Kieran:
We left Jaipur early the next day, as we had two stops to make on the way to Agra. The first was Bharatpur, where we wandered and rode (by cycle-rickshaw) round the wildlife park for a couple of hours. We were lucky to see a variety of animals and birds including; antelope, white-faced monkeys, mud-shell turtles, herons, kingfishers, spotted owlets, a night jar and swarms of colourful butterflies to name a few. Shortly after leaving Bharatpur we arrived in Fatepur Sikri. This is an old mogul ghost town with yet another fort. There was loads of interesting information about this place but I won't rattle on about it now.
We left Jaipur early the next day, as we had two stops to make on the way to Agra. The first was Bharatpur, where we wandered and rode (by cycle-rickshaw) round the wildlife park for a couple of hours. We were lucky to see a variety of animals and birds including; antelope, white-faced monkeys, mud-shell turtles, herons, kingfishers, spotted owlets, a night jar and swarms of colourful butterflies to name a few. Shortly after leaving Bharatpur we arrived in Fatepur Sikri. This is an old mogul ghost town with yet another fort. There was loads of interesting information about this place but I won't rattle on about it now.
The place was heaving with scamsters and numerous people trying to sell us chess sets, which was a new one! Supposedly the fort in Agra is symmetrical to this one, so we wont be going there! We were hounded into a Muslim sacred temple, carved out of white marble, in which we had to wear funny plastic caps to cover our heads. I couldn't believe that there were yet more scamsters in the temple itself! We ended up in Agra in the evening and got an early night as we had a very early morning start, a small price to pay to get to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise.
Nick:
I am in Agra now, we visited the Taj Mahal at 5.30 this morning in misty weather, shortly before the sky began to pour with rain! No sunrise sadly, so the marble adopted a sort of grey colour. It was impressive, but no more so than I imagined it would be, very bare and small on the inside! Agra is painted very blue, some amazing looking hardware stores full to the brim with junk and black dirt! Quite a dark city though, not seen much charm yet.
Bharatpur bird sanctuary was a good stop yesterday. The guide pointed out a pair of small owls, and a Scop's-eared owl, small green bee-eater, some gold back (I think) wood peckers, storks, a stilt, jungle babblers, a very rare supposedly grey night jar, lizards, turtles and antelope.
After that we stopped by Fatipur Sikri, which is a ghost fort outside of Agra, abandoned due to short water supply hundreds of years ago. Sounds cool, but it was much like all the other Mughal architecture we've seen, and that's a lot! Also full of beggars, and people pushing sales, our guide was also particularly boring/pointless, not to mention the pouring rain...
We're looking forward to hitting Goa! Our driver says not to book a hotel in advance, as it's off season, we'll be able to get really reduced prices by showing up in person. So we've got a list of places in the Anjuna area to try out. We'll likely do the same in Kochin.
Train journey is at 5.50, on the Goa express, we'll stock up on snacks shortly! Starting to feel the effects of all the Indian diet by now, got all my meds on hand just in case... I've charged my phone so I should be contactable on the train, but you never can tell. Train should arrive on the morning of the 12th.
Hope you guys are still good, mbuhs for all! If you want to edit down my e-mails into travel blogs for family do feel free.
As for the shops that we go to, sometimes they're big establishments, like the painting school in Udaipur or the Tailors in Jaipur, but other places are essentially peoples homes and friends of the driver, such as the rug place and a silver smiths we got ushered in to. We're getting a lot of insight, but only because people think there's prospect of a sale! Interesting conversations generally only spring up where a tip might be expected, though I also think that people's English is sometimes limited to what they need to make a living and not much more.
Nick:
I am in Agra now, we visited the Taj Mahal at 5.30 this morning in misty weather, shortly before the sky began to pour with rain! No sunrise sadly, so the marble adopted a sort of grey colour. It was impressive, but no more so than I imagined it would be, very bare and small on the inside! Agra is painted very blue, some amazing looking hardware stores full to the brim with junk and black dirt! Quite a dark city though, not seen much charm yet.
Bharatpur bird sanctuary was a good stop yesterday. The guide pointed out a pair of small owls, and a Scop's-eared owl, small green bee-eater, some gold back (I think) wood peckers, storks, a stilt, jungle babblers, a very rare supposedly grey night jar, lizards, turtles and antelope.
After that we stopped by Fatipur Sikri, which is a ghost fort outside of Agra, abandoned due to short water supply hundreds of years ago. Sounds cool, but it was much like all the other Mughal architecture we've seen, and that's a lot! Also full of beggars, and people pushing sales, our guide was also particularly boring/pointless, not to mention the pouring rain...
We're looking forward to hitting Goa! Our driver says not to book a hotel in advance, as it's off season, we'll be able to get really reduced prices by showing up in person. So we've got a list of places in the Anjuna area to try out. We'll likely do the same in Kochin.
Train journey is at 5.50, on the Goa express, we'll stock up on snacks shortly! Starting to feel the effects of all the Indian diet by now, got all my meds on hand just in case... I've charged my phone so I should be contactable on the train, but you never can tell. Train should arrive on the morning of the 12th.
Hope you guys are still good, mbuhs for all! If you want to edit down my e-mails into travel blogs for family do feel free.
As for the shops that we go to, sometimes they're big establishments, like the painting school in Udaipur or the Tailors in Jaipur, but other places are essentially peoples homes and friends of the driver, such as the rug place and a silver smiths we got ushered in to. We're getting a lot of insight, but only because people think there's prospect of a sale! Interesting conversations generally only spring up where a tip might be expected, though I also think that people's English is sometimes limited to what they need to make a living and not much more.
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