Taj and the Himilayas....the last of India!

Welcome to our last blog entry in India. We are heading back to Delhi today (Thursday 10th April) where we will be checking out the sights for the next 1 1/2 days and then we'll be on a flight to Beijing. Unfortunately, this will be the last part of our trip but we're really looking forward to our last month travelling.

Since our last entry we have seen Agra and the Taj Mahal, Delhi and it all its smelliness and the amazing Himilayas further North in Rishikesh.

05/04/08 - We left the Pink City and headed to Agra. Along the way on our 4 hour journey though we had a planned stop off at a cool Fort (that I cant remember the name of). Jen went in with the rest of the group as it was a crazy 260 rupees entry for foreigners (roughly 5 dollars 50) but a mere 20 rupees for locals...hate that bit of discrimination! I opted to go around the outside of it and explore on my own, which was a great idea as it had tons of ruined sections at the back you could climb and explore for free! Then once Jen had come off the tour she went in a really impressive and huge mosque on the site. Now I would've uploaded some pics of these two but 3 of our 4 memory cards seem to be playing up!!! So thats crap!! Will have to work on it.

We arrived in Agra early that evening and discovered our hotel was next door to Pizza Hut and below (and behind) Costa Coffee...but we were staying strong and so after we'd freshened up we went for a curry. Had an ok biryani this time but it tasted a bit odd. Nevertheless, it was a 200 rupee dinner rather than 600 for Pizza Hut...so doing well!

06/04/08 - Early start today! A five am start meant that we could go to the Taj Mahal for sunrise...what a beautiful prospect. However, big however, it costs 750 rupees each (20 dollars!!) for us and 20 rupees for locals to get in!!! OUCH! I know, I know...'its the Taj Mahal, you should just pay it as you'll never see it again'...thats what you're all saying right now. BUT, Im a man of principals and so will stand by them! lol. Also, we actually were sick and tired of tour guides and decided to buck the trend and take a tuk-tuk (for 175 rupees) and see the sunrise from the back of the Taj. Awesome choice! No tourists, lush view. Only unfortunate thing, a man doing a 'number twos' right outside the Taj Mahal....lol...hilarious!

So we were finished with the Taj and back to our hotel by 8am...great! We chilled for a few hours and then checked out ready to head to Delhi on a train later that day. Luckily the hotel could keep our bags for us whilst we went out sightseeing. We only managed to go and see a local 'bazar'..or row of shops, had lunch (good Thali for 60 rupees), purchased a few cool souvenirs and then headed back for the 5pm deadline to meet our group. On the way back though, this old man pursuaded us to take his rickshaw (one you peddle). I felt totally guilty as he must've been like 147 years old and so told him to pull over and sit on the seat next to Jen and I'd ride us back!!! Brilliant! It was actually quite enjoyable.

A 6.45pm train to Delhi that night meant we'd arrive around 10pm, which was actually on time! Good show. The train, as with all the travel on this trip was very comfortable. No food this time so we managed with a few veggie samosas picked up along the way.

Our arrival in Delhi was nothing short of shocking! A shocking amount of people in one place best describes it. Organised chaos is also another good description! Man, there was a lot of people around us. Delhi has the same population as Australia...over 20million people!!!! Luckily we had our last bit of organised travel, a car, to the hotel. It was cccrrraaazzzzyyy on the roads!! Pure craziness! But we arrived at our semi ok hotel ready to say goodbye to the group and the tour leader. Nothing special, just yeah bye then and we were back on our own again!!!

07/04/08 - The previous nights sleep was ok but we needed some peace and quiet again already! So we decided to take an early bus up to the Himilayas baby!!! Get in there! I was seriously excited by the prospect and Jen seemed to be as well...which was surprising as we might need to do some trekking. We negotiated our way into an auto-rickshaw and got to the Inter-State Bus Stand, got on the right bus and 400 rupees later (altogether, between us) we were sitting in a lush guesthouse overloooking a foothill of the Himilayas in Rishikesh!

This place is nothing short of inspiring. All around are mountains, as far as the eye can see! By the time we'd arrived there it was 6pm and so we were ready for eats! Our guesthouse, 'Bhandari Swiss Cottage' is really nice, clean and in a great setting overlooking where the Ganges river meets the Himilayas....incredible! So we eat at our guesthouse too and it was really damn good food! Great so far!

08/04/08 - Its the 8th April already! No way! But today was spent walking around the town and looking at the sights. Luckily for us as well (or maybe not so lucky for us), it was a holy time, a festival that it seemed every tourist in India had come to (Indian tourists). So there was a sort of electric buzz in the atmosphere which was cool. After walking around some we got back to our guesthouse and had more great food.

That evening after doing some research whilst in town, we found a really well priced tour booking office and I pursuaded Jen to do a bit of car/trekking up the mountains in the surrounding area. We planned to hire a car for the day where we would get to see a lush mountain top at 3100 metres, roughly 9300 feet! (nearly the same height we did our sky dive from!!!). The price was good and the itinery looked full, so we went for it!

09/04/08 - The big morning arrived and we were on our way to see the Himilayas! A 7 am start , our driver took us around all of the mountains that were inhabited by villages upon villages in the hills, was very impressive to see them growing vegetables and surviving on such peaks. We drove for around 3 hours until the driver stopped. He kept saying lucky lucky as we approached the most amazing view of the day, the snowcapped mountains of the Himilayas, it was a very impressive sight and we stood there for ages in ore of it.

We drove another hour to reach the Sehvi Devi Temple. We walked for an hour and a half up the mountain to reach the top, it was definitely worth the hike as the view from the top was incredible and there was a religious ceremony at the top so bells were ringing when we reached the summit! Unfortunately once we got to the top we discovered there were no toilets and we both were desperate, so we went in the open (as the Indians do, they don’t care!) on top of a himilayan mountain, one for the memory bank!!

We drove through the mountains for most of the day, visiting local towns and eating our marmite sandwiches in the car. We went to Kempy Falls, a waterfall, half as impressive as the ones in Thailand but still nice to view Indian people’s holiday choices! We got home around 7pm, exhausted from all the mountain driving that nearly caused us heart failure as there were absolutely no barriers from us and the edge of a mountain cliff, and we just relaxed outside of room for the night, to the view of the hill villages and the ganges river. Off to Delhi today to explore the town and then get to the airport for China, we will both be sad to leave India it has definitely left a big imprint on both of us.