes, whereas here it is cars. In a typical street trucks, buses, cars, motor bikes and every conceivable form of transport inbetween share rutted and cluttered roads with ancient carts pulled by large brahman bullocks. No amount of new flyovers and ring roads will ever relieve the chaos that exists in the heart of this dirty and crumbling ancient city.

Despite that grim observation, this same city is exciting in its own way. With an official population of 23 million (that's equal to the whole population of Oz Georgia) most lower castes cannot afford to live here and so travel every day to work, suggesting that that figure is actually more like double.

Westerners here are very much a curio, with locals actually taking pictures of us on their mobile phones yeaterday (Sunday) when we visited the Red Fort. Little family groups follwed us around, appearing to assume some status by being seen with us while women on several occasions offered their children up to be photographed. Unlike Vietnam and South America etc where photographing a local inevitably incurred a cost, here they seem happy to be considered.

The Hotel Florence is in the thick of all this chaos but despite the almost purposefully drab exterior, the interior is very modern, although they have to send out for beer!

Despite the expectation of modern internet and mobile s

Today we move on by overnight train to Varanasi

More later and ciao for now.

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Photos

Sunday family
This little family attached themselves to us at the Red Fort

Me at the Red Fort
This entrance is guarded by armed soldiers simply because it is falling down