Wow... so yeh. Lets start with the plane. Seeing as neither of us had been on a long haul flight in... 10 years we werent sure what to expect. However, after finding out at Heathrow the airline had overbooked our flight, we were placed in seats with heaps of legroom, an incredible entertainment system and complimentary G&T's throughout the flight. So after enjoying 8 hours of comfort, we didn't have time to appreciate that we were now in one of the most culturally different countries on the planet! After arrival at the airport we were flagged down by our pleasant taxi driver who when we asked how he knew who we were (almost too quickly) he quoted "you look like the sort of person with a double-barreled surname. First impressions of Delhi were somewhat a little unnerving, being driven at what seemed like 70 in the middle of the road, weaving in and out to overtake traffic. Arrival at the hostel down dusty streets at 3am with stray dogs and even the odd cow walking next to us made us slightly apprehensive. In addition we had to wake up the receptionist who didnt seem remotely impressed at our choice of arrival time and so put us in a standard room next to the doorway... until they realised we'd paid for a 'duluxe' room so hasitly moved us upstairs, much to our delight (bigger room, tv, and considerably cleaner).
Day one in Delhi. Despite having prepared ourselves for a dramatic culture shock, what we woke up to blew away our expectations. Having slept in until 10.30, we caught breakfast, consisting of mango juice (EPIC) an egg sandwich and Cornflakes before braving the busy and hectic streets on the Main Bazaar, situated just outside our window. After booking a train to Jaipur, and a tour of Delhi tomorrow, we stepped outside, immediately having to avoid heavily bearded motorcyclists and rickshaws driving down the narrow alleyways. Once we managed to guide our way onto the Main Bazaar we were bombarded by touts, trying to take our train tickets away in exchange for "cheaper" ones, until we met... Sunny! Sunny told us he was learning English and his teacher told him to talk to tourists. Obviously we were at first very cautious however after we got chatting it was relatively clear his intent was goodwilled and he wasnt trying to con us. He showed us to a fantastic cafe about 5 mins from our hostel and even joined us for our first indian lunch. Which James enjoyed... Tim not so much, however it'll have to be something to used to. After that first hectic adrenalin rush of only around an hour in the Bazaar we were exhausted (+jetlag) so we decided to take it easy and have a siesta. We braved it all again around 5pm for dinner and ended up going back to the same restaurant Sunny showed us to, because it was the only one that seemed relatively clean, and also well priced (less than a quid each) mainly because we were overcome by the number of people invading our personal space. We settled for naan and and a much more agreeable cheese, onion and herb stuffed naan, which went down well.
So now we're planning an early nights sleep to then go on a tour of Delhi tomorrow at 9am with a personal driver before heading off to Jaipur in the afternoon.
All in all it's been an insane first impression of delhi despite the fact that it has been initially stressful, an interesting and eye-opening day to say the least.
Bring on tomorrow!
Internet is rather intermittent but will try to update in Jaipur.
Much love as always,
James and Tim
xxxx
Day one in Delhi. Despite having prepared ourselves for a dramatic culture shock, what we woke up to blew away our expectations. Having slept in until 10.30, we caught breakfast, consisting of mango juice (EPIC) an egg sandwich and Cornflakes before braving the busy and hectic streets on the Main Bazaar, situated just outside our window. After booking a train to Jaipur, and a tour of Delhi tomorrow, we stepped outside, immediately having to avoid heavily bearded motorcyclists and rickshaws driving down the narrow alleyways. Once we managed to guide our way onto the Main Bazaar we were bombarded by touts, trying to take our train tickets away in exchange for "cheaper" ones, until we met... Sunny! Sunny told us he was learning English and his teacher told him to talk to tourists. Obviously we were at first very cautious however after we got chatting it was relatively clear his intent was goodwilled and he wasnt trying to con us. He showed us to a fantastic cafe about 5 mins from our hostel and even joined us for our first indian lunch. Which James enjoyed... Tim not so much, however it'll have to be something to used to. After that first hectic adrenalin rush of only around an hour in the Bazaar we were exhausted (+jetlag) so we decided to take it easy and have a siesta. We braved it all again around 5pm for dinner and ended up going back to the same restaurant Sunny showed us to, because it was the only one that seemed relatively clean, and also well priced (less than a quid each) mainly because we were overcome by the number of people invading our personal space. We settled for naan and and a much more agreeable cheese, onion and herb stuffed naan, which went down well.
So now we're planning an early nights sleep to then go on a tour of Delhi tomorrow at 9am with a personal driver before heading off to Jaipur in the afternoon.
All in all it's been an insane first impression of delhi despite the fact that it has been initially stressful, an interesting and eye-opening day to say the least.
Bring on tomorrow!
Internet is rather intermittent but will try to update in Jaipur.
Much love as always,
James and Tim
xxxx
Very entertaining.. glad you're both safe and sound and enjoying it :)
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Love Sophie, MK&DK xx