Well hello boys and girls!!!

It's Nic here. We have arrived safe and sound (just about!) in Delhi. I can't believe it wasn't even a day ago since we left - it feels about a week already! Today has been so long and quite tough and tiring. Andi's mate dropped us off at the airport in London last night - thinking nearly 4 hours is long enough for checking in - to find it took us an hour and a half to get through all the security checks etc - so we quickly grabbed some food, phoned home to say our final goodbyes, and then boarded the plane.

So after a sleepless night flight we arrived in Delhi. The airport wasn't as I expected and it was quite empty. We debated what to do before deciding to change some money and then grab a pre paid taxi. We'd heard some horror stories of taxis refusing to take you to your hotel and ensuring you go to their choice of hotel where their 'really good friend works' so we decided just to get dropped off in the main centre part and find the hotel ourselves. Well that was fun! This 'taxi', if you can call it that, was a little mini van that made Disney World look tame. The roads are crazy! There are no road marking and what would normally hold two rows of traffic - sometimes turns into four. Cars etc just drive where they like and in what ever direction they like! Horns are constantly being beeped and cars are full of dents - no wonder - often with no wing mirrors. Lots and lots of motorbikes and tuk tuks - often carrying four people - and often holding bags and small children off the side - mad! Saw some sights on the way in, like a woman carrying the biggest bag on her head, with no hands - impressive....and the first rat!

When we got to the centre we were completely at a loss. We'd no idea where we were going and looked like complete tourists - white girl with lots of bags and a copy of the Rough Guide to India in her hand! Doh! Needless to say we got pestered non-stop. We decided to find the 'official' tourist office (although there seemed to be one of these on every corner, claiming they were the most official!) - however it was shut being a Sunday. One guy in a tuk tuk kept following us about just trying his hardest to get our fare - but of course out of principle we wouldn't give in. We asked a few people about our hotel , only to be met with blank faces, which was a bit worrying. We got in, and out again, of some tuk tuks when they decided their original agreed price of 20 rupees increased to 50 once we had set off! Once guy quote us 200 rupees! No chance mate. So in the end, we decided to do the one thing we said we wouldn't do on our first day - we went for the public transport. At the airport we were going to take the coach in to town but couldn't find it, but glad we didn't as we saw it on route - and no thanks!! Not for me! However we found the metro, and eventually found out where we had to go - after asking lots of people, getting our bags searched by police and going on the wrong rail line - but we kept asking and we finally made it.

Walking around New Delhi was.....an experience! It is not at all like I expected. Call us naive, but we thought it would be a bit modern with it being the new town and all - oh dear! It is just rows and rows of little shack streets with random stalls - but all on the lower ground - most of the buildings are in disrepair and the upper floors often have no fronts to them or there's simply nothing there at all. So you can imagine our panic when we saw the entrance to our hotel on one of these streets. But all was well. The hotel is really nice, with air con and our own bathroom, and it's really clean. Panic over. So thanks mum and dad for buying us this hotel as our wedding present!! At least the first two nights of our 'honeymoon' we'll be in comfort.

After a little rest, we asked at reception if they could recommend somewhere to eat and maybe where to buy a sim card for Andi's phone. He told us to take a seat and he'd get us a free map of Delhi. Great we thought - and then 5 mins later a guy called Arif came in and said to go with him and he'd show us. Thinking we were walking around the corner we happily followed, only to be ushered into his car. Panic again - what are we doing? Where are we going? Can we trust this guy? Of course, the first thing Andi asked was how much is this ride going to cost us! Typiclal yorkshire bloke! But he said it was free. So he took us to a phone shop where they demanded Andi's passport telling us that they need it if he is going to buy anything. A little dubious we gave it over only to see the guy leg it out of the shop with it. Panic again! The driver reassured us that he was only going to make a copy of it to attach to the form, which in fact he did do and came back within a few minutes. However, I decided to remain at the doorway and watch the delights of Delhi while Andi tried to sort out a phone (with no luck - but for those who need it, he can receive text messages at the minute but can't receive them).

After being blessed and stroked by a really old hindu lady and getting lots of stares (we seem to be the only tourists here!) we were dropped off at a restaurant. We had really good indian food (vegetable dishes of course!) and listened to a local band playing there. They were good, but not a pathc on The Smugglers! although they've the rights idea, they sit on the floor while playing. Then Arif came back to collect us and bring us back to the hotel. We tried to tip him (the usual thing done here - a usual amount is apparently 10 rupees for anything, which is about 12p!) after feeling a bit quilty for not trusting the bloke - but he wouldn't take it - saying that it was his duty to look after us and he did not want our money - so we managed to offend him again anyway- great, we're doing well so far!

Well, that's enough waffling for one day. I can assure you that all the blogs won't be this long but we thought we'd better 'check in' on our first night - plus there's nobody else about waiting for t'internet - and it's cheap (about 35p an hour!)

Tomorrow we may get a guided tour of Delhi, or make it out to watch England verse the Indian military in a game of Kabbadi, as we met the English team in the airport and said we could go along - however it's about an hour away, so we may not make it.

Anyway, we're off to bed now, been a long day (and we're 5 1/2 hours ahead of you guys back home!)

Hope you're all well and we'll keep in touch as much as we can.

Love Nic and Andi