delhi, jaipur, ranthambore,barahtpur & Agra..in brief!

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Hi folks!!!

well i have been very shit on the communication front up until now so i have come to make ammends!! i will give u a quick run down of where we have been so far and i promise all other entries will be in more detail from now on!
SO....

Delhi, what can i say?! shithole is the first thing that springs to mind if i'm quite frank! It's a completely mental city. i find it so strange that there are so many beautiful buildings, monuments etc surrounded by such poverty and squaller! The first thing that hits u when u arrive in the city is the stench! Not what u want after a long plane journey, but i was still optimistic that delhi would grow on me. I'll tell u now it didn't! It's a crazy place absolutely buzzing with people everywhere and don't even start me on the driving!!! Fucking hell!!! Although, in their defence, as crazy as the roads where, i never saw an accident or road rage, despite the fact that driving revolves 99% around using your horn and cutting people up!!! It's like a secret driving language!

Anyway, we were a bit crap at first, as beginners and got done a little bit for the first few days. The day we landed the taxi man claimed he couldn't take us to main bazaar (the area where all the backpackers stay-cheap rooms etc) as it was too busy so he said he would take us to another area where he knew some nice places. This unfortunately involved a detour via a "tourism office" where we sat an talked to his friend for half an hour about possible trips and tours! Anyway, we wanted to get our shit together and chill out for a few hours after the journey so ended up agreeing to go to this hotel. It was by no means expensive in terms of uk prices. It was 1100 rupees which is about 12.50 but, u can get double rooms for around 300rupees so it was pricey in comparison. Anyway, the tourism guy said we could have a driver for the day, after we had had a rest for a few hours so we did that. For 400 rupees- 5 quid we had an ac car and driver for the whole day who took us wherever we wanted!!!! So the same day we got off the plane we did nearly all the sights of new delhi!! the next day we decided we would do the sights of old delhi and move on to jaipur that night if poss.

This meant a treacherous trek around various tour companies in 100* heat, playing hard ball to get a good deal! let me tell u these people will pull ur pants down if you let them! Anyway, after hearing many lies about full trains that would all of a sudden become free if u upped the price i clinched a good deal. We managed to get basically all of our travel around india for 3 weeks covered for 95 quid each. this included an ac car and driver 24 hours a day for 6 days 5 nights, a 36 hour train ticket from agra to goa and another overnight train ticket from goa to mumbai. Our driver- Singh was ace! He drove us 1000s of miles from delhi to jaipur where we spent 2 nights, then took us to ranthambore tiger reserve for a night then took us to bharatpur for a night then to fatephur sikri then to agra.

Jaipur-pink city was much nicer than delhi. less people hassling u to buy stuff, nobody trying to take ur money all the time n asking u if u want a rickshaw etc like in delhi. Again, we were too laid back to bother searching for a cheap place to stay so we just agreed to where Singh showed us, nice hotel with ac, big rooms, nice bed. Oh and the second night in jaipur we actually upgraded our room to an even more expensive one with sky in the room so alistair could watch the match!! One of the things we did here was take an elephant ride up amber fort which was pretty cool! indian elephants are fooking massive and a wobbly ride! Plus the journey up is along a step winding path overlooking a big drop down the mountain!!! They were so cute, with painted faces. I have fotos but i'm not sure when i'm going to upload them all as i have tonnes!!

After jaipur we went to ranthambore to see the tigers! We stayed in another nice hotel (no backpackers accomodation still at this point! living it up with the ac hotels!) with a swimming pool. we did 2 safaris, one v early in the morning and another in the afternoon. The first one we did in the afternoon was ok, we saw deer, monkies, antelope and there was actually a tiger but very very far away and i could only just make it out, it was like a small orange pin prick, alistair didn't see it at all. The second one however the next morning was fantastic!! we saw another tiger but this time much clearer and he was up and moving which made it easier to see. We were impressed until we gpt back to the hotel and spoke to an aussie family we met who saw 2 tigers and some cubs literally metres away from their canter!! (open top safari vehicle) other people who got a different route to us had also seen them up close too but i'm still happy. not many people get to see a tiger in the wild ey!

so, after ranthambore we went to barathpur where there is a national park and birdlife sanctuary. We took a rickshaw through the park and saw allsorts of animals going about their daily business. It was nice as we went super early so there was hardly anyone there. We stayed here that night instead of agra as we had planned as lots of people had said it was a dump. thank god we did as agra stinks!! we had come from nice countryside in ranthambore and baratphur to hustle and bustle again. The Taj Mahal however is in this hellhole and what a contrast. Gorgeous building and very very impressive on first sight! This my friends is where it all started to go a bit pete tong!! We were only 10 minutes into the huge walk around the Taj mahal when alistair decides he needs the loo. so, we trek back to the toilets right at the beginning where we started. I waited outside and after 10 minutes started to grow a little concerened. He eventually emerged from the toilets a little worse for wear and informed me it had arrived. He had DELHI BELLY!!!!!!! Well, we did a whislte stop tour of the Taj and then hotfooted it back to the car to find Singh. His Illness got progressively worse as the day went on and we decided he has sunstroke/heat exhaustion as he has no suncream on no hat and only a vest in 45* heat (we forgot our suncream-both bottles! at ranthambore). This my friends was not good as we were about to embark on a 36 hour train journey from agra to goa and with the poos let me tell u its not pleasant!!

So, Alistair was pretty ill by now as we waited at the train station. Singh our lovley driver waited with us and helped me carry all the bags onto the train as he was incapable. We got on and we had paid to go 3 tier ac wich basically means theres 3 bunks on one side and 3 bunks on the other and your carriage is air conditioned. There was already someone pitted on alistairs bunk so singh threw him off so the invalid could lie down. I unfortunately had been assigned a lower bunk which meant i couldn't lie down n slep until the person above me decided to put their bed up and go to sleep! everyone uses the bottom bunk as a regular chair until everyone goes to bed! Anyway in short the train journey was horrific as i ended up re creating a scene fro the excorsist and projectile vomitted about 4 times, 3 of which i never made it to the toilet as stupid kids playing in the gangway wouldnt get out of my way. i got as far as what i thought was a sink but turned out to be a drinking fountain, spraying a few unsuspecting passengers along the way!! Poor alistair had to endure the skanky skanky toilet for 2 days with the trots, it was not what u need when your feeling ropey!!

So, after 36 long hours we arrived at goa and what a welcome break this was. We are staying on a sea facing beach hut with a balcony slap bang on the beach for 5 quid a night, thats 2.50 between us, can u believe it!!! It's gorgeous, we go to sleep listening to the waves every night!! The food here in goa is amazing and sooooooo chaep as is everything here! prawns the size of bananas, fresh seafood, heaven! Anyway, i have missed loads and loads out here and havn't mentioned half of what we've done but i'm struggling to remember myself and i also want to go and work on my tan!!!

So i'm going to sign off now and will be back soon with more news of goa.. love to you alll xxxx

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Comments

[nicola]

amazing...
sounds absolutely amazing (well most of it!) so glad your having a fab time, please do take care though, you hear of these back packers going missing, never to be seen again! i am enjoying a year 11 lesson as we speak: theory obviously! ha! anyway, keep us updated and get some pics on! look after yourselves, love to you both! xx