India!!!

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Hello!!

Well its ages since we have done this, sorry we haven't managed to get on the internet until yesterday!!!

Back to Nepal .... Our final week at the school flew by we managed to get all our posters done and decorate the 4 new classrooms, sports room and creative room!!! We also picked up our Sherpa dresses which are great completely different to anything back in England.

Our flight to India went well and we met up with our friends Ginny and Sue at the airport.

India hasn't been as manic as expected but then we think that we might just be because we are used the crazy life of Asia!!! We spent a few days in Delhi and visiting all the sights there. India Gate, Humayun's Tomb, Indira Gandhi's House and the Red Fort. We are going back to Delhi a couple of times so we will explore a little bit more.

We then got a Car and driver (Dev) and drove to up to Agra. There we met a guide (Vinnet) who showed us around the fort there and told us about the history of the Maharajas'. We also had a sighting of the Bollywood star Catriona and the flood of men chasing her around the fort!!!! The next morning we got up early for dawn at the Taj Mahal which was stunning. Unbelievable that it was built so long ago and is still in perfect condition. We have also seen a Bollywood film "Thank You" which was very interesting especially as it was all in Hindi but amazingly we managed to get the gist of it!!! Vinnet also invited us to his house for dinner so we had some home cooked Thali which was great. We both really like the food over here and so far (fingers crossed) all is ok!!!

From Agra we headed up to Ranthambore where there was a Tiger Reserve stopping at Fatehpur Sikri (an incredible abandoned palace) along the way. We headed out on Safari and managed to battle our way to the front of the que to see the sleeping Tiger!! We then drove off to a really remote place and hid under some trees for a while. We then heard the warning call from the Summer Deer and got a fantastic view of a leopard coming down to the watering hole drinking, walking around and then crossing the road and walking off into the forest. AMAZING 😊

Since then we have traveled to Bundi and explored an abandoned palace that has been recently reopened and onto Puskar which is a Holy Place.

We are now up in Jaipur and have been to Jantar Mantar which is an incredible observatory built in 1728. So many different things (including the worlds biggest sundial) to measure the time, position of the sun etc etc!!!! Unfortunately the City Palace was closed because Sawai Bhawani Singh, the last titular Maharaja of Jaipur died this morning.

So overall India is great and we are having a fantastic time. It is incredibly hot and had a few long journeys in the car without AC as it broke!!! We have also got used to all the staring, family photo's that we are thrown into, requests photo's and then the blatant hold the camera to the car window photo's!!!

Looking forward to seeing you all soon

Lots of Love

Anastasia and Roseanna

xxx

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