We cleared immigration and picked up our luggage, it was time to walk out into the madness of the airport arrivals. Luckily I had previously booked us a hotel and arranged for an airport pick up so we felt a bit safer knowing we we're looking for someone. There he was, our taxi man holding a sign with our name on. He was a nice enough man so we quickly felt at ease travelling with him, he was teaching us about Delhi as we were driving through the city, answering all the questions we had. We arrived at the hotel and was quickly welcomed into "our second home", after being shown to our room and I crashed out on the bed. I still, yes still, wasn't well. I just needed to rest so I stayed in the room while the girls went on a walk. I then managed to sleep for 7 hours , obviously needed it but I didn't mean to sleep that long. I got woken by Liv saying Nelen had arrived, yes Nelen from Vietnam, she had booked a flight to meet us to travel around India together. That was probably one of the only things that would've got me out of bed at that time but it worked. We all had a reunion water in the reception area, a little bit different to the Beer Hanoi or Ankor Beer that we'd normally have when we were all together.

The next day, we was thinking of hiring a driver for the day for several reasons; because we wanted to fit lots of stuff in, it would be easier to get around such a big city and the most important factor; it would be safer! We spoke to people at our hotel and they arranged it all for us. While we waited, we ordered our complimentary breakfast, which was a choice between American breakfast or Indian breakfast, we thought we'd try the traditional. Mine turned out to be Roti's with potato inside with a dill pickle and yogurt dip, very odd to have such a kick from the pickle for breakfast. The girls had daal and bread, which I actually preferred. The car had arrived and we was introduced to our driver. Mr Kamil or Mr Camel as we originally thought they said. First of all we went to the train station to buy tickets for our train journeys over the next few weeks, we were warned about going to the Delhi train station because its quite a daunting experience so we ask Kamil to come with us. In the end it turned out to be okay although there was a bizarre queuing system (were British, obviously I'm going to comment on that) and it wasn't nice having the men sit on the floor and kiss their teeth at us but that was the worst we got. In the Lonely Planet it said a nice thing to do in Delhi was to go for High Tea at The Imperial Hotel, so we went to check it out, the hotel was very swanky and we felt very out of place but we thought we'd act up to it anyway and just have fun in there so we made ourselves giggle taking a few sneaky photographs. Next on the list was Chandni Chowk market, Kamil couldn't drive into the market because the car was to big so he got us two rikshaws to travel on. First of all they took us to an Indian restaurant chain called Haldrim's for lunch, which apparently was described as the Indian McDonalds but we wouldn't describe is as that at all, it was alot nicer then McD's. We had a special Thali which is a tray of food like school dinner style trays with little sections for lots of different dishes. I couldn't name everything that was there but it was black bean daal, paneer curry, veg curry, naan bread, rice and a few other bits. Wow, we was stuffed, it was only 2pm and we had already scoffed our faces with curry twice today. I suppose this is where it starts, one month to go. After we rolled back to the rikshaws, we asked to go to the market. Turns out they had other ideas and took us to a "quieter market, that's better for us".. Apparently. Turned out to be a relatives silk shop and not what we asked for. After several, several times of asking and then eventually telling them, they took us to the Chandni Chowk market. Lonely Planet said it was the best place to go in Delhi to jump head first into the madness of Indian Markets. In my personal opinion I hope that's not true because I didn't enjoy it very much. It was interesting to see how their markets were set up and the differences between other markets we've been to around the world (being in our 10th country now, I guess we can say that, yes?). I did like seeing what was on sale, and was fascinated how the hundreds of wires were hanging over our heads in the small alleyways but I didn't like the market itself, it was lots of little shops in a small space and just very repetitive. Our rikshaw drivers were annoying us too, taking us to particular shops telling us to get out and look, all we wanted to do was wonder around by ourselves. We even tried to get rid of them at one point but they wouldn't take our money they just said they would wait. Arguing with them in the street was causing us more attention then we needed so we just agreed for them to keep driving us. We wanted to get henna tattoo designs painted on our hands, and lets just say, despite the rikshaw men claiming to know where to go, they didn't and we eventually gave up and told them to take us to the Red Fort, where we was meeting Kamil. There was a bit of a disagreement on price at the end and they wanted nearly 3 times the price we agreed. After alot of arguing, one of them walked off and told us he doesn't want any of our money, so we paid the second guy 1000rp and told him to share it between them both. Luckily Kamil was close by so we hurried towards him and went into the carpark, the rikshaw men were then following us at this point, so we got freaked out, told Kamil the story and he took us to sit on a grass area near the car to sit quiet for a bit. There were lots of Indian families sitting there too with lots of children playing, the kids were immediately attracted to us and came straight over to introduce themselves. They each said their names and shook our hands before sitting around us in a big group. Livy tried to teach them a game but they were a little over excited to pay attention, before she could finish explaining, they had all scurried off again. There was a sound and light show being screened in the Red Fort at 8pm that we wanted to see, it was only 7pm but Kamil suggested going in early if we didn't want to sit near the rikshaws so he walked us to the gate and we hurried to the ticket office. Turns out the show, wasn't worth the wait or the 60rupees. Another wrong recommendation from Lonely Planet. After a busy day in Delhi, we were ready for bed, plus it was an early start in the morning.

6.30am, the annoying iPhone alarm sirens started and three grumpy bears dragged themselves out of their comfy slumber. We were pretty quiet getting ready but the early start was all for a good reason because today we was making a day trip to Agra!!! We hadn't read many great things about Agra and due to us being short on time, we thought we just do a day trip. One thing it is good for is visiting the Taj Mahal!!! The journey was 4 1/2 hours there but luckily we had the Indian radio, Kamil's amusing answers to my Indian queries and many interesting things to see along the way to keep us busy. One point we stopped in what I will describe as, a service station, we got very over charged to use the toilet and buy a drink, nearly three times what we had paid in Delhi the day before (you can see a pattern emerging here, can't you). Next place to stop was somewhere that looked like a race track pit stop on the side of the road, Kamil had to pay the state taxes (?) because we were crossing over to another state, Uttar Pradesh. There were people trying to sell toot to us sitting in the car, when all of a sudden a monkey jumped on my window (luckily it was done up!). I wanted to take a photo but then I realised it was on a lead and I would've had to give money if I took a photo so I had to ignore it. Poor thing, not nice to see but somehow I think that's just the tip of the iceberg of horrible things were going to see over the next month. Along the way Kamil recommended that we stop somewhere for lunch before the Taj, the menu was a bit pricey but we did wonder if we set that price bracket ourselves by asking him to take us to The Imperial Hotel the day before. On the last leg of the journey, Kamil took us to a random travel shop and told us there was a guide here for us but we got all flustered and confused and said we didn't need a guide. He only decided to tell us once we had drove off that the guide was in fact paid for in the price of the trip. Grrr, annoying. Finally we arrived at the main gate to the Taj Mahal, under strict instructions by our hotel and Kamil. We were to talk to no one, we had to be sure of where we was going and just go straight there, so we did. After a count of 1,2,3, we got out the car, headed to the gates and ignored anyone and everyone trying to come in contact with us. Whether it be, guides, touts, beggars, camels, monkeys or stray dogs. Ticket purchased, bags scanned, bodies checked by metal detectors and at last, we were in!! We walked down the pathway to the breathe taking view of the Taj Mahal. I managed to snap a few photos before someone tapped me on the shoulder, asking me to have my photo taken with his family, we ended up having a group shot of us four girls with his sister and daughter. Bizarre but fine, then it happened again then again and then again until we had all had enough. No more photos!!! One guy even had a line of all his family taking photos with Kate and I, then Kate got dumped and they just wanted shots with me. So weird, I started to get creeped out and wondered what exactly was going to be done with these photos, so from that point I just said no!! Kate and I was waiting for Liv and Nelen to return from the toilet, when my patience was wearing thin with one guy, he was very persistent in talking to us in broken English, he then said something about marriage and kept pointing at me and then his lips. Arghhh, we gave up waiting for the girls and ran into the Taj to hide from outside cretins. There wasn't a lot to look at in there so we walked through it quite quickly. I still needed to get my Princess Diana pose before I left so once we got that final photo shoot out the way, we thought it was time to leave. The Taj was very beautiful but alot of stress comes with it, definitely glad we went though, it was an entertaining experience that kept us giggling. Back on the road back to Delhi... You might be surprised that I haven't mentioned the dangerous driving in India yet, not sure why but I'm not as freaked out as in SE Asia, maybe because I trust Kamil or maybe because they have a good horn system over here. You beep then you move then you check your mirrors??... Yeah I think it's definitely the trusting Kamil thing too haha. After a long day, we arrived back at the hotel and went straight to bed.

The next morning we treated ourselves to a lovely lay in, we naturally woke up at 10am and headed down to reception for some late breakfast. We had decided to book Kamil for another day to take us around town again, it wasn't to expensive and after hearing about his family and life, we wanted to pay him. We started off by going to a market but we left it up to him to tell us where we should go this time because the last one was such a failure and off course he didn't disappoint, he took us to a local market that he knew - forgot the name! We had a good wonder around for a few hours, the girls bought various items of clothes but I figured I have enough India proof clothes for now (shoulders, chest and knees covered). We did all buy little stick on bindi's though, very cute, I'm sure you'll see photos of me sporting one soon enough. When we was near the end and Kate, Liv and Nelen was hungry so they got some street curry, I didn't fancy the risk after just getting well again after my Laos illness. Turns out I made the right decision because Nelen found a black hair in hers, yuk yuk vom vom, that went straight in the bin. Pretty grossed out after it, we decided to go to The Imperial Hotel for an English treat of high tea. Plus we couldn't really pass it off, it was only £10 for the whole set. Even when you're a backpacker, that's a bargain. It also reminded me of when I went for high tea for my mums birthday one year with my aunties. Anyone that knows me, knows that I embarrass really easily in that sort of situation, you can imagine my face when Liv asked for a doggy bag for the left over sandwiches, especially when the waiters response was a firm no. For my choice of tea, I went for the Darjeeling tea as its famous in the East of India and we were going to Varanasi that night so I thought it was fitting. Once we had munched our way threw the levels of trays on our high teas towers, we went back to the hotel for a shower and I treated myself to a hair wash. My hair is quite unmanageably long in this heat now, it lives in a bun on top of my head most days so it was nice to be able to brush it through in the air conditioned hotel room. I know why people told me to chop it all off before I came away though, some days it is tempting, you never know I might come home with a bob'ed hair do. The hotel was getting in a fluster about us paying our bill and getting on our way to the train station because of evening Delhi traffic, so hair brushing was over. We settled the books and got on our way. When we arrived at the station, our taxi driver (sadly not Kamil) told us to walk straight into the station and don't talk to anyone; apparently people try to talk to you to tell you the train is cancelled so you have to pay again or they steal your ticket when you have it on show. We didn't have any worries though, we was safety in the station, found out the platform and got on the way. I can safely say I've never ever been stared at so much in my life, every pair of eyes was on us while we was walking down the steps onto the platform. People just gawking at us, obviously something we were getting used to but there's nothing more we can do to avoid it, we were already dressed top to toe including wearing scarfs for extra bagginess. I suppose I don't really mind because I know I'm not offending anyone, it's more for their curiosity of white people (as Kamil used to so brazenly put it). We got on our train and found our carriage, it was a four sleeper cabin with a curtain and an air vent unit on the ceiling. There was one single bed situated opposite us, you can imagine how quickly that filled up with people, ended up with three guys sitting there staring in, our curtain was quickly closed!! We ordered dinner, thali in the cabins, while we waited one of the guys started talking to us when the curtain got brushed open. Turns out he was a palm reader, he sat himself in our cabin and started reading Nelen's palm, then he read mine and said some stuff that freaked me out, Liv could tell that I felt uncomfortable and politely asked him to leave. After many games of cards, catching up on blogs and reading magazines, we decided to try to sleep. And try is all Helen and I could do, the other two had passed straight out, despite the gusts of arctic temperatures being pumped through the vents. There was a particularly loud snoring man near us and all we could hear all night was the fast pulse of his nasal passages ringing through the carriage.

We managed to get a few hours of kip in, only to be woken by the 6.30am alarm, the train was due to arrive at the station near Varassini at 7.40am so we set the alarm to make sure we was up and didn't miss the stop. Well turns out, it was running a wee bit late. 5 hours late to be precise. Luckily our taxi man from our new hotel had waited for us all that time because (again) it was nice to have someone to meet when we got out the station rather then booking a random man to take us. It didn't stop about 5 or 6 men constantly asking if we wanted a taxi. After our first Indian train experience, we had made it.