Visitors to India either seem to love it or hate it. I’m prepared to love it.

Our tour company, Audley, suggested we rest when we arrive – maybe even sleep.  But we want to stay awake during our first daylight hours in this country and get a little walking in to offset our long travel time.

We keep our driver Rajesh and head to the Khan Market. It proved to be an interesting mix of high-end housewares, intricate wedding jewelry, bodega-style markets, beautiful colorful saris, restaurants, and cheap knick knacks. We enjoyed exploring.

The air here is smoky. Delhi has become one of the most polluted cities on earth and I’ve read the fires from the region’s farmers clearing fields is a major contributor to the problem. Our driver says fireworks from recent celebrations are a big factor.

Traffic is every bit of chaotic as we’d heard, lanes mean absolutely nothing; there is lots of honking. We’ve only scratched a bit of the surface here, but managed to see a tiny slice of this city of 26+ million.

People here are nice. Helpful. Happy to have American visitors.

Our own sleep-deprived haze has caught up with us. Til tomorrow.