gooooooooood morning Dehli!!!!

Finally after a 8 hour flight with good food and a confy chair...we've arrived in the big City. Stepping through the doors out of the lovely air-conditioned airport, into the furnace of Delhi. Thousands of people, loud, cows chilling on the road, smell of spice and food, sweat, poo.....boooooooom an explosion of senses.

After finding a hotel and sleeping in a small puddle of our own sweat a bit, we went out to find some food and discover the city. We randomly strolled through the city (new delhi), which is really difficult to do when you don't know your way around cos EVERYONE wants to give you a lift or tell you where you should go. We are being stared at alot, and it surprised us how few tourists there are. Loads of young men practising their english with us.. hello sir, hello sir, hello sir, hello sir (no differentiation between sexes by the way - infact I think most of the ladies think Katie is a man cos she is wearing brown trousers, which for some reason they are finding hilarious... note to self ... get some brightly coloured hippy gear before we leave) ... can become quite tedious after a while! Anyway, we managed to do one of the tourist sites called the Red fort, basically a massive load of marble buildings surrounded by a big red wall (from some important Emperor dude who had far too much money). Inside we were asked for pictures and posed for the curious Indians. It was like being in the zoo... very odd, but I guess we do the same, a bit.

The best bit, a rickshaw drive through the markets at night.......It was amazing. The city comes alive at night, as it is too bloody hot during the day. We gun it through the packed streets, which by now are pitch black as the sun went down really fast. It is loud, people are screaming their offers, selling everything that we really need to add to our already excruciatingly heavy rucksacks...(I should have listened to all the advice from our friends - "you don't need all that crap!") anyone for a wind up helicopter toys, leather whips, snake charmer, flutes, dresses, pipes, food, spices?.... The smell of spices, poo and animals surrounds us, our rickshaw driver/tour guide points out every mosque, temple, church and building of religious significance...we are in awe, our jaws are dropped and we can only stare at this phenomenal scene.

We got chucked off our rickshaw, cos I think the poor bloke was completely knackereed, and walked the rest of the way home, through the rats and cats and dogs and goats and cows and all their related effluent... (katie did actually tread on a rat, it was fat and furry and not very nice on my flip-flopped foot!).

So now we're just chilling in this air-conditioned internet cafe, we've just killed about 2 litres of water each in the last two hours, eaten a selection of yummy Indian dishes and now I must go and buy some brightly coloured hippy clothing in order to feel like a proper traveller!

Loads of love to everyone, until the next exciting enstallment....
Katie and Seb

Stool status: Firm. (no problems to report)