Hey - yes, it has been so long since we updated but using the Internet is so expensive - I'm just going to whack in our whole trip to India is this one blog rather than spread it out and to be honest it's not worth more than one blogs-worth of writing anyway!

So.....

Day 2 - We had a pre-arranged tour that started at 10am, we didn't end up getting up until 9:30am so we were in a mad rush, we didn't want to miss breakfast because we got that included in the price of the room. Who has curry for breakfast please? Thank the Lord they had croissants for Kay and of course Anth will eat anything if he puts salt and pepper on it!

The tour guide met us (about 10:15am, whoops!) and told us that we were starting our tour in New Delhi. Our car was air conditioned (much needed in the extreme heat, even at that time in the morning the heat was pushing on to 30!). First stop was Quteb Minor. Basically a massive tower where villages used to go to pray, built in the 18th Century. It was hard to concentrate on what our tour guide was telling us really because a) it was too hot, b) we couldn't understand him anyway c) some of it just wasn't that interesting! Well Anthony thought it was but he's all into the history and architecture side of things (so he says, must be the bricky coming out of him) I though it was a bit too much like a school trip so found myself drifting alot of the time, thinking about what I could really eat right now, etc...

Anyway if I am a bit vague with other things we saw then if you are that bothered about it just Google it! Ha! He took us around all of the Embassies, the India Gate - this is what the English built afer WW1 (I remember that bit!). Also to Humayoun's Tomb - I don't know who he is but the tomb looked exactly like the Taj Mahal but smaller and made from red brick - apparently this is what the Taj is based on so it must be pretty old.

So the tour was going quite well until the tour guide who we thought was nice started trying to sell is other tours from his 'other' company, not the hotel but the Indian Tourism Department - WHATEVER! Ha yeah heard that before so we told him NO and luckily the tour was finished anyway so we headed back to the hotel.

Oh forgot to mention on the tour we had to go to see how Kashmir carpets are made as this is a big industry in India. Fair enough we thought. Well it took them about 1 minute to show us how they are made but it took us 40 freakin minutes to get out of the shop because they were trying to sell us one!! I'm not being funny right but we are travelling around the world, how and why the hell would we want to lug around a 3ft rug? The shop owner couldn't see a problem with it maybe it's just me.....

Anyway back at the hotel, we had been for a swim in the pool and just lounged around. Kay wanted a shower and whilst in the shower, the shower head flew off and was unrepairable, so we basically had a hose left to get the shampoo out of the thickest hair in the world. Anyway Kay decided to complain (much to the delight of Anthony who hates complaining!) and all turned out well as we got a room upgrade to the Club Lounge which meant free drinks and free food - Anth didn't mind then I can tell you!

Day 3 - 9am start for our second day of touring and today was Old Delhi which we were quite excited about as we heard this was the REAL poor area of Delhi (as if New Delhi didn't look like a dump). Luckily we had a different tour guide and he took us around other monuments, Red Fort, India's largest mosque (forgotten the name - see the picks though with our cover-ups on, Kay's nice green sari and Anth's tartan skirt thing haha - we had to so we weren't showing disrespect).We also saw Ghandi's memorial which is basically a garden with a marble table in the middle where he is buried. By the way none of these sights that we have seen are free it has cost us a freakin arm and a leg to see these, they must rake it is, god knows where they spend the money, it's not going anywhere visible anyway!

Again that was all done by mid-afternoon so we spent the rest of the day at the bar at the hotel! We just didn't have the enthusiasm to go out - getting around is so hard, the heat and the people is too much to handle!

It was only day 3 and we really want to get of India now - luckily the jokes were still rolling off and we were having a good laugh if nothing else!

Day 4 - in a nutshell, we did sweet FA - pool and drink - it was the best day of our journey so far......

Day 5 - we had previously booked another tour to take us around the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra & Jaipur) so the Agra part started today. It takes about 5 hours to drive from Delhi to Agra so we left at 9am and arrived at about 2pm. On the way we saw a lot more poverty, shanti towns and run downs buildings and really, really ill-looking people. We also saw literally 100's of cows, a few camels, pigs, dogs and an elephant these were just walking on the road, up the motorway as you do....

Our tour guide, Ragu was really friendly (and he remained friendly throughout the trip! Diamond in the rough...) he gave us loads of tips and facts about India in general so that was quite helpful and it was nice that he wasn't trying to steal from us too! Firstly he took us to the Agra Fort which is basically the same as the Red Fort so that was a bit boring (and expensive). Agra seems really rough, worse than Delhi I think (just what we needed). Our hotel was ok but that bathroom stunk and the view was of a dumping ground.

Day 6 - A good today!! We woke up at the crack (5:00am!) so we could get to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise which is meant to be the best time - and it didn't fail to impress, even Kay mouthed 'WOW' when she saw it!

Rather than me ramble about what it looks like, etc just look at the pictures, of course they don't do it justice but you get the gist. It was pretty cool though. Oh and of all the places to get scammed we get scammed here when we are actually enjoying ourselves! A passer by (well we thought passer by) showed us where to take the best pictures and we thought he was just being helpful and then told us he wanted money for showing us - all he did was point! Anth already had his hand in his pocket before Kay could say 'no' so we ended up giving him 20rps (tut tut Anthony - just before Anth was saying how he is really going to tell people to get lost when they try anything on haha). Anyway as it goes the pictures he told us to take turned out quite well - we can tick one of the seven wonders of the world off of our list now anyway!

So the day started on a high after seeing the Taj and everything and things just got better and better. Yep, Ragu took us to a Bird Sanctuary WOOP!! Oh my god, of all the most money-robbing, boring, pointless "attractions" that are in existence, India's Biggest Bird Sanctuary has got to be the worse! Who would even go there out of choice? It's only because didn't realise that we were going there (we though it was a Zoo) that we paid 510rps, yes 510rps, that's like GBP6.00 EACH of money that we don't have, to get in and have some weirdo on a rickshaw taking us around making freakin BIRD NOISES every 10 seconds and nearly giving himself a heart attack and being way to enthusiastic just because a freakin cuckoo flew past - WOW!! Haha we were laughing our heads off - typical of us to end somewhere like that!

After that exciting experience we headed to Jaipur and checked into our nice looking hotel - don't judge a book by its cover.....

The electricity went off at least 4 times within the hour and water comes out brown from the sink, it stinks oh and monkeys are all around you outside dragging rubbish and smell with them, nice...

Oh we'll just tell you a bit about the food, well of course Anthony is ok, but Kay found it a little bit hard to well eat I suppose. I really wanted to be open-minded about trying new things but there is a limit. Firstly I can't eat when I can easily smell the bins. Secondly why did I leave my freakin spoon at home!?!? I couldn't possibly use their cutlery, they wash them in mud. Thirdly all of the food is covered in some sort of sauce which surprisingly I don't like. The naan bread is bloody lovely though so that what I have been eating for the last three days ha! Luckily I had hygienic hand wash with me too (thanks Rebecca) so that has probably saved my life.

We realised at the end of the day that we had no clean clothes left at all so we decided to wash our clothes in the sink which now had clear running water after we left it running for about 20 minutes. That was really fun actually and the clothes came out OK considering we only had a bar of soap to wash them with. Good teamwork I will say Kay washed, Anth rinsed!

Day 7 - Wahoo last day of India!! No, it has been good but only because we have been able to laugh about it. Today we headed to the Amber Fort. Again just another building (see pictures). We could have gotten an elephant ride around this monument but it cost too much and it is on a cliff edge so we didn't trust the safety of the elephants!

After that we went to the Golden Palace in the Pink City - Ragu made this out to be the dog's b******s because he said the whole city is made out of pick brick, I'd say it was more orange just like normal bricks really. Golden Palace was not as good as it sounds either....

Today we really missed the sound of decent music. All we have heard is Hindi music and it screeches through your ears. Is there just like one main song because it definitely all sounds the same - and when does one song end and the other begin if there is more that one tune?

Kay could murder a pork pie today...

So that was our Indian adventure really hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. In a nutshell: -

I'd

Never

Do

It

Again

Ha we made that acronym ourselves (well Anth did!) The words are very true but it has been a really good experience and we are glad we came but even gladder we're leaving!