My bedroom in a castle

Not such an early start today meeting for a 6.30am breakfast.  I'm still opting for bland food at breakfast when I can and so far have successfully avoided the dreaded "Delhi belly".  I'd got my bag ready for the porters to pick up as instructed before 7am and then had a last minute panic when I realised I'd left my money belt complete with passport and cash cards under my pillow back in the room with the door wide open!  Fortunately a very honest porter handed it over to me as I ran towards my room!

We got on a minibus to the local bus station and then onto a "local" bus for our 4.5 hr drive to our "homestay" experience.  Fortunately I'm like a child when it comes to transport, unless I'm driving, if I'm in a moving vehicle I fall asleep so poor Mark who was sat next to me didn't really have much of a conversationalist!  We stopped once for a comfort break and then headed towards Bassi which is where we were staying for the night.  We swapped from the bus into a minibus and by this point I'd woken up so started to read "Dark a Places" by Gillian Flynn and glanced up from the page to see the fortress that was to be our hotel!

After arriving we were given our rooms at random and as I write this I'm lying on a bed set into a marble alcove like I'm some sort of Indian princess.  It's almost unbelievable.  We ditched our bags and then had the tastiest lunch yet with some amazing cumin potatoes.

We had some free time and despite all the snoozing on the bus I felt exhausted so went to read more of my book and have a rest before meeting the rest of the group back at 4pm for our village tour.

We walked down from the fort observing peacocks, green parakeets, pigs, cows and other native birds which I forget the names of on the way.  As we entered the village we were approached by several groups of extremely cute children with requests of "one photo, one photo" they wanted us to take their photo and let them see their images - they were delighted with the results, but we could barely move without additional requests!  

Our guide Raj accompanied by the mayor showed us some village people weaving cotton as well as a bangle maker and we encountered more children including one moment where Joe from our group was convinced into playing cricket and the boy batted the ball all the way over a nearby building - I can see why the Indian team are hard to beat at cricket!

We wandered back up to the fort and met up at the top of a minaret for drinks. Popadoms and Bombay mix (actually called something else!) and then were offered the chance to dress up in a sari.

Once again (last time was in Bali!) I became aware of how much bigger the British "frame" is compared to other countries as the poor woman battled to find a top that would encase me and some of the other ladies into traditional Indian attire in between several power blackouts!

We enjoyed the experience, but escaped quickly from our outfits to enjoy dinner which was a delicious buffet of mostly vegetarian food - 4 days in I'm not yet missing meat!  

We had a couple of beers (Turbourgs) and chats and then retired to our ceremoniously grand bedrooms for an early night!

Marble and Sandstone

Today started extremely early we had to meet in the lobby for 5 AM bags all packed ready to get the 6 AM train to Agra. Helpfully my alarm hadn't gone off but I managed to wake up anyway after a very broken nights sleep.  

A quick ride in a car to the deli railway station, I was amazed at how busy and bustling the main train station was at such an early hour of the morning.  Sleepy tourists made their way to what they hoped was the right platform, working locals bustled around trying to offer help to tourists in exchange for cash and there was a shocking amount of people asleep on the floor!

Here's a fun question for you what are the three biggest employers in the world?  Answer: the Chinese army, the Indian railroad and the NHS.  Despite looking a little tired and old the organisation of the railway seems pretty good, in fact your ticket showed not only the carriage and your seat number, but also if you looked up along the station there is a corresponding sign to where your specific carriage would stop.

We climbed onto the train with all allocated to our seats and sat down.  Shortly after the train set off we were given an Indian Times newspaper and a cup of tea and some rich tea biscuits, much more civilised than British rail!  After quite a long gap, about an hour later we were given some breakfast which was modest filled us up ready for our first sightseeing of the day.

We were picked up from the train station by minibus we piled ourselves and our bags onto the onto the bus and made our way to the Red Fort.  As we were boarding the bus there was a man begging on a hand propelled bicycle with feet that had swollen to the size of a dinner plate, he then cycled alongside us for a while.  Part of me wants to give money when I see these terrible sights of extreme poverty, but it was pointed out in our Intrepid briefing that a better way to help is to support charities that can help more people as in particular we were told some parents will actually maim children to make extra cash begging.

At the Red Fort we were met by our guide who took us around and explained the architecture and history in what was a significantly impressive building.  Our guide told us how there were two defensive moats around the fort which took 95 years to build and one had been filled with crocodiles and the other was filled by tigers!  The building is clad with red sandstone which looks amazing but it was not practical for the whole construction to be made entirely of sandstone because it was too soft, so it is clad over bricks.  As we were walking around the fort, there were lots of green parakeets flying around which reminded me of the green parakeets that fly around my parents garden back in Surrey - they were the same ones!  In parts of the Fort in some of the darker areas bats hiding from the sunlight!

It was extremely hot even just standing around I could feel myself perspiring.  Other parts of the fort were elaborately decorated and previously would have had expensive gems and gold garnishing and inlaying the marble walls inside the main rooms, although these have long since been removed and stolen.

After a tour of the red for we were taken back to our new hotel the Taj Resort which again is lovely and has a pool!  It was great to cool down in the pool on the roof top and if you went all the way up to the top see a great few of the Taj Mahal in the distance.  

As a group we decided to eat in the hotel for lunch and then took time out for some rest before meeting for 4 o'clock to take a trip to the Taj Mahal.  Joe in our group ordered a Kabuli naan which came complete with paneer and strawberry jam on top!

Short stroll and bus ride to the Taj Mahal where we were issued with "high value tickets" and I entered via an entrance designated for "high-value ladies", we underwent a very thorough security check and then we were in one of the seven wonders of the world and free to explore.

I took dozens of photographs because strangely each time you look at the Taj Mahal it looks different, each time the light shifted as the sun starts to set it changed colour and it's easy to say it's a wonder of the world but it really was very special.  

There were lots of locals vying to take pictures on the Princess Diana's bench, some with the whole repertoire of catalogue poses proving humourous to the casual and surreptitious observer.  We made sure everyone had a decent picture in front of the Taj Mahal and strolled towards the entrance to go inside.  

Because the Taj Mahal is brick built and clad in marble (not made entirely out of marble because it would be too heavy) and they want to prevent any erosion we had to where shoe protectors.  

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the actual Taj Mahal, but it was an interesting glistening marble chamber, entirely symmetrical.  We sat down and observed some of the locals just outside the main chamber and were pressed to be involved in the photos that they were taking of each other - in particular they were fascinated by Joe in our group I guess because he's so tall at 6" 5!  

We met up with some of the rest of the group and had a mad flurry of photographs back on Princess Diana's bench, getting some of the locals to join in, children standing in front of us and then crowds of everyone getting involved.     

We then started to walk back towards the exit, but not before we took some great photos of us all jumping in front of one of the seven wonders of the world as well as posing with it pretending that we were holding it.

We met up with our tour leader Raj, had a quick coffee, bought some postcards nipped back to the hotel and then went out for dinner again.  This time I tried a vegetable thali which was delicious along with two Kingfisher beers and I should be sleeping again as its past midnight and it's another early start of 6.30am breakfast! 

New Delhi Old Delhi - Sensory Overload

Sleep wasn't really happening for me last night and with a 4am wake up tomorrow I should be asleep... But sadly not!

Breakfast at the hotel was a mix of western cornflakes and toast with (what I chose) Indian coconut noodles, paratha and banana.  We met as a group at 9am for our walking tour and made our way down to the Metro Station.   On the way we passed a school where I watched the joyous faces of children under umbrellas and raincoats dancing under open hoses.  

The Metro was certainly an experience I'm used to the tube in London impact that this was something else! Security is much tighter and to even enter the station you had to go through security scanners similar to in an airport.  There are separate carriages for women which I'm not sure how I felt about, but were certainly more pleasant than being crammed in with multiple men!  It's probably one of the only countries that I would feel tall living in!

We arrived in Old Delhi and it was very much sensory overload!  Walking through the streets you could smell at any one point in time urine, the heady sense of sweet incense, marigolds flowers, disinfectant, rotting rubbish and tasty street food being cooked.  You are surrounded by street vendors, men, women and children on their daily commute via TukTuk, motorcycle, rickshaw or car and the poverty stricken beggars offering to weigh you in exchange for money.  It was simultaneously overwhelming and amazing.

We walked through the crowded and chaotic streets of old Delhi stopping briefly for various explanations on buildings and to sample samosas and jelebee sweets from authentic vendors.

We walked up to the red temple or Jama Masjid - Delhis oldest mosque.  We had to put on even more clothes to enter the mosque despite being fully covered and it was interesting inside, but what intrigued me the most was the group of women and children trying to ask me to take the photograph in exchange for money.   however I've left my camera outside because it cost £3 to take photos inside.  

We then wound our way across Old Delhi to the Sikh temple - Sheeshganj Guruwara which was plush but not overly  ostentatious inside.  What was most intriguing about the temple is that it wasn't just dedicated to worship, there is a whole mass production kitchen attached where people were queueing up to eat ready for lunch.   Some of the group got to try their hand at making chapatis.   We had to remove our shoes to enter the temple and as we walked across the marble in bare feet we were aware of just how hot the day had become.  At the end of the tour we decided that we were all hungry so our leader Raj recommended a restaurant in New Delhi called United coffee house.

United coffee house was icy cool with air-conditioning and very plushly decorated. I stuck to my theory of eating vegetarian food and had a very interesting cauliflower dry curry with fresh coriander and rice.  We had a quick wander through the market to take on some of the atmosphere and then took our guides advice and jumped into TukTuk back to the hotel.  We went to the pre-booked police TukTuk station, but we're still beset by touts trying to earn our business.  It was a 20 minute ride back to the hotel and very much an experience that is hard to describe, although very similar to the traffic in Nepal!  Needless to say I don't think I would ever be able to drive in Delhi!

After a brief freshen up at the hotel we met as a group to discuss our next days activities and decided to go out for another bite to eat together. I decided to sample the strong elephant beer which was pretty strong at 8%!  I also had dhal with rice which was delicious and enjoyed getting to know the other members of the group much better.  After the meal we decide to stop at The Perfect Hotel for a rooftop beer and drink before bedtime.  

It's now midnight and I've packed my bags ready for a 5 AM departure from the hotel, but once again I am not sleepy thanks jetlag!