Well seeing as I'm a little bit jet lagged and for some reason up at 6:30am, what better time to catch up on the last bits of the blog. India needs to be conquered today although I have to say it feels VERY strange to be sitting here in my dressig gown, sipping a cup of Tetley (with real milk) having just spent my first night alone in 6 months *sigh*.
Anyway, enough of the now and more of the what we've been up to in the last couple of weeks.
SO, India. Where to start? The country that we were warned repeatedly is the "country of contradictions" a statemenmt that we definitely found to be more than true for the whole time that we spent there. Most noticeably because of the huge divide between the rich and the poor and how closely the two groups sit next to each other. I think we probably managed to epitomise this quite nicely as it was my birthday on our last weekend in Delhi... which meant a little bit more flashpacking Marriott style again! How I love the Marriott points soooo much. Hillarious that one night we're staying for £3 a night and the next we're at a PLUSH hotel!
It gave the perfect opportunity for some last minute hardcore tanning time. India is a slight problem for tanning because obviously girlies have to be covered up all the time. It makes you pale and it makes you SWEAT. Quite how we managed to go look at all those temples in 45 degree heat with trousers on I have no idea, when sat by the pool wearing next to nothing I had a compulsive 5 minutes out 30 minutes in the pool rule. The heat in India is probably something to avoid - we were repeatedly told that the best time to go would be during the winter. However, we managed to brave it and see anything anyway... it wasn't THAT bad! I'm not really rocking the extreme tan that I was hoping for, but thanks to the last few days I definitely look like I've seen the sun a little bit!!
The birthday was a BIG event again! Hannah excelled herself. I wasn't expecting a thing... we are literally attatched at the hip at all times so I didn't think that she would have any chance at getting away with anything without me knowing. How wrong I was... I don't really think I should trust that girl anymore - she had been sneaking around behind my back for weeks! Anyway I had a lovely balloon and banner filled day of suprises... suprise breakfast, suprise cake, suprise present, suprise card (romantic rather than birthday, standard) and we jetted off for flashpacker luxury and a ravey night out all for free... we even managed to wangle a body guard ha!
Anyway enough of the birthday fun.... we have done A LOT of stuff in India. Obviously, the biggy that everyone does in the Taj Mahal. Very impressive sight it has to be said, and we've seen a fair few million temples. Hannah and I cracked out the usual photo shoot and even some hardcore video footage. A particular favourite feature was the famed 'Diana seat' which we had a go on... sat on, lay on, etc.
Whilst the Taj is cool to have done, it was definitely a bit of a case of checking it off the list... its VERY touristy. The only way you can get a photo without millions of people all wearing matching tshirts as part of their 'tour' is to get there for bang on sunrise at 5. We actually managed it this time, (the benefit of it being quite challenging to find a drink in India) and we were very pleased that we did. By the time that we left at about 7ish the place was heaving.
Agra definitely gives you one of those contradictory experiences when you compare the beauty of the Taj to the town that surrounds it. Agra is such a tiny place to house a worldwide monument the scale of the Taj. The surrounding area is just a series of tiny little back alley streets, several of which you can't even get a car down and can only just about manage a rickashaw. Its VERY run down which suprised me for such a tourist hotspot. I was expecting it to be among the more wealthy areas that we would visit which was completely wrong! If anything the town as a whole was probably among the poorest - that and Varanasi. Delhi has its patches, as does every city, but obviously as the capital it also has a massive business hub and wealthy district which did not seem to appear in Agra or Varanasi.
If you want more of a spiritual experience whilst in India Varanasi is the place to go. It's a little town just on the Ganges, famed for being the location that the bodies of holy men and children are cremated and their ashes scattered in the river. We went on a boat ride at sunset and sunrise to see the ceremonies take place and it was fascinating. We stayed with a lovely family run guest house who took us out on their boat to join the millions of people that travel there everyday to witness the event. It was truely spectacular. I had seen snippets on the TV but I really didn't realise quite how many people would be there!!
Throughout the ceremony people send flowers with candles in the middle of them into the water for good luck. Hannah and I did this which was a lovely thing to do at the end of the trip, ready for the journey back to England.
Anyway, enough of the now and more of the what we've been up to in the last couple of weeks.
SO, India. Where to start? The country that we were warned repeatedly is the "country of contradictions" a statemenmt that we definitely found to be more than true for the whole time that we spent there. Most noticeably because of the huge divide between the rich and the poor and how closely the two groups sit next to each other. I think we probably managed to epitomise this quite nicely as it was my birthday on our last weekend in Delhi... which meant a little bit more flashpacking Marriott style again! How I love the Marriott points soooo much. Hillarious that one night we're staying for £3 a night and the next we're at a PLUSH hotel!
It gave the perfect opportunity for some last minute hardcore tanning time. India is a slight problem for tanning because obviously girlies have to be covered up all the time. It makes you pale and it makes you SWEAT. Quite how we managed to go look at all those temples in 45 degree heat with trousers on I have no idea, when sat by the pool wearing next to nothing I had a compulsive 5 minutes out 30 minutes in the pool rule. The heat in India is probably something to avoid - we were repeatedly told that the best time to go would be during the winter. However, we managed to brave it and see anything anyway... it wasn't THAT bad! I'm not really rocking the extreme tan that I was hoping for, but thanks to the last few days I definitely look like I've seen the sun a little bit!!
The birthday was a BIG event again! Hannah excelled herself. I wasn't expecting a thing... we are literally attatched at the hip at all times so I didn't think that she would have any chance at getting away with anything without me knowing. How wrong I was... I don't really think I should trust that girl anymore - she had been sneaking around behind my back for weeks! Anyway I had a lovely balloon and banner filled day of suprises... suprise breakfast, suprise cake, suprise present, suprise card (romantic rather than birthday, standard) and we jetted off for flashpacker luxury and a ravey night out all for free... we even managed to wangle a body guard ha!
Anyway enough of the birthday fun.... we have done A LOT of stuff in India. Obviously, the biggy that everyone does in the Taj Mahal. Very impressive sight it has to be said, and we've seen a fair few million temples. Hannah and I cracked out the usual photo shoot and even some hardcore video footage. A particular favourite feature was the famed 'Diana seat' which we had a go on... sat on, lay on, etc.
Whilst the Taj is cool to have done, it was definitely a bit of a case of checking it off the list... its VERY touristy. The only way you can get a photo without millions of people all wearing matching tshirts as part of their 'tour' is to get there for bang on sunrise at 5. We actually managed it this time, (the benefit of it being quite challenging to find a drink in India) and we were very pleased that we did. By the time that we left at about 7ish the place was heaving.
Agra definitely gives you one of those contradictory experiences when you compare the beauty of the Taj to the town that surrounds it. Agra is such a tiny place to house a worldwide monument the scale of the Taj. The surrounding area is just a series of tiny little back alley streets, several of which you can't even get a car down and can only just about manage a rickashaw. Its VERY run down which suprised me for such a tourist hotspot. I was expecting it to be among the more wealthy areas that we would visit which was completely wrong! If anything the town as a whole was probably among the poorest - that and Varanasi. Delhi has its patches, as does every city, but obviously as the capital it also has a massive business hub and wealthy district which did not seem to appear in Agra or Varanasi.
If you want more of a spiritual experience whilst in India Varanasi is the place to go. It's a little town just on the Ganges, famed for being the location that the bodies of holy men and children are cremated and their ashes scattered in the river. We went on a boat ride at sunset and sunrise to see the ceremonies take place and it was fascinating. We stayed with a lovely family run guest house who took us out on their boat to join the millions of people that travel there everyday to witness the event. It was truely spectacular. I had seen snippets on the TV but I really didn't realise quite how many people would be there!!
Throughout the ceremony people send flowers with candles in the middle of them into the water for good luck. Hannah and I did this which was a lovely thing to do at the end of the trip, ready for the journey back to England.
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