27/09/08 We arrived in Delhi at 12.40 am local time, and knew before we even got off the plane that we were in a foreign climate, because it registered at 28 degrees despite being in the middle of the night! We got a taxi to our hotel, Hotel Ajanta, and the journey there was quite an eye-opener - on the main roads we got our first sighting of the motor rickshaws, and the lorries we passed were very colourful but all looked in a dreadful state! As we reached the city centre, we saw the very obvious poverty in this city - shocking - beggars asleep at the sides of the roads, lots of stray dogs wandering around, rickshaw drivers asleep in their vehicles, rubbish and rubble everywhere, and lots and lots of dust. Our taxi driver couldn't find our hotel without stopping at a tourist information centre for directions, so it was past 4am before we got into our room! It's a clean place luckily, and no mosquitoes anywhere.

28/09/08 We didn't wake up until nearly lunchtime, so after having some food at the restaurant we went for a walk round the neighbourhood. We didn't get hassled nearly as much as I thought we would be - just had some people calling out to us and offering us rickshaw rides. Plus we get stared at a lot. It's an incredible place, different to England in nearly every way - so colourful, both literally and in atmosphere! The temperature was 34 degrees, with barely a cloud in the sky. This is part of New Delhi, yet the streets seem almost as chaotic as I've been told those in Old Delhi are like - lots of horns beeping, very ramshackle buildings covered in old signs saying what's inside the shops, bits of dusty rubble, lots of little stalls (both on carts and by the roadside) selling things like lemonade, bananas, monkey nuts, clothes etc., beggars in alleyways...in the smaller streets people just walk along in the middle of the road, only to be scattered every now and then by the many motorised rickshaws, cycle rickshaws, tandem bicycles, motorbikes and the occasional car. On our way back here about 3 carts drawn by incredibly massive oxen went past, the occasional horse and cart. and a procession of some sort with recorded music and colurful clothes passed by some distance ahead of us before going out of sight.

We took it easy for the rest of the day, as we were a bit jet lagged, and went to bed early.

29/09/08 The centre of New Delhi today. The streets are wider and a little cleaner, but the traffic is just as chaotic - everyone drives like absolute maniacs! We got a free lift into town from the hotel as a security measure, as apparently a bomb went off in another part of the city a few days ago. Connaught Place first, which is a massive roundabout with a little park in the middle and circles of shops radiating outwards. There were Indian police everywhere, and a couple of soldiers with rifles. We walked round some of the circle of shops first, to get our bearings, before crossing over through the park to the other side, where there was a little market. It's an experience just walking along the pavement in front of the shops, because the buildings overhang over the entire pavement, beggars sit by the columns with mats on the floor with various goods on (limes, apples, pomegranites etc., and leather goods, woven mats, books in Hindi and English - none I fancied though, I did look - Indian clothes, and other things like that), you get bombarded with exotic smells which differ every few yards, men approach you and ask where you're from and how you like India, every time you go close to the edge of the road itself rickshaw drivers stop and call out to you offering rides, the occasional street child comes up to you begging or offering goods... add to that the sheer heat, the very poor state of the pavements (meaning you have to watch your feet a lot), the constant sounds of horns beeping, bursts of Indian music and voices calling out in foreign languages and English! As we walked though the little market on the other side of the circle we were constantly hassled. This included three old men surrounding us, jabbering away in poor English which I didn't understand half of and showing us little books with handwriting in - it turned out that they were specialist ear cleaners! We both kept on saying ''no thanks'' and trying to move off, but then one of them produced a very long rusty needle witha little tuft of cotton wool on the end and actually tried to stuff it down one of Dave's ears! We moved away with more urgency, and as we walked away they tried to keep up with us for a while before they fell away.

The next thing we did was find and walk down the main street leading off Connaught Road, Janpath Road, in order to walk to the National Museum, India Gate (more of later) and the Crafts Museum, which I had read about in the guidebook and wanted to visit. We went into an ATM on the way, which in India are in separate little buildings of their own for increased privacy. Unfortunately it said 'transaction declined' both times I tried to get cash out, so we carried on, hoping it was just a problem with that particular ATM and not with our cards! Even more unfortunately, when we got to the museum it said in big letters on the wall that it was closed on Mondays, which echoed a Sikh in a motor rickshaw who had followed us for ages talking to us and offering us a lift (and ignoring us every time we said no - we carried on because I've read about how people deliberately tell you a certain place is closed and then offer to take you somewhere else, as part of a scam to make you spend more money.) I was really disappointed, because their collection contains 5000 years of Indian history.There was a silver lining, however, because there is a massive park next to the building and India Gate is in the middle of it. India Gate is a massive national war memorial commemorating all the Indian soldiers who died in the world wars. There were some guards in ceremonial uniform standing under the arch, and the names of the soldiers are engraved along the sides of the memorial. A man had told us on the way to the Gate that Mondays are holidays in Delhi so every museum and other main tourist attraction is closed, so we didn't carry on to the Crafts museum but went and flopped in the shade in a neighbouring meadow instead. We were in need of a rest anyway, because we had been on our feet for a long time and were both quite dehydrated. A lot of Coke and bottled water later, and after a sighting of a man with two small monkeys on a lead, we walked back through the park and up the long road to Connaught Place. We came across the Indian National Archives building on the way, and we went through the open gate into the ground outside it, to find that there was a free archives museum attached, and it was open! It was quite small, just one room, but it was very interesting - it included a piece of manuscript which dated from 1352, and some very old books written in different Indian languages (undated in the given info, unfortunately.) There were also either the originals or copies of various documents from the East India Company to local princes and rulers, and pictures of Indian soldiers from different parts on the 19th century. In all, it definitely made up in part for not getting to go in the National and Crafts Museums! We tried to walk all the way back to our hotel, but it got dark and I had rubbed parts of my feet very sore in my flipflops, so we ended up getting a motor rickshaw back. It's one thing watching the traffic chaos from the sideline, but quite another actually being part of it! It was quite hair-raising, the amount of overtaking and cutting in and sudden braking everyone does! The antiseptic wipes and blister plasters came out back at the hotel, and we had some food before going to bed. 30/09/08 Old Delhi today - but first we paid a visit to New Delhi rail station to book the tickets for our train to Agra tomorrow. The Indian rail service is apparently the largest employer in the world, so I was expecting it to take hours and involve lots of red tape, but in fact we were in and out relatively quickly. We were forced to get the cheapest possible class (non a/c sleeper class), because it's a public holiday in India tomorrow and the day after and everything else was all booked up. Only Rs121 each though, so the equivalent of about one pound fifty in English money for a four hour journey! We decided to walk on to the main street in Old Delhi and stop at the Jain temple and Bird Hospital and the famous Red Fort once there. However, the map wasn't in scale and we walked for ages before getting a bit lost; we ended up getting a motor rickshaw (tuktuk) straight to the Red Fort, because time was getting on and we didn't now have time to go to the bird hospital as well. The Red Fort was amazing, well worth the trek there. Everyone was searched on entry, and there were guard everywhere - even one with a sub machine gun! It was built around 1628 and consists of about 2 km worth of grounds with separate buildings and complexes - most of it very picturesque. I started to feel a little bit like a celebrity, because about 3 or 4 times local guys filmed us on their phones or cameras, and once a guy asked if he could take a photo of me and Dave, and then just me and him with a friend of his! Every time we travel by rickshaw/ tuktuk heads in neighbouring vehicles literally turn right round and stare.. a bit unnerving if you ask me. Anyway I had better go now get some sleep, as we have to be up early tomorrow to get ready for the train. Love to everyone at home! Love from Lucy and Dave