Yes, I will agree will all reports that Delhi is loud, smelly, excessively dirty and you can't walk down a busy street without being hassled by at least once hawker. But... We're quite enjoying Delhi. I don't think we've been fazed at all. Despite the fact that Malysian Airlies has 'misplaced' our bags and we're staying in Paharganj where, to be frank, the street noise can be diabolical. I'd even go as far as saying I'm feeling more relaxed here than I did in Vietnam!

The food is great; we're getting to experience what 'real' Indian cuisine is (thank you Lonely Planet for some great recommendations). The people are charming and do actually take no for an answer; although I'm struggling to remember to refrain from returning male stares (it's really hard not to!!) -- apparently, it can be considered a come-on. Getting around is easy and cheap (actually, everything is cheap... really cheap... like £0.50-£1 a meal); we're mainly opting to use the metro, which -- and i think this is great -- has women only carriages, indicated by pink signs covered in silver stars. Oh, and, I'm loving the amount of colour; most of which comes for the women's saris and salwar kameez (that's the tunic and trousers) ... Gotta get me some of those.

I can definitely appreciate, though, how the sheer volume of humanity -- coupled with the barrage of noise, colour and smells -- in some areas may be a little overwhelming if you haven't experienced a third world country before.