Delhi - Flies, lies and building sites.....

Arriving at New Delhi airport the most surprising initial impression was the distinct lack of chaos, we were expecting to be mobbed by hoards of taxi and hostel wallahs but the reality couldn't have been farther from that. Our driver we had arranged through the homestay we had booked into was patiently waiting for us with a name sign, and we were calmly ushered out to our taxi - a classic old Morris Ambassador. One initial impression however that proved to be true pretty much throughout Delhi was the fact that the airport and the majority of the city is currently under major construction, feeling very much like you have just arrived in the world’s largest building site.

No strangers to insane road and driving conditions after what we have experienced throughout this entire trip, India makes a valiant effort at taking the insanity to a new level. Rickshaw drivers have rearview mirrors on the inside of the vehicle purely for the purpose of being able to look at the passengers whilst talking to them when they really should be looking at where they are going. Not that it would make much of a difference as every mode of transport jostles in and out of one another and blindly pulls out onto every junction and roundabout. The only thing on the road that halts anyone’s chaotic progress is the presence of a stray cow wandering through the road. Being seen as holy in India, no one would dream of harming a cow, whereas another person...well that's just bad luck apparently…

Our first full day in Delhi marked the year to the day point since we left England heading for Mexico, how quickly that time has passed, but it's incredible to think of all we have seen and done on that time as well. So, to mark the occasion of the 1 year anniversary of our trip we head out into the 42 deg heat of dusty dirty Delhi and get our first taste of the incessant lies and rampant opportunism that seems to pretty much define Indian travel companies. Claire having been to India with work several times in the past, this came as no great surprise, and we were only entertaining the travel companies as a means of gathering information for what was on offer and what sort of prices things were before going off and organising it for ourselves.

Leanne had already spent a couple of months travelling around India with 2 friends, and had told us that, not unlike China and Vietnam, to ensure a seat on a train or bus you need to be booked up several days in advance, so after 3 travel companies had told us that there was no availability on the train to our next destination after Delhi, Agra, on anything other than their organised tours we made our way across town to the delights of New Delhi train station to find out for ourselves.

A seriously overcrowded and dirty 9 platform station, with entire families sat around with their entire worldly possessions and everywhere you look, hords of porters carrying an unfeasible amount of luggage on their heads and arms at the same time. Thanks to the fact that the toilets on the trains constitute nothing more than a hole in the bottom of the carriage, and there are no restrictions to using the toilets whilst the trains are in the stations, the mess in-between the tracks, the associated stench and the inevitable swarms of flies all around, make a pretty disgusting environment.

Anyway, after being told by numerous less than honest individuals that the official ticket office was no longer open in the station, and telling us we should follow them to the 'official office' (we politely declined their kind offers of leading us there), we found the official office inside the station (upstairs above platform 1 if anyone needs it) and proceeded to discover that there were in fact plenty of seats still available to Agra in 3 days time and we were also able to book our onward tickets for the next leg, Agra to Jaipur a couple of days after.

That afternoon Leanne also arrived in Delhi, so we all met up for a few drinks and a great meal of south Indian vegetarian food, which an Indian guy Leanne, Sonia and Charlotte had met on their train journey, guided us to. Delhi is hosting the 2010 commonwealth games this year, which is adding significantly to the construction that is going on and the main central point of the city, Connaught Place, is really being given the makeover treatment in preparation. Walking around it on our way to the restaurant in the dark with next to no street lighting felt more like being in Beirut than Delhi what with all the holes in the road and general destruction everywhere!

Although the temperature in Delhi is incredibly high, it is actually not as debilitating as the mid 30's heat of South East Asia as there is barely any humidity. Though this creates another problem in as much as everywhere is so dry the levels of dust are ridiculous. Coupled with the building site effect that is ever present, the minute you set foot outside you are dirty and have a permanent unquenchable thirst. Having a nice air conditioned room with cable TV at our accommodation, the ‘Incredible Homestay', we opted to spend the majority of the day indoors (which happened to be my birthday), while Leanne, Sonia and Charlotte spent the day in the same way as what we had the previous day, trying to arrange onward transport out of the building site. We all meet up again in the evening for a funny night of birthday celebrations, ending up in some funny Indian club, dancing away like a bunch of idiots with our new found buddies for the night. Being the only non Indians in the place, not to mention the fact there were no other woman in the club (apparently wasn't a gay bar either), we were all quite the centre of attention.

The following day Leanne Sonia and Charlotte caught a bus to their next destination, and we said goodbye for what will probably be the final time of this trip, until we are all back in England. Managing to drag ourselves out of the a/c'd room for a few hours, we made our way across town to Humayun's Tomb, the mausoleum that was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal, a beautiful and peaceful sanctuary in amongst the mayhem of Delhi, dating back to the late 1500's.

During the course of our couple of months we intend to spend in India we will probably end up coming back through Delhi a few times, so after a failed evening of trying to skype friends and family thanks to intermittent Internet availability, we woke up and jumped on the 7am train from another of Delhi’s delightful train stations to Agra.