Up at 5am to go to the Taj Mahal. I am sure anyone who has seen it will agree, words cannot describe how beautiful it is. Absolutely gob smacked!!! Had the old 'Diana' photo, probably not the right bench or pose, but good enough for
me ;) Soon after this, my camera decided to die, with the spare battery also caput (not sure how, as I'd charged the night before) but did get a few nice pics. Considering how great it is on the outside, the tombs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal were disappointing, more because it felt a bit disrespectful with so many people staring at them, rather than what there was to see. Met a tour guide from another group outside who showed us the only part of the temple which is not symmetrical (apparently only God can create something that is perfect, so there is a tiny bit on one side that doesn't quite match) all a learning experience!!

After the Taj, took a bus to Fatehpur Sikri (City of Victory) built by Akbar the Great in the 16th century. Sounded like a bit of a dude, married 3 times, the first for the throne, second for love and the third for business - wise man! He also had 350 concubines, who he used to play hide and seek with, use as live chess pieces, and insist that their Sari's covered the body from head to toe (the saris however were totally see through!). On a more practical level, Akbar introduced a couple of laws. The first being to ban the practice of women sacrificing themselves when their husbands died (they used to lie next to the body of their dead husband when he was cremated and burn to death) basically he said if men weren't prepared to do the same when their wives died, then no one should do it, women's lib alive and well in the 1500's!! (albeit introduced by a bloke) he also put an age limit on men marrying women younger than them (before the law, older men would marry girls half their age, so Akbar introduced a 2 year age gap). The best bit of this was that to ensure his people were abiding by theses laws he would dress as a woman and spy on them, genius!!! Ok history lesson over.....The palace itself was pretty impressive, especially the fact that one of his wives was veggie and therefore had her own kitchen!!!

After this, train ride number 2, more comfy seats, and also got to see people cramming into the carriages and hanging off the sides off the train to travel on the outside, braver than me!!!

On arrival at Rathmanbore we were greeted with flower garlands, and a much needed drink. Then dinner and the good old compulsory cultural dance, luckily didn't get pulled up, but we still have another night here....ahhhhhh!! Rest of the night was drinking Kingfisher (much nicer than Everest) and getting to know the group, lots of laughs!!!

In case you are wondering, I do have LOTS of amazing pics to share but need to edit etc before uploading, ETA of said pics will be when I have a few days in the UK in MAY. Also, sunburnt hands update, they are bloody awful :( have taken to wearing bandages to keep them out of the sun which appears to be working, hoping I don't scar :(