We arrived in Agra around 11am and once we had checked in we went to visit the red fort. We were taken by tuk tuk and then transferred onto jeeps to climb the large hill. We given a guided tour around the fort which contains palaces for the king and his concubines, it was really interesting. After lunch in a local restaurant we visited a carpet factory where we were shown the process by which traditional wool carpets were made by hand by the local village. They could take between 3 to 8 months to make and contain thousands of knots. Late that afternoon we visited theTaj Mahal to see the light fade and view the Taj as sunset. it was a really moving experience, it was quite a reflective place to be and it is amazing to walk around. Dinner took ages as we had about 5 power cuts and had to wait each time for the generator to start up.
Next day we took the 8.15am train to Orchha and arrived in the village at noon. We had lunch and then went swimming in our pool (the first of our trip). That eveing we walked through the village and down to the river, all the old architecture of the city looked really beautiful in the evening light. We went to a local restaurant and ordered our dinner to be made for later on that evening and then went to the Ram raja mandir pooja evening ceremony. It was an amazing experience in a very spiritual atmosphere with everyone craning to see the ceremony and chanting. We then had our dinner at the local restaurant in the back garden where we saw fireflies.
We got up really early to visit the local palace complex for a tour, as the heat was really intense most of us were flagging so rested in the afternoon. In the early evening when it was slightly cooler we walked around the abandoned cenotaphs and temples, it was really quiet and tranquil. I went for a cooking class to learn how to make a complete indian feast at a local woman's house. Her children loved having our attention and totally played up to the camera, posing for photos with our sunglasses and hats. Helen spent dinner with some of the group, then we all met to take taxis back to the station for the overnight train to Varanasi.