Delhi

I spent just 9 days at home in Bristol for Christmas before setting off on my travels again! A quick unpack, wash and repack and I was ready to go - round 2, lets go!!  This time I was heading to India and South East Asia with my first stop being Delhi. I flew direct from Heathrow on Boxing Day evening and arrived in Delhi mid morning on 27th December. The time difference in India is 5 and a half hours ahead of the UK which I have to say did wierdly give me a bit of jet lag (maybe the 3 G&T’s on the plane didn’t help!) but after a few days I was well adjusted.

I was spending 2 nights in Delhi before starting a group tour which is for 2 weeks and ends in Goa. 

Having not travelled in India before I’d been given lots of advice from friends who’ve been. I have to say you can read and be told as much information as you like but nothing really can prepare you for arriving in India until you actually arrive! My first experience was getting to my hotel from the airport which took around an hour - I was in a taxi by myself with 2 other Indian guys and the driver. The first thing which took me by surprise is the driving - absolutely like nowhere else I’ve been before! I thought some of the roads in South America were bad but they absolutely don’t even come close to India. It’s quite remarkable how we didn’t crash or I didn’t see any accidents because it’s total carnage! The cars don’t stink to their lanes, well they actually don’t even have lanes! They all drive while on their phones and don’t indicate so it’s all a bit of a free fall with everyone beeping their horns at everyone! Don’t think there is any rules of regulations or if there is no one sticks to them! Also pretty certain they just drive on whatever side of the road they want. Occasionally a cow will just be crossing the road or a person will just walk into the traffic so there would be a sudden standstill but there definitely was a lot to see! 

After checking into my hotel I met with another couple from the tour and we went out in the afternoon to explore. Feeling brave we decided to get the metro to the old town of Delhi and see the famous Red Fort. The streets of India are just so hectic, people everywhere who are constantly trying to talk to you/sell you things. Most people are fascinated by foreigners so they often stare or those brave enough come up to you and talk to you and often ask for a photo! 

After exploring the area and seeing the red fort we got a tuk tuk to the centre of New Delhi and went for dinner. It was my first ride in a tuk tuk and it was fun! We found a little Indian restaurant highly recommend by Trip Advisor and it was time for my first curry in India - I’ve decided that while I am in mainland India (everywhere but Goa) I am going to only eat vegetarian so I ordered the Paneer Tikka Masala - basically a cheese curry! It was so good and not too spicy! Even better that the whole meal cost only about £4. Bargain! 

The next day we booked a driver from the hotel and he took 4 of us on a tour of Delhi. The first stop was in the old town of India - the spice market and the Jama Masjid mosque. We needed to get a rickshaw here from where the driver had parked so that was another fun first experience - The 2 rickshaw cyclists were racing eachother along the road just weaving in and out of the cars. We climbed to the stop of the market and saw a view over Delhi and a few monkeys! After being taken via 2 of their friends shops (standard procedure!) we went back to meet our driver. We then went to see the lotus temple, had lunch (another Paneer Curry!) and saw the famous India Gate and the parliament houses. 

In the evening we had a welcome meeting for the tour before dinner (another vegetarian curry!) we were leaving Delhi the next day and we had a 6am train to Agra as we were going to see the Taj Mahal!!