Chuffing 'eck....it's not like Filey!!!

So, I've finally arrived...my journey has truly begun!!I can hardly believe it, after all these years of dreaming, hoping and praying that one day I would be able to travel I am here! Not after a rather dramatic start...Jet Airways had technical difficulties and so had a smaller plane available...making them over booked by 90 people!!They were begging people if they could change flights to a BA flight to Mumbai leaving only an hour later and then a connecting domestic flight to Delhi, making me arrive around 6 hours later than originally planned.... but .....for your trouble £400 hard cash in your hands.....too good to be true I thought seen as I only paid £260 for my flight in the first place!But it turns out they were that desperate.....so with 50 pound notes stuffed in my knickers I headed off for Mumbai!

26 hours after closing the door on my Nottingham home and I had arrived!Nothing can prepare you for those first moments in an Asian city.I had a pre paid transfer booked....easy you would think....perhaps not!!!There must have been a hundred people all stood pushing and shoving in one small area, all with different names on their cards....eventually I found my driver...who seemed rather pleased with his winnings!!

Delhi roads really are something else.....'Rules are there are no rules' my driver explained.....never has a truer word been said!!Drivers straddle lanes, don't indicate, cut each other up....all of which would be bad enough but this is all happeninga mere inches from cyclists, pedestrians, rickshaws and more!!

After arriving at my hotel I realised that I had made my first huge mistake.....I had bought the wrong kind of adaptors for India....and my phone was about to die at any moment!Worst yet it was just about to turn dark....I asked the receptionist where I could buy one...he gave me sketchy directions and sent me off into the night......down dark aisles full of young men, along pot holed roads with not a lot of anything, with no sign off any shops which sold anything but MOT's, car radios or tobacco....so.....feeling rather panicked and a slightly watery eyed I headed back, annoyed at myself for been such a fanny and at the manager for been so useless.The jet lag and realisation of what I had done was sinking in and making me emotional.....I NEEDED to get an adaptor or I could have had a meltdown right on the reception desk!!The lovely porter spent ages trying all sorts of things until he found me one.....and with that I powered up and text those I love to say I was here safe and sort of sound!!

On Friday morning after a good sleep and feeling ready to fight the world I enquired what the best way to see the city was.....taxi I was told.....here I go I thought,.....the very thing that Lonely Planet has been warning me about.....turns out to be a bargain!I had a car with private driver to take me to all of the main sights for up to 8 hours....for 900 RPS...that's just of 15 snips.....!!The lovely helpful driver took me to the Ghandi museum....this is the place where he spent his last days and was assassinated.....a beautiful, tranquil place.It also gave me a taste for things to come.....my visit coincided with a visit of about 100 young college boys!!!They were taking pictures of me, asking for me number and claiming I looked like a Bollywood star....all very strange!!

From here we went to see the Government buildings, bazaars, Shari Burji, the Lotus Temple, and many other weird sights along the way...from the beautiful....wild monkeys swinging in the trees above us....to the weird.....a man s***ting into the guttering at the side of the road.....but aiming it down one of the drainage pipes!!! YACK!!!

I made friends with an Indian guy on the flight and he invited me out for dinner tonight.We went to a shopping mall on the outskirts of Delhi which could have been in Scarborough,...... with a Marks and Spencers, French Connection and so on.We ate at a German/Austrian bar which makes and serves its own beer.The Rockman chain have huge vats of beer which they brew on site, the drinks come in litres glasses and can have original, extra strong, wheat and black (stout).....they were pretty strong and considering i hadn't eaten since breakfast i was soon feeling a little woo!!! We had a lovely evening although i think i was naive in what i thought was a friendship with Richard, he was a pure gent but asked to hold my hand on the way home and kept calling me sweetheart!!As he was so Western in his dress and chat I presumed he was in his attitudes also.I stupidly thought that he would realise that I was only interested in friendship.......clearly not!!The night ended very awkwardly but he was the gent to the end, although i've learnt my lesson with Indian men.....!!!

I meet my group tomorrow at 5pm so will finally have someone to talk to.....i hope there at least semi normal and theres some people on there who are after having a good time...falling asleep on important people and been sick on anything which doesn't move....will soon see!!