Day 13 - 13th Feb - Bikaner - Jodhpur

Lena's purse was found. Despite so much searching, pacing and obsessive checking, it was under her rucksack.

After soggy, synthetic and sandy toast, all 8 of us crammed on to one cart with our  bags and about 15 huge blankets.  We headed back to civilisation and I had another short ride on the camel: this time, along the road with big trucks and buses passing by. People think you're crazy if you ride a camel and so it drew even more stares than usual.

We were dropped off near Karni Mata Mandir and said our goodbyes to Hussain and the camel men. We all managed to offend by giving Hussain a larger tip than the camel men, which was quite unfair but wasn't our intention  - there were just more of the them. I find it really frustrating that things turn sour like this and you never feel like you get it right.

We said goodbye to Philip, Joanna and Lena and headed towards the rat temple: unsurprisingly famous for the  fact it's full of rats. It is believed that the rats are reincarnated saints and they are fed with sweets and milk. As in all temples, you have to take your shoes off, so wading barefoot through rat droppings with scabby rats scurrying all around was a new experience. And they were very scabby. Maybe their high sugar diet makes them more twitchy and aggressive or maybe it's just bad for their skin, but they were covered in bald patches and red-looking sores. Or maybe rats just look like that - I can't say I've ever been that close to say many of them. I certainly never expected to stand (almost calmly) by as they ran across my path, perched and paddled in and around huge bowls of milk, jumped off ledges and skulked in corners and on door handles.

After leaving the temple we were hungry but didn't want to get any food in a town with so many rats at it's centre and so just headed towards where we'd been told we could flag down a bus to Jodhpur. There aren't really any numbers on buses and so you jusy have to hope you get the right one and that the bus-driver isn't too grumpy to tell you the truth.

After being mobbed by children and having to be saved by a local passer-by, we were lucky enough to find a bus with a nice conductor, who let us put the bags on the seat in front and tried to tell us the price in English. His brown corduroy jacket with the misspelt 'ddidas'  logo on also made us chuckle. We made a stop quite early that was in a market place and so were able to jump off the bus and buy some freshly made pakoras and oranges from a stall so at least did not have to sit for 5 hours listening to our bellies rumble.
On our arrival at Jodpur, we found a rickshaw driver and headed to Shivam Paying Guest House where we had booked a room for the night. Matt went in to check that it was the right place but there was no-one at reception so he had to pick up the phone and dial to speak to someone. They did not answer so he put the phone down. He was bemused and started to walk out when they rang back. They did not speak very good English and did not recognise we had a booking. After he told them how much the room we wanted was, they kept telling him that the room was 'in your backside'. He eventually worked out that they were watching him on camera and meant that it was behind him. He called me to come and check because it was so awful. It was like they'd stuck a bed inside the broom cupboard. By now we're used to dubious rooms but this place was just hideous. You had to duck to get in the door and there was no bathroom either.

We asked Waseem, the tuk tuk driver if he could take us somewhere else. We wanted wifi as we needed to catch up with the blog after our camel ride but there was nowhere available - even without internet access. Eventually, we came to a place called Baba guest house, which said we could sleep on the beds in their reception for a night for free and then move to a room in the morning. I took a look around and liked the family that ran it, the standard of cleanliness and the rooftop terrace with a view over the city so we accepted.

Not very long after, Imran, the young man who'd shown us round, Imran, invited us to the wedding of a friend that the whole family were going to. In typical Indian style we said, 'why not?'.   In the meantime we sat chatting to a French guy called Leo, who let us keep our bags in his room for a bit more security.

After using the family bathroom for a bucket shower and seeing the effort that the whole family were making to dress up, I started to get a bit self-conscious about what I could wear. I only had outdoor clothes and yet all the other women were sparkly and beautiful. I asked one of the family, Yasmine, if what I had to wear was ok and she spruced me up a bit with some sparkly earrings and a gorgeous shawl - which of course, her husband had a business in selling.

At the last minute, they also said Leo could come to the wedding and we set off in a tuk tuk with Imran's brother. At the wedding, we were shown around by his eldest brother. He guided us around the tasty food, steering us away from anything too hot and the weird drunken uncle who kept wanting to feed us sweets. We were taken around and introduced us to the whole wedding family, one by one. It was like being a celebrity. Everyone wanted to meet us and have their picture taken with us.

After talking for a while to a cute little girl, I agreed to go for a dance with her. There was a mini-stage next to the main stage which had loads of kids on and a few around and so just thought we could melt into that. How stupid of me. We were followed to the stage and all the dancing kids were made to sit down as the whole wedding party gathered around. The music was stopped and 'Barbie Girl' came on, much louder than the music before. The young girl (who had told me she could not dance, which is why I agreed to it in the first place!) then started pulling out all sorts of moves that I was expected to follow and join in with. It was excrutiating. I had no idea what to do and could not really get over the nature of the lyrics as I danced with a child no older than 11.

The song finally started coming to the end, to my great relief. Suddenly, they started it again from near the beginning. There was no way I could have backed out so had to keep on dancing. They'd tried to pull Matt to the stage too but my darling boyfriend just let me flounder. Eventually Leo was dragged up too and the last few minutes passed a little more easily.

When the song finally ended I was expecting something different to what I got. Maybe applause or even just acknowledgment that I had spent what felt like a month, up there dancing for these complete strangers. But no, everyone stood and looked at me for a minute (maybe waiting for my next trick) and then just wandered off. I'm still not sure what that means but maybe they were just in shock - I know that I was.

The happy couple

We then had more introductions and even official photgraphs on the big stage with the bride. She looked absolutely beautiful and was dressed in the most stunning clothes. She was really shy and timid - as I probably would be with someone who turned up at my wedding uninvited and dumbfounded all of my guests - but seemed to be quite happy with the arrangement.

After yet more introductions, we had chai and went back to the hostel to sleep in the recption.

Day 12 - 12th Feb - Bikaner

Started the day with more soggy toast and synthetic jam and the good news that there were other fellow camel riders to-be: some very nice Germans called Philip, Lena and Joanna.

Hussain and our broken tuk tuk

We had to go on the longest drive yet in tuk tuks, just to get to where we were meeting the camels. Unfortunately, the tuk tuk that Matt,myself and the guide, Hussain seemed to be labouring a little and, a few km down the road, started to smell a bit funny. Pretty soon, smoke was pouring out from the engine under the drivers bum and we all had to evacuate. Matt considered trying to save the day with gaffer tape but, for the first time, he'd forgotten to pack it.

After back-up arrived, we continued the rest of the 35km to meet the camel men and camels. I took the first shift. The camels weren't as stinky as the ones I'd seen in Israel so I was feeling positive but I hadn't realised how much they tip up when they stand up or sit down and I nearly went flying in my first 10 seconds. After that though I made myself comfortable, or as comfortable as you can be when you can only assume one position and we lumbered off to try and catch up the German group. Matt, the guide, the camel men and the bags all travelled by a cart which was being pulled by another camel.

2 hours later we stopped for lunch. We took in view from a sand dune - something that's much harder to do than I imagined since it's pretty much a case of one step forward and two steps back when the sand dune is so steep - and then sat on a blanket and watched the camel men cook dinner from scratch. It was really impressive to see what they could do with a pile of sticks and a few pots; they even made a big bunch of chappatis from scratch.

The German group were really interesting to talk to because they were all on a year out volunteering. The German government fund the placements, accomodation and living costs and all students get a chance to do it before university. Its such a good idea and something that really changes lives. They also had a hookah pipe (just with fruit tobacco) and the camel men were fascinated to watch them setting it up and using it.

Not enjoying this

After dinner, Matt had his turn on the camel, which was hilarious! As I sat on the cart, I keptlooking back to check on him. After the first ten minutes he had a determined and grimace-like smile; after half an hour he looked like he was uncomfortable but enduring; after an hour he was sweating; shortly after he was green and for about the last hour he looked like he was about to faint. Of course, watching him suffer wasn't funny but watching him suffer because he was too macho to let on that it was agony amused me greatly. And when I asked him to describe it for the purposes of this blog, he simply said it was 'invasive' .

To make it all worse, Matt had been given a male camel that so strongly desired the female pulling the cart, that it was foaming very heavily at the mouth and inflating his freaky tongue. It looked like he had a pink ballon covered in shaving foam hanging from his mouth and the bubbly,mucusy spit hung in big globules from the truck, our bags and even the scarf I was using to protect myself from the sun.

It was about 3 hours later that Matt got a reprieve. After a quick visit to a desert village for more blankets, we arrived at our sleeping place.  The pots came out again and we had  more food. I'm not sure our energy needs were such as to merit the triple-carb meal of potato curry with rice and chapatti but it was tasty, if not rather hot.

We had a quick post-dinner wander and sat together to enjoy a beautiful sunset. The peace did not last much after dark when Lena thought she'd lost her wallet. We all spent quite a lot of time looking for it and she was really panicked but, despite Matt pulling out all of his 4 torches, we still couldnt find it.

After trying to calm Lena by saying we'd look in the morning, we chatted much more about the volunteer work the German group were doing and some of the horrors they'd encountered working with the street kids and with some of the seriously disadvantaged people they'd met. There were so many fascinating stories but none that we'd want to recall too much at this moment.

Anji by candlelight

The stars however, were beautiful. Neither of us could remember when we'd last seen so many and it was really very powerful to lay under them and be lost in our own thoughts. It's a good job they were pretty though 'cos the ground was very uncomfortable. I felt like I was waking so many times each hour but couldn't bring myself to get up and smooth out the lumpy ground. Nevertheless,  each time I opened my eyes, it was such a joy to see the stars  that I was almost grateful not to sleep very well. The path of the moon was also captivating as it spent the whole night moving in an arc through the sky.

Day 11 - Bikaner

Arrived Bikaner 4:15am and were descended on by Tuk Tuk drivers who wanted to take us - including some who were suggesting other places. We found one who was apparently a friend of guest house owner and who offered to take us for a reasonable price but drove the fastest we've ever driven in a tuk tuk. Anything over 10 mph feels pretty speedy when there are no sides and you have big bags and he was going at least 30mph.

We got to hostel with no warm welcome. It is a bit of a dump and there is no shower or even sink in the bathroom. Woke up about 11 and, after a little wander round the village, we discussed the camel safari for tomorrow and arranged a Tuk Tuk for the day.

We had a tour in fanciest Tuk Tuk ever. It was brand new and the driver had bought it himself. This is quite a rarity in a country where they are mostly hired and passed from one person to another during the course of the day. The day started ok with a look at the fort from the outside (we're forted out) and then a trip to Lalgarh Palace. We were expected to look at the museum there but as it was such a lovely day and an impressive building, we simply walked around the outside and enjoyed the peace. There were soldiers and staff everywhere but we saw very few other people and ony 2 other tourists. Enjoyed a calm 10 minutes sitting on a bench in the garden and just looking.

Matt's disgusting finger

After this we went to a miniature painting studio, where the painters spend days and days (often weeks) working on tiny pieces of art, made from tiny little brush strokes. The man there made us very welcome and spent ages talking to us about the craft, his family involvement in it, how the natural colours were made and used and demonstrating the different materials they used for painting on. He showed us incredible pictures painted on paper, camel leather, carved camel bone, postcards and old property documents from the British rule. He also talked us through his current painting and painted a tiny little scene on Matt's fingernail! After showing us round the studio and answering all of our questions, he still did not put us under any pressure to buy anything. When we tried to tip him for the time he had spent with us, he absolutely refused, saying it was his 'pleasure'.

Because of the experience we had had with the wonderful painter, we then agreed to go "British Red Cross" textiles factory which, of course, was nothing of the sort, and seemed only to be called that because they had once donated a prize to the British Red Cross Gala Dinner in 2003. They did claim to give 75% profit to the people who made the item but the salesmen seemed much happier and wealthier than the old ladies we saw sewing detailed patterns onto fabric in the half-light so we weren't convinced.

Somehow, we then picked up a 'friend' of Tuk Tuk driver called Ali who, despite repeating often that he volunteered as a 'social worker' at a textiles factory, was a bit annoying and pushy, and it turned out he was just volunteering for extra credit on his economics course. He showed us the old haveli's (attractive buildings made for the breeze to pass through) and  a spice market. The market was really interesting because there were no tourists there and was just full of people doing their own shopping.  The only hassle we got was from children wanting mostly to say hello so we wandered around and bought some tasty dosas and samosas before heading back to where we said we'd meet. He wasn't there and neither was the tuk tuk driver so we looked further. When we came back a few minutes later, we were grumbled at and told to walked down the hill to a Jain temple.

The temple was amazing. There were people singing, playing instruments and praying when we got there so we went up into the roof area and looked at the idols in the decorative domes. When the music had died down we went into the temple itself. It was perhaps the most beautifully decorated place we had seen so far but we felt rude taking any pictures, especially when there were still a few peope praying. It was an incredible place to be and it felt very spiritual and powerful just being in there. The priest came to speak to us and we were chatting to him when Ali came in to ask if we'd finished. On the way out, a lady stood at the door handed us a crisp, fresh 10 rupee note each. This really confused us. We asked what it was for and she told us for coming at prayer time. We were so surprised that we didnt really know what to say or ask so we stumbled off a bit dumbfounded. We will give it to someone needy soon.

Back at the hostel, we fell asleep for a short while because there was little else to do. We had been told that the internet was off again and so we couldn't do any research or sort anything out. We came here for him to see Karni Mata Mandir and didn't go today because we were meant to go on the camel safari tomorrow. We did have second thoughts about the camel safari because of the expense and the fact that it will just be the two of us (it would be much more fun in a group) but we think we'll do it anyway because otherwise it would mean another night here if he wanted to see Karni Mata Mandir. Matt is more certain than me and I'm struggling to see the appeal of it all but we'll see what happens.  The idea of staying here another night  isn't much fun but neither is riding on a stinky camel all day in the boiling hot sun, getting a sore bum, making our clothes stink even worse than they already do, going to a temple full of rats and then sleeping outside in a freezing cold desert!

Off to try and have a shower using a bucket now and get a few hours sleep before morning.

Day 10 - Jaipur

After breakfast with Sebastian, he joined us for another day of sight-seeing with Saldar. We went to the Albert Hall first and looked around the museum there. There were so many different things from different cultures and times that we probably could have stayed there all day but there were lots of things we wanted to see so had to get a move on. The Indian way of looking around sights however seems to be to walk up to things, take a picture and then walk away and so the tuk tuk drivers always seem surprised by how long it takes us to look at things.

After this we went to Surya Mandir (Sun or Monkey Temple).  I was pretty scared of seeing the monkeys (fear of teeth and rabies!) but they didnt pester too much if you didn't have any food. Sebastian had been the day before so we didn't spend too long there but we did take lots of humourous and cute pictures as we wandered to the temple at the top of the hill. In the temple we were given bindis and bracelets for good fortune and we saw another view over Jaipur.

Next, we drove up the big hill to Amber Fort. The tuk tuk seemed to struggle a lot more with our burly bums on the seats but there were no complaints from Saldar as all other traffic rushed passed us with the horns blaring. We passed lots of decorated elephants and Sebastian wanted to ride one but we had missed the tourist window for the elephant safari - Saldar offered to take us to the elephant village later instead.

The Amber Fort was really impressive. The architecture and the views were amazing. It stands on the hill next to two other forts but really stands out in its beauty and almost seems to glow. We spent quite  long while exploring - longer than we wanted to but we couldn't find the way out. Eventually we took a turn which led us inside the Turkish bath area that we had previously seen barriered off. After posing for a photo in the bath itself, we emerged and had to furtively climb over the rope and the 'No Entry' sign.

The fort had different monkeys to the ones we'd seen before: black faces and long tails instead of red faces and big, red bums. It didn't them any less scary though, especially since they were so tame. As we left, we saw lots of them mob two ladies carrying ice-cream lollies. The women threw them and the monkeys picked them up and munched through them.

At the 'elephant village' we saw three elephants. They wanted us to pose for photos with them and I felt obliged since we had obviously gone there to see them. However, I could not get the experience of last time I saw elephants in India out of my head. I asked Saldar where they came from and he told me that it was Kerala. We discussed the fact that the elephants I had seen there had been trapped and he told me it was very likely that this was how these ones were obtained. We made ourselves sad thinking about it so we gathered Matt and Sebastian and bid a hasty retreat. Saldar told us that we didn't have to pay the men there but with the way they pestered us, we did not have much choice but to give them something.

Since we were taking a night train to Bikaner and didn't want to end up freezing again, we had asked Saldar to take us somewhere to buy blankets. We had thought that a sleeping bag would be too much of a pain to carry around and lots of travel info suggested they were unecessary but we didn't want another freezing night -especially not on a seven hour journey.  The idea of the usual high-pressure sales and bartering exchange  filled us with dread and didn't turn out to be much better than we expected. The salesman had the usual attitude and if he hadn't had been Saldar's friend, we would probably have left. We did however, manage to eventually strike a reasonable bargain (450 rupees each) and left with two rather shiny, not very well-made blankets and a guilt complex.

Again, I was really frustrated and upset that the good people in India, like Saldar, and others we have met, do not get what they deserve, whilst others prosper from cheating and taking advantage. It really got to me that we had paid Saldar the same price for a day of his services, help and advice, as we paid for two crappy blankets. In fact, we would have paid a lot less if we had given him what he had originally asked for. The good hearts, cheer and resiliance of the honourable people here is really humbling and quite heartbreaking. It is unthinkable how someone supports 7 children, goes without to put them through school, teaches them morals and respect, helps people in the community and yet earns a pittance taking ungrateful tourists to places he can't afford to go.  The hostel owner saw me upset and spent some time talking to me and comforting me - which of course made me feel worse as well as better. He was full of praise for my' good heart' and told me that sometimes, to feel compassion and a little understanding is enough.

We tried to leave some reviews for our hostels so far but the internet was so slow at Sebastian's hostel that the laptop ran out of battery. So we had coffee then walked to train station for 21:15 train to Bikaner.
Struggled to sleep on freezing, cramped train with our rucksacks for pillows and felt glad we'd bought blankets after all.

Day 9 - Jaipur

Arrived early morning (about 1am) and managed to find our first pre-paid rickshaw. The hostel looked just like the website had described it and was really grand and decorative.  Our room was much cleaner than the last one and had a TV, hot water on request and comfy pillows that didn't feel like sleeping on bricks. My duvet looked a bit blood-stained but I guess you can't have everything. We slept quite well and got up about 10ish.

Just outside the room, on the little balcony, we met Jamie and Pernilla, a couple who were in India to get lots of shirts made so that they could sell them at markets and festivals around Europe. They spent 6 months of every year living in Goa, teaching yoga and being involved in various business ventures, and the rest of the time traveling around and putting their 'fingers in many pies'. It was fascinating to speak to them and imagine what there life is like.

At breakfast, in the roof-top restaurant, we met Ed and Piper, an American father and daughter who were travelling India together. Piper lives in China and so was really helpful giving us lots of tips on where to go and how to get around in China. She has also been trekking in Nepal and so had a few handy ideas for there too.

We kept a lookout for the tuktuk driver who had taken us to the hostel and wanted to show us around but he didn't show so we got Tuk Tuk tour arranged through hostel. This turned out to be one of those great feats of providence that really shows another side to India - though our driver, Saldar.


First, he took us to Mineret where we were shown to the top by a lovely old man who pointed out the sights in the panaramic view of the city. He took lots of pictures of us in positions that he told us to get into and they were corny but cool.

Jantar Mantar

Then he took us to Jantar Mantar observatory (after a quick trip to retrieve Matt's lost hat), where there were some gigantic instruments for measuring various astrological events and which help determine various events on the Hindu calendar. 

After, we went to Hawa Mahal (the wind palace). Again, another beautiful building and we climbed up narrow sets of stairs to see where the harem would sit our of view to watch events in the courtyard, but it was full of people  and a bit of a crush to wander round.

Every place we went, Saldar tried to explain to us a bit of history and background and he was very patient and knowledgeable. We also picked up bits of information about him, his family and what kind of person he was, and found ourselves liking him more and more throughout the day.

One thing that always strikes me about India is that people seem to think that you only want the best. The restaurant that Saldar intially took us to for lunch served lots of cuisines from different countries and was about 8 times over our budget. We did go in and look at the menu but soon bailed. Instead we picked up some fruit (which along with fresh, plain veg and salad is sorely missed)  and Matt was refused service at an Indian food stall where we could see some tasty looking things being freshly cooked.

Water Palace

 By htis time, Saldar had a better idea of what we enjoyed and could afford so we spent  a great afternoon experiencing the more beautiful and unusual things. We saw the Water Palace, a summer home of the maharaja which is plonked straight in the middle of a lake and looks  like it's sinking. We absolutely loved the burial  Temple of the local Maharaja family, where there were three increasingly grand sections and which was so peaceful and stunning inside. We were also astounded at the Rama and Sita temple, which was almost hidden from view but was decorated with thousands of tiny mirrors and intricate pictures. The women in the temple encouraged us to take pictures and shouted at the man decorating the idol to uncover it properly so that we had a better view. When we got outside, Saldar was eating some street food and we asked if we could join him. We each had a tiny plate of potato fritter with chick peas, onions and sauce which was so spicy that Matt looked like he was going to melt but was absolutely delicious.

Rama and Sita Temple

On way back got taken to textiles factory-shop where they showed us how block-printing was done. It was quite interesting but we weren't really interested in buying anything, though we luckily weren't pressured too much. Later, we also foolishly agreed to go to a jewellery factory-shop. We wanted to help Saldar make the commission but we really hate the high pressure situation - especially when there's nothing we want to buy so we asked Saldar not to take us to any more shops.

Saldar

As we arrived back at the hostel, we saw Sebastian getting out of a Tuk Tuk. Coincidentally it turned out that he was in the hostel next door. We had coffee with him and he decided that he'd like to join us in Bikaner to see the rat temple so we spent quite a long time trying to look at rearringing his plans so he didn't have to cancel too much, but we couldn't make it work. This was a real shame because we were also thinking about a camel safari and he would have been great to go with.

After a long day I had a massive head-ache so I left the boys and climbed in bed with a paracetamol and the room service menu. Some mushroom soup later I was feeling much better so we ordered more food and layed in bed watching Top Gear - it felt like such a luxury.

Day 8 - Agra to Jaipur

Somehow, despite the fact that we had shared only a half bottle of rum between six people, we both ended up fast asleep until 12. The room had no windows and so was constantly dark and we initially thought it was only midnight. When we got up we had to persuade the guesthouse not to charge us for an extra night even though we were three hours past checkout time.

Since we had done everything and spent too much money over the last few days, we stayed in hostel and chatted to our new friends. Sebastian had to go to Jaipur on earlier train but we stayed with Le, Berthier and Yuhay, sharing the lovely food from the guesthouse and taking about all sorts of things.

Yusuf also sorted out an Indian SIM card for us so we could call hostels and book train tickets more easily. This was actually quite complicated, involving passport photos, copies of passports and numerous forms so we were very grateful for his help.

In the evening we caught the train to Jaipur. This time it really did get very cold and we spent several hours absolutely freezing. Matt had it particularly bad because someone had stolen his top bunk and so he had to lay on the bottom one next the the windows that never close properly. Resolved to buy a blanket for all future sleeper train journeys but we know that this will be a real chore. We've avoided trying to buy things so far and have been quite lucky not to have been traipsed around shops by rickshaw drivers.

Day 7 - Agra

Obligatory bench photo

We set our alarm early to go and see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. We only had to walk around the corner to buy a ticket and get the tourist shuttle bus there. It was truly incredible - just breathtaking. It was hard to believe that it was really there and was really that beautiful. We spent ages outside, just looking at it. The gardens and surrounding buildings were also spectacular and the beauty and symmetry of everything in sight is really striking. It was really quite foggy and that gave the whole thing a dream-like quality.

On the Taj Mahal, you can walk onto the building and around the first platform surrounding the dome. The view from there across the river as the fog lifted was really magical;  we tried to take pictures but just couldn't capture it. 

There's always someone
in the way

Inside, the main space that you could see was quite small and mostly consisted of the burial places and surrounding decoration. A few people had described it to us as quite disappointing but I quite enjoyed seeing it.

We sat outside for quite a while longer, watching the light change and the building become clearer and glow with a more orange light. We walked around the edge of the gardens which were full of chipmunks, pigeons and love-birds, as well as quite a few bits of rubblish they'd obviously chucked to the side as not to spoil the view.

Back at the hostel, we were shown the construction work that they were doing to extend he hostel by another floor and the view across Agra. The father of the family was really proud of the work and again, could not do enought to help us.

Anji & Vickv

The family helped us to organise a tuktuk to see the rest of Agra's sights. It was driven by a really quiet, unassuming man and with him he had a very lovely boy called Vikcv, who was really chatty and smily and bright. He told us everything we needed or wanted to know and made us laugh a lot.

First, we went to Agra Fort. Since we had missed the fort at Delhi, we were quite keen to see it but, although it was quite impressive, we just struggled to get too enthusiastic about it when we were there.  There were also a few monkeys running wild and bothering people so that made us pretty nervous.  Overall, we were glad to see it but would probably not want to visit the forts that exist in pretty much every town.

Baby Taj

After the fort, Vikcv took us to L'timad-ud-Dabilah (known as Baby Taj). This was actually the first Mogal tomb to be faced in white marble and was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.  We took our shoes off and went inside (Matt was made to wear feet covers but couldn't pay for them so had to run away from the man) and it was was incredibly pretty with lots of detailed patterns and two tombs.

It was much more peaceful than the Taj Mahal so we wandered through the small gardens and sat looking over the river for a while, watching the buffulo wade through the water against the backdrop of the cityscape. There was also a crazy boy playing in the mud as though it was sand and wading through the greasy water like he was in the sea.

Later, we were taken to the Chini Ka Rauza. This was another interesting looking building but this time we did not want to go inside. It was decorated by an Iranian painter but we felt like wandering around the pretty gardens instead. The edges of the garden looked overlooked some slums where children and animals waded through rubblish as well as  some areas where people were working the land.
Everywhere we go, children shout 'hello' and 'how are you?'.  Often they ask for chocolate and pens and sometimes, like at Chini Ka Rauza, they just follow us round, trying to shake our hands and asking us questions.

Vikcv then suggested the 'backside of the Taj', a view of the Taj Mahal from the other side of the river we had seen that morning. The Mehtab Bajh Viewing point was just down a little road and was quoite strange because, other than the view, there was little there but the customary stray dogs and some barbed wire, though again, we got besieged by children on the way back to the tuktuk.

Back at the guesthouse we coud not believe it was only about 3pm and we would be in Agra until 8pm the following evening, especially when we had already done everything. We tried to get some laundry done but there was 'a problem' which meant that we had to persuade one of the younger boys of the family, Bilal, to take it somewhere else to get it done. This actually turned out very well since it was a chance to get to know Bilal better and by that afternoon, he was calling me Auntie Anji.

While we were sitting around deciding what to do, we met Le and Berthier from Cananda and an Argentinian American guy called Sebastian.  After saying goodbye to a couple of the boys from the evening before, during which we were tempted by the idea of Goa, we all went in search of some food. After wandering the streets for a while, we came across a shopping centre (the first and only one we've seen so far) and ended up eating in McDonalds. This was quite an interesting experience in a country where they don't eat beef or pig and we ended up enjoying a paneer burger. After checking out the cinema  times (where they had sensory seats which moved and jibbled) for the following day, we wandered back to the guesthouse and noticed the full-moon.

Indian Charlie Sheen

We had read in the guidebook that they do full-moon viewings at the Taj and since Le  was a photographer, he really wanted  to see it. Of course, it wasn't straight forward. We went back to the ticket office which seemed to be being guarded by at least ten men who were sat around smoking and twiddling their guns. After a long and confusing conversation, we eventually ascertained that there were full-moon viewings, but that you had to go somewhere 7 km away to get the tickets and then come back to the Taj. So instead we bought some rum and sat around chatting, greeting the new Japanese guy, Yuhay, and commenting on the fact that Yusuf, the elder son in the guesthouse, looked like an Indian Charlie Sheen - which he loved!