Swimming With the Eagles

The blog title just about sums up the madness of the last 24 hours.  Yesterday afternoon at this time we had just managed to complete packing the rucksacks – it was a bit of a push, but we managed to get everything in that we wanted.

Then we bid fairwell to Reading, got on the bus to Heathrow and arrived at Terminal 3 at 7pm.  Virgin Atlantic had given us an upgrade to Upper Class for £50 plus some air miles, so we decided to go for it.  Possibly our last bit of luxury for a while, and it was very enjoyable.  The service and comfort were excellent – and then we arrived in Delhi!

Fortunately the Upper Class flight allowed us to get through security quickly and we could then buy some rupees.  Then we left the security of the airport…  We booked an air-conditioned taxi at a booth to the centre of Delhi for 470 rupees (£5), and after trying to actually locate it, we then queued and queued and queued in the Delhi traffic.

It was good that we booked the air-conditioned taxi because it kept the driver cool, whilst we sweltered in the back in 36 degrees of heat.  In fact he only put the air-conditioning on after half an hour because “it’s not very hot today”!  We were also partially deafened by him beeping at every other vehicle on the road – not sure why, but the driver took solace in it.

After 70 minutes of chaos we got to the lovely LaLit Hotel.  Or it would be lovely except for the circus that ensued because the local cricket team in the Indian Premier League is staying here.  So we escaped to the swimming pool for a while.  We wondered why there was a net over the whole pool and then realised there were eagles flying above us; so we were literally “swimming with the eagles”.  It just sums everything up quite neatly.

At around 5pm we thought we would brave a trip to the centre, so we headed out towards Connaught Circus, which is a shopping and restaurant district – think Macdonalds goes to Whitley.  Bizarrely we bumped into someone from the hotel who advised us not to go there as it was “dangerous” and got us in an auto rickshaw to a shopping emporium instead.

We were expecting the Oracle but got Southall on market day instead.  Therefore we walked all the way back through the “dangerous” streets and took in all the sights and sounds.  Obviously it wasn’t dangerous at all as we passed people selling lentils, sweets, mobile phones and hundreds of rickshaws.  I think the locals just think that tourists can’t cope with ordinary day to day Delhi, but it’s fine – just madly hectic.

We survived our trek and are now considering our options.  As we are still a bit tired we will probably eat our first Indian meal in the hotel and have an early night ready for the rest of Delhi tomorrow….