Agra 15.2.10 Nikki Today the new group caught the train (the one that was cancelled a month ago) with no delays and I revisited Agra Fort and the Taj for the third time! It must have been 15 degrees warmer than last time and the sky was (sorry Jo) clear. We had a bizarre dinner in a revolving restaurant with ferocious A/C surrounded by overexcited school children (from Bundi apparently!) who were here on a school trip. Thank goodness I wasn't responsible for t...

Delhi 211.2.10-13.2.10 Jo11.2.10-15.2.10 Nikki We decided to catch the train from Nawalgarh to Jaipur as we'd already booked the Jaipur/Delhi leg. At the station we initially waited in a queue for tickets in polite British fashion until we were urged towards the opposite side of the same small window by some of the men. This turned out to be the ladies' side so Jo bought both tickets for the 4 hour journey (second class unreserved) for the princely sum of 40 rup...

Shekawati area Rajasthan 7.2.10- 10.2.10Nawalgarh, Mandawa, Parasurumpura Jo's first experience of an overnight train started well, we left on the dot from Jaisalmer and she was tucked up in her narrow bunk by 7.30pm. After a relatively good night's sleep (in the circumstances) the train rolled into Jaipur station just 5 minutes late, not bad after a 12 hour journey. After a couple of phone calls and a short wait our chubby, smiley taxi driver raced across the c...

Jaisalmer 2.2.10-6.2.10The early morning start was the worst yet….up at 3.45am for a train scheduled to depart at 5.20am. However, after asking a range of people from chai sellers to station staff we found out that there was a 2 hour delay. It was not the most salubrious of locations to wait, as we watched rats of a range of sizes scamper up and down the track. The train had come from Delhi, so, as we boarded, the carriage was in darkness with curtains drawn. O...

Jodhpur 31st Jan- 2nd FebIt was a very civilised start from Pushkar in an Ambassador, a car which looks as if it comes from a 1940's movie. The driver claimed to be 20 but looked no more than 14!We arrived at the station with hours to spare which was fortunate as every sign we could see was in Hindi unlike at previous stations where the English translation was in evidence. After squeezing ourselves onto the packed platform we settled down to wait for our train. O...