Namaste

The high-rises, slums and rivers of tuk-tuk unfold 30 meters below me as the plane comes into land. It seems like the runway is never going to appear. More houses... cars... ah, there it is. I get off the plane and straight through security then out into searing (compared to -10 in the UK) heat. Immediately greeted by a smiling driver from the Anjali hostel i'm bundled into a car and we head off into the madness. This is culture shock at its greatest. Did i make the right choice coming to India first? Maybe i should've warmed up in South East Asia.

I cannot sleep sitting up, so had no sleep whatsoever on the flight over. I get to the hostel and start chatting to a tall, long-haired chap from Cornwall. He suggests going out, checking out a Hari Krishna temple. Why not! Seems pointless to sleep now. The hostel is 200m back from the main road. A dusty side street, a few kiosks, some dogs and laughing children. We exit the side street onto mayhem. A trillion tuk-tuk's, cars, people, animals, revving, talking, barking, beeping. BEEPING! The pollution is intoxicating and headache inducing but the whole scene is utterly fascinating. I often found myself staring:  "how on earth is this possible??" We get a tuk-tuk to the temple, the driver gleeful that he'd found some westerners to rip-off. Not in a bad way, he felt opportunity knock. Constantly haggling your price before, during and after becomes tiresome after a while but if you have a general idea of journey length a good estimate can be made, and stuck to. After the temple and a beach walk with the locals and their actual pet dogs we haggle back through the carnage to the hostel.

I woke up 13 hours later, head on kindle.