Arrived in Delhi on 3rd Jan 2017. Booked into the Zostel hostel in an interesting part of town near the New Delhi railway station.

I had originally wanted to visit Amritsar as well but I was still feeling pretty rough having been ill over Christmas. Spent the most of the week in parks reading. I started off in and around Connaught Place.

Found my way out of the No 1 tourist trap to the much more interesting Lodi Gardens with its old tombs.

Finally started to feel better about halfway through the week and set off on the real tourist trail starting with the Red Fort.

Another favourite was the Secretariat buildings which were part of Lutyens plan for New Delhi. Although surrounded by multiple security barriers and soldiers they were quite happy for me to have a wander around.

Security was a bit tighter at the Rashtrapati Bhaven (President’s House) so I just had a look through the gates (on a rather grey day).

I carried on down the Rajpath (the grand parade linking India Gate to the Government offices) which was being prepared for the Republic Day parades on 26th Jan.

Finally making it to India Gate and the Canopy behind it. The Canopy used to have a statue of King George V but this was removed in the 60’s.

I didn’t purchase any of the fast food offerings available.

I also visited several museums including the Government and National Railways museums.  I came across several different transport options (not all still in use). I opted to either walk of take a Tuk Tuk (up to 5km for less than £1 with some negotiating).

I’m not a big shopping fan but I did investigate the options from of the Janpath Market near Connaught Place.

To the more upmarket options such as the shops a Khan Market – of which Good Earth was a particular favorite (www.GoodEarth.in).

I spent the last couple of days wandering around the old city and look at some of the old temples (no photography allowed) and decaying architecture.

Not much to report on the inner city wild life front except numerous stray dogs and squirrels (or something similar).

On my last day in Delhi I met up with Sandy Kalsi who I hadn’t seen since 1998. I used to work with Sandy at Text 100. He left soon after I did. He spent quite a bit of time in Delhi setting up Text 100’s Indian office. He is know using his Indian knowledge running 3 separate digital startups!

I flew out of Delhi on 9th Jan. I had finally recovered from the virus I had over Christmas and was feeling much better until Starbucks gave me a glass of tap water (it should have been mineral water) on my last day – more to follow on this later!