I arrived in India absolutely woozy.. partially due to the crazy Korean woman checking out of my room at 6:30am (wtf) and due to a lack of sleep on the flight.. Watched two great documentaries on sporting legengs, Senna (highly recommend it even if not a F1 fan) and Batigol doc. It was real cool flying over Dubai also and seeing it all illuminated below, managed to spot that man made palm island which looked good from above. I got the metro to downtown Delhi which was no problem, got outta da tube station however and it was the chaos that was expecting. Kept getting conflicting info on where the hostel was so thought sod it get a rickshaw but shat it most of the way there as numerous times thought the bloody thing was gonna keel over!

Crashed for a bit before brekkie then headed out with my fellow dorm new buddies. We managed to find a garden nearby dubbed the 5 senses Gardens which was well lush with good panoramic views and a posh cafe type bar that was doing some sorta photoshoot. The guy at the hostel was jibbering on about if we found the 6th sense there but couldn't make out if he was fer real or taking the michael. We headed to the centre of Delhi and visited the Red Fort which is an impressive building and got me contemplating what seeing the Taj will be like. Even though have been to India before (Goa) it was an absolute culture shock stepping off the metro and out into the streets of Delhi. I thought Cairo was crazy but this place really takes the biscuit, cake & ice cream all in one!!

Had an early night to catch up on some much needed sleep and got up earlish to head out exploring. Went to Qutub Minar initially which is round the corner from the hostel. Its a cool complex with mosques and old temples that was fairly impressive. From there we headed to Akshardam temple complex which was the best temple/religious place ever been to. The only downside is that couldn't take cameras/mobiles in so no piccies however will always remember the sheer beauty of the place. After that we headed to the main area downtown and got some food to eat following which we were told by locals that there was a big Sikh festival close by. We went down the road and were mesmerized by it all, it was like a party atmosphere with trucks blasting out music and lots of stalls giving out free food, merry xmas! THe best part to both days thus far is feeling like a demi celebrity over here, hordes of schoolkids coming over to you shaking your hand and asking to take a picture with you, love it haha! Speaking of love got the best news from back home, better than any xmas pressie, that my beautiful butterfly is flying half way around the world to be with me for New Year's celebrations, can't wait!!

I got up at the crack of dawn on the Friday to get the train up north to Haridwar, having bought my train tickets online the previous evening. Got to Delhi central station and this geeza is like eticket is no good you need boarding pass, so made a mad dash to a local tourist office whom said too late to get a boarding pass for train as was leaving within the hour. Tried to get me on another train but all fully booked and with waiting lists to my destination until the end of the month as nearly 5 million people travel on trains daily.. great! Apparently was also due to a busy period plus a big Hindu festival happening in Haridwar. Buses were also fully booked so it was either stay in Delhi for five more days or fly up. That cost far too much also so decided to get a taxi up which was the cheapest option!? The guys at the tourist were all nice and let me join them when having a typical Indian breakfast, paratha with some spicy veggie stuff.

Was kinda glad to leave Delhi behind as its full of smog, dust and we all had difficulties breathing there. It was really foggy leaving in the morning so maybe not catching the train was a good idea due to the numerous cancellations in the previous days beacuse of heavy fog. Half hour outta Delhi the taxi geeza pulled up and started yanking the head rest in the front seat pulling it off, am thinking wtf. Then he tells me to move seats. There was a method to his madness however as he put the front seat down and my seat also to make a makeshift bed, nice one. I thought the road up to Haridwar would be straightforward but nothing in India is haha. The roads were busy, bustling, full of beeping cars and lorries all the way up with the taxI driver ducking and weaving this way through. At least journey wasn't boring!