Arrivals

Smyle Inn, Delhi

It's nearly the end of our first full day. I haven't found myself yet.

Arrived yesterday, via a disappointingly western Dubai and a one-and-a-half hour wait to get through passport control upon landing at Indira Gandhi International. Took a tiny, decrepid black Suzuki taxi ride to our hotel just off the main bazaar. That half-hour journey alone showed me a dozen new sights; donkeys grazing roadside, a family of three riding a motorbike with the toddler peeking over the handlebars, two-lane carriageways taking cars five-abreast. After check-in we took a stroll around the surrounding area we took a stroll, had some food and collapsed.

Today saw National Museum and Gandhi memorial and chilled in Lodi Gardens in the afternoon. Still waiting for the first disaster. The only slight problem so far is the ubiquity of overbearing salesmen desperate to sell their particular goblets (backgammon sets are a bizarre favourite) or lead you to a particular tourist site where they get commission. The best tactic, apprently, is to avoid eye contact and ignore everything they say. This I can do.

A highlight today was a small beturbaned bag-seller hearing me speaking English and exclaiming "Alright geezer" in a passable Cockney accent.

Chadders, you never prescribed a code phrase but if you had done I would not have needed it yet. Also, they have cheesecake in a German bakery down the street.

Congratulations to the Tooting Premier League champions.

Over