The hustle and bustle of Old Delhi plus another great win

Today had two main objectives, find a certain restuarent for lunch and see hopefully another England win, fortunately both were easier to do than expected. After a lazy start to the day we headed north from our guest house to Old Delhi, a seathing mass of busy narrow lanes and yet again non stop horn honking.

 First stop was the Red Fort, very similar to the one in Agra as they were built by the same people it was similarly impressive but felt calmer which made a welcome change. After yet more photo opportunities it was back out onto the busy streets in search of what has been called the best curry house in the Asia and the world (Times magazine, Sunday Times).


Walking past some rather interesting sights, the meat market being the most unpleasent as people were cutting up sheeps heads by the side of the road, the general mele of business was relentless, we soon realised as seems to be often on this trip that once outside any tourist attraction we become the only western people around.

After a few stops to check the map and rickshaw drivers pointing the way, down a backstreet we found it, 'Karims' is as much an insitution as a restuarant. We got shown to a table in one of the several eating halls and studied the simple menu wondering quite what all the fuss could be about. Going for what we thought was relatively safe dishes in that we could recognise them slighly, the food was lovely, quite a different taste to what we have had so far, definately worth the time it took to find.

Once we'd made it back home and taken a brief siesta it was time agian to head up to the hockey, hoping today our driver would know how to get there, and he did, which with none of the expceted rush hour traiffc meant we just caught the end of the Australia vs South Africa  game. On this form there can be no doubt Australia are the team to beat, having started the tournament slowly, their now peaking at just the right time, 12-0 is a druppng in anyones books.

Next up the one we were there for, England vs Pakistan, starting off at a great pace, England looked the much more structured, using the width and controlling the game for much of it, some lovely breaks and crosses into the back post, combined with managing to keep Sohail out at the shorts meant a well deserved 5-2 win, the only issue being a big injury to Mantell who now misses the rest of the tournament.

Now the local team were up in what was really a must win game against Spain, the stadium was pretty much full and a very passionate crowd got behind their boys. As a spectator you have a develop an understanding that every cheer does not necessarily mean goal mouth action for the locals, every touch by one of their players, no matter what part of the pitch means a great roar from the crowd, this could be interesting when England play them on Saturday and my Dad and I may stand out from the rest of the crowd a little....should be fun:)

It's the big one!

Today was the big one in terms of sightseeing, a trip to Agra and the Taj Mahal, one of those must do's even if getting there sounded like as mission. Leaving our lodging's at 6am we headed out of Delhi still half asleep and any chance of catching a kip was gone as soon as we hit any sign of other cars, due to the way they drive out here. It seems when passing anything, it may even be a cow crossing the road, instead of just driving past, you have to honk your horn a lot, rather disturbing when your trying to nod off.

Making very good time, just 2hr 45mins we got to Agra and it was straight into the Taj Mahal, having heard about long queues and lots of hassle, our ease at which we got in was a nice surprise, might of just missed the crowds. It is exactly as you see in all the picturs yet the shear scale and story of how it came to be, make it even more special in person, 22 years in the making and when you see it up close you know why.

Having spent a couple of hours soaking up the Taj's charm it was down the road to Agra Fort, not as spectacular in detail but still impressive in terms of scale. With all the signtseeing for the day done and some lunch it was the mission back. This was definately a mission as hitting the outskirts of Delhi at rush hour was not much fun, I've no idea how or why anyone would want to do it day in day out, it really was horrific, in part due to the building of the new metro and road south of the city, I really hope they make a difference but probably not in time for the commonwealth games.

Tomorrow it's a trip to Old Delhi, hoping to find the infamous Kareem's for lunch and then England vs Pakistan, one we should again win, that's if we can look a bit more awake and keep Sohail away from any shorts.

PS: ....on our drive back from Agra our driver got caught speeding, the limit being 80km, a brief discussion with an army man and it seemed he was 400rupees over the limit, straight into the man's pocket and no receipt, nice little number if you can get it!;)

Day of two halves

Seems like I'm losing track of days and am a little behind but will try to get things back on schedule...yesterday was Tuesday which meant more hockey to see but first some sights and sounds of Delhi, it's handy having the games not starting till 4:30 in the afternoon, means plenty of time to take in the city beforehand.

First up after breakfast was a tut-tut ride south of the city to a more modern temple, the Lotus Template as were calling it (Bahá'í House of Worship is its real name). It was as beautiful inside as it looked from the outside, often compared to the Sidney Opera house for obvious reasons. 


Next it was the Qtab Minar which getting to took a bit more tut-tut negotiation than we've been used to in order to avoid going via someone's handicraft factory, but we stood to your guns and didn't get an unwelcome detour on the way. It was another lovely large piece of monument and templates in an older style and plenty of picture moments as seems to be the case on most of this trip so far.

Then there was the days hockey, England started off the days play against South Africa, a game I expected us to win but we made rather hard work of it and it ended up bit of a sloppy game with lots of goals at 6-4. I'm not sure if it was the heat being first on but England didn't really look up for it, again Hawes was creative in midfield but Mantell too inconsistent at the back, which if we make the later stages of the tournament will get punished.

Next up was Spain vs Pakistan and the less said about this the better, the first half was so dull and uneventful I'm sure I caught my dad dosing off at one point, at least a 2-1 win to Pakistan helps England out.


Then as it seems to always be the last game of the day was the hosts against Australia, local confidence was high after Saturdays win but this time reality struck, the Aussies were simply too strong and India only showed very brief spells of decent play, the 5-2 result being fair.

Tut-tuts and temples

Our morning started off with a nice breakfast with our host Pervez and a couple of fellow guests at our logdings for the week, Delhi Bed and Breakfast, with most of the talk about the previous days games and Holi. The festival of Holi seems to mainly involve getting coloured, so we took to the terrace to watch some of this going on, deciding to head out once it was safe around mid-day.

With no hockey matches on our agenda today we thought we'd get some sightseeing done and headed out to Humayun's tomb, the roads were nicely quiet and the parks packed with locals making the most of a day off. Inside it was a relief from the busy outside, Delhi seems a city of contrast from almost chaos on the roads and littered streets, to places of tranquillity and beauty.

The tomb and next on our excursion, Lodhi Gardens were in the later bracket, lovely well kept gardens, people playing cricket and enjoying the peacefulness. All this trekking around Delhi was done on what is the easiest way to get round, the auto-wallah or tut-tut, at around £1-£1.50 to get into town from where we are it's a rollarcoaster ride bargin. With some sightseeing done it was back to near where we are staying for a curry and then home to see Holland easily beat Argentina, although I thought they were a little dependant on two of their older stars, Vogel's in goal looking rock solid and Taekema's short corners proving deadly.

It's back for some more hockey tomorrow, a small matter of Endland vs South Africa, a game we'll be expecting to win but before that some more tombs and tut-tut's....of which one of our driver's today seemed to of had his Holi fun today.

Couldn't ask for a better first day of games

Having finally got to the stadium after being sent the long way round, the Spain vs South Africa game had just started and the stadium was still filling up. Spain were always the more inventive and used a lot more width which  told in the end, them coming out 4-2 winners.

Next up was England vs Australia, my hopes weren't high but with the crowd getting bigger and it cheering England on, something to do with Australia cheating in the cricket I thought we would have a chance. Although the opening play was mostly Australia we were always in it mostly on the break, our short corner defending was telling as the Australia on slought was kept out. As we grew with confidence in the game, the counter attacking style looked like it might pay off and with our short corners being converted and the home crowd behind us we came out deserved winners 3-2.

Now the big one, with the stadium virtually full, all 15,000 (somewhere around there), the crowd was very vocal, even the Indian national anthem reverberated around the ground as one voice. The small pockets of Pakistani supporters were trying there best but getting rather mocked and so the players seemed to find it hard going. India scored early on and even the master of the short corner Sohail Abbas couldn't find his way, putting two rockets onto the crossbar. So once they went 3-0 up just after the start of the second half so things were all over, its good the local team got through as hopefully this will help the support and the game develop into what it once was.

So quite a first day of games, pretty much what we could of wished for and to top it off a friend took us to a lovely curry house, not too spicy and very tasty.

It's Holi tomorrow so it may mean not going out till midday to avoid getting coloured at least a well deserved lie in can be had.

Delhi we have landed!

Overnight we did around 750miles, had several lovely meals, breakfast and all for £45 each, imagine trying to get from London to Glasgow for that much, it couldn't be done.

Our arrival in Delhi was the shock the guide books had warned us about, the New Delhi Station is pretty grim, even before we got off the train, people were offering to take our bags and then the offers of taxis came flooding in...no, no, no, we decided to stick to our guns and battled through to the pre-paid autos, at 30rupees it was a bargin.

So far this trip there's been lots of waiting, seems to just be how it is out here, getting our hockey tickets was no difference, an hours wait for them to open and then we needed a photocopy of our passports, luckily a nice army guy also had the same problem and so off we went and finally we had our hockey tickets...well all except the final, got to go back for those in a weeks time....and if anyone is looking forward to some photos of the games later I'm afriad there won't be any, no cameras, mobiles or beer in the stadium at all....your just have to beleive me that I was there really:)

Just a few hours now till the first game and a little longer till the big one: India vs Pakistan

Mumbai - City of Horns

We made it in at a very early hour lastnight after reaching Mumbai on time but not being allowed to actually land for hour, maybe a sign of things come.

The flight was nothing I expected, probably helped by the fact it was only half full, but the food was probably the best I've ever had in flight, lovely service, loads of room, I take all of my preconceived conceptions of Air India back!

The brief part of Mumbai we've seen is constant traffic to some it up, some interesting driving, the use of horns is relentless, don't reckon the traffic police department can be of any size at all.

Having made it to the central station, we dropped off our bags and headed for a walk along the streets, some lovely sights, the odd cow drawn cart, a mele of noises and little street businesses all getting on with their daily ruotine....oh and I forgot to mention the heat! Apprently it's around 37degrees today and it certainly feels like it.

Not long now to get on the Radhjani Express for our overnight experience, looking forward to it...next stop Delhi!