New Delhi, India- Ajay Guest House

Well it was a sad farewell in Manchester James' flight was late arriving into London so had to rush to catch the India flight just in time

We arrived late in Delhi after a long 9hr flight; James didn't get much sleep before leaving for his flight and so was exhausted! We checked in at 2am and slept until 2pm! Then we checked out the local area around our hotel which was crazy! So hot 40C, touts everywhere trying to sell you anything for "a special price for you sir" Also tried to catch us out at railway station A guy in official clothes asked us for our tickets However James noticed that no one else was being asked by him for their tickets A lucky escape as someone else we spoke to later had followed his request to buy a train ticket outside the station and was held up for over 90 mins being told no tickets there so would have to go to another ticket office by their cheap tuktuk and so on!

Then off to Connaught Place, the happening place of Delhi for the young lots of shops etc and we even checked out McDonalds for a McTandori! Didn't want to risk the Delhi Belly so soon!

Next day 17th woke late, surprise surprise for James
Off to Jama Masjid (Largest Muslim Mosque in India) but just as we arrived it closed for lunch prayers So off to the Red Fort. A very impressive red sandstone fort built by the Rajs in the 16th century Hefty entry fee of 250 ruppees (just gone up of course) instead of local price of 5! Very impressive buildings inside where the Rajs met their subjects Then back to the mosques and time to check out some local cuisine before bed Very nice food it was too

18th Off to Parliament building and metro by very impressive new metro, however Indians very paranoid of terrorists and so Have to have our backpacks xrayed each time you go in and have a body search after going through a metal detector! Briefly visited secretary general of the Red Cross to ask about voluntary work but realised he didn't have contacts for orphanages Then proceeded to get lost again, yes James got lost! He couldn't get anyone to tell him where he was on the map! Had to check out the Meridien Hotel in the process to get directions, amazing to see how the rich Indians live! Next we saw the impresive Indian Parliament buildings and the Presidents Palace on the impressive avenue Jahpath down to India Gate

19th Mariana woke with Delhi Belly after drinking some suspect water from a restaurant Luckily it didn't last too long and managed to get to an amazing Hindu temple called Lakshmi Narayan Mandir Great to see the shines and people worshiping their gods

We then rushed back to guesthouse to pack and catch the afternoon bus to Manali The promised "Volvo" bus turned out to be not quite as luxurious as we were shown in the photos and we had to put with a loud Bollywood movie in Hindi and freezing a/c but all in all not a bad journey