Week 6

We arrived in Agra early evening and as we had been organised and reserved a hotel we were feeling quite smug! We arrive at said hotel to find no they are full?!?! We went to the hotel next door and they said of they do it all the time. I am definatley writing to Lonley Planet to get them to delete this hotel from their prefered list.

Anyway we had a lovely dinner and my first glimpse of the Taj Mahal from our roof top restaurant 

We decided to go to Fatepur sikri -an old fort complex and muslim mosque-in the morning and so hopped on a bus. We saw the 3 palaces and a mosque built in 1751

                                                                Fatepur sikri mosque courtyard

                                                The fantastic gardens in the outer complex

                                      Yes we make a lovely couple and are very much in love.

                                         These flower borders looked better in the flesh so to speak
                                                                           

We caught the bus back to Agra and headed off to see the baby taj where we met a group of american/canadian kids who are on a ship studying between land and have been to south africa and mauritius.

 Below-we joined them and their guide, and headed off to see sunset on the other side of the Yamuna river bank - what a great place to see the hues changes on the marble work.

 We set our alarms for ridiculous- a -clock and got dressed in the dark to join the queue for tickets for the Taj. We then joined another queue to be security frisked and finally at about 6.40 we arrive in the gardens of the Taj Mahal

We have been spoilt with seeing a lot of impressive and beautifully carved temples so this building if i am honest is a bit of a let down, but, if you remember why it was built and also enjoy the peace and quiet in there then it is a beautiful enormous space.We spent a long time there just enjoying and watching the tourist and non tourists as well as taking some cheesey photos!

                                                                         About 7am

                                                                                About 9am

Messing around 

                                                                                          Holding the Taj Mahal

My favourite photo-honeymooners take note

                                    A groom

We also spotted lots of bee hives - wild bees oh wow.

We went back to the hotel and had a lovely lunch/brunch and then headed off to catch a bus to Mathura, a small town with lots of temples and where Krishna was born. We pre booked a hotel and turned up only to be greeted by a lady who actually looked like she was on drugs. I confidently told her we had booked etc and she ignored me just staring at Ravi. He is good looking i know but..... No she was most concerned that he looked Indian, this is because she could not have a white girl and indian man staying in her hotel. When Ravi said he had a british passport she said oh that's ok then. She was unable to give us a reason for her comments and we decided that the Karma was bad there so we looked elsewhere.

We found a GREAT small hotel right opposite a tiny temple - oh dear early morning pooja alarm call!!!

 Ravi had a nap and i headed out to find internet and a foot file as my heels are a total mess. As people were staring at me and the chemist owner seemed reluctant to serve me i realised that they do not like tourists! oooops.
Ravi managed to find a restaurant that served only one dish-A GUJARATI thali- so we had that.

The Yamuna river is one of Indias holiest rivers. the next day Ravi and i purchased our flowers, rice and powder and went off to the river. Of course we were accosted by 'fake' priests all wanting to bless us so after a real struggle they left us alone.
Ravi and I did our own thing and said prayers for our loved ones with each flower we dropped in the river and watched the flowers float away. A very special moment.

 View of the temple and the yumuna river from our hotel window in Mathura

                         We headed on a bus to Delhi.....and saw this truck above slightly overloaded

 

Now in Delhi drinking from a famous milkshake shop using old style uk milk bottles

Delhis famous Red fort

                              Water channels used to cool parts of the fort using complex paths of water

                                                     Beautiful inlaid work around the walls

                                        Outside the entrance to the Red Fort in the heart if Delhi

We met up for some yummy food with Kamini, a girl we met in Hampi!

Kamini has adopted Ravi as a brother and took us to a real locals food stall to eat yummy food.

We also met her dad who has a lovely saree store.

 Ghandi Smriti is where Ghandi spent the last 144 days of his life and we retraced the steps he took to go and pray on the day he was shot(below)).

 Below-We visited Qutub Minar complex

                                          Ravi looking a bit cool and groovy - his top cost £1

 This tower is the highest tower in India

                                                    It is built in 7 sections - each very different

 

                                        We visited the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple.

OMG we had to queue for 1.5 hours with 'lovely' indian women pushing ahead in the line.

 Once we got in it was beautiful - no photos allowed but i can tell you it was stunning.

                      We watched a beautiful light/fountain show and then had a blessing from the priest.

                                              The temple is the largest Hindu temple in the world!

The Lotus Temple

                                     The ceilings and gardens around the Bahai faith Lotus temple

                                         Below is a sheet of paper they post on your train carriage

Hoorah we made it onto the carriage list!

So I am free to board this train-  me looking like a smart backpacker

We visited the lotus temple the day before we caught this train to Haridwar.

We arrived very relaxed as we were in AC class with large comfy seats. There was a mouse sharing our carriage as well as 60 other indians, but miles better than a 'luxury' coach.

Haridwar in a super holy place in India where the foot of the ganges is. People come here to say goodbye to their loved ones and this is where i said goodbye to my father a year on from his death. A VERY moving moment.

Week 5

 We arrived in Pushkar in time for Holi-The spring colour festival
 The photos were taken at about 4.30 am and in our hands are bags of coloured powder to throw over our fellow holi revellers

Doing the mass pooja (prayers) just before the burning of the symbolic effigy of HOLIKA which is like a giant guy fawkes fire

The fire is lit and the men all have large metal spoons and take some of the burning coals home to waft the smoke from the coal cinders into all the corners of all the rooms to ward off evil spirits.

 Fireworks at about 5.30 am

Photos of Holi played in Pushkar

Left -Having a blessing before the celebrations by the priest of priestsHaving a break overlooking Lake Pushkar which is where Brahma the creator of the universe dropped a lotus petal and where it dropped a lake appeared

People getting ready to clean themselves near the lake

Us at the end!

The coloured powder and debris left from the days celebrations

 India's version of scaffolding bamboo  sticks!!!!!!!

 

A full moon occurred on the night of Holi and this is a very auspicious day for women to bathe in pushkar lake

 Holi cows

 

Sunset in Pushkar

 

A really yummy falafel place in the main street

Pushkar was a really lovely place to stay, the people are friendly and the food is great. The atmosphere was very calm too.

We set our alarm super early the next day and wore loads of layers of clothes! We headed up to Savatri temple at 5am - what felt like a million steps which took us 40 mins to climb. We watched sunrise drinking a big mug of sweet tea and then headed back down. 

We had buffet breakfast, well a big bowl or two of chinese rice Mmmmm and went back to the hotel to pack up our bags and spend the rest of the day by the pool at our hotel.

We had a really lovely afternoon chilling by the pool, but as all good things come to an end we headed off to the bus station juts down the road.

Our bus was booked for 4pm, we were unable to get a seat on that bus so waited for the 5pm, which turned up at 5.20. that was hideous but at least we had a seat. We set off 11 kms to the next town and then sat there for 1.5 hours?!?! then we drove for 45 mins and stopped for food for 30 mins. Then 1 hour later we rolled into a petrol station as we had run out of fuel, 5 men had to push the bus to the pump! 7 hours later (mean't to be 3.5 hour journey) we arrive in Jaipur at 10.30 and manage to choose the only tuk tuk driver who does not know where the hotel we have booked . We arrive at 11.30pm and crawl into bed.

We did not sleep well but hauled ourselves out of bed and dropped laundry off as we had NO clean clothes! We had a lovely walk around the old part of Jaipur with lots of old shops and we watched life go by.

We headed to the Hawa Mahal- Palace of wind 

                                          The women used to look out of the grilled windows

this building was built for the ladies of the day to watch city life and the processions.

We also went to the Jantar Mantar which is an observatory built by Jai Singh in 1728 

You can tell the time by the movement of the suns shadow on the dials and curves shapes here

We also went to City Palace which is beautiful and of course had an audio guide 

                            Traditional rugs that are woven by hand the designs are in the weavers head

A very elegant part of city palace in Jaipur

Green - Spring

Peacocks - Monsoon

Rose petals -Winter 

Lotus leaves -Summer

We met up with Ravis friend Jai and his family at their house and chatted.
I was measured up for a suit which will be sent to the uk in the next few days.
Padma, Jai's wife, runs a boutique so her and her daughter showed me loads of their work.
 Beautiuful.We went out to Pizza hut at 10pm for dinner! A real treat for the kids.

Having a lassi ( milk and yoghurt drink) served in a clay pot that is thrown away after one use

We had a busy few days in jaipur and went to the Albert Hall Museum, The Amber Fort, Devji ka Mandir and Birla temple. 

Giant pompadours seller

A horse on it's way to a wedding to carry the groom through the streets

 Ditto for the elephant who had to compete with Jaipurs rush hour traffic

 Jai's family who took us to the Fort and temples 

Thanks for a fab time guys.

On the way home we saw 5 wedding processions with the grooms on horses and lights being held up by boys. apparently 11th March is a special day to get married.