Delhi: 27-31 January

Our flight into Delhi was without issue and we picked up some cash and a pre-paid taxi to the hotel where we've booked our first 4 nights in India, which is where things got a bit more interesting. The driver was accompanied by an English-speaking chap who as we got closer to our destination said that he didn't know our particular hotel and would have to stop for directions from the tourist info office. It was getting pretty late at night at that stage, but we stopped and the office (in a seriously dodgy part of town) was open. The guide there called the hotel and passed me (Dan) the receiver - it was a guy saying that there was a problem and the hotel was full, that they don't have records of our reservation. Another con, which fortunately we'd been warned about from our reading - if you believe them, they'll take you to another 'good' hotel in a poorer part of town and bag a load of commission from doing so. We insisted on being taken to the hotel anyway, or failing that the train station where we could hopefully pick up some better directions to the hotel - all quite worrying at about 11pm. Thankfully, our taxi driver miraculously found the hotel just round the corner.

We checked in and got the key to our room, which is a bit of a dump. Unimpressed and tired we flaked out hoping that things would look better in the daylight. Thankfully, things were better in the morning - the room is pretty clean, there's a shower that has warm water despite only one tap working (there's also a bucket and ladle if you happen to prefer washing with those implements - we don't..) and the restaurant upstairs served a decent breakfast and had a nice roof terrace (although no view as the walls are too high).

We ended up hiring a car and driver on our first full day to take us around the sights - sounds extravagant, but it's the best way to get around - all the taxi drivers will happily negotiate a figure for the full day and it ended up costing us around £15. We were really glad we did that as the main sights are quite widely spread and getting between them under our own steam would have been difficult and time consuming. The roads are pretty crazy, cars, trucks, tuk-tuks and loads of bikes everywhere weaving and beeping. We even passed an Elephant on a three-lane main road at one point.

We took in a few varied sights: the Red Fort; Rajghat (where Gandhi was cremated); the Gandhi Museum; the India Gate; Humayan's Tomb; the Baha'i temple (or the Lotus Temple as it's better known) and Qutab Minor.

The Red Fort was nice - a big fort built of red sandstone in the middle of Delhi; the India Gate was an impressive statement of the old empire, similar in size to the Arc de'Triumph from where the Raj-path leads all the way to the palace; and the Gandhi sites were really interesting. Humayan's Tomb should have been a highlight - it's a really impressive sight, pre-dating the Taj Mahal and built by the Emperor Humayan's widow. Unfortunately it was plagued with Indian school boys on school trips who were running riot and hassling us for photos - it was quite amusing earlier in the day when it was one or two people, but when there are groups of lads chasing after you wanting pictures it stops being fun. Poor Sue was being constantly stared at and must be the star of quite a few surreptitiously taken pictures. We left there feeling pretty harassed.

The highlight for us was Qutab Minor which are ruins from one of the previous cities that stood where Delhi does now, featuring the highest stone tower in India - they say that there have been 7/8 cities here at different times which the new ones have risen up over or around.

Back at the hotel, we sampled the food in the restaurant which was delicious. We've decided to avoid meat at least to start with, so went with a vegetable biryani and a tikki paneer which went down very well. After a day out in the hustle and bustle, even our shabby hotel room has started to feel a bit like a sanctuary..

The following day, disaster: Delhi-belly has struck us both. We had resolved for a quiet day and had sorted out some train tickets to Agra and Varanasi, then at about midday it suddenly hit and I was reduced to a quivering wreck and Sue followed suit a couple of hours later. I won't go into details, but suffice to say that our room wasn't a pleasant place to be for the rest of the day and through the night! The next day was slightly better and we both managed to stomach some toast during the day, but were still tied to the room, the silver lining being a movie channel we've found on the TV playing non-stop hollywood blockbusters.

So it's our 4th day in Delhi now and neither of us are feeling that much better yet, but the train we booked right before we fell ill leaves tonight and we want to be on it - neither of us wants to spend another day cooped up here anyway. It's a 6:45pm train arriving in Varanasi at 7:30am where we've arranged a pick up from the hotel to be waiting for us, so hopefully it will be relatively straight forward.

So at best, it's been a mixed start to our time in India. It's a shame to leave Delhi having only had one good day out in four, but hopefully the only way is up now.