Take Off to Touch Down - 22 Hours

We arrived in Delhi 22 hours after leaving LA. China Airlines is excellent - strongly recommend it for travel anywhere in Asia.

Our hotel here in Delhi, The Imperial, is the oldest 5 star hotel in India and it is a colonial masterpiece "museum hotel". Famous artwork adorns the hallways and public areas.

We haven't seen much of Delhi yet, but first impressions on the drive from Indira Gandhi International Airport were interesting, chaotic and definitely "developing" world. They are in the midst of building a new set of airport terminals - needed very badly. The current terminal is decrepit and we came in a slow time of the day. Nighttime it is a mob scene here as that's the time most flights arrive from Europe and take off to points east and west.

On top of the airport construction, they are building a new train line from central Delhi to the airport. As a consequence, the airport road is a mess of traffic, construction equipment, and people.

When we stepped outside from the airport terminal, we immediately saw a fleet of three wheeled taxis. They call them auto rickshaws here in India. In southeast Asian countries we have visited, they are called tuk-tuks. The big difference here in India is that they run on CNG - compressed natural gas, instead of kerosene as they do in Thailand. My first thought was that we were going to climb in one to travel to our hotel. No way! We had a nice (albeit 15 year old) minibus.

It is true what they say about the cows being sacred in India; they walk in the street and the cars just navigate around them. There are plenty of beggars who tap on the windows of the taxi when it is stopped, but all in all, so far it has been pretty amazing. Touring the city tomorrow, pictures to follow.