India

Day 1 - We arrive in Delhi early afternoon, the sun is out and it's 44 degrees.

On arrival at The airport nothing is mentioned about filling out an arrivals card, it just happens that we notice other passangers at some desks doing this before we get to immigration and passport control.

Though we have an E Visa you need this form aswell.

Once done though we are through with no problem and off to collect our baggage which takes forever.

On leaving the terminal we were supposed to be met by "Women on Wheels" a charity protect providing work for locals that would provide a transfer to our hotel.

Unfortunately we then have to find a taxi, make sure you know the cost in Rupies, Dollars so you don't get ripped off, our taxi cost $50.00.

However the driver was polite and pointed out the various sights along the way. The Army training centre, the Monkey park and the Monkey statue to name a few.

The traffic is something to be seen, nobody sticks to any lanes as it just seems to be a free for all and hope for best.

We eventually arrival at a very crowded and busy street which the driver cannot get down, he wants to drop us on a corner but we are not happy with that as we can't see our hotel and judging from what the street looks like we are very dubious, the taxi driver however does agree to walk down the street with us to the hotel.

As you can see from the picture the streets are packed with cars, tuk tuks, bikes, and people, the road is rough and rubbish everywhere.

Being my first visit to India it's a shock and wonder what we have come to and what our hotel will be like.

We are booked into The Grand Park Inn, from the front the hotel doesn't look much but inside it's ok.

The staff our helpful and friendly and our room is large, clean and comfortable, however the air conditioning is temperamental and noisy.

Once unpacked and settled into our room we have a free hour to go and explore the adjacent area before we have to go back to meet our guide and fellow travellers for the Golden Triangle Tour briefing.

We meet on the roof top restaurant and our guide Jai introduces himself to us and explains about our 8 day tour.

There are 13 in our group, 11 girls and us two guys, everyone introduces themselves.

We all decide to go out for dinner that night to get to know each other a bit better and our guide Jai takes us through the street to a traditional India restaurant for our first food experience.

It turns out to be a great place, friendly staff, excellent choice of dishes - almost too much to choose from and all delicious.

We spend the evening drinking, eating and getting to know our fellow travellers a bit more before returning to our hotel, it's an early night as we will be up a 7am for breakfast and off on our first sightseeing by 8am when we will be picked up by our coach.

Day 2 – we are up early today, 7 am for breakfast which is scrabbled eggs and toast and then back to our room to shower and pack for our tour round Delhi.

We meet in the lobby at 8 am and get on our coach to head to a street tour and be taken to the street kids project for homeless children.

These are kids that have either been abandoned, abused, or run away from home for any number of reasons and have found themselves on the street begging as a way to be able to survive.
The project gives these children a roof over their heads, food, clothing and education and if possible rehome then back with their families if that is the best option.
The secure house where they are living is very basic with bunk beds in dorms, none or very little furniture and they sit on the floor, some are watching television, others are exercising on the roof.
The guide for this part of the tour is only a young lad, very polite, enthusiastic and speaks quite good English. He was a street kid at the age of 10, he is now 19, he has been one of the lucky ones to be helped

by this project.
All the kids seem very happy and want to shake your hand and talk with you, we all end up posing for a group picture, these kids have nothing really but they are happy and hopefully this will give them a head start for a better life.
A truly humbling experience.

From there we then head off to a Sikh temple in the middle of Delhi, we have to take our shoes off and cover our heads with a scarf or bandana as a mark of respect before we can go in.
The temple is simple on the outside but decorated with marble and gold inside and lots of fresh flowers which are an offering to their god, it is quite magnificent.

To the side of the temple there are kitchens that produce food for all.

It doesn’t cost money to eat here but you must give your time, do a good deed or help out in some way in the temple or kitchen, people of all classes and back grounds regardless of status or wealth are all treated the same, their religion believes what you sow in this life you reap in the next.

From here we then head to a mosque called Jama Masjid built of red sand stone. Here you have to make sure your legs are covered fully but if you are wearing shorts they will provide you with a sarong – this applies to both men and women, again you have to leave your shoes outside but beware of going bare foot as the stone courtyard inside is very hot in the heat of the day as it has been baked by the sun and can burn the soles of your feet. The building as a whole is quite impressive but there is nothing much to see inside.

Now it’s time to get back on the bus and head for our next destination.

From Delhi to Agra takes approximately takes 5 hours. Our coach is air conditioned so that helps in the 46 degrees heat of the mid day sun. We have been told that Delhi is a hot place but it is unusually hot here at the moment for this time of year.

As we head down the motorway – a very bumpy road indeed we go through countryside that is predominantly flat with occasional rows of trees and corn fields and scattered in the fields are tall chimneys with black smoke billowing out of them.

When we get closer we can see that they are brickworks. The ground is clay in this area and men work in the fields cutting into the ground by hand to extract the clay, put into molds to form bricks and stack them in rows to dry ready to go to be fired.

When we arrive at Agra we have some time before we need to get to the hotel so our guide takes us to the temple known as the Baby Taj, it’s a beautiful building inlaid with marble and semi precious stones, quite a sight to see.

From there we then head a short distance to a park on the other side of the river and what a view.

Directly opposite is the Taj Mahal , it looks pretty amazing from our view point but tomorrow we will visit it and get up close, can’t wait for that.

As the sun sets we are off to our hotel, The Atithi, which is situated in the middle of Agra, this time is in a much nicer location.

The rooms is of the same standard as the last hotel but overall much smarter and our air conditioning works. Wi fi also seems ok at the time I’m writing this. The hotel has the added bonus of having a pool which will be great to cool off in.

This evening we have been out for an India feast with our fellow travelers, yet again the food is excellent, we are all full but happy and tired and ready for bed but looking forward to tomorrow and further site seeing.

Tomorrow we start our next tour a little later, 8.30, not much of a lie in but oh well we are excited as we will be going to Agra Fort and going inside the Taj Mahal.