Taj Very Much Like

Greetings,

Hopefully you are all fit and well and are looking after yourselves. I am just champion thank you very much - and enjoying India immensely.

When last we spoke I had just arrived in Jaipur. Jaipur, which is also known as The Pink City due to the buildings in the old part of the city, (although they looked more terracotta to me, but it doesn't have the same ring I guess!) was a quality place, loads to see there. First I rode an elephent to the Amber Fort which sounds kind of exciting, but the whole experience was not exciting at all and to be honest fairly nauseating! Still, the Amber Fort itself was very beautiful. Also, we visited a very famous site which is basically the facade of a building called Hawa Mahal. Although it was covered in bamboo scaffolding when we were there still it was good to see. Finally, we went to the observatory. This was absolutely fascinating. The largest sun dial in the world resides here and is accurate to 20 seconds! Pretty cool stuff!

Leaving Jaipur we travelled to Agra for what will probably be the highlight of this trip, and most probably my life: The Taj Mahal.

Seeing it for the first time was one of those moments in life that makes it so worth living. I felt goosebumps and the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight on end. The building itself was just to beautiful and perfect in every way that you almost felt reluctant to go up close to it in case its beauty was diminished. This was not the case. It is every bit as incredible up close as it is from a distance. An absolutely awesome building that now tops my list as the most amazing building I have ever seen.

From Agra we travelled to Orchha. This was a funky little place. Here there was a magnificent old fort that was quite run down (as if it had not been restored since it was built in the 17th Century) but it had a real character and was great for just exploring. While we were in Orchha there was a large Hindi festival going on and there were hundreds of pilgrims that had come to Orchha from the surrounding areas to observe this festival. We had a wander round the square next to the temple where all these people were. We got some stares from the locals I tells ya!

Now we are currently in Khajuraho having just arrived here earlier today. Take care of yourselves and I will update and speak to you soon.

PS. To those that have emailed, I will be getting back to you, but my Hotmail is playing up at the moment (for a change!).