At last the words to go with the 3 photo albums: Incredible India, Further Adventures in. India and Tiger Tails and Taj Mahal.

"This is India"...Incredible!?

After our previous group tour experiences in China, Vietnam & Australia, for India we decided to book something a bit more luxurious and chose one called The Great Indian Explorer. It promised a taste of India's past, visiting palaces, forts and temples plus some very interesting and rather grand 'heritage'hotels. We began in Delhi then travelled, by car (complete with air con & driver), into the state of Rajasthan taking in Mandawa, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur (Blue City), Udaipur (Water City or Venice of the East), Pushkar (Holy City) Jaipur (Pink City) and finally, of course, Agra for the Taj Mahal! Quite a list - then we added on 2 nights at Ranthambhone National Park for some safari adventures - tiger spotting in particular.

We've calculated that we travelled almost 1500 miles - with the same driver, Sunil, who fortunately was not only a really good driver but also kept us well supplied with water and cheap beer (he could get it at least 1/4 of the price we were charged in the hotels) from his little cool box in the boot. Sunil spoke some English and was really helpful at pointing things out along the road - but we soon worked out he didn't understand all we asked so had to bear that in mind when we asked questions! However, our favourite of his responses when we pointed out something crazy we'd seen either on the road or elsewhere was "Madam, this is India".

Travel companies often describe India as 'incredible' and I'd have to say it definitely is......as we travelled I wrote a list of the 'incredible' or 'incredibly...' things we saw but sadly they are not all positive. Hopefully the following will give you some idea of what I mean.

1500 miles is a really long way ....... we were probably in the car for an average of 4 hours a day, but there was always something to look at - literally, never a dull moment. The roads themselves are pretty incredible so perhaps that's a good place to start....

We've already been amazed by the traffic first in China and then in Vietnam & Thailand where we also encountered some pretty poor roads but the state of the roads in India seem incredibly bad! Although good in some places - notably as we drove towards Jalsalmer, which is 150 km from the India/Pakistan border and is, understandably a huge military area so the was road built and is maintained by the army. In other places the roads were either full of potholes, dirt tracks or almost not existent. For some reason I was surprised to find they drive on the left here - though it is just a 'suggestion' rather than a rule because swerving to the right to find the best piece of road or avoid other traffic is all part of their driving 'system'. When I say other traffic, in India, aside from the motorbikes, cars, trucks, buses - all overloaded/crowded, this includes cows, dogs, camels, goats and sheep (with the occasional shepherd) that all stroll along or even across the road, at their own pace. It really is incredible and a credit to Sunil's driving skill that we didn't hit anything at all in the 16 days. Use of the horn is also mandatory - we decided that a working horn is far more important than brakes here and definitely more important than mirrors. Dust is a constant feature as are piles of bricks/rumble - couldn't quite work out if they were building something or had just knocked something down.

However, despite the heat and dust, it is incredibly colourful ....the roadside stalls of fruit & veg plus the vibrant colours of cotton & silk fabrics (saries, scarves, bags etc), but by far the best is the ladies. I'm not one to notice clothes that much but you really can't help it in India. The men don't seem to make the same effort but even the women working in the fields or on building sites were dressed in such an amazing array of different coloured saries or dresses it's impossible not to be impressed. However, sadly, that was such a contrast to the streets of the towns we're drove through which were quite frankly, filthy with rubbish in piles by the side of the road....incredible. Nowhere was this more obvious than Agra, home of the awesome and definitely incredible Taj Mahal - there Paul even spotted a dead dog in the heaps of rubbish.

In each city we had a guided tour, ranging from 2 to 5 hours - sometimes quite difficult to take it all in after a few hours in the car, especially as the weather has just been getting warmer and warmer since we arrived in India up to about 38 degrees. However, we really enjoyed all the cities ....

In Delhi, we were advised that the only way to see the tiny streets of Old Delhi is by bicycle rickshaw - our guide insisted that we squeeze into one so we both felt very guilty as quite a small man cycled us around for about 20 mins! He looked pretty tired by the end but it was great and one of my 'incredibles'. We didn't arrive in Mandawa until about 4pm so it was a quick walking tour of the market town settled in the 18th century visiting a few of the Haveli's built by rich merchants as a testimony of their wealth and beautifully decorated with colurful fresco's, so much intricate art work. Our hotel for the night was the old castle ....sleeping in history....

Next stop, Bikaner. We spent a couple of hours at Juna Garh Fort built in 1593, of red sandstone and consisting of several palaces & apartments mostly still in great condition. I think there's a photo of some of the collection knives/ guns in museum there - right up Paul's street! Afterwards we visited a camel breeding farm - by then it was late afternoon so it was quite a quick trot around but we did learn quite abit about camels and as it's breeding time and we saw several babies too!

After just one night at Bikaner we set off further into the Thar Desert to Jaisalmer 333kms and our longest journey in one day of the tour. Our hotel for 2 nights in Jaisalmer was a bit out of town, another palace and the one with the posh billards room in the photos.....or maybe that was the night before??!! Built in the 12th century over Tripura Hill, Jaisalmer Fort, dominates the city. Inside it seemed a maze of little streets with quite a number of people still living within but many more in the surrounding city. There's also several Jain Temples within - amazingly intricate stone carvings. If I've learnt anything about the religion it's that they have an incredible number of gods - thousands .....just seems rather complicated! We also saw more fantastically preserved Haveli's here but the highlight was definitely our evening camel ride to the sand dunes to watch the sunset. Collecting our camels and guides and riding off into the desert would have been romantic had we not been joined by another couple of hundred people doing the same plus a variety of locals - selling drinks at extortionate prices, girls dancing & singing - or wanting their photo taken - both for money of course. After about 30 mins riding we left the camels resting and sat amongst the dunes for about half an hour as the sun went down - incredible.... but maybe more so was the other impromptu entertainment. A rather excitable Chinese lady persuaded (presumably with money) our guides to let her use our camels in a bit of a photo shoot - it's probably one of those times when you had to be there but it was just hilarious as she danced around directing her friends to run along the top of the sand dune with a reluctant camel in tow. To be honest she probably got some great shots for her holiday album ....

Still shaking sand from our sandals we were off to Jodhpur the next day - expecting lots of horse riding & polo but in that respect we were disappointed. The Mererangah Fort there is massive - the biggest in Rajasthan - with 8 gates and various palace apartments inside. The view of the old city below with it's blue painted houses (hence the name 'blue city') was great too!

Next on the list was Udaipur and maybe my favourite hotel. Hotel Jagat Niwas - not 5 star but our room had a lovely window 'seat' big enough for 2 and a coffee table, jutting out onto the lake plus a roof top restaurant for watching the sunset while we ate dinner. We enjoyed the city palace, temple and gardens with a guide here but then explored a bit on own in the afternoon - getting 'lost' in back streets and unfortunately choosing a coffee stop that may have made Paul ill....(don't worry, not life threatening - better now).

After another long drive we arrived in Pushkar - a Holy City for the Hindu's with a sacred lake & the only temple in world dedicated to Brahma . The city is relatively small and after visiting the temple and seeing the lake we walked through the streets ....again lots of colour especially as by now the Holi Festival or festival of colour was approaching - am not going to attempt to explain it - look it up on Google - but basically they drink, eat & throw paint over each other. Therefore in the lead up there are piles of brightly coloured powder paints & water pistols for sale. Probably the only other thing to say about Pushkar is it's totally vegetarian and alcohol free - glad we only stayed one night!

And finally on to Jaipur, still Rajasthan but our 2nd point of the so called 'Golden Triangle' and therefore more crowded and touristy! The heat and crowds meant an early start to queue for an elephant ride up to the Amber Palace, but well worth it - just for the views....... not only of the fort /palace and surrounds but the quite magnificent sight of so many elephants - another highlight of mine. The palace itself was quite impressive too and the various other places we saw in Jaipur but perhaps the most interesting was Jantar Mantar Observatory built 1728-1734 and home to a collection of complex astronomical instruments - incredible ......think they knew more then than we do now!

As we left Jaipur for Ranthambhore National Park and our 2 day break from city sightseeing, preparations for 'Holi' we're very evident - more traffic and particularly overcrowded vehicles - buses, especially as people travelled home or to family for the holidays. There was definitely a festival feel to the day ......Sunil was happy too as he had a couple of days off coinciding perfectly with Holi.

Ranthambhore National Park, once the hunting ground of the maharajas of Jaipur and later the British, covers almost 400sq km including the ruins of the 10th century fort and is home to loads of wildlife. Our trip included 3 four hour safaris and the guide said there was only a 25% chance of seeing a tiger so as you can see from the photos we were very fortunate. The first afternoon we saw a female first lying in the grass beside a lake and then she walked across right in front of the vehicle and the second afternoon we watched a male trying to have an nap in the shade of a tree - unfortunately there was rather a crowd of jeeps full of tourists with cameras clicking! Seeing them in the wild was an fantastic experience and yes, incredible! They weigh around 200kgs and it looks like pure muscle but they move pretty quickly. As we were driving out of the park the first afternoon we also had a brief sighting of a bear as he made his way though some woods and on the only morning safari, we saw a leopard - also just briefly but although quite close it was moving away so not such a good photo as those of the tigers.

Our safaris were supposed to be shared with up to 4 others however when the early morning jeep arrived at our hotel it already looked full but they manged to squeeze us in - me in the front with the driver and Paul in the back with one couple then squashed on the back seat of the vehicle was an Indian family of 5! A rather unusual experience especially at the end ......they must have thought I was someone famous because the father from the family came up and asked if he could take a photo of me! Once I agreed the daughter and then the mother came up too and I had to pose with them - several times!! That day was also Holi - we'd been worned to wear old clothes in case we were targeted as we drove through the village but though we survived unscathed an older, rather posh Englishman staying at our lodge was very well splattered with a variety of colours when he returned on a different jeep. He took very well though. We then witnessed group of Germans 'playing Holi' - all dressed up white clothing with bags of paint & water - once the staff joined in it seemed to get a bit out of hand but they all appeared to be enjoying themselves! Am not sure how they felt afterwards as the paint, especially the red, didn't seem to wash off easily so there were still a lot of red faces and pink hair at breakfast the next morning!

Leaving the wilds of Ranthamhbore behind we headed out of Rajasthan and into the state of Uttar Pradesh for Agra and the legendary Taj Mahal. As mentioned before, the town, at least the chaotic and dusty market place we drove through, is a stark contrast to the incredible Taj Mahal. Construction of the mausoleum began in 1631 and it took 12 years to build with tons and tons of white marble being brought from quarries in Rajasthan over 100 miles away - plus other precious stones for the intricate inlay work from all over the world. Just the feat of doing all that hundreds of years ago is pretty incredible in itself and result still seems to float on the skyline looking like a Disney World castle. Despite arriving early in the morning it was already quite crowded - mostly with Indian tourists all dressed up in the usual beautiful colours. We must have looked rather scruffy in comparison but we had great fun posing for 'professional' photos - a bit of a 'rip-off' actually but it's supposed to be a romantic place and we have some great shots - quite a few of us together which makes a change!

Another 'incredible' perhaps most evident in Delhi, Jaipur and Agra are the street hawkers, so persistent in pursuit of a sale .....they really don't like to take 'no' for an answer and it was also the same at the other end of the scale. Without fail each guide took us to a local 'factory' or 'craft' place which also turned out to be a showroom/shop with souvenirs. Though, of course, all made by skilled craftsmen, we were a bit sceptical about how much of the rather expensive price tag those craftsmen actually made. Still, as Sunil would say "Madam, this is India"!

Apologies for the blog rather lagging behind the photos .....I blame it on Paul being too quick uploading the photos but it looks like you've enjoyed them without this rather lengthy background story! Thanks for the messages - yes, time has flown ...we can't believe the Adventure is nearly over. However, even though it's been great and India has so far proved a special end, we are really looking forward to getting home!