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Published: February 9th 2008
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The President's House
Impressive for someone that's just the figurehead at this point! And finally, the delinquent plops herself behind her computer and sets down to typing her holiday tales....
It all started with a lovely layover in Dubai. It seemed silly to sit in the airport for 6 hours overnight when my Tante Ine has a wonderful apartment right there... so I had my ticket changed and arrived in Dubai on Monday evening, to remain until Friday morning. We spent our days as ladies of leisure, going to the beach, taking walks, doing an inordinate amount of shopping (I had to capitalize on malls and western clothing!), watching films and tv, and just catching up with one another. I was even lucky enough to have some time with Oom Colin, as he flew in from Saudi one night before I left. After just one day in Dubai, I was able to relax and really feel like I was on vacation. This may have been an unfortunate turn of events for poor Tante Ine, as most questions of what to do with the day, what to eat for a meal, etc were from then on generally answered with: "Oh, whatever is fine, I don't really mind." It was true! I didn't mind, that's
View from Hotel 1
Pools starting at the windows and just going on forever! what vacation is all about! But the lazy days, and relaxed shopping were soon over and I boarded an early morning flight to Delhi, for my first introduction to India and all of its wonders.
So I arrived in Delhi and was picked up by Shivraj, our guide, and a driver. They whisked my bags from my hands and took me to the Trident Hilton hotel, which was a gorgeous building with water pools and falls all around it (apparently the water absorbs the traffic sounds from the nearby street- clever!). I quickly threw my bags in my room, changed clothes, and hopped back in the car for a tour of Delhi and a cell phone shopping expedition for the parents. We had lunch in a little restaurant in town, where I got to try my first official, legit Indian food. It was spicy! But so so good. Who knew naan tasted so buttery and could do so much when paired with curried chicken? After savouring the spiciness, we were off to see the President's house, and a few other political sights. Then I went back to the hotel and collapsed with room service by about 8pm. Don't worry,
First Long Drive
On our lunch break during the drive from Delhi to Agra. It was hard work! (for someone) I was woken up somewhere between 2-3 am by the onslaught of sisters and parents finally arriving from the airport!
We woke up (again) the next morning, had a nice big breakfast (where I got to open presents that people had sent along with Dad - yay!) and then we drove to Agra. Don't worry, I made a pit stop on the way to buy some quality Bollywood and other Indian movies. Who goes to India and doesn't buy those!? We checked into our breathtaking hotel in Agra, Amar Vilas, where our rooms overlooked the Taj Mahal, and then went to see the Taj in the moonlight.
Slight Glitch. The moon was full, yes, the Taj was still standing, yes, we all made it safely through the multitudes of security check points, yes, but the clouds refused to move! So the viewing of the Taj was rather dark and unsuccessful. Luckily we went back (twice) the next day, for some lovely photo ops and history lessons. We also spent some time seeing a fort, playing around on the hotel balconies, and celebrating Christmas.
We left on Christmas afternoon and drove to Gwalior, where we stayed in a
View from our Room
The Taj Mahal, from our rooms in Agra newer hotel and had cute apartments tucked into a hill (aptly nicknamed "The Shire" by Welyn). Again we visited the local palace and a fort, and even returned to the fort in the evening for a memorable (and cold, and longer than planned due to slight power outages) sound and lights show. From here we drove to Khajuraho (say that ten times fast!), where we spent a day touring the Kama Sutra temples. When we got over the shock of seeing these carvings in intricate sexual positions on the sides of all of these religious temples, we then had to get over the next shock of listening to our guide describing in great detail what each statue was busy doing in each carving! Quite the experience, but very interesting to see how well they'd held up for being over 1000 years old!
From here, we left to drive the fatefully long and windy drive to Bandavgarh...
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