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Published: August 8th 2008
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Hello there! SO last time I wrote, we were preparing to leave pushkar on the sleeper bus. It was out first time on the sleeper bus and I really likes it. It had seats on the bottom tier and them 'double' beds on one side of the second tier and single beds on the other side. Jay and I got a double bed compartment, quite romantice really! the jounery took about 10-11 hours and I got loads of sleep, good times! Jay on the other hand had a bad experience and couldn't sleep and I though he was actualyl gonna cry ha! So when we finally got to Delhi, we jumped into a rickshaw and told him the hotel we wantedto go to...ofcourse he took us to two hotels on the way that he would get commision for and we had to be quite forceful in getting him to go to the hotel we wanted and then when we got there he wanted double money. We laughed and got out. The cons in Delhi had begun!
SO we found a hotel and agreed a price for 350 ruppees, then he seemed to move us to a nice room with a
tv and air conditioing,great! The guy at the counter of the hotel was the most useless man in he world, he really really sucked at his job!We had many names for him. Every single day he would try to move us to different room and charge us more, ofcourse we had been in India for over a month now and weren ot going to be taken for mugs anymore. He tryed to charge us 450 after moving us, the debate got quite heated and I actually though Jay was going to him, he backed down and we paid the agreed 350 ruppees and went to our new room, it was great!Plasma tv, awesome shower, that guy was sooo dumb! Later me and Jay laughed about how we fought like hell over 100 ruppees more a night, not much for than 1 pound haha! But to be fair it was the principle, so many people have tryed to screw us over in India and we werent taking any shit anymore!Plus we've been listening to alot of Bob Marley and he told us to 'stand up for your rights' ha!
Next day we went off to find the Vietnam Embassy so
we could get a Vietnamese Visa for september time. The rickshaw drivers here dont really know where anything is so we had to get out and find it ourselves. After looking for a while this rickshaw guy took us there and we found out we had to come back in 3 days...great more days in delhi! On the way back the rickshaw driver suggested we go on a delhi sightseeing tour with him the next day for 200 ruppees each, so we agreed. I mean the price was right!
So the next morning we met the rickshaw driver and off we went on our tour. It wasnt the greatest tour, not the rickshaw drivers fault, but just dont think delhi is all that good for sightseeing. But we did see a cool snake charmer and a few temples, one of which was a new religion but welcomed all regions to pray and meditate there, that was a really nice and peaceful place. We also saw the gateway of India. At the end of the tour we went to give him our money, 200 ruppees each right? Ofcourse not, this is delhi! The guy swore he said 1200 ruppees, not
200 ruppees! this was my turn to almost snap!we gave him 500 ruppees together and left. Why couldnt anymone be genuine around here?!?!?!
The next place was pretty good, we walked to place called Connaught Place. This is where all the cool kids hang out, so as incredibly cool kids we went there! Here there were more bars and restaunts included KFC which ofcourse we sampled! We heard of a revolving restauraut too so we headed there for a drink, it was good but the thing is Delhi isnt exactly a beautiful city ha! Ive briefly been to a revolving place in Vancouver and Seattle and it was good because they were good looking cities but Delhi not so much. Anyway it was kinda cool anyway. The one awesomet thing about Connaught Place was the underground market, 'Palika Bazaar' which is an underground market located between the inner and outer circle of Connaught Place. It was great haggling and ended up buying a vest and also a fake NBA top, it looks sooo good though, Philadelphia 76ers top for like 3 quid,yes!
SO after this we had to decide where to go next on our travels, we planned
to go north Dharamsala, mainly for the Tibetan culture that is there, as the Tibetan governement in exile is here. That was the plan but we were hearing terrible things about the weather there so inthe end decided to give it a miss. I was gutted as I wanted to experience the tibetan culture but atleast this means we will have more time in Nepal. Two travel agents tried to get us to go to a place in the far north called Srinagar, we though about it but them turned them down. The we watch the news the next day and see riots, burning police cars,it looked horrible. I swear people around here just dont have consciences. Anyway we booked a bus to Agra.
On the tuesday we picked up our Vietnam visa's which ofcourse costed more than expected but hey ho, got use to that now!And early wednesay morning we got the got to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. We were happy to be leaving Delhi, Indian cities are not for us.
We got to Agra and booked in a hotel near the Taj Mahal,the rooftop retauraunt was great, such nice views of the Taj Mahal.
The morning we woke before sinrise, put out traditional Indian clothes on and went to the Taj Mahal. The sunrise wasnt as nice as we hoped as the day was overcast but it was nice for it to be cool in the morning and because it was so early there weren't as many people as usual. The Taj Mahal was amazing really, I didnt quite know how I would react to it but it was really..well amazing. Ofcourse I took way too many photo's of it probably but I hope you guys like them anyway. So now we are in our last day in Agra, tonight we get the 11-12 hour train to Varanasi, our last stop in India before we leave to go to Nepal. we are looking forward to Varanasi but are very ready to leave India now. Speak soon
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