Jaipur, the "Pink City", is as it sounds - a collection of pink buildings and palace complex that give off a soft, glowing hue. It might be even more romantic if Jaipur wasn't so big and crowded, and a bit overwhelming at times! The Amber Fort was the big highlight here, and was perhaps the busiest site with tourists that we have seen so far - wow. Lots of ducking out of the way of tour groups to try and get photos - an exercise we are becoming increasingly skill...

The Taj Mahal is glorious and majestic and certainly lives up to all the expectations one would have of one of the most signature landmarks of the country. Our trusty driver took us on the 4.5 hour drive from Delhi to Agra, where we stayed just one night - enough time to see the Agra Fort and Taj Mahal. The fort was definitely impressive, but cannot really be expanded on at the moment because Clare instead of the History teacher is writing this blog, and she is ...

This next chapter of India is the one where we let ourselves be driven around in an air conditioned car for 10 days by a professional driver who will take us through the "Golden Triangle" tourist route of Delhi/Agra/Jaipur, as well as some other stops in the state of Rajasthan. After initially thinking we would figure out all of this on our own, we decided back in Tamil Nadu that this would be the time where we would let someone else plan the itineraries for us. ...

We moved away from the loud music and beach parties down to south Goa, to hunker down at beautiful, crescent shaped Palolem Beach. We looked forward to celebrating Holi, the annual Spring festival on March 1, but either the celebrations were disappointing, or we just weren't cool enough to know where to find the good ones. It is at this time of year that Hindus celebrate the coming of Spring, and the triumph of good over evil. People throw powdered colours at eac...

We knew we couldn't stay away from the beach for long, and so again we are back on the sand and in the sea (a new one - the Arabian Sea!) Here in Goa we are blessed with golden coloured sand, and a bigger surf - reminds us of North Carolina beach conditions in August! Super warm water. Every day has a cloudless blue sky and scorching heat; we actually usually stay inside in the middle of the day because it is so hot, even in the shade. Think of it as our Indian s...