Hotel Landmark Gwalior

... with knowledge and ready to go. I was buying the ticket instead of oscar. I worked my way to the front of the line and pushed with the best of them, 3 minutes later we were heading for the platform to catch the 2807 Samata express to Agra.
Once on the platform , it's just a case of waiting for the inevitably late train, trying to hear any platform changes over the hubub, saying no to beggers and dodging a rat or two ...

... up since 5am as have been on the river Ganges for sunrise so am now feeling a bit tired so am off for lunch and maybe an afternoon nap! And yes the Ganges was fab, people bathing in the holy waters, praying by the water's edge, candles floating on the water, people chanting and yogis preaching. As the sun came up all the other boats (yep its tourist central at sunrise) turned round and I could enjoy the sunrise in peace and quiet. More about that later.....

Toodle ooh

ach ja, ich hab allahabad zu ende geschrieben... khajuaro war nett, belur aber besser, orcha war auch besser, aber irgendwie habe ich von indien genug..werde weiter nach rajasthan, dann mal schaun...am 25. ist mein indien visa eh zuende,,,waere ja sogerne fuer den sommer zuhause gewesen :)

... palacio do maharaja. o maraja ainda mora la. esse eh um palacio de verdade igual agente imagina com centenas de quartos tudo muito luxuoso ainda q meio decadente. gwalior forte. o palacio aqui eh bem diferente. parece mais da idade media. um labirinto de corredores estreitos e quartos pequenos. no forte alem do palacio tinha quase uma cidade inteira com escola e tudo. subindo na motanha do forte tinha umas estatuas Jain (jain eh uma religiao) gigantes.

... said he would fix it and set up some shmoe to cover the whole with paper. This place was full of *^(%! We were exhausted, hot and did not care anymore, plus we were leaving soon. We ordered dinner and went upstairs to the rooftop to enjoy the sunset and some dinner before leaving. After a few minutes, we realized that the roof was nice at 10 pm, but at sunset, it was still very hot, and view not so impressive. So we left and had dinner in our room. As we were finishing ...

... walking to the source to collect water, now they have a short walk to the water taps at the tanks. The water is dosed with chlorine to ensure its safety, interestingly there wasn't a single health and safety sign around the chlorination, and quality is tested regularly. A simple open drainage system has been constructed alongside the road to drain all the run off water and this is used to irrigate land. I discussed the drainage with one of the partners ...

... But the best rooms contain fantastic furniture such as Jacobian, French, Belgian & Italian cut glass which I've never seen before. Other rooms featured collections from Nepal, China and Kashmir. But the most exuberant room is called the Durbar Hall which features 2 huge Belgian chandeliers which are 12.5m high, weight 3.5 tonnes each and contain 248 electric candles. There's meant to be 58kg of gold used in the hall as well plus the ...

... temple known as the Teli Ka Mandir which again is built out of sandstone and superbly decorated on the outside but was plain and bare on the inside. This one dates from the 9th century and I sat outside and took a rest in the shade. There's a posh boys school up here as well where the fees are Rs15,000 a month (about 200 pounds, which is a lot of money in India). Some of the boys were walking along the road and didn't give me a blind bit of attention which ...

... washes over me. I can rough it, but a girl likes her tiny soaps from time to time. Well, I will head back to the train station and try to book to New Jailipaguri, which is the last train station before Darjeeling. If I can't get out tomorrow, I will definitely be moving to more modest accomodations. Best advice for travelling in India? Know when to be budget, know when to go 5 star. Much love and see you all soon, Adrianne.