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Published: January 15th 2010
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Hey everyone, hope youre all good.
We got into Bangkok on the 11th so thought we'd write up about india before our trip gets started tomorrow.
Got into Delhi at about half 10 in the morning and our pick up wasnt there so we got a pre paid taxi to the hotel, which was our first experience of the wonderful delhi hospitality... Got driven to a random tourist office and sat there for about half an hour while they either tried to tell us they didnt know where we were going or ignored us. Eventually got a different taxi driver to take us to our abode, which was pretty basic but good enough. Slept all day,all night and half the next day. Eventually got up and decided to brave the outside, which is full of smog and dead things... Our hotel got us a taxi to another tourist office where we got talked into taking a 3 day trip to agra (taj mahal) and jaipur (pink city). Then a driver took us to see the india gate and the presidential palace and the parts we saw through the smog were nice! We also saw a kitsch sort of temple
which was pretty cool, all red and yellow. Between the shrines there was random LED lit weighing machines! Didnt really fit in but it was funny.
Next day we got picked up by our driver for the 6 hour drive to Agra. Delhi doesnt end for ages, and the villages after just seem like an extension of it; just people, cows, pigs, rubbish, rickshaws and suspicious businesses all over the shop. There was practically no countryside on the drive down except the odd mustard fields which were nice and bright yellow.
Got to Agra at around 4 o clock, went to the Taj Mahal but it was still shut as there was a VIP visiting it. We waited on the steps with a growing crowd until they opened the gates at 4.50. Walking into the grounds there was loads of people rushing about to the ticket office so we went up there, got bounced from queue to queue and then got told it was closed and we couldnt get in. After not seeing the Taj Mahal we got taken to a place which shows you the marble they use in the Taj Mahal. A little old man sat
us down and showed us all the different gems in the marble and said "which you would have seen if youd gone to the Taj Mahal" about a million times. Which added to the joy of having missed it. We didnt want to buy anything so he quickly changed his mellow tune and told us to leave. Pretty bad day altogether but luckily our hotel that night was really nice, got a big meal of sheek kebabs, chicken korma, nan bread and roti 😊 Even some carrot!!
After a 5 hour drive we got to jaipur, a city which may once have been pink but is now just dusty and crumbling like delhi. Got taken to a restaurant that had flies in it and only braved the roti, then got accosted by fairly well dressed women asking if we wanted a picture of their babies for some money. We went to an old maharaj palace after which was quite nice, loads of monkeys running around on the roofs! Some nice architecture and the first real chance we had to walk around without being hunted for money. Our room that night was less nice, we had to change it because
a boiler had burst and the bathroom was soaking wet and the gap ander the door out to the street was letting in loads of smoke from the millions of plastic bag fires the locals just love to have. Our second room wasnt great but it was pretty clean and we slept fine enough.
Breakfast was interesting, after trying to order some things and not getting anywhere (despite the menu being only in english the waiters had no idea what we were on about) we thought we'd take the safe option and go for the plain and buttered toast. We got the buttered toast, and we also got butter and jam toast, not the worst but it took a while to get there.According to the bill butter and jam on toast is French too. Set off at around half 10, got driven to the pink palace which is a big pink building in the middle of a worn down street. Then we went to the Amber palace which was by far the best part of our whole time in India. It was huge and open and there was loads of little rooms to go in and explore. You could
get an elephant up the steps to it but they hit them really hard on the head with big wooden sticks so we decided not to encourage them. Walking up the steps to the palace there was heaps of monkeys running around, eating garlands and causing mischief! There was also some cobras in baskets which were scary! The palace also had loads of pigeons who were ace!! Whilst waiting for our taxi outside the palace an old man came up to us and just walked behind us whispering "chocolate...chocolate"! Then we took an 8 hour journey back to Delhi. When we were getting near our hostel in Delhi the driver said to us "now you give me my tip". We gave him the tip and he went "gimmie gimme!" snatched it off and tried to times the amount by 5! No chance, he snorted the whole way and we saw nothing. When we got back to the hotel we realised we'd been had pretty badly, didnt see the bird sanctuary or the ghost town and payed a fair amount for not a lot!
Stayed in our room all day again. It seemed too risky to go outside, our chests
were already full of the plastic smoke and we weren't in the mood to trudge through rubbish, look at half dead animals and crumbling ghosts of buildings just to be scammed after two minutes. Basically our time in India was pretty rubbish, we never saw a single thing we'd planned on seeing, the people were rude to us at all times, the citys were just tin can shacks with rubbish, rats and crowds outside them, people piss wherever they fancy, the supposedly holy cows were on their last legs, they treat all animals like absolute crap and they all want a piece of you. not the most fun we've ever had to be honest, but there were a few good times in there somewhere. Thankfully our flight wasnt delayed and we got off to thailand for a new start!
Bangkok is great already, much cleaner and the people are lovely. Away on our trip tomorrow so we're pretty excited about that! Nothing could compare to India so i guess we're pretty well prepared if things dont work out the way they should!
Missing everyone loads,might be a while til we get a chance to fill in the next
chapter as we'll be on the go most days for the next month but we'll sort it when we get back. Hope you can manage to see the photos on here,not too sure if it'll work but hopefully. 😊
Speak to you soon xx
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Lauroora
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Chocolate... Chocolate...
Gutted everything didn't go the way u planned it, but sounds pretty hilarious to be honest! Hope u have a super amazing time in the beautiful Thailand and other exciting places!! Love you and miss you both xxXxx