First stop Delhi..

Room with a view - View from my hotel room in Delhi!!!

Beware I am not the most articulate & my spelling is bound to be atrocious!

Arrival at Delhi airport at 2.30am ...

I was slightly concerned when the pick up wasnt waiting for me, i looked at all the signs & there wasnt one with my name on! Then i realised i didnt have the address of the hotel & had a number but i had v.little juice on my phone! I then got a pre paid taxi but the driver was asking me if i had pre booked my hotel, a scam of drivers is to take you to a diff hotel where they charge you more! urrr i was a little worried as it was 3am & v.dark & i had no clue about anything. Then i remembered that i didnt have my yoga mat, most annoying I must have left it on my first flight from frankfurt! Doh! My annouance over loosing something so precious already over took my worry for my safety! Anyway I got to the hotel & basically slept & then did yoga until 5pm. Its so nice to think I dont have to do anything! So i didnt rush to get out into the chaos of Delhi! I did miss my blackberry at the airport when I could have done with google to get the address of the hotel!

First lesson - letting go & not attaching myself to my belongings!! Even though it was my trusty yoga mat that has been all over the world & my mum bought me 9 years ago, hahahah . It wasnt meant to be on this trip though!

Feeling tired... Sunday 18th Oct ...

I am writing this now after my 2nd day in Delhi..... I am currently planning my escape.... the car horns, the humidity, the constant hum of traffic, the need for the hotel to book you on tours constantly..... Umm I am looking forward to getting somewhere a little more relaxing.. (Rishikesh (yogatastic) or Dharmasala (Dali Lama lives & the charity is) is my hard decision of the moment!! What a tough time i am having!!)

However, I was able to celebrate Diwalli, which was my goal since listening to my previous colleagues in Bangalore celebrating last year & here I am one year on! That, an achievement in itself, so i sat on the roof top of my hotel & watched & listened to the whole of Delhi go off around me. That morning the newspaper commented about not allowing children to tie firecrackers to dogs tails, it also had a kind of green cross code to Diwalli, about safety apparently & how rag kids (street kids that make money from rubbish) would make upto 150 ruppees (2pounds approx) at Diwalli for wrappings they collect, an increase for them apparently! I was glad to be on a roof top, as I was joined by other guests of the hotel watching down as people let fireworks off at cars, people & generally anywhere across the city. It was crazy but a good noisy experience...

Delhi really seems to be chaos that works, at roundabouts everyone pulls out in front of one another, pedestrians don't hurry across roads even though a tuck tuck could take them out at any moment! There are people sleeping in the middle of motorways, on roundabouts, kids as young as 2 wandering around the roads begging. It really does break your heart but yet all seems part of normal Delhi life. Myself & some fellow tourists headed for Akshardham temple today however being the Sunday of Diwalli so did most of the hindu population of Delhi! It was so busy there were huge queues to put your bags in, where you had to leave all valuables (left at your own risk) & seperately take out batterys from cameras & phones, very odd but maybe due to possible bombs i guess. The queues were so big that we decided it was a day for the locals & swiftly left the area to sit in our very hot & sticky taxi! Then we headed to Humayuns Tomb, built by his wife & the Taj Mahal was based on this building! As far as tombs go it seemed very grand, dont ask me about Humayuns as I am still none the wiser as to who he was, hahaha. However the building was impressive although looked like it was eroding & needed some restoration! I decided whilst looking round it that I am not really in the mood for lots of tourists sights as i really just want to chill, to stop & do yoga, mediate & sleep & let the realisation of what i have done hit me.... NO More Cisco, hahaha.

I think it will take me a while for me to wean myself off having access to the internet day & night.... I found myself getting frustrated earlier because the connection in the hotel is so slow & I have to sit behind the reception to go on-line. I have been drawn to the computer 3 x today, oh dear! & i have missed my blackberry again.... Will I be able to let go of these attachments.... Once I get somewhere where I can practice i do hope so!