After our very early morning, which of course neither of us are used to anymore, we went back to the hotel and had a quick nap!

In the afternoon, we went to the Agra Fort which in the past was the main residence of the Indian empire (Mughal Empire). This is where Shah Jahan (the person who built the Taj Mahal in memory of his wife) was taken when put under house arrest and spent the last seven years of his life. His son declared him incompetent as he was seriously ill (he had actually recovered) and then declared himself emperor. The fort was cool to walk around, but very busy.. It was really big, parts made out of red sandstone and other parts marble which was pretty impressive.

Later in the afternoon, we went to Itmad-ud-Daula which is also known as ‘the baby Taj’. The 20th, and last wife of the Mughal Emperor built this Mausoleum in memory of her father who was buried here, along with other family members. The Tombs are all in separate rooms which you could go inside. Kerry thought this was a bit weird actually but the actual Mausoleum was a really pretty place and we can see why people call it the baby Taj.

We had a very busy day! We treated ourselves to a dominoes pizza, went back to the hotel and chilled out before our overnight bus to Varanasi. Our final stop in India…

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We arrived in the evening so went straight to bed as we planned to wake up before sunrise to beat the crowds at the Taj Mahal.

We woke up at 4.30am, got ready and headed to the Taj Mahal. We were probably in the first 50 people that were let through and it wasn’t as busy as we expected at all until about half an hour/ 40 mins later. The Taj Mahal is one of the 7 wonders of the world so you would expect that it would be good but it really was AMAZING. We both loved it and the early get up was worth it! We took lots of photo’s, walked around, went inside the Taj itself, where no photography is permitted and sat on a bench for a while when we’d done enough walking around as it was getting hot. Inside the Taj was the tombs of Shah Jahan and his wife. His wife died giving birth to their 14th child and so, he built the Taj Mahal in her memory and this is where she was buried. Later, he was also buried there.

We arrived at the hotel In the evening, dropped our bags off and headed straight out to Subway. We are both getting a bit fed up with Indian food again and you can get an uber pretty much anywhere for about 50p – so why not?!

On our first day here we went to the world trade park which is a really modern, big shopping centre with a food court and a cinema. We got a KFC (obviously as we miss chicken), did a bit of shopping (there was actually a marks and spencer here, how random) and got a Costa. Kerry also had to have a go on one of the massage chairs. Jonho was hobbling around the shopping centre as his foot started aching a few days ago but now he was struggling to walk. We decided to head to a pub, chill out with some beers and watch the football. It was too hot outside, Jonho couldn’t walk properly and we fancied feeling like we were back in England for the day. The pub was so nice, a little pricey for India but it was good! We ended up there for whole night before heading back to the hotel.

The next morning, Jonho could not walk on his foot at all and it went really swollen so the hotel manager drove us to the hospital to get an x-ray. Suprisingly, the hospital was really nice and very efficent! He had a consultation, an x-ray, was given antibiotics and a walking stick and we were out of there in half an hour and all for £16!! Apparently he has an infection but we’re not sure what from – possibly mosquitos as they love Jonho’s ankles!

In the afternoon, Jonho stayed at the hotel resting up and Kerry went to a world heritage site called the Jantar Mantar. This is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments built in 1739 and has the world’s largest sundial. It was actually really confusing as all of the explanations were difficult to understand. Maybe you have to be into astronomy? But basically the instruments allow the observation of astronomical positions with the naked eye. And, the site itself looked really cool!! After this, Kerry went back with chocolate and snacks for Jonho (any excuse to buy herself some dairy milk and doritoes).

The next day Jonho still couldn’t walk so we got an uber to a 4* hotel, had lunch there and chilled out by the pool for the day which was so nice!

On our final day we had a lie in and then Kerry went to the Hawa Mahal palace which was really pretty! Jonho was feeling a bit better but still not 100%. Our visa runs out in 4 days so we needed to get moving to see the Taj Mahal and get to Varanasi for our bus out of India so we had to get on a bus later in the afternoon, to Agra..

We arrived at around 5.30am so went to bed straight away and woke up around mid-day. We had a little wander around the main market street which was full of tourists, had lunch and sorted out our laundry before heading to the Holy lake. Pushkar is a sacred Hindu site where there is 52 ghats around the lake where people bathe. When we got to the lake two men gave us both some flowers to throw into the lake. They followed us down the steps and took us both to opposite ends of one of the ghats. They started talking about good Karma and good luck and asked us to repeat after them. We both started doing this (on opposite ends of the ghat) and whatever we were repeating, we had no idea as they were speaking Hindu. They asked us both in English how many people are in our families (parents and siblings) and then after we had thrown flowers and rice into the water, had been given a bindi dot on our heads and repeated lots of things, they asked us for a donation which we both agreed to but then said to repeat after them again.. The man with Kerry told her to repeat and then Said ‘2000 rupee donation’, at which point Kerry said no that’s too much, lied and said she had no money and stood up to walk over to Jonho. When Kerry got to Jonho, he had apparently promised to give 3000 rupee and by this point had already given 500 and had 2 men stood over him demanding more. We both ran off from them and they were coming after shouting for us to pay. Looking back, it was pretty funny but Jonho is still annoyed about this. We went to a restaurant after and asked the waiter who told us that there is genuine priests around that do this, but they would explain and the donation amount is a gesture of your own choice. We got scammed. We went back to the guest house (Jonho continued to sulk about the scam) and we chilled out in the garden area on the hammock. We went out for food in the evening and then back to the room. Apparently there is no drinking or eating meat in most of the places here due to it being a holy city but we got scammed by a holy man – so what do you think?

The next day, we headed back to the lake at the same entrance as the day before hoping the same men would try and scam us again – but we didn’t see them. We walked around the lake, stopping off for lunch and drinks on the way and taking selfies with Indians. We actually got one photo which made us laugh so Kerry asked them to take it on her phone as well. It was a proper family photo, all sat on the stairs. We came back to the guest house afterwards for some more hammock time!

The next day, we took a cable cart up to the top of the hill where there was a temple and lots of monkeys around it. Up here you got a view of the city which was nice. We had a walk around for the rest of the day, stopping for lunch etc and in the evening met up with Will and Laura again for food and drinks. YES they sell beer, but serve it in a mug so they can’t get in trouble. We ended up out quite late and had quite a bit to drink!

On our final day we decided to go to a place with a swimming pool. So we paid £1 each and chilled out there for the day with Will and Laura before we had to get our bus to Jaipur…

On our first day we had a lie in and then went to a restaurant inside the Fort. We thought this was pretty cool that people still live and work inside the fort – over a quarter of the population actually live here. When we got to the restaurant we bumped into Will and Laura (from Jodhpur) so had food with them, had a walk around the fort and around the center to have a look around the shops for some clothes for the safari.  In the evening, we met back up with them for tea and drinks.

The next day we were up early for our two day desert camel safari. A jeep came to pick us up, along with another couple who were from the Maldives. First of all, we were taken through a couple of villages before we were dropped off with our guide and the camels. We were basically just told to get on the camel and we were off – no instructions of how and no help! (Typical India). We went trekking on the camels for around three hours before stopping off for lunch. The desert wasn’t really what we expected, it was more dirt/ shrub land rather than sand dunes for miles. There was also a huge wind farm which we could see – so we didn’t really feel very ‘lost in the middle of the desert’. After lunch, we carried on trekking through the desert and came across some sand dunes finally, which were really cool! We stopped off here for a bit before carrying on to our spot for the evening, some more sand dunes with more greenery around. The guide cooked us food, we had chai/tea/coffee around the camp fire and then we set up our beds. We were given a mattress and lots of blankets as it got a bit chilly at night. There were lots of stars out which looked pretty!

It was pretty cool waking up on the sand dunes in the desert… The guide had our breakfast ready and then we started our final part of the trek. We were on the camels for another three hours or so, before stopping off for lunch. We continued after lunch for another hour and then the jeep came to pick us up. We got back to Jaisalmer late afternoon, ready for our overnight bus to Pushkar…

Our first day in Jodhpur was Holi Festival. This festival is a celebration of the beginning of spring and they use colours in the form of powder and paint. Basically everyone wears white clothing which you buy for this or clothing they don’t mind getting ruined and as soon as we left the guesthouse where we were staying we had people come over wanting to make us as colorful as they could. Most people would gently rub some powder on our faces and say “happy Holi” but there were a few teenagers/kids who were throwing it at people and Kerry had water bombs thrown at her THREE times!! People were dancing In the streets, having water fights and everyone was very happy. The festival started in the morning and finished around 2pm as this is when they go to their families and celebrate with them. We went back to our guesthouse and met two couples, Will and Laura & Aidene and Kevin. We spent the rest of the day at the rooftop restaurant drinking with them.

The next day we went to the Fort which was interesting to see and then went for some lunch – veggie burgers. Jonho is not impressed by this at all and can’t wait to eat a beef burger. We had a wander around the markets before getting a tuktuk to the bus station for our bus to Jaisalmer…

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We arrived, checked In and went out for some food before exploring the city palace which overlooks the lake, it was very pretty. Afterwards, we had a little walk around but had quite a chill out day. We found a cafe by the lake and had an iced tea there (it’s getting really hot in India now – around 35 degrees). We were both tired after the bus so we had an early night.

The next day, we went to Bagore Ki Haveli which is a historic mansion and displayed the worlds largest turban (Jonho liked this). Jonho started to feel really unwell as the morning went on so had to go back to the room – Delhi belly had him bed bound for the day! Kerry went out for lunch and the two women who owned the cafe were really nice and wrote down things for her to get from the pharmacy for Jonho. In the evening Kerry went out for tea at a rooftop restaurant which was nice, but a bit lonely!

The next day, Jonho felt slightly better so we went to a temple where lots of Indians were singing and dancing (no photos allowed), then we went back to the cafe by the lake for another iced tea as it was really nice. For lunch, we went to the cafe that Kerry went to the day before. It’s only a small cafe and there were two other foreign girls who spoke English there. The two women who owned the cafe were asking Jonho how he was feeling and then started suggesting what drink will be good for his stomach and then what food will be best. It was so funny because they made it so obvious and the two girls were obviously listening and Jonho shouted out “well I’m glad the whole cafe now knows about my bowel problem”. Late afternoon, we had a bus to Jodhpur which was cancelled (typical India, nobody told us) so we had to wait two hours for the next one.

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On the way here, as expected from Indian buses now..  It broke down. So it took a little longer than expected to arrive. Once we checked in, we headed straight to McDonald’s as we were starving. It’s not the same in India though (no beef… no big macs… Lots of veggie burgers). We then followed an architectural walk from the Lonely Planet book we brought with us which we skipped through most of it as its not really our thing, but it included seeing; The Gateway of India, The Taj hotel, The clock tower, Marine drive and then we got tired so we stopped and watched some college teams playing cricket. Later in the evening we were tired so didn’t do much.

The next day we got the train to see ‘the great wall of Mumbai’ which was supposed to be a street art project on a wall where professionals had started doing some art and now everyone gets involved. We’re not sure we walked far enough up, but from what we saw it was very faded and flakey bits of paint were coming off the wall. So as you can imagine, we weren’t impressed by this. We got back on the train to see Dhobi Ghat which is the largest outdoor laundrette. Hundreds of workers handwashing thousands of pieces of clothing/towels ect. Apparently this is where all of the hotels send their washing. Afterwards we got back on the train to see the beachwhich was full of pigeons, stopped off at a cafe for a while and then walked up to the hanging gardens. We got the bus back and went out for a couple of beers in the evening which was strange as we got hustled into the back, into a room with no lights on where there were lots of locals drinking (as if it’s normal to sit in the dark).

The next day we went to Crawford market which was one big indoor market surrounded by streets of other market stalls. It was so crowded, so noisy and really smelly around here! We got an uber back to the area we were staying and went for a much needed tea/coffee break. In the evening we went out for food and then to a local bar which we had a couple of beers in the night before, but this time we went upstairs where there were some lights on and music, both Indian and English which was fun!

On our final day we took a boat to Elephanta Island to see some caves which were dedicated to the Hindu god, Shiva and are around 2000 years old. The first cave we went to was cool as it had huge carvings but the others were not as interesting. We spent a couple of hours walking around and there were lots of monkeys around here, which we’re still not bored of seeing! Later on, we had a bus to Udaipur…

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We stayed in an apartment close by to Mandrem Beach, which is up there with one of our favourite beaches! The town where all of the accommodation is, is on one side of the river and there is a bridge from there over to the beach -which was a bit different. We spent the whole day on Mandrem Beach sunbathing and in the evening found a Thai restaurant (we became regulars here).

The next day we cooked breakfast ourselves with the baked beans Jonho has been carrying in his bag since Madrid haha! We bought some Indian sun cream and then spent another day on Mandrem Beach. When we got back, we realised the sun cream had actually made us burn and had some whitening ingredient in it, as Kerry had to get two showers to get it off her legs! In the evening we went for some food and drinks again. The night life in Goa is pretty much non existent because it is the end of the season.

We had a lie in the next day before heading to Arambol beach. It’s only a ten minute walk down Mandrem beach. This beach was alot more crowded and wasn’t as nice. It was also pretty windy so we had lunch, sat under the umbrellas for a while (both pretty burnt from the Indian suncream). Later in the afternoon we found some comfy swings so chilled on them and got some beers.

Our final day in Goa… another day, another beach. We spent the day on Mandrem Beach- ready to move on from sunbathing and see more of India but we would both definetly come back to Goa for a holiday! Bus to Mumbai in the evening…

We are now heading up to the North of Goa so we had to take three local buses to get here. We booked to stay in a ‘tree house’ at Anjuna beach which sounds cooler than it was. The tree house was basically an open air room built on wooden planks with a mosquito net around and a curtain (which the wind kept blowing open). We had a mattress on the wooden plank and it was comfortable but we felt like we were going back to the camping life again and Jonho got bitten by bugs alot!

On the day we arrived, we just chilled out on the beach and in the evening went to a bar with live music on. The singer was awful, but it was quite funny. The beach wasn’t very nice here but we were told this before we arrived but heard it was good night life. The night life was actually just a few bars playing really loud techno music so it wasn’t really our thing!

The next day, we hired a scooter and drove to another couple of beaches. First we went to Vagator and Orzan which are basically the same beach (you just have to walk across some rocks). These beaches were smaller, a bit nicer than Anjuna beach and had quite a few more Indians here, maybe because it was weekend. They also had the techno music playing. We sunbathed, had lunch here and then drove to Baga beach. This beach was HUGE. It had lots of bars/restaurants and hotels built up around it and was really busy with tourists and Indians on holiday. It was very different to the rest of the beaches in Goa. In the evening, we went to the Saturday night market which was good. There were tons of stalls full of the usual stuff they sell (sarongs, clothes, spices, ornaments, ect..) and they had street food stalls and a bar. There was live music on here, but again, we don’t think they will be making it onto the x

Xfactor anytime soon. We headed back to the beach and went to a couple of beach bars which were pretty busy.

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