One day in New Delhi

Our Air India flight from Bangalore to New Delhi was very good. Not too late leaving, great in-flight service, and quick and efficient arrival procedure.

The welcome awaiting passengers upon exiting the airport takes a little getting used to. There are hundreds and hundreds of people holding name cards up, ready to whisk arriving passengers through the New Delhi night to their hotel.

We found our man, or rather identified ourselves as matching the names on his sign, and he needled his way through the crowd to take our bags. Then it was up to us to keep up with him, as he filed through the crowd, left the airport, and wound his way through the maze of cars to one for which he apprently held the keys.

The view from the Park hotel

Street scenes taken on the move through Delhi

There are so many sensory experiences in India, and pictures can only begin to share some of what it is like. Here are a few of my favourite shots.

According to the locals, the air pollution has improved greatly since the introduction of natural gas buses. On the buses is hand-painted the tagline, "Powered by clean fuel", attesting to just that. Below is a bus, crammed with public transportation patrons, and jammed in between the bus lane and ours are wedged an auto rickshaw and a motorcycle.

The check-in queues at the New Delhi International Airport were impressive, but we actually were processed pretty quickly. Departure time was 1:55am, which is planned so late in order that the Zurich airport will be open by the time we land. I skipped dinner and breakfast in favour of my attempt at sleeping, which worked pretty effectively.

Back in Zurich, I checked into the Arrival Lounge to freshen up, and headed out to the bus terminals to take me the 8 minutes to the office. Time to put in that full day's work.