Emirates flights were very impressive, probably the hardest part was getting through all the security checks in Heathrow! Trevor had a large amount of electrical items in his bag and had to have it all emptied and searched. This proved slightly embarrassing when a small plastic dinsosaur called 'Brian' was taken out of his bag, which we then had to try and explain in an embarrassed fluster.

Note - 100 rupees to 1GBP.

Day 1:

We were thrown right into the thick of things in Delhi and after an exhausting 14 hour trip from London we hid in our hostel room and slept for a day (Smyle Inn, New Delhi). After feeling suitably refreshed, the following day we decided to brave the cows, litter, beggars, phlegm coughers, stray dogs and touts to see the main sights of Delhi by hiring a taxi for the day (12000rupees - 6GBP each):

Jama Masjid - a 17th Century mosque, which to get to was an experience in itself. We were dropped a few hundred metres from the mosque and proceeded to follow what we thought were the driver's directions, and ended up walking through a water-logged traders market, with goats running wild and not an inch of floor free of some form of animal waste!! After getting a few strange looks we reached the temple and were given various table-cloth style clothes to wear out of respect. This again drew a few strange looks including people wanting photos of the 'westerners'. Here we were subjected to our first con when we were made to pay money to the person that had apparently stored our flip-flops in a secure cupboard for us, which we hadn't asked for. We paid the 1pound regardless and made our way back with a begging child following us for 5 minutes.

Red Fort - Supposed to be one of the best sights in Delhi; whilst impressive from the outside, after paying the tourist fee of 250 rupees compared to the locals' fee of 10 rupees (that said we didn't have to queue for half a mile), the inside was quite disappointing and run-down. We left quickly, with the midday heat starting to take it's toll.

Ghandi's Memorial - Probably one of the tidiest places we have come across in India - the people here hold a lot of affection for him.

Humayan's Tomb - Location of our second con of the day - a guy offering to tell us about the tombs and then asking for money afterwards. Apart from the fact we couldn't actually understand most of what he said, we weren't going to be ripped off twice in a day so walked away quickly! The tomb itself is seen by many as a pre-cursor to the Taj Mahal although in slightly less splendour. It was built by Humayan's distraught widow...hoping Trevor hasn't got his hopes up on that one!

Qutb Minar - Some tall pillar in Delhi...haven't got a clue what it was all about but looked pretty impressive made from red sandstone and white marble. At this point, with the stifling heat of Delhi getting to us, we were happy to spend more time in the air conditioned taxi than at the sights.

Lotus Temple - Taken inspiration from the Sydney Opera House. The queue to get in was about a mile long as it was a national holiday.

It was the Dussehra Festival in India on 3rd October where lots of fireworks and effigies of Hindu Gods are burnt. We watched fireworks and firecrackers go off in the streets of Delhi from a rooftop bar that evening (the health and safety definitely wouldn't have been passed in the UK as we saw kids running in all directions to escape the firecrackers in the streets below).

Day 2:

Our mission for day 2 in Delhi was to get out of Delhi.....The corner of open urinals at the end of the hostel street that we had to hold our breaths past as we walked weren't helping! What's more was that there was a street food stall right next to the urinals...the food looked nice but unfortunately was overpowered by the strong smell of urine.

Our mission started by being told by the hostel travel agent that there were no trains available for the next day to get to Jaipur (our next destination). We didn't believe him so made our way to New Delhi Train staion. One con later to a fake travel agents because a tout told us that the Tourist Information Bureau (where there is a separate quota of tickets for tourists) had moved, we finally managed to get to the real thing. It was then relatively simple to book 2 tickets in class 2AC, Sleeper beds, 6GBP for a 6 hour journey each.

Chandi Chowk....This was one of Trevor's less clever decisions. Having decided we'd like to go and see an Indian market, Trevor suggested we go to Chandi Chowk, a local traders market that was hell on earth. Not helped by the fact it was still one of India's 60000 festival holidays and a Saturday, we could hardly move. There were cars and motorbikes going down tiny back alleyways, men leering everywhere and making comments. We escaped for half an hour into a local cafe and had our first Masala Dosa, a fried crepe style bread filled with spiced potato (a South Indian classic). This was after considering going into McDonalds for safety but after seeing that half of Delhi was in there buying ice cream we decided against it! After deciding the market probably (definitely) wasn't for us, we attempted to escape. This involved about an hour of trying to find the Metro station with various different directions from people, and finally giving up when we found it was too busy. We hailed down a Rickshaw only to be stuck in traffic two minutes later....for an hour! During this time we had finished our water and the heat of sitting in traffic was getting too much. Sophie had made a fan out of the local map and sat in the Rickshaw fanning herself like royalty...this attracted quite a few looks and chuckles from local men...by this time we couldn't care less. Dying of dehydration, Trevor took on the hero role and darted across the busy road to buy cold bottles of water from a stall, just in time!! After not really understanding what the hold up was all about (typical in India), we were on our way through manic traffic, goats in the backs of rickshaws, an immense amount of horns beeping for various reasons, and hairy weaving in and out of cars, motorbikes, rickshaws, people and cows until we were back to the safety of our hostel. Moral of the story...don't let Trevor decide which market we are going to in future!!

We spent the evening having a street-front meal and prepared to take our train to Jaipur the next morning.....

Delhi Summary:

Spend no more than 3 days in Delhi, of which one must be spent sleeping! A great experience to see the real manic-ness of India but all a bit much for our first 3 days!! Still no Delhi Belly!

P.s. Trevor stubbed his toe on day 1 photo progress to follow....