A Vintage Wunderlust: India

Showing posts with label India. Show all posts

Sunday, 15 February 2015

Day 9 and 10: Finishing India

Day 9

We are starting the day lazy again as Harpel needed a rest after 9 solid days of driving us around. This is turns out to be a god send as this morning we have the first rumbles of upset tummies in the team with Ben not being able to stray too far from the toilet. The immodeum is whipped out and luckily seems to the do the job by the time Harpel comes and picks us up.

We begin our long drive back to Delhi and all this driving is starting to merge into one as I stare out of the window as the passing towns and villages. It strikes me, however, as we drive along that although India is full of rubbish, it's pile high in the edges of the towns, spilling onto the roads, the Indians themselves are actually very clean. Each house and shop we pass has a clean front step which I see being swept every day, they are always smartly dressed with fresh clothes and ironed sleeves, they are very conscious of their appearance. Whereas at home, we might have smarter streets but we aren't always as bothered with ourselves.

At about 4.30pm we begin to make our way into the city, a sight I can confirm as the buildings get higher and the roads busier. It is meant to take us an hour and a half from this point but you Harpel's amazement and ours the streets are nearly empty. He chuckles to himself that he's never seen the city so clean, so beggar free and so empty and it dawns on us all that Obama's arrival tomorrow is very important for the president and he needs everything to be just so.

We reach our hotel in 45 minutes, and you can see Harpel's happiness to be back in his home city with his family, including two young daughters, nearby. He isn't happy for us to go out tonight on our own, he's worried that, with Obama's arrival imminent tomorrow, that there might be trouble in the city tonight so we have lukewarm showers, room service curry and an early night.

Day 10

Today I managed to wake up still thinking I'm at home, and that confused feeling doesn't leave me for most of the morning. We are leaving India today but not till late so we have a full programme according to Harpel. We dress quick and find our way to the hotel bar for the last of our Indian breakfast surprises but it excels itself this morning and I have the best breakfast I've had this coming here. It's called Bhooni Barji and consists of a inflated pancake style bread with curry and yoghurt, yum.

Our first stop on our jam packed day sight seeing is to a monkey temple, which is easily the coolest temple I have ever seen. It's bright orange, about 30 ft high and in the shape of their monkey God, we didn't go inside but I was pretty impressed with its outer to be honest.

Next up, on a day seeming to be full of them, is another temple. This time a cool stone building that was a bit nippy without your shoes on, but even with its chill this is probably the first time any place religious in this trip has chimed with me. The walls are full of Hindu proverbs that's logic makes sense to me. My favourite was something like (I forgot to write it down) life is like being in an ocean full of crocodiles, I just like that image :)

We linger around here longer that we would have normally as we have a lot of hours to kill but it shows off how far I've come in 10 days of being here and I'm just a little impressed with myself. To get to this temple and back to the car again, we have to walk under the road in a dark subway full of stalls and for the first time is doesn't feel like I'm suffocating with fear, yes I'm a little nervous but not in a way that grips me and I feel I'm making progress.

After this, Harpel drives around a bit to show us the city which is full of road blocks and diversions for a certain american president, and I am really taken aback with just how quite the city is, it's much more comparable to Colchester on a Sunday morning that the bustling one we arrived in 10 days before. We see the city gate, the palace and several other places as we whizz past.

We are on route to another temple and this one is the largest Hindu temples in the world and it's pretty huge. It was completed quite recently and it still feels quite fresh, we wandering around of over an hour taking in its huge elephant sculptures and their stories. Our tummies are rumbling by now so we go off for lunch is probably one of the most disappointing places Harpel has taken us for food. It's an expensive touristy place with over priced drinks and no thali! It did redeem itself slightly with its mouth freshener afterwards. The only way I can describe it is it's like licking an incense stick which makes Ben gag but I quite enjoy it.

We continue our drive around the city, checking out all the closed monuments, including the Ghandi memorial garden and museum which is a bit disappointing. How rude of Obama to come the same day as us. The only thing that's open that Harpel thinks is worth a visit is the fort so we head off, pay our £4 entry and I instantly relax, it's just so peaceful.

We take a right as soon as we enter and are rewarded with seeing 6 or 7 tiny puppies who we both fall in love with until one takes a lick too far and tries to nibble my leg, not cool little dude, not cool.

So we move on, wandering through the ruins. It has a really ingenious water system that includes channels connecting ponds, connecting fountains and we follow them around the temple in the middle, enjoying the peace and warmth. We sit for a bit when we realise that the mass of birds flying above us are Eagles and Ben has a quick photo session and we go back to the car.

The only thing left to do, other than eat, is a temple that closes in 30 minutes which we decide against and sadly this is when things go a bit sour. Because there wasn't much open and we wanted to conserve a bit of cash we decide to go to the airport, which Harpel is fine to take us to but we have to talk to his boss first, who wants more money. Yesterday before we go into the hotel, Harpel asked for his tip a little early so we could do some things with his family which we were fine to do but apparently we didn't give enough to cover his boss's share as well. We stick to our guns however and got taken to the airport at no extra cost but it soured the day and was a bad end to our time in India.

At the airport we had 9 1/2 hours to spare but it actually flew by, as time seems to at the moment and was only mard by me trapping my finger in a toilet door. In true Indian chaotic style, our flight didn't show up on the board until an hour before boarding, I had my bag completely emptied at security as they weren't happy with the wires inside and Ben had to get off the plane 10 minutes before take off as they had messed up and booked my bag as Ben's so he had two which confused them, even though I had none. Cue a nerve racking flight where I didn't think either bag are going to be in Hong Kong with us, eek.

Day 7 and 8: Monkeys and Pigeons

Day 7

This morning is our first lay in of the trip and it's bliss. We only sleep in till 9 but that extra hour recharges us after our first full on week in India. For all its noise when we first arrived, the hotel room is actually really quiet at night and it's only at about 7am the honking and drumming starts up again.

We are on our own this morning and the first part of today's programme is the City Palace, a huge building we can see from the window in our room. But first stop, as nothing is free, is off to an ATM where we find out we have no money on our credit card, ah. Luckily we have 100 (£1) rupees in our pocket so we settle for a couple of parattha's for some brain food and managed to work out a plan involving several bank accounts and a couple of emails to the UK and it's sorted but it means we've missed out on a morning exploring.

Harpel picks us up at at 1pm for another day guide free and we start off at a monument on a top of a hill which great views of the city. There is also a bunch of very cute puppies which we follow around for a bit, generally aww-ing at them. Next we are whisked off to the Ladies Garden inside the city which is where the queen and her ladies would go when it got too hot for them in the palace. I get proper garden envy at this place, with its beautiful fountains and pretty flowers and I could stay there forever. It's laid out in a grid system with each section full of colour and water and I can see why the ladies are so comfortable here.

We had heard from a passing tuk tuk that the monsoon palace was worth a visit so we persuade Harpel to take us, I couldn't understand his reluctance till we reached the base of it, it was a near vertical and his car struggles to climb the steep winding hills. But God it was worth it. The monsoon palace's purpose was to be a look out for the monsoon rain clouds so the city could be warned and it's views are spectacular, from all angles you can see an absolutely beautiful view from the city to the mountains behind it. It might be a bit difficult for a Sainsbury delivery man to get to but it would make quite a vista to wake up to each morning.

As we wander back to the car, we spot a family of monkeys who Ben takes a shine to, showing off his monkey prowess, they aren't impressed.

We come back to the hotel and I gear myself up for another evening walk, determined to conquer my fear of the outside madness. Ben knows how to quell my worry though and gets me a map so I can feel a little less lost when we go out. A short stroll takes us to the lake behind the palace and we hit it just right with the sun setting behind the buildings in front of us.

We carry on wandering as our tummies are rumbling at this point and find a great little restaurant on the water front with Indians playing cards out the front and back packers charging inside. I've got a bit of a thing for Thali's now so order up my special. I've never seen so much food and it's so cheap at £1.80 for the lot.

My choice must be a good one as, as soon as it arrives, a group of Japanese tourists start frantically pointing at me, wanting the same. We've been out for about 2 hours at this point and as the darkness sets in my nerves are back so we wander our way to the hotel, getting caught up in the jam of traffic and people all trying to do the same.

Day 8

We are on the road again today, leaving the mountainous Udaipur with its strange smells and busy people to make our way to Pushkar for the last city on our trip before returning to Delhi. The drive consists of steep mountains roads and open country in India's ever changing landscape.

We stopped off at one of Harpel's motorway choices and got to experience first hand how rude some tourists can be. One grumpy Chinese lady apparently couldn't get the perfect latte and decided it was the poor waiters fault and shouted and flayed at them. Once she had got her message across that she wasn't happy, she got out a packet mix, stirred it in to her cup and then sat with her head in her hands for the rest of the lunch, I don't think diva quite covers it.

The conversations have gotten a bit weird now we are at day 8 and I spend a good hour telling Ben about what I would want if I could have any super power (the short version, the ability to collect all rubbish, store it in a cloud network and then auction it off to people who want it) and Ben countered with narrating a monkey trying to get a ride off a goat.

Before we reach Pushkar we have to go through the very, very busy down of Ajmer, where, I'm surprised it didn't happen before, someone bumps into the back of Harpel's car, it was the slightest nudge but you would think someone had insulted his mother the look Harpel gave the driver as he got out. A couple of grumpy stares later we continue with a stoner silence.

The arrival in to Pushkar is typical of India, we get stopped by a group of men, nothing to do with the government Harpel chirpily tells us, who are asking for an unofficial tax to get into the city. Harpel pays and we drive into the serene and small town of Pushkar. Our hotel is about half a mile from the centre and so quiet that I couldn't believe we were still in the same country. Our hotel looked like a castle and after admiring the turrets, we wandered into the town to see what it's like and it's the first time on the trip I've actually wanted to walk.

Harpel has told us there are a few temples we should go and look at but as we are starting to feel a little temple-d out, we just wander instead and I test out my new found confidence with India streets. The first thing we find is the typical market full of beads, elephants and material all being pushed at you by eager salesmen but we walk on, head high and success, they leave us alone. In the centre of Pushkar is a huge holy lake, surrounded by several different gates which we wander through, having to be pretty forceful with the "flower sellers" as we go. "It's rude if you don't bless the lake, take them"

The scenery is beautiful and we sit for a while and take it all in. We've been out for about an hour when the combination of a lot of pigeons, hunger and the hawkers sends me over the edge again and we go back. My frustration at myself at is point is huge, why does the chaos panic me so much? I can feel it rising as soon as we leave the hotels and it just mounts. If there is one thing I want to combat on this trip, it's this.

Back at the hotel, I have my usual Thali and we are accompanied by a very bassy Indian wedding with bright lights and loud music, when one plug finally has too much and blows the whole power to the party, our hotel and all the places around is. They must be used to this as candles are swiftly given out and the dinner is still cooking on its gas stove. We eat up and get ready for going back to the beginning, Delhi.

Thursday, 5 February 2015

Day 5 and 6: Blue City to Octopussy. Jodipur and Udaipur

Day 5

I awake after a really, really good night sleep and after a quick breakfast, avoiding the fruit, we get packed up and leaving the wonderful Jaipur. I'm sad to say goodbye to this city with its lovely people and beautiful views but I know my enjoyment means I'll be back and it means I've finally found my love for all this travel business. We are making our way to Jodipur, the next city on our whirlwind tour and it's another long drive.

Today is the first time we get bored in the car, which is good going seeing as we've already travelled some pretty long drives. We found some pretty good car games to play and thought we would share them so have a look at this blog for them and please comment and add some more.

Harpel's driving today has been amazing today. My personal favourite is over taking 4 lorries on a blind corner all because he had to be single lane for 5 miles. I managed to do the ever so embarrassing singling out loud today with my heads phones on, team quite nicely apparantly with some dance moves, luckily it wasn't Dolly as I don't think Harpel would still be driving us after my rendition of 9-5.

To break up the long drive, we stopped off at a beautiful temple that had recently we built to replace an older one on the hill behind it. Its run up is a 2 sided wide pathway with beautiful flowers growing in the centre which goes up to a stunning white marble temple. The place was completely deserted apart from a few gardener when we first arrived and it was so peaceful. Every part of our trip so far has been full of noise and people and it was just bliss to be sitting in the warm sun, in a beautiful surrounding just taking stock of everything we've been up to so far. Our solitude couldn't last forever and it wasn't too long before we were the focus of people's cameras again, so after a few poses we left.

We arrived into Jodipur, apatly named the Blue city after all it's blue buildings, at about 3pm to be reminded of the chaos of Delhi. It is an old city with tall buildings and narrow roads which don't cope well with the high level of traffic that's there. The only thing on a our programme today (what Harpel calls our plans) is to visit the fort (see a common theme here) and for the first time we didn't have a guide and it was heaven. Yes we might not have understood all the signs and didn't learn the history of each doorway but it gave us the freedom to explore for ourselves and if we really wanted to know all that we could have got a free audio guide (which we declined).

We wandered around the very beautiful building taking in all its magnificent architecture and its stunning views out of the windows and the battlements. Not having a guide did mean we had alot of people asking us for photos which was a bit annoying but I finally got a picture for my nephews of how many of the Indian ladies dress so it wasn't all bad. I also had a lot of women coming up to shake my hand as they liked my hair colour so much. Harpel has explained that a lot of people are interested in the colour as it isn't something they can get out of the henna they use and people are a bit intrigued by it.

We finished at the fort and made our way back to the car to watch the sun set and attract the stray dogs with Ben's Dr Dolittle ways. We then made out way through the city to get to our hotel and oh my kittens Delhi crazy doesn't even cover it, the roads are so narrow and they are determined to squeeze so many cars in and everyone believes it's always their right of way. We drive through a bustling street market and it's insane with cars, people, bikes and cows all jostling for space. Also because the roads are so narrow and busy it's impossible to remember which way you have come, I pride myself on my sense of direction but I was completely lost in all the crowds.

But we finally turn up at our hotel and it's actually really nice, quite basic with large clunky furniture but it's what I imagined, before we left, of what Indian hotels would be like and the room had good wi-fi!! Which has quickly become one of the must have if places are going to get a good rating from us. Because of the connection, I decided to FaceTime home and speak to my sister and mum which was really lovely though I'm not sure if a bit upsetting for my mum, like I've said before calling home for me grounds me and cements all that I'm doing as being real and not some fantasy I've dreamt up but I know sometimes it's just easier to not have the contact as then you aren't reminded and the times goes quicker.

We wash and re dress and get taken out to dinner in the posher part of Jodipur. This part of town has one of the most expensive hotels I've ever heard of and probably in India (put in hotel facts) The restaurant we go to Rocktails is very close and you can tell that from the more exciting dishes and westernisation of the food. It has a really cool interior though, where it's made to look like caves and a jungle and the food was out of this world. I went for pasta as I just needed a change from curry but Ben had a delicious pineapple panner that I had proper food envy over. They let themselves down though with the tea afterwards though, offering up Tetley's bagged as their green tea option, now I'm sure their are many of you out there that love a bit of Tetley's but I'm a Clippers girl and was also really disappointed it wasn't fresh, us being in the tea capital of the world.

We waddled back to the hotel, full to the brim and fell straight asleep, only waking for the epic cat battle that happened on our roof.

Day 6

Today was the first morning I've actually fancied breakfast, normally they offer very sweet toast and strawberry jam or egg and both turn my stomach but today, ah it was delicious. I had a pile of spiced potatoes, rice and a scoop of slightly spicey baked beans, very carby but a perfect breakfast.

The last few days have both been a bit crazy for us both and it's showing today, we are both tired and just mull over the scenery as we drive out of the blue city. I have completely underestimated how much music can change my mood and loving listening to my strange cheese pop playlists as we drive through. Our first stop of the day was at a beautiful mountain temple, which is where we had a first viewing of wild monkeys who sit in car parks and eat your lunch. We didn't go in the temple this time but we didn't need too it was so relaxing just sitting outside in the sun, taking snaps. We wandered around and got some good monkey shots before working out we had wasted enough time that our driver would be believe we have been inside (he's quite religious and I think we wants us to be enlightened too)

We are on our way to Udaipur and the route is taking us through some beautiful mountains, which is full of little monkey checkpoints (we don't have to stop but they make sure we have our papers) Harpel excelled himself with his driving again, this time overtakes on tight, blind mountain corners with only a horn for protection.

We thankfully reach Udaipur in once piece and I think we might have reached a nice spacious city. Oh no no no. Harpel was surprised as the last time he came the main road was dust and now all snazzy and tarmacked. Progress :) as we drive further into the city, the roads do there usual Indian thing and get smaller and smaller and even tighter and this time with buildings even higher, there can't be one lower that 4 storeys. The roads are also filled with their usual array on animals, vehicles, stalls and people and we witness a few gridlock traffic jams on Udaipur's tiny roads in the two days we are here.

And my, the noise! It's got to be the noisiest place I have ever been. The room is basic but clean and actually in a great location to go and see the city sights which we do once we've dropped our bags. This is the first time we've been out due to my timidness with the busy outside and I am overwhelmed again, and my brain harks back to arriving for the first time in Delhi. I freak out and get nudged by a Tuk Tuk and all I want to do it hide. But Ben perseveres on and drags me to a cafe over looking the road so I can get used to the hustle in my own time. This was obviously a touristy place to eat and we were seated next to the poshest three some I have ever heard who were complaining about the council tax rates in London. We stay for about an hour but I still couldn't get my head around all the madness so we came back to the hotel and had a epic card battle. These are seriously one of the best things we packed, there are so many games to play and it can pass an airport wait in no time.

Our driver had recommended us to eat in the roof top restaurant of our hotel, I have no idea why as they didn't seem at all prepared for guests and the oldest waiter up there was about 15! The food was also underwelming and the only thing that made up for it was the fact they put Octopussy on for us. We found out afterwards that nearly every guest house in Udiapur plays it daily as it was filmed here, so you really can't escape it. Just another quirk of India I guess.

Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Day 4: Falling in Love. Jaipur.

Day 4

After my first full-ish night sleep, I wake up with a bounce in my step as today we were off exploring and I actually couldn't wait. But first breakfast and to sample what delights we had in store for us that morning. Ben went for the more unusual spiced baked beans and chapatis which I'm not sure he'll do again, where I decided to sample some of their delicious looking cut fruit and yoghurt. Fatal error, I'm sick with 10 minutes and put off the fresh fruit for the rest of the trip. But I wasn't going to let that ruin my day and we begin our sight seeing marathon, though with me still a little queasy in the back.

We start to move through the city of Jaipur and I instantly notice a difference from the madness of Agra and Delhi, it still has the cows and the cars and the now familiar honking but the streets are wider and the pink building give the view a faint rose tint. First stop for the day is the Hawa Mahal, a temple built with Gnesh's crown in mind but before we can see its beauty we have to cross the road and that's quite an experience. I've made a handy step by step guide for anyone else wanting a go.

Step one. Decide on your point of finish, there is not changing route once to start so make sure you end point is a good one.

Step two. Have your head up focused on your point and begin walking.

Step three. Keep walking at a slow and steady pace whilst all traffic moves around you and silently scream on your head.

Step four. Reach your end point and assess any injuries obtained. Complete.

Inside the Hawa Mahal is beautiful with it's pretty stain glass windows, slowly decreasing in size floors and epic fountains. You also get a pretty good view of Jaipur and I start to appreciate its design, with the old centre being 9km squared and full of neat and wide blocks and two or three storey high pink buildings. Our next sight on the tour of Jaipur, is a short walk away to the Jantar Mantar, which is an amazing planetarium. It has the worlds oldest and largest sun dial and it's pretty impressive, it can tell the correct time down to 2 seconds. The planetarium also has instruments to tell you how many hours of sun light there is left and where the planets are in the sky amount other things. Very amazing and accurate for some built over 300 years ago.

We stop for a quick drink before we are whisked of for our next stop which is the palace, where the current 16 year old king lives, not a bad pad for a teenager. We pass our second snake charmer on the way in, who I am confidently telling Ben is using a fake snake till it turns around and bites him. The palace is quite nice but nothing on our Queen's abode. The current royal family are quite clever and have opened up parts and built museums inside to gain revenue, which include a textile museum with the largest jacket in it I have ever seen, you could easily fit 8 of me in there, a weapon museum (with a lot of back scratchers) and a large courtyard which was in the process of being kitted out for a wedding when we were there, with bright pink drapes, beautiful flowers and red carpets. You can hire it for £15,000 which is probably a lot cheaper than you could get Buckingham palace for.

Our guide now takes us on the usual "oh look my friends jewellery gallery" but this time we are prepared. We are given mercifully quick and very rubbish demonstration by the chief and then on to the hard sell of rings and pendants which I can't deny are very beautiful and exceptionally cheap but not something you really want whilst travelling. We did however pick up a little Ganesh for good luck on our travels, nicely bartered down and quickly leave before we run out of the ability to say no after the 100th time.

I don't think I've mentioned enough our lovely driver, Harpal yet who funny, very inciteful and a rather good driver for Indian standards. He is our tip giver and daily piss taker and today is no different. He has decided that I have baby hunger as I regularly am hungry and can get a tiny bit grumpy about it. So as he teases, he tells us that he will get us something scrumptious to eat and he wasn't joking. We get a bowl of red sweet carrot mush and a bowl of coconut saffron mush followed by the spiciest but most delicious freshly made samosa. Bliss.

Next stop of the day after our stomachs have been nicely filled was a textile printing and carpet making factory. Conscious this might be another hardsell but relaxing into the Indian way of shopping, we watch first a demonstration on how they print the cotton, it's a true art as some pieces can have up to 7 stamps on them, all of which need to line up perfectly to give a truly magnificent finish. I have a go and am actually not bad at it so wasn't too surprised when they offered me a job. A brilliant textile printer and so modest, aren't I wonderful.

We move on next to see a carpet being made which was fascinating to watch, a large complex one like I take with me to my fairs can take up to two years to make. However interesting this was though, it wasn't the carpets I had my eye on. I quickly move the guy on and we wander upstairs to the textile section and I'm blown away.

But it wasn't the carpets I was interested in. We wandered upstairs to the textile section and was blown away. I have never seen so much fabric. We had a wander around and decided on getting some tailored items made, I got a pretty Green gingham patterned shirt in a vintage style and Ben got a traditional Indian cotton shirt in grey. We were told they would be done in 6 hours so we carried on the tour.

Next up was Amber City, which is where the King used to live before he built Jaipur in all its wonder. Ben fell in love with Amber fort, it had lots of beautiful parts but I've started to get slightly over fort-ed and could have quite happily sat in the sun whilst the guide took Ben around. After this we had our elephant ride, which was pretty fabulous, if not a tiny bit creepy as we went through a quite a built up area and everyone was staring but it was a really comfy ride, much better than camels.

After this we do another fort which has pretty fabulous views of Jaipur and start to make our way back. Our final stop of the day is to have our picture taken with the palace in the lake in the back ground. By this point I'm not just over forted, I am also over peopled and once back at the hotel, I hide in my iPad for two hours reading up on indian history.

Dinner tonight is to come with the promise of some interesting indian dancing as a side line to our meal, which actually just consisted of a very uncomfortable girl doing a couple of moves for about 2 minutes but the food was yummy and whilst we were nibbling our shirts turned up, can't really get better service than that :D

Once we got back and had a little bit of a fashion shoot, I had my first FaceTime session with home with the Auld family and it was so nice to touch base. It makes all this seem a little more real every time I hear from home, otherwise it kinda of feels like a dream and I don't want that. I want to remember each part of this for years to come.

Thursday, 29 January 2015

Day 2 and 3:The Difficult Third Album, I mean Blog. Agra, Ranthombhore and Jaipur

Day 2

You left me in my last blog at 2am in our hotel room with my first experience of India filling my head so you can imagine I was pretty tired and buzzed when I woke up the next day.

We dress and breakfasted a normal indian breakfast of curry and paratha bread or egg in a morning full of swirling fog, with the rumble of anticipation in my stomach of what a full day in India would bring.

Our first stop of the day, and the trip, was the Taj Mahal and we make our way across the city, me with eyes wide as I experience the hustle and bustle of Agra for the first time in the day. It is literally madness and I would imagine a driving instructors worse nightmare. We arrive with warnings of hawkers, and as soon as we get out of the car we are bombarded with postcards, keyrings and camel ride offerings, all being shoved in front of us, but I take the advice of our driver and keep my head down and thankfully we are soon left alone. As we arrive at the main gateway to the mausoleum, curious to how magnificent this well talked about wonder was going to be, I realise that seeing will be a lose term, as in December and January, Agra has its winter fog and before 11am you can hardly see the end of your nose.

However as the morning started to clear, I couldn't help being struck by what a beautiful building and ground it was. Everything is symmetrical from its gardens to its steps, which I have never seen before on such a large scale. It was also built, I think, in such an astonishingly quick amount of time. It took 20 years and over 20,000 people to complete and their craftsmanship is incredible, every piece of writing you see on the marble and every picture inside is not painted but individual stone, carefully carved and stuck into the marble with one hand sized flower have up to 65 pieces in it. The Indians tell you the time scale like its a long time but it's beauty is easily comparable to the classic cathedrals which take 3 to 10 times as long. You can feel the love he had for his wife seeping out of the walls and I think it's amazing what beauty can come from grief.

We also experienced our first taste of circus freak status as our picture is taken constantly as we wander round. My hair is causing its usual curiosity but Ben is also well sort after, they love his tattoos and seem in awe of his size which makes him laugh. Ben is asked 4/5 times for his picture whereas I decline. It's not just staged photos as well, as soon as I posed for a picture , Ben will have 2 or so people around him snapping the same shot of me, ready to take home to show off as their new girlfriend our guide informs us.

Having a guide can be great as their wealth of knowledge and tricks and tips can be great when wandering around but they do have their downsides, they all have friends with shops and this one is no different. He takes us off to see a Stone "Art Gallery" which we should have clicked was just a shop when he told us it would be free to go, nothing in India is free. Although the main aim of the place is to get us to spend, it is actually really interesting to see how the stone was cut and how they put it into the marble just like the Taj Mahal and if we'd actually have £300 spare, I would have definitely bought one of their tables so it wasn't all a wasted trip.

We left our guide at this point and ventured out of Agra. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but the main traffic on the roads here is a little bovine. It doesn't need petrol or tyres, it just meanders, munching as it goes. India is full of cows. Our driver explain to us on the first night why they are so sacred, it's to do with their milk and how it keeps people alive and healthy so they just let them roam around. You can't go 500 yards without one casually strolling down the road or blocking up the traffic and the cows don't seem fazed at all, I am however and it doesn't leave me for the whole trip.

Leaving Agra reminds me of the background loops you used to get in cartoons. You'll see a food market, followed by a building site, followed by a cow, followed by a food market, followed by a building site, followed by a cow, followed by...well you get my drift, I don't think I have ever been on a long piece of straight road before.

We stopped off at a pretty red fort which was made by the grandfather of the Taj Mahal builder. He had many wives all of different religions so he made it multi religious which really impressed me. Here our polite Britishness is abused for the last time and we get coerced into charity and buy a sari for a poor child and get 3 wishes in the temple. It sounds like an easy thing to say no to but with our politeness and the pushiness of the seller and our supposed guide you can easily feel like you have no choice. We walked away from that one vowing to not be taken for mugs again and haven't yet.

Our next drive is pretty long but unlike at home, where I would be bored and restless after 30 minutes, the 5 hours fly by. Every stretch of road is full of so many things to see and its intoxicating. The countryside is nothing like we have at home, it's fields are full of brick chimneys, straw huts and greenery and then just as quick it's full of lorries and people as we reach a township. Each place has a new smell and different animals, so far I have seen dogs, cats, donkeys, camels, pigs and of course cows just wandering the streets. The dust and the multi coloured trucks are constant and I can't keep my eyes of it all. Everything is full of colour from the saris to the buildings with painted advert.

I'm transfixed and only turn away when the plane journey finally catches up with me and I sleep uncomfortably on Ben's shoulder.

I jolt awake to find we have arrived at Ranthombhore for our early morning safari the next day to a cold and damp room, and I pile up in layers I didn't think I'd need to cosy down for the night.

Day 3

I wake up after a restless and noisy night sleep at 5am sharp for our safari. Oh my kittens, it was freezing! Luckily we saw a lady with a sleeping bag, who was also due to go on our safari, before we go on the open jeep thing so we ask for a blanket but that does very little to keep out the cold of the bright 6C morning. (Tip: India, in January, can be brass monkeys so bring thermals).

After a drive where we thought we were going to lose fingers due to the cold we arrived at the park. 75% of the park is closed off to the animals have some privacy and 25% is open to visitors so we are warned we might not see any tigers if they don't want to be seen. There are 55 tigers in the whole park but less than 20 in the bit we are going to and there was siteings the day before of a tigeress with a couple of cubs so we keep our fingers crossed.

A short, bumpy trundle into the park and we saw our first piece of wild life and it was a truly awesome adult sloth bear, which even the guide was excited about as they are usually nocturnal. We didn't get any photos of this as we were a bit too amazed by it, but it really was incredible. Next on the animal list as we carry on our very bumpy ride through the park was deer, flamingo, warthog and crocodile, all around a lake looking quite surprised to see us.

It starts to warm up now so my teeth are no longer chattering but I wouldn't have noticed anyway as I was a bit taken with what I was seeing. We now make our way to a rest stop so the guides could confer and the weak bladders can use the toilet. Suddenly there was movement as alarm calls from the deer could be heard across from one side of the park. Guides run back to their trucks, visitors hurried back to their seats and we hare off as fast as our little bouncy open truck thing can handle. Dust is billow out behind us and the noise off all the trucks must carry for miles and I think if I was a tiger, I'd be off. We travel around for 30 minutes but it turns out it was a bit of a wild goose/tiger chase with nothing to show for it than a shaken skeleton and a very dusty hoodie. We start to make our way back now and end our ride with a spotting of a family of languor monkeys, who I want to put in my bag as they are so cute.

Back, half frozen with nice sun burnt noses, we pack up and are on the road again. It's voting time in Ranthombhore at the moment so each town we drive through is crowded with colourful saris and serious looking men that spill out into the road. We begin to get a little peckish so our driver stops off so we can shop in the market for some Apples and I make the discovery that carrots here are bright red, fact for you at home.

We arrive in Jaipur early evening and as we hit the crowed streets and hear the familiar sound of honking, I start to feel completely overwhelmed again. It is full of hustle and bustle and compact streets with too many cars and too many cows. We get to our next hotel and honestly all I want to do is hide in our nice clean room with wifi and pillows. But our brilliant driver tempts us (mainly me, Ben needs no tempting) out with promise of tea and possibly something to eat. Now I'm not going to lie, I was skeptical as we turned up at his friends spice and tea shop, thinking we about to get caught with..."here's some tea, now buy my shop" and my opinion of our so far great driver falling but I couldn't have been more wrong, it was brilliant.

First, he got us some chai, the old Indian favourite which was delicious and just the perfect temperature for drinking a whole tea pot. The shop keep started to chatted away about the spices and filling us with facts and figures of their benefits, who knew turmeric was so good for you? Next up was the relaxing Himalayan Kava, a blend of a few spices and the perfect remedy for a stressed traveller like me, as soon as I hit my tongue I mellow and by the end of the cup, I'm almost horizontal. As we sipped that, we tried some raw lemon which just explodes on your tongue, sniffed some fresh cardamom pods that were amazing and checked out so many other tastes and smells. Ben spied some sandalwood in branch form and wrapped up our buying experience before we bought the shop. They were probably the first Indians we met who weren't pushy, it was just the right level of sales pitch, he let you try without feeling pressured and gave you the right amount of information to keep you interested. We finished up with some spiced green tea and whilst we sipped, watched a blessing across the road of a cow by a day old bride and the family and I marvel at what a peculiar life I'm living right now.

We head back to the hotel and as we sit down to dinner at the hotels roof top restaurant and I experience the brilliantness of a Thali, I realise that India is starting to get under my skin as so many people said it would. It still terrifies me at times but I'm starting to feel an excitement for what it can offer and I relaxed back in my chair ready to take on tomorrow with the sounds of Jaipur beneath us and fireworks above.