Delhi Day 1

We’ve gone. Finally, after all the months of preparation, our trip round the world has started in earnest. This is the first instalment of our travel diary, and we’ll update it as often as we can find a decent internet connection.

The flight from Heathrow to Delhi was uneventful, apart from an hour’s delay at take-off due to the snow. The weather here in Delhi is a very comfortable 24°C, cloudless skies and bright sun. We are, of course, heartbroken to be missing out on all the fun you must be having in England, making snowmen and practising skid control on the A31.

We have decided that it was a mistake to pay large sums of money to upgrade to Premium Economy. The in-flight difference is not enough to warrant the extra cost. We were slightly surprised to find that the service on Virgin is no better than on other airlines.

And so far we have spectacularly missed out on the Authentic Indian Experience. Our tour of the famous sites and sights starts tomorrow, and we were intending to spend this afternoon exploring the centre of New Delhi. However, as a result of some unfathomable cock-up by the tour operator, the city centre hotel which we had been promised, has been replaced by one 20km from Delhi in a dreary suburb. The hotel itself is fine, but it’s in the middle of nowhere. But we were assured by the hotel staff that there was a wonderful place to take in some local colour and do some shopping only a short taxi ride away.

In a way, I suppose, they were right. It was an Indian facsimile of the Blue Water Shopping Mall, complete with Marks and Spencer, Debenhams, Macdonalds, Pizza Hut and KFC. In keeping with its obviously British flavour, the only one missing was Woolworths. Never mind; we had a nice beer that turned out to be German. At first we thought it looked quite good value, but by the time the bastards had added 20% VAT and 10% service, we could almost have flown to Munich for a similar experience.

So we have yet to taste the authentic delights of India, apart from an extremely good curry this evening. But all this should change tomorrow with our scheduled visit to various sites in Delhi in the morning, followed by the journey to Agra.

Actually, there is one other Indian delight we have been sampling – the driving. They all drive beaten-up small cars in a manner that reminds us of our experiences in Palermo. Although in India the cars nominally drive on the left, this appears to be optional. They drive on whichever part of the road seems to afford the least resistance to their passage. Horns blaring, lights flashing, they cut each other up merrily. This is all very well during daylight hours, but as soon as night falls it becomes something out of a horror film. Neither the bicycles nor the mopeds nor the rickshaws carry lights. Few of the cars have lights that work. And, of course, lords of all they survey, the sacred cows amble along the main roads oblivious to the mayhem they cause. Indian driving is sheer pandemonium, wonderful to watch, and a cause of much mirth.

The real deal gets under way tomorrow.

Watch this space…