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Published: December 23rd 2011
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Travelling
19-12-2011
This day was most uneventful as we had a big drive to Agra. We had had a safari planned in the morning but given the choice (it was at 6.30am meaning a 5am wake up call) we decided against going as we were sure that the big cats will be seen elsewhere. As a result we had a nice sleep (well I did...) and left around 10am. The trip to Agra was a 7 hour stretch, we arrived at a home stay which apparantly hadn't received the reservation so got shipped off to another place which was kind of like an Indian Travellodge. Dunc, still not feeling to great or hungry, wanted to stay close for dinner so... where did we end up? Yes, next door at Pizza Hut 😊 at least it was a change from curry I spose!
X Radhika
Happy Birthday Becks!
Woke up excited about going to the Taj Mahal on Bex's Bday! After adjusting Bex's Sari 3 times, it seemed to finally be looking orite, we went outside to be faced by a thick fog. Sods bloody law, the first bad weather we get is on the most important day yet. Never mind.
Even with the fog though it is still absolutley astounding, the gateways to the mausoleum grounds were the first things we encountered coming out of the fog, red in colour with inlaid semi-precious stone patterns, which led to the reflecting pool. I expected the pool to be big but it's actually really narrow and quite short... I think people must just always somehow make it look big in photos.
With Bex in full bright green sari, blouse and skirt, and me in indian style pyjama we walked into sight of the elevated white building. Thankfully inside it was really warm on the freezing cold day so we could warm up a little bit in there. There were some people who clearly were taking advantage of the warmth sat huddled together at the sides. No pictures are allowed inside the tomb but it's hollow up into the giant dome above, so from floor to ceiling is eighty feet high. A set of screens made from solid marble uncracked slabs almost entirely surround the two sarcophagi inside, and all around the high walls are many designs of inlaid calcendone, malachite, lapis lazuli, onyx, jasper and mother of pearl. A shame we couldn't chip a bit off to take home.
Wandering around the grounds we were getting a lot of smiles and attention from our dress. Bex got a few "nice sari!!"'s and I was told I looked like some politician/Ghandi. Then one boy asked to have his picture taken with us to which we agreed. On seeing this we were suddenly surrounded by people all wanting pictures, then I was forced out of the commotion because all along they'd really only wanted Bex's picture. Bex was busy for about 15 mins until finally some older women took her away to fix her sari around the corner. Using this opportunity we escaped and finally the fog cleared slightly to allow some pictures. On leaving, another group of people started asking for pictures, after another 10 mins, freezing, we just had to say no but were followed for another 20 metres or so. Bex said we should have charged them for that. 10 rupee!!
Then we drove 7 hours back to the tourist office in Delhi and were greeted by a lovely personalised chocolate cake and a bunch of roses to celebrate. They even bought us two beers for later (GREEN ones of course).
Then standardly we got taken to one of the guy's uncles' shops around the corner and were given the typical demo of all the products on offer, which took 15 mins but now accustomed to this we didn't fork out any more cash. In fact we were slightly insulted. Bring the tourist to one last place to try and get a bit more cash for the family out of them, is what it felt like. Anyway we went over to the GRAND GODWIN hotel, very nice indeed. They even brought us brekky before we had to leave at 4 in the morning. Cold but good.
Kissan
Off to the mountains
This was not really very eventful as a day as it was another travelling day. This time by train! Poor Kush also had to get up at ridiculous a' clock in the morning to bring us to the station (not New Delhi station which was around the corner from the hotel). This was to be our last drive with him, now we are on our own! The station was quite hectic upon arrival but being the only train departing at 6am in the morning from platform 1, it wasn't rocket science figuring out where we had to be. The train had sleeping seats which, even though at first we thought we'd be ok just reading and chatting, were quite comfortable (managed to get a good 3 to 4 hours sleep). We met an Indian couple and their son from South Carolina whom were travelling to visit family over the Christmas period. They helped us out with some info about getting to and from places which was handy.
Due to the immense fog the train journey was 2 hours longer than expected. We crawled out of the station and maintained this snail pace for a good period of time. Once reaching the more mountainous area (well the mountains were in the background even though we were still travelling on the flats) it was alot more clear and sunny. Upon arrival in Kathgodam, being the only tourists leaving the train we were immediately surrounded by a crowd of budding taxi drivers. Dunc wanted to have a quick fag before undertaking any journey and so we stood with a group of about 15 guys staring at us eagerly. It was like being on the playground at school and having to pick the first person for your team 'pick me pick me'. Duncan finishes his cig and calls out "who has the best price for us for Nainital". A river of offers were shouted out and one bidder gave us an offer we could accept at 300 rupees (we didn't want to stand there for ages).
The drive was beautiful as we tore through the narrow mountain roads at about 1000 to 1600m height (at a guess). Nainital is most beautiful sporting a big, almost luminous, green volcanic lake. Getting out of the car (me feeling quite sick from the hour and a half of bends), we marched up the lung bursting hill towards the hotel. I know I haven't much endurance due to the lack of excercise over the past months but this walk was quite intense! Got to the hotel huffing and puffing, we've made it! We decided to be extremely lazy and stayed in the chilly room under the covers watching tv, typing the blog and ordering dinner through room service, ahhh the luxury!
X Becca
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