India- June 2011

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On arriving in India on our first stretch of the travels, we were in for quite a shock. Thrown in at the deep end would be an underestimation.

The first advice we were given was that "to survive driving in Delhi you need 3 things - Good Brakes, Good Horn and Good Luck". He wasn't wrong. What we would call near misses in England seems to be the average standard of driving. 2 lanes with 4 cars across them, no seatbelts, no wingmirrors, no indicating...just beep and put your foot down.

The first impression of India is pretty much - "a complete shithole" as Sarah so nicely puts it. "They need to tear it down and start again". Dusty, hot, rubbish literally everywhere. If you've ever been to a music festival...its a lot worse.

Arriving at the hotel we thought it might be the safe haven we needed in this chaotic place. Unfortunately not. Hole in the wall, dirty sheets, broken furniture and no standards of hygiene, we were really hoping this wasn't a sign of things to come!

However, although the hotel was pretty shocking the staff were very helpful, 2 mins after arriving we were "kidnapped" (his words not ours) to the tourist information office where we first met Ahmed, our personal driver for the next 4 days to show us the sights.

We managed to do Delhi in a day seeing; The lotus temple, India Gate along with the presidential buildings and the beautiful gardens. Not bad following a night flight!

At the lotus temple we had our first encounter with our celeb status, being the only white people around. Everybody stares, some build up the courage to ask for photos (something which got more frequent during our stay) and others just laughed, seeming to have some sort of inside joke we were missing.

First meal of the trip had to be a maccyd's - obviously. Although forgetting that indian's don't eat a lot of meat the options were chicken or chicken.

After a short class on how to wear a saree we headed home for a 5.30pm bedtime and a bit of harry potter.

The next day we headed on our journey to Jaipur with Ahmed, who was a bit more chatty and seemed a nice chap. 5.30am start was easy given our jetlag! 5 hours and a hell of a lot of traffic later we arrived. We had heard that the city was very impressive and all buildings pink on order of the King. Unfortunately not much was pink (needed a touch up of paint) or impressive. We hiked up the fort which was nice, although in 45 degree heat a little tiring to say the least. The boy carrying his goat on his shoulders in front of us seemed to manage ok. Not sure about the goat though. When we sat down for a rest some more people asked for pictures. However when you say yes to one person they all come swarming around. We sat for about 10 minutes straight with about 30 different people coming and sitting for a picture - mainly men. This seemed a little seedy although women and children were also asking so we thought it was ok.

We also looked round the Palace and a few other sights, and saw plenty of camels, a few elephants, monkeys, and those giant cows with the humps on their back (ox??) wandering the streets, also learning jewellery making and textile printing. We then sat down for our first Indian meal, joined by Ahmed. Surprisingly similar to the English menu so we ordered and it came and... it was nice. Hooray! Good day all round especially as we stayed in a much nicer hotel!

Our third day we were up early to travel to Agra (Taj Mahal). Unfortunately Ahmed hadn't slept well and was very sleepy. Not great news considering 5 hours drive to Agra and another 5 back to Delhi. With lots of stops for tea, we made it to Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was amazing and the absolute highlight of India. Again the 'photo please madam?' began. Vicky even had a baby thrust into her arms for a pic. The tour guide now informs us that 'Photo with woman ok, photo with man not ok' Oh whoops.

We had a look at Agra Fort (Sarah: 'What did he say about Niagra falls?'😉 and drove past a goat market on our way back to Delhi. By this point Ahmed really was struggling to stay awake, our hearts have still not recovered. On edge for the next 5 hours, chatting continually to help him stay awake.

So overall India a complete dive, but Taj Mahal is worth a look! Note to Mums: Even with 45 degree heat - no sunburn!

We've uploaded our pics onto facebook. They're on Vicky's profile.

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