Taj Mahal

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Despite all the pictures I have seen of the Taj Mahal, it is still breathtaking to actually be here, though it would have been better without the other 20,000 people. At least we had the expensive tickets which allowed us to go to the front of the queue, or at least a much smaller queue. when we finally made it to the actual mausoleum, there were signs for silence, only to have my ear drums busted by the security guard blowing a whistle to keep the crowd moving. Could have made a fortune charging for selfies, for some reason youngsters all want a photo with "Aunty". You have to start saying no or you would never get to see anything yourself.

When we came out, the queue was still about 500 metres long, but as it was sunset, they closed the gates, causing a stampede - we heard later that 5 people were injured.

For new year we decided to come to Shimla, so we had another early start to get the Toy train up to the hill station. Our Tuk Tuk driver from last night promised to be at the hotel for 4:30, and he was as good as his word, so definitely deserved a good tip. The train was old and rickety (bit like me) with windows that didn't fit, so it was freezing until the sun finally came out about 10:00, but being served masala chai and breakfast was nice, as we rattled our way into the Himalayas for 5 hours.

The hotel is a blast from the old Raj past, doors opened for you, staff everywhere ready to do your bidding, not really what I'm used to. Our room consists of a receiving room, a lounge, bedroom, dressing room and bathroom, it's bigger than our house. There is a gala dinner for New Year, and about 18:00 there was a knock on the door, where a staff off three delivered cakes to get us started. Then we went to the bar, where I swear they would have held the glass to our lips if we wanted.

As its now quite cold - they were hoping for snow for new year - it has an atmosphere a bit like a European ski resort, but with curry.

I liked the statue in the town to La la la Jpat Rai, obviously very important, there are so many songs written with his name in the lyrics.

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