India-Agra and Jaipur

Getting away from the madness of Delhi involved many experiences - the 5am wake up for starters! After dragging ourselves out of bed, and shoving everything back into our rucksacks, we climbed into Tuk-Tuks for the first time. Even though the roads weren't overly busy, there were still cars, bikes, people and other things to manouver around which, in such a rackety vehicle and no seatbelt, is terrifying. They move faster than you'd think, and you feel every pothole. Amazingly we got to the station in one piece, and after climbing over hundreds of sleeping locals, we boarded the (thankfully) air conditioned train around 7:30. The journey was 3 hours but flew by whilst chatting to everyone else on the tour!

We arrived at the hotel after (another) Tuk-Tuk ride, dumped our bags and headed to the Agra fort, which was huge, and still holds the Indian army base. It's sandstone walls were intracitly carved, and our tour guide was more than happy to tell us about it's history. It was from here we got the first glimpse of the Taj Mahal. Since it was abandoned by the royal family many years ago, the monkeys have moved in, and you can smell them before you see them!

Carvings in the walls of Agra Fort, based on an elephants trunk

Waiting until nearer sunset, we headed to the Taj. Coming up to the entrance there was construction work, people making and setting the pastel pink bricks that make up the pathway. It was honestly an incredible view, you can see why so many people come to see it. It is completely symmetrical, aside from the scaffolding in place, which I found out was for cleaning. Stepping onto the warm white marble which glitters in the light with the semi-precious stones embedded in the architecture, involved amazingly attractive shoe covers to preserve the building.

Moving on again, we hopped on a local bus to Jaipur, another early start for us. It was the part of this trip that we were dreading the most, but it was actually much better than we had thought: even the toilet stop halfway was not that bad - nicer than some service stations in the U.K. We passed the time with I spy, and listening to the locals singing Hindi songs from the back of the bus.

Arriving in Jaipur we went for a wander around the market, which was a sea of sights, sounds and smells. Spices, sweets, saris, anything you want, it was here. A short tuk Tuk ride away was a Bollywood movie theatre, so we went to see the current film - banjo. Although in Hindi, it was easy to follow and super cheesy, but had great music and dance routines. The architecture of the building itself was amazing as well, with high, well lit ceilings that looked to me like waves.

Feeling hungry, our tour guide Pratz took us to a local spot for dinner - garage by day, restaurant by night! eaten alive by mosquitos, but it didn't matter, the barbecued food was fab!

Other things we saw in Jaipur:

Sunrise over the city, after hiking up one of the mountains
The Amber Fort
The palace of winds
The city from a rickshaw

Now off to Tordi!

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