Finally Arrived

Leo

The last 12 months of preparation  couldn't have prepared me for what I have seen in the last day. It started out with the taxi ride from the airport, during which I almost died about 10 times. I don't think our taxi driver had any awareness for lanes or traffic lights. We spent most of the journey on either the wrong side of the road or in the middle of two lanes. The lack of mirrors on the car also didn't help at all. However, when we miraculously arrived at Hotel Emirates we embarked on an extremely eye opening walk around the block. It was very unsettling seeing numerous homeless people, with missing limbs, making the most of any shelter they could find, not to mention the large herds of dogs roaming the streets. This really put into perspective for me what I'm about to face for the next month.

 This morning we went to the markets and my group and I were lucky enough to be guided by around five Indian men, each of them attempting to sell us their products. The most shocking moment for me was walking through the meat markets, and seeing dogs which have been semi butchered all crammed into a cage as well as many live chickens in wire bags.

On a more positive note, I was appointed the group’s fine master, which is where I have to fine everyone when the don't obey the regulations. So far I have had to issue a number of fines which include;  Mr Crooks' lack of respect for the tour uniform, Michael for leaving his security pouch at the pool, and Reuben for his unacceptable grooming.

Anyway, I'm very keen to see what else India has to offer, and I'll try and post on here as often as I can.