TravelStream™ news feed for member edandali on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/edandali en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:00:32 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1216350120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1216350120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1216350120/tpod.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:00:32 -0500 Camp America here we come

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Denmark, Western Australia, Australia

We woke up this morning to find lots of kangaroos hopping around our car! What a wake up call! We showered and changed and were then ready to drive around the park to see what we could see, which at first wasn't much as we seemed to be stuck right in the middle of a cloud of mist. After about half an hour we were free of mist and were able to drive around the park looking back at the mist covered mountains along the way. We drove down to Albany and spent the day looking around here. It is a beautiful coastal area where we were able to do some whale watching from the top of the cliff and also we were able to go to the Fort to see the nzac war memorial. From here we drove around to the opposite side of the water and saw The Gap and The Bridge. These are very high cliffs made of rocks, with a big gap eroded away on one side with the water gushing into it at very high speeds and powers. Apparently several people have died here trying to take pictures of it and fallen in. The Bridge is a bridge of rocks across from The Gap to another set of rocks where the water crashes and sprays across the rocks behind. It is amazing to see the power of all that water. Next stop was Cosy Corner where we walked along the beach and looked at the rock pools while we watched the sun set. Then it was on to Parry Beach campsite where we are parking tonight. We cooked our very first camp meal tonight - spicy lentil soup - after starting our own fire. It was all very exciting and very tasty! Then we went and joined a group of jet skiers in the next bay who had a massive fire going, complete with explosions from empty beer cans filled with petrol. Nice! We had to stand well back for those explosions! When the rain set in we retreated back to the safety of Hotel Corolla and our tent.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250852116/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250852116/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250852116/tpod.html Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:29:58 -0400 Camp America here we come

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Kathmandu, Nepal

We woke up on Tuesday morning to some idiot hammering on our door at 5.15am. They came again at 5.30am, 6am and 6.30am. We didn't ask for a wake up call and we are quite old enough to get ourselves out of bed. They just wanted us to buy breakfast from them. Instead they got an earful for being annoying. The day was not destined to get any better either. The bus ride to Kathmandu was awful. This time we had a local bus full of local people who thought it was a great idea to stand up in the aisle for the 10 hour ride. Our bags were strapped to the roof of the bus and as it rained constantly all day, by the time we arrived at our hotel all our stuff was soaking wet. Not a good day all in all. Things were about to get better though. We arrived at the bus station and we were not hassled at all. The taxi drivers waited for us to approach them and we were able to get a nice guy to drive us to the hotel we had seen on the internet. It is amazing! We have a really big room with a mega comfy bed and a tv! The staff are super nice too and the food is really good. Such a refreshing change from India!On Wednesday morning we slept in and then went down to breakfast which was fantastic. Then we went for a walk around and found a tour office, where we booked a flight over Mt Everest and also a jungle safari trek. Then we went looking around the little side streets shops to see what we could find. The streets, although dirty, are really cool and nobody bothered us. It was so nice!On Thursday we got up at 4.45am and got a taxi to the airport to wait for our mountain flight. We ended up taking off slightly later than planned, at 6.50am, and it was really cloudy and raining outside so we thought we wouldn’t see much at all. We were feeling really disappointed but then we came out of the clouds above the mountains and the visibility was amazing. We saw Mt Everest really clearly and were even able to go into the cockpit and see it through the front window. That was fantastic. The flight lasted for one hour and aside from take off and landing, the views of the mountain range were incredible. They are covered in snow at the top and really beautiful. We really enjoyed the flight. It was amazing.On Thursday afternoon we went for a walk to Durbar Square, where there are a couple of nice temples that we could look at but not go inside. Then we carried on walking to Monkey Temple, which is a huge temple at the top of an massive climb of steps and surrounded by monkeys. We had to climb about 300 steps to get to the top and then we got an excellent view over Kathmandu. There were some little stalls up at the top of the steps too, where we bought some paintings and a Nepalese game, like chess. Then we walked all the way back to the hotel, taking a different route and seeing lots more shopping stalls on the way. Today (Friday) we took a taxi to Patan to see the square there. It was similar to Durbar Square, with several multi-tiered Temples, and it is also called Durbar Square, but in a different area of Kathmandu. We walked around Patan for a while, looking at the little stalls and then we went back to the area where our hotel is and went shopping for souvenirs! Ed wanted a Nepalese hat like David’s from the hotel! He managed to find a really cool one for a good price, and we even found a little Punjabi suit for Hope!!! She is the best dressed, best travelled bear in the world!Tonight we ate again in the hotel and spent some time chatting with Charman (the hotel owner) and David who works here. They are really lovely people, some of the nicest we have met on this leg of the trip. We wish now we had spent more time in Nepal as it is so much more relaxed than India and the people are so friendly. We have had a really good time in this hotel and have enjoyed the few days we have spent here. We will be sad to leave tomorrow. Anyone going to Kathmandu you need to stay at Hotel Florid. It is the best Hotel in the world, ever......
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1251015929/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1251015929/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1251015929/tpod.html Sun, 23 Aug 2009 04:52:54 -0400 Camp America here we come

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Wuhan, Hubei, China

We arrived back in Wuhan early on the morning of the 10th and took a taxi first to KindyRoo to pick up Ed's key and then on to Erica's apartment. It was so nice to get back to a civilised place to stay, and a nice shower! We spent the whole day just vegging out and watching tv and doing absolutely nothing and it was so good! We even managed to find a restaurant on the front street that was open and so we were able to get some take away food to veg out with!On Wednesday we decided we needed to go to Walmart to stock up with food as we have nothing to eat in the apartment and there is only one restaurant open. We treated ourselves to a pizza hut on the way! Wuhan pizza hut is still the best pizza hut in the world! We've travelled so we know!!!! We then spent 3 hours shopping in Walmart. It is absolutely huge and has really cheap DVD's! I'm talking 19p! We bought lots of them so we have loads to watch now.We spent Thursday and Friday chilling out and watching our DVD's. Then Saturday we got up super early and headed to KindyRoo where Ed works. We spent the morning observing the classes with the toddlers. They are all really cute! There are a couple though who are really scared by the fact that we are Western, and they started to cry! I had no idea that the fact we looked different would be that strange! At lunchtime I finally got see this "amazing" Tang Baou that Ed has been waffling about for the last few months. It's not vegetarian so I couldn't have any but still, it was an experience! In the afternoon Ed had to plan his lessons for the next weekend he is working and so I sat and read my book and used the internet. At the end of the day we went to the supermarket to get some fresh bread and we stumbled across another cheap DVD place, so we felt compelled to buy more!On Sunday we were working again, but this time the children were only babies so it was slightly different. They are super cute! In the afternoon we had a class with the older children and we had to set up the large equipment area for the next two weeks. It has been really good spending time at KindyRoo and learning about the neurological development of a child. The rest of this week has been spent with two of the teachers in Erica's apartment, Peter and Paul. We have chilled out, been for dinner and spent time going to the museum. It is about the excavation of several tombs that have been found in Hubei Province. While we were there a lady who Ed knows from KindyRoo got us in free to see the bell chime performance. That was brilliant. The bells are huge and sound fantastic. It was well worth seeing.On Friday night we went out for a big dinner with several of the teachers who have returned for the new year. That was really nice.Today we have been packing our bags ready to go to Hong Kong. We leave for the train in one hour. We are both looking forward to it. We plan to do some serious shopping as it is the last official stop on our world trip. It's kind of sad that it's nearly over, but it has been an amazing experience and we are both so glad we did it. We totally recommend it!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250915119/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250915119/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250915119/tpod.html Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:31:41 -0400 Camp America here we come

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Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

The flight to Guangzhou was quite cool last night. We flew right over the top of a thunder storm and we could see the lightning lighting up the sky below us, and we could see the forks going right down to the floor. It was absolutely amazing and not something I have ever seen before, or probably will again. Ed saw it once before when his plane was actually hit by lightning. This time was better as there was no turbulence because we were actually above the storm rather than flying through it.When we landed in Guangzhou we had slept for only 2 hours and so we were quite tired. We took a bus to the train station and we have booked a train for overnight tonight to take us back to Wuhan. We have spent the rest of the day sitting in KFC drinking coffee by the bucket load to try to keep us awake! We have also wandered around the shops for a while but we have done nothing particularly productive. We are heading for the train station now to wait for the train. We have booked a soft sleeper and we cannot wait to get into bed. We need sleep! Talk to you when we get back to civilization and a nice place to stay!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250913257/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250913257/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250913257/tpod.html Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:25:11 -0400 Camp America here we come

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Delhi, India

The train ride back to Delhi was ok and it was a relief to have a pre arranged taxi to pick us up as it took away a lot of the hassle. The hotel we had booked went belly up though as they did not have the room we had booked and could not offer us an alternative. We ended up back at Le Sancy as it is the best of a bad bunch! Our first task today, once we were showered and felt more human again, was to go to the Government office and discuss the problems with our tour. Oh my goodness, that was so frustrating. Straight away they offered us some money back, before they even knew what the problem was. I guess people complain a lot! We tried to tell them what the problems had been but they kept ignoring us, having conversations with each other and not answering the questions we asked them. They told us the name of the manager and told us he would be arriving at 4pm and so we said we would wait. Clearly they weren't expecting that because they then told us that he wouldn’t be in that day and they had lied. Believe me, that was only the beginning. I won’t bore you with all the details but I will tell you we were there for 3 hours and even then we went back the following day to see the manager. We were told he was outside and they would go and get him. They came back in and said he was on his way in but 10 minutes later he still hadn’t come in. We asked them who he was and we would go outside to him and they told us he wasn’t outside and never had been. Why can these people not just tell the truth? Then a guy came in with the same name as the alleged manager but he said he was not the manager so we asked the original guy why he had given us the name of this guy if he wasn’t the manager. He then gave us a different name. Seriously angry buy this point, we went ballistic. The "manager" realized we were really angry by this point and to be fair to him, he then tried to help. After another hour, so close to 5 hours in total, we finally got an apology and a partial refund of our costs. If you are thinking of going to India there are many tips we can give you – the biggest being to reconsider! No seriously, do not take a tour with the Government agency. In fact, do not take a tour at all. It may be a lot of hassle, but do things yourself. It is far easier in the long run.On the Thursday, after we had finally sorted the Government agency problem, we went to have a look around Delhi, as we felt we should try to do something until our flight out. It was actually a good day. We drove to the Red Fort and then we went to the museum of Mahatma Gandhi, where we found out a lot about his life and his assassination. That was really interesting, and it was free to get in which we thought was excellent. Next we drove to Qutb Minar, which is a tall tower signifying the arrival of Islam to India. Our last stop of the day was the Lotus Temple, which is based on the design of the Sydney Opera House and looks like an open Lotus flower. It’s a beautiful building, probably one of the best things about Delhi.The last few days were spent lazing around, trying to avoid going out and getting hassled by the delightful Delhi locals. We went out to get food and to download photos for Erica to take back to Canada but that was about all. When we did go out we were followed by tuk tuk drivers who don’t understand the meaning of “no thanks, I’d like to walk” and who actually twice drove right into Ed to try to get him to get inside the tuk tuk. Yeah guys, that’ll work!!On Friday evening we took Erica to the airport. We had to go to the visitors lounge opposite the airport to have a goodbye drink, as we discovered that we are not allowed into the airport without a valid ticket and a passport. That was useful to know as we hadn’t printed out our e.tickets and probably wouldn’t have if we hadn’t taken Erica. We were glad we did find out, otherwise I would have cried. I just want to get out of here!!! Ed and I found out on Friday as well that our flight is 18 hours later than we thought. So we are stuck here for an extra day. Delhi is such a nice place to get stuck!!On Saturday it felt strange that Erica was gone and we were jealous! We wanted to go too! But we decided to make the most of our last day and so we went shopping! We went to an art gallery and bought some more paintings, and then we went to a tea shop to sample the Indian tea again. They make their tea with so much sugar but aside from that it is very good tea. Well, we have now finished our travels in India. All that remains is our flight out. We both feel that our time in India is the most mixed we have had on our whole trip. There have been some fantastic things about India, the Taj Mahal being one of them, but there have also been some really frustrating things. The biggest thing for Erica and I is that women are not valued or respected at all out here. But at the same time that makes things difficult for Ed too, as most of the hassle is directed at him. India is the one country that we both feel we are happy to leave behind. Having said that, we are happy we have seen the things we have, and experienced the craziness that we have No cold milk! No bananas in the banana pancake but you can have bananas in a mixed fruit pancake! Who else can say that with a straight face?!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250912395/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250912395/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250912395/tpod.html Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:54:09 -0400 Camp America here we come

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Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

We set off early this morning to catch a bus to Bickarawa. That was a more crazy bus than any so far in India. It was a local bus and they seriously could not squash any more people on to it. There were people on every seat, including squashed right next to the driver, and sitting with their backs to each other on the same seat where there were no backrests. People were also standing in the aisle on a bus that took 5 hours. Crazy! Along the way we were stopped by the traffic police and the driver had to pay a bribe so that we could continue our drive. Mad! When we arrived at the bus station in Bickarawa, we were hassled by rickshaw drivers trying to drive us to the border. We told them we needed a taxi as there were 3 of us plus luggage, and they told us taxis weren't allowed to go to the border. But lo and behold we found one. Welcome back to India and the height of honesty!When we had crossed the border we had to find another local bus that would take us to Gorakhpur where we are getting the train back to Delhi. That bus was just as crazy as the previous one, but we survived! We found a reasonable hotel right opposite the train station and we can stay in our room until our train leaves, which is a bonus. The only problem here is that we are mosquito feasts! What is going on here? If it’s not tigers, it’s mosquitoes!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250910117/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250910117/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250910117/tpod.html Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:39:36 -0400 Camp America here we come

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Royal Chitwan National Park, Nārāyanī, Nepal

Yesterday we got up super early ready to go and get the bus to Chitwan. David came and knocked for us at what he was adamant was 6.30am but we were adamant was 6.15am. It turns out that Nepal are 15 minutes ahead of India and so for the last few days we have been running late for things and wondering why all the clocks are wrong, but we were convinced that we were right with our times, where actually we have been on the complete wrong times – whoops!!! 15 minutes seems a bit random though!We set off for Chitwan but stopped half way so that Ed and I could go rafting. Erica was more sensible and stayed on the bus to the resort where we would meet up with her later. Why did I not do that?!! We were in a boat with 7 other people and the guide, who kept shouting at everyone! Does he think we are experts?! We also had a guy come along with us in a safety kayak so we could hold on to the kayak if we got thrown out of the raft. Oh I felt so reassured! Pretty much as soon as we got into the water we hit a huge wave and Ed and one of the other guys fell out of the raft! They found that absolutely hilarious! I spent so much of my time and concentration on trying to stay in the raft that I sometimes forgot to paddle, which is not so helpful! It was actually much more fun than I had expected though! We rafted 35km down the river, stopping at a little beach on the way to have some lunch and then continuing on to the area where we were due to meet the bus that would take us to Chitwan. We all managed to stay in the raft for the second stint so that was a bonus!The connecting bus to Chitwan was a local bus, where we literally had to perch on the edge of the seat behind the driver. That was a nice, comfortable ride!! We were met off the bus by a guide from the resort, who drove us down the rickety dirt track to the camp. We met up with Erica again – she had been on a village tour with the cook! Then we had dinner and met up with our jungle guide to plan the day tomorrow. All was going well until he started to talk about the jungle trek. Then things went pear shaped. We asked him how he ensured our safety while on the trek as he was saying that we were going to be walking very close to tigers, hippos, rhinos, etc. Here comes the best bit! He said they don't ensure our safety but if a tiger attacks us, there are plenty of trees we can climb to get away! What?! We told him we were not going anywhere with him if that was the case, plus he had been drinking and was pretty drunk at the time he was talking to us and so we felt that he was just trying to be funny. But then another guide came over and reiterated that they didn’t guarantee our safety but we could climb trees. We were so shocked and so asked questions about whether people had ever been hurt by the animals. We were told that yes, tourists have been hurt several times, including a guy recently who was attacked and hurt his leg, so ending up in hospital. This did not fill us with confidence and so we decided to make the decision of not doing the jungle trek as we did not trust these guys at all. Instead, we asked for a different tour guide to take us on a jeep safari to a different area of the jungle to see which animals we could see. That tour guide actually turned out to be quite good. On the drive we saw storks, lots of spotted deer, some barking deer (brown with no spots), peacocks, birds (including a beautiful blue kingfisher), butterflies, and dragonflies. It was actually a really good drive and we had fun.We also went for a walk from our resort down to a nearby lake. One of the dogs from the resort followed us down there and almost didn’t come back! We saw a crocodile in the water, but obviously the dog hadn’t seen it and so was playing on the bank, completely oblivious. The crocodile had other ideas and started to swim to the bank really quickly, right towards the dog. Some local guys who were by the lake drinking and chatting told us that a few days earlier, a crocodile had eaten one of the dogs from off the bank. This made us really nervous and we started to shout to the dog. He didn’t understand the urgency and just looked as us as if it was a big game. We really started to panic and ended up running away from the bank in the hope that the dog would follow. Luckily for us, he wanted to play with us and so ran after us, just in time to avoid being crocodile dinner! That was a bit too close for comfort!!After dinner we were taken to a local hall to watch a Thuru Cultural show. That was excellent. There were lots of young guys all dressed in white and dancing to their local music played by 4 men with drums and shakers. The dances were really cool and all the guys were very energetic. During the last dance they got loads of the audience to go up and copy the moves. Who needs a club when you have a show like that?!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250851333/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250851333/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250851333/tpod.html Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:52:15 -0400 Camp America here we come

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Sunauli, Uttar Pradesh, India

We were up mega early today and got a lift to the bus from the tuk tuk driver from yesterday. Needless to say we have been lied to again. Our bus to the border was not an air conditioned coach as promised, but a local bus with open windows and very dodgy suspension. It was apparently a tourist bus though and since there were no local people on it we would guess that's true. It was another crazy ride though and the toilet stops were merely bush stops where we had to find our own space to go and pee in. At one point there was a nice line of men in one area and a nice line of women in another. Classy!The border was pretty non-eventful unless you count the rain which came down very heavily. We got absolutely drenched walking from India to Nepal and then to our hotel. Let’s say that wasn’t a patch on the Ritz! Maybe when you see pictures you will understand. Thank goodness it is only for one night! The things we do in the name of travel!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250848093/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250848093/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250848093/tpod.html Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:34:58 -0400 Camp America here we come

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Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Well now we said that would be interesting! We offered Sanjay a small tip for his services and Ed explained why we were giving him what we were – that we had been pleased with a couple of the things he did, like when he helped us to move hotels in Pushkar, but that we had a few problems with him on the trip. We had discussed them at the time they happened but Sanjay's response was always "It’s not my problem" Not the best response from a tour guide hey! So that is why we were not offering as much as he had expected. Sanjay was cross that he was not getting much and so told us we could go. We took that to mean he didn’t want our tip so we took it with us. Clearly that is not what he expected as he started shouting after us down the street, wanting us to come back and give him his money. Has he not learnt anything about us in the last couple of weeks?! He should know not to mess with us!The train ride to Varanasi wasn’t too bad but no big surprise our driver wasn’t there to pick us up. That left us in a nightmare position of being followed by loads of taxi drivers all the way through the station and across the car park. We ended up getting really cross and nearly hitting a fair few people. Man we have started to have more violent thoughts since we came to India!We eventually found a really nice little old man who drove us to our hotel with no hassle. We got there and spent the day relaxing and catching up on the rest we missed out on last night. Another funny episode! We ordered a snack in the afternoon yesterday, Ed ordered a banana pancake but the guy told him they had no bananas so he changed his order to a mixed fruit pancake. When it arrived the only fruit that was in it was banana! I tell you, India is mad!Today we got a tuk tuk from the hotel to one of the Ghats on the river. We hired a boat to take us up and down the river so that we could see several of the Ghats that are here. We saw several ceremonies going on, with the bodies burning and people watching. We also saw the start of a service at the main Ghat, where there were lots of people singing and playing instruments. We were there for sunset so we got to watch the sun set over the river too, which was nice. The sun was really red so it looked beautiful. Strangely there were lots of people swimming in the river. This surprised us as it is so dirty but it is supposed to be sacred water so I guess it’s not that weird. The tuk tuk driver who took us to the Ghat waited for us and drove us back to the hotel where we had a nice dinner in the restaurant. We are planning an early night tonight as we have an early start and a long bus ride ahead tomorrow.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250839377/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250839377/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edandali/world_travels/1250839377/tpod.html Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:47:48 -0400 Camp America here we come

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Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

We got up early and set off on the drive to Agra. We stopped off on the way at an important Mosque called Fatehpur Sikri. We climbed a load of steps to get to the Mosque and then we were stopped by some guy who said we had to take our shoes off to go inside the grounds. That is fair enough as it is respectful in a religious building, but then he tried to charge us for leaving our shoes outside. We told him we wouldn't pay and would take the shoes in our bag and so he told us we brought shame to our country! That’s a joke! We put our shoes in our bag and walked past the delightful little man and intro the grounds of the Mosque. When we were inside, another man came over and offered to show us around for no charge! We were a bit skeptical about that but we went with him anyway. He was actually really nice and did show us around for no cost. He also gave us ideas for some cool photos through the gaps in the walls. He did have a shop though within the grounds of the Mosque, which he wanted us to buy stuff from but he was ok when we said no, where most people get moody.After we had spent some time looking around Fatehpur Sikri we carried on driving to Agra. We arrived at our hotel and checked in. Some guy showed us to our room and hung around in the doorway waiting for a tip for doing his job! Erica said he did the same to her too. He did exactly the same thing when he brought our towels too. Do these people not understand that you have to do certain things as part of your job and that does not include a tip? A tip is for extra services like room service. Crazy!!By this time it was getting quite late in the afternoon and, as our tour organizer is so wonderful, he had arranged for us to go to see the Taj Mahal on the Friday, but the only problem with that is that the Taj Mahal is closed on a Friday. Good job there Romy. We were really angry about that as it left us only one hour on Thursday afternoon to go to see the Taj Mahal. We queued for ages to get in but it was well worth the wait. Although they wouldn’t let us take Hope inside in case she had a bomb inside her stuffing. That makes us wonder how good their security scanners are! When we walked through the gate and got our first view of the Taj Mahal it was breathtaking. The pictures do not do it justice at all. It is absolutely beautiful, and the gardens and water at the front just adds to it. The architecture is amazing. We walked through the grounds taking pictures for a while and then we headed inside to where the tombs are. Inside is incredible too. We then walked all the way around the outside. There is a river flowing behind the Taj Mahal on the North side and then lots of grassland behind that. On the East and West sides are two small red sandstone buildings housing tombs of Shah Jahan’s other wives. At the south side is a huge gateway so that the Taj Mahal is enclosed until you go through that gateway and can see the full view of it. You cannot see it from outside that gate. While we were there we were caught in a horrendous downpour and everyone ran for cover wherever they could find it. The three of us were the only ones that didn’t and so we were able to have our photos taken in front of the Taj Mahal and have no-one else in the picture. That was wicked!We wanted to watch the sunset over the Taj Mahal but it closes before sunset and so we went to a nearby Guest House and went up to the rooftop restaurant for dinner. We did get to see the sunset from there and it was pretty cool. The view of the Taj Mahal from that rooftop was pretty spectacular. We just wish we had had longer to spend there as it is such a beautiful building.This morning we got up at 5am to go and watch the sunrise over the Taj Mahal but Sanjay is an idiot. He told us he knew a really good place to see it but he actually took us to a rubbish dump with decaying animals on the North side of the Taj Mahal. How on earth are we supposed to get a good view from there? We told him we were upset about his choice of places but we got our usual "What I do?" response. We ended up going back to the hotel and going up to the roof to see it from there. That was a much better view (from the South) and where we should have gone in the first place. It was quite cloudy today though and so we didn’t have a spectacular sunrise, but at least we got to see it. We had breakfast in the hotel and that was a challenge and a half. We ordered coffee with separate cold milk but when it came the milk was hot. We asked them to change it for cold milk but they brought hot milk back. We tried to explain that we wanted cold milk so not to heat it up and they told us that cold milk is not possible. How is that? Do cows here give milk warm and there are no fridges here? These people are crazy! We are fast learning not to ask why!!!After we eventually ate breakfast we went to Agra fort to look around. There were some beautiful gardens and lovely views of the Taj Mahal. It is the place where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son after the Taj Mahal was built.Next stop was a marble factory where we learned how the marble tiles for the Taj Mahal were designed. It was really interesting and we even got to have a go at making the designs for ourselves. Ed was really good at it and had a very steady hand! The rest of today we have spent wasting time wandering around until it is time to catch our train. We went to a guest house restaurant for food and now we are just waiting to go to the station. We are taking an overnight train to Varanasi and so now it is goodbye Sanjay! Whoppee! It’ll be interesting to see how he reacts when we offer him a small tip after he told us he expects tip and will hold a gun to us if he doesn’t get one. What a friendly tour guide! If we don’t write again, you’ll know why!!!!
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