** Hope Noone is confused but I just mixed up my photos for 17th and 18th. Now sorted ** Went the other way along the beach today, North along the lovely soft sand until we couldn’t walk any further. Easier walking along the harder sand at the water’s edge and then we can cool of as required with a refreshing paddle. Surprisingly my poor right knee doesn’t like the softer sand at the back of the beach, and boy of boy, is there a lot of soft sand round here. My knee says it is too lumpy and now my left knee says the same thing and had to put ice-packs on them last night so being careful today. Along the way there are several separate beach areas. Sunset Beach is one, not sure of the ... read more

We checked out of the hotel in good time, before 8.30 am for our Air India flight to Goa. Had enquired as to the price of a hotel taxi to the airport at the hotel reception and was told it would be 2400 (£24) rupees. Given we came all way from Agra for 5500 in a hotel taxi we decided this was taking the mickey and said so. Receptionist agreed, quietly, and advised us to ask for a taxi to be called ‘from outside’ where price would be 600 (£6) rupees. That’s what we did and it was. Delhi traffic as expected, grid-locked in places which suddenly clears and we are on the way again. No problems at the airport apart from being redirected from the domestic gates to the international, even though it was a ... read more

We had a plan for the day starting with which places we were going to visit. When we got where we were going we would pay the tuk-tuk driver and find another when we were ready to move on. Plan worked fine for phase one of the day as we took a tuk-tuk from the hotel to India Gate, paid 100 rupees and driver went on his way. Very busy place to be, food vendors everywhere and families out having fun. All very colourful and that was helped by a political rally taking place just by the gate in an area cordoned off and guarded by lot of police. Watched that for a while though had no idea who was speaking. The rally disbanded just as we were leaving so we were able to walk round ... read more

Today was surely the highlight of highlights of sightseeing visits. What could possibly beat a visit to the Magnificent and Magical Taj Mahal. Tickets were purchased at home, online to avoid long ticket queues, but actually we really didn't see any. Interesting to note that we, as foreigners, pay 1000 rupees entrance while it is just 40 rupees for Indians. Perfectly fair. We wandered down the parade walk to the East Gate entrance. Was slightly dumbstruck when I was offered a wheelchair "for the 2 kilometres still to walk" (a Big untruth there, more like 1/4 km). I may be carrying my collapsible stick around but that is for use on the many stairs to be found here, some of which are often nastily and surprisingly deep. I Do Not need a wheelchair. Thanked the wheelchair ... read more

No specific sight-seeing tour today but a very interesting road trip by taxi. We were packed and ready by 9.30 so checked out of our very nice hotel, with promises of a 5 star Trip Advisor review and loaded our stuff into the waiting taxi, destination Agra. Slightly less frenetic on the road in the city than previous days, possibly because it's Saturday. Once away from Jaipur we took the Toll Road. Was assuming this would be something like a motorway but is more reminiscent of the main road south out of Bangkok where it runs as a dual carriageway alongside any local roads and the two frequently converge, which generally causes chaos. After 200 or more kilometres we are still none the wiser as to the rules of the road apart from it is supposed ... read more