Day 51 - A whole new world...

First, an apology..we have no pictures today...really sorry, but left the USB cable at home (hooray, I still remember what USB means!!!)
Anyway, our update...we have had a rough few days in India. It's time to spill the beans. The cards are on the table. The cat's out of the bag.

We are seriously narked with India. We left Jodhpur on Sunday morning at 9am and spent 12 hours on the train to Agra (home of the Taj Mahal). That was great, we read loads and had a nice time...even if we were famished by the end. We were ripped off by the auto-rickshaw driver but that;s not so bad at 11pm so we got to our hotel and after some food had some sleep.

We got up the next day and mooched around Agra (went to the fort - which was excellent if a little dull) - we did a little shopping and generally chilled out (sorry if this is boring - this is the truth of international jet-setting celebrity superstar round the world travel don'tcha know!).

Anyway, the crux of the problem is that we are sick to the back teeth of being offered marble artwork, sandalwood chess sets, postcards, puppets, autorickshaws, taxis, cycle rickshaws, 'silver' bangles and all the other crap that people try to push on us as tourists. I know we're visitors here and we are really behaving as such (we still acknowledge people when they randomly call out 'hello' or 'sir!' or 'madam!') - lots of other wazungu just ignore them. We were constantly overcharged by rickshaw drivers and it just gets annoying in the end. Deep breaths...

As an aside, the Taj Mahal was absolutely breathtaking and we took loads of photos. It's best from a distance but it really is a marvel of architectural engineering - so impressive and all for the wife who died after giving birth to their 14th child (built by Shah Jahan in 16th century).

The problem with Agra is that there is bugger all else there..the best way to do it is by getting the early train from Delhi and spending the day there before catching the express back. We got back to Delhi at 1pm and headed for the hotel we'd stayed in previously - v good and friendly. This morning we caught a flight from Delhi to Goa and we've spent the afternoon mooching around Panaji, looking at the old Portugese remnants and enjoying the heat (much hotter than anywhere since Africa!).
Tomorrow we go to old Goa before heading south to Colva and a day on the beach (and maybe a scooter if I can find one...)

Our Indian adventure ends on sunday when we fly out to Kuala Lumpur but not before two days in Mumbai (where Emma will probably by up half the silk material there). We've arranged our stay there and in Fiji (the Octopus resort) so things are coming together - only a tent to buy in NZ and a motel to rent in the US.

Toodlepip

j and e x