2006-12-12
And here we are in Delhi! The trip went well. We set foot in another world…

Leaving our families was very difficult. We got on the plane feeling already a little homesick, everybody we loved being left behind. We will miss you a lot.

The flight to London had a 15 minute delay, but besides that, there was nothing special to point out. On the other hand, after passing through the security check in socks, we had to run like crazy to get to the boarding gate in time. The airport’s corridors seemed endless! All that trouble for finally leaving 1h15 later than scheduled :).

Only after boarding on the plane (a large Boeing 747-400) did we realize that our seats were far away one from the other and on different rows. Luckily enough, the nice bearded Indian guy having a turban on his head agreed to switching seats. Thanks to that, we were able to spend 7h37 of flight one next to the other.

With an individual LCD screen with 16 channels, games and radio… you don’t really have the time to get bored. On the other hand, falling asleep was a totally different story.

Arrival in Delhi at 06:00 local time (01:30 in Belgium). We had to fill up an immigration form (the guy Hugues borrowed the pen to actually left with it) and we found our luggage in perfect condition. Yuppie! Luckily enough, the driver from the hostel we’d ordered was still waiting for us (after 3 hours of waiting).

We came out of the airport. We had arrived in another world. It looked like in the movies. Everything was under a blanket of fog, there were old cars and gloomy light everywhere… The taxi starts off (after having stalled :)). Visibility: 10 meters ahead maximum. By adding that to a speed far from being reasonable, honks, driving on the left side and the absence of safety belts, you can see why the drive was far from being relaxing :). Luckily enough, there was Indian pop music on the radio that set our minds off things :).

The sun rises (and so does the fog) during our drive and we enter Delhi. People sleeping in the street, among cows and dogs, auto-rickshaws weaving in and out between people, honking and rapidly crossing intersections even at the red light: those were the first images that made us realize that the journey had really begun.

The hostel is nice. The room is small but clean, with an en suite bathroom. While waiting for our room to get ready (we woke up the hostel personnel by arriving at 07:30), we made our first acquaintances. Dan, an American from Michigan, a couple from Holland (well, yes, knowing Dutch can come in handy even in India), and two Canadians.

Now, though very tired, we’ll go check out what’s around the hostel for the first time.

Thanks for all your comments, it’s nice to hear from you.

See you soon (for the rest of the story)!

This text has been voluntarily translated from French by Cristina Lumezeanu. Big thanks to her! If you think there is a translation mistake, don’t hesitate to contact us.