Old Delhi

On Tuesday we made our way back down from the Himalaya by taxi and we now have conclusive evidence that not all Indian taxi drivers are dangerous psychopathic head cases with a death wish. On the two and a half hour drive down from McLeod Ganj back to Pathankot we never once feared for our lives, which is a first on the roads of India. This enabled us to get a good nights sleep on the overnight train to Delhi.

The best way to describe Delhi would be dirty and chaotic, particularly Old Delhi where our hotel is. We're staying at a place called Tara Palace which is one of the nicer hotels we've stayed in since we arrived in India. The rooms are really nice and clean but ours has no windows on the outside world. This would normally be a problem but being as it saves us a having to look at the mess and chaos outside it isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The area where our hotel is, Chandi Chowk, is incredibly chaotic and crammed full of lots of
bazaars and markets. On our first day here had a very strange encounter with a gang of rather unconvincing sari clad transvestites demanding menaces from the local chemists!

The biggest tourist attraction in Delhi is probably the Red Fort, which is only a stones throw away from our hotel.

The fort was completed in 1648 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and was also used as the headquarters of the British army during the days of the empire.

We were joined on our trip around the fort by Chip and Dale.

The other big attraction of Old Delhi is the Jama Masjid mosque which was built in 1658.

Although the mosque was fairly interesting in itself, the best thing about the visit was the ridiculous outfit they made Liz ware . . .