Back to India and the end of my bus ordels not nearly to soon either. Bus from Neapl to border took about 5 hours and the first 4 were fairly uneventful and I thought how nice and tranquil and what a change this had made to preivous journeys.Oh yes spoken to soon, with an hour to go the driver departed the vehicle and a guy sat at front of bus who I had assumed was just another passenger took over. This guy had shoulder length hair and some kind if Megadeath T-shirt or some Nepalese equivalant on. The only way I can think to describe him is as a true Beavis and Butthead charachter and he drove the bus in a similar fashion to what I would imagine either of these two driving a bus like. He seemed to have pedal to the metal and had the most violent of steering actions, weaving in and out of traffic with a sudden long burst of the horn in between!! I went from being a nice rosy colour to being as white as a sheet as this guy was driving the bus like he had stolen it (given I had thought he was a passenger this may have turned out to be the case!!). Finally arrived at border and my bus ordeals were over. I would now only need Induan trains for my final few days in India, phew!! Good riddance to bad buses (and their drivers).

Got through border and found a shared jeep which myself, Jules and three others who had come on same bus decided to hire all to ourselves. Half normal occupancy which meant twice fare but still only 200rupees each and meant we could travel in comfort for two hour journey to the train station in India. Stopped off on way and had a chai and couple samosa's, was surprised at how in such short time I had actually missed the Indian food??

Once arrived at Gorkahpur Train Station we tried to book a ticket directly to Agra but so much commotion going on with trying to book a same day ticket that we ended up on a train to Delhi...... Ended up with AC class as well since nothing else left available. Really was living the life of luxury on this final few journies. When train pulled into Delhi the following morning went to booking office and booked a ticket straight back to Agra for couple hours time. Once again only AC class avaible on train (not a bad thing mind you as it was such a hot day anything but air conditioned coach for a day train would have been painful). After 3 hour journey arrived at Agra and the end of the couple days travel from Nepal had finally ended!!!

Booked into a hotel which claimed to have Taj Mahal views and it gets good write up in Lonely Planet so thought was a good choice. Once got on rooftop it did not disappoint and there we were faced with the awesome display of the Taj Mahal literally right in front of us. Took a cycle rickshaw to a sunset point place whcih showed Taj from behind but given sunset was to side of it probably would have been better to watch from hotel rooftop but still good to see from here anyway. Roll on tomorrow so can go and check this place out inside.

Up and out of bed early (before sunrise) and excited by the one true sight I had come to India to see (dont get me wrong i came to India to see the people, the way they live and the way of life, but in terms of actual sightseeing tours this was the daddy!). Got inside and through the gate and I was greeted with the phenomenal sight which is the Taj Mahal. No photo or write up can do this place justice and it is a sight that has to be visited to experience the sheer scale of the building and how overpowering it looks. You cannot grasp the magnitude of it without going and visting and other then the sheers appearance and view of the outside is far more impressive then anything inside there is nothing else I can say on it.

After coming out the plan was to go and visit the fort which Agra is also famous for, however after seeing the Taj it seemed littled point on doing any other sightseeing now and given the number of forts already visited I did not think it would have a lot more to offer. Spent rest of day looking around shops which same cycle rickshaw from previous day took us around. He asked us to go in three or four shops and spend 15 mins so that he could get commission. We agreed as he was such an honest and friendly not to mention helpful bloke. He got a good 140rupees for our troubles and said not to pay him for services but we did anyway and got him to take us to train station where we paid him again and a little bit extra. Such a genuinely friendly and hoinest man that for his hard work (and trust me cycling these things is hard, as I found out in Nepal......)

On train back to Delhi I was sat next to a student called Ravun who was very friendly and who spoke excellent english his grammar was even better then mine, it was proper good!!! (not saying much though is it......) Very friendly fella and nice to meet such genuine Indians towards end of my journey to leave me with a positive lasting impression of place. Looking forward to getting back to Delhi for a couple days especially since the Holi festival (festival of colour) is taking place tomorrow.