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!

Nearly lift off!

Bit of early start 3:30am but Air India check-in went without a hitch, now to see what the state of the plane is like!

Just seen the forecast for when we land...20degrees at night! 35 in the day! Going to be bit of a shock from the cold and rain we're leaving behind, not that I'm complaining at all.

Next step Mumbai:)

6 days to go...and counting!

Now what have I forgotten to get?

Seems everything is coming together just in time, even with a couple of last minute panics over not being able to take Rupees into India, and noticing that the trains I had booked weren't all confirmed seats. Not a problem though it seems with the trains, as friends have said just board them anyway, definitely need to get myself into the local way of thinking as soon as possible.

Only four more days of work to survive, a potentially interesting Air India flight, hoping it's not as bad as some of  the reviews I've seen, an overnight train on the Radjani Express to Delhi and it'll be the opening day of the Hockey World Cup.

It's interesting reading the local press suggesting India are aiming for a semi-final place but with only the top two teams from the group going through it really could be anyone's, only Australia stand out, leaving five other teams potentially looking for that second spot, not an easy one to predict.

Considering England are the European Champions after their win in August last year over the more fancied Germany, we may be an outside bet but I don't think the crowds or the heat will favour us too much.