New year Agra and colourful Rajastan

We arrived after dark in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. The hotel that we had booked, so it said in the lonely planet, has the best rooftop-views of the Taj Mahal. Very excited we logged our backpacks to our room and rushed to the roof to see one of the 7 world wonders. But unfortunately it wasn't lit up, we only saw a vague silhouette. The biggest surprise was in the morning.

What an amazingly beautiful building it is.. As with any landmarks you've seen hundreds of pictures of it, but here it is, right in front of you!

The next morning we woke up very early (with a slight hangover thanks to a bunch of Irish lads) and we entered the gates of the Taj Mahal at 7 am, when it was still quiet. It was surrounded by mist, magical. The building changed from white to pink as the sun came up. Walking around you get mezmorised by all the amazing detail of the inlay of the (semi-) precious stones. And not just a little patch but the whole Taj is covered in them.

We walked around for 2 hours and left just as the touristbusses arrived and the Taj was swamped.

That night was new-years eve. Our hotel staff had been prepairing the party the whole day; putting tinsel up, a disco light, lovely indian buffet, etc.

We had a very international party. Dutch, Enlish, Irish, German, Australian, Canadian, Lebonese, Romanian and ofcourse Indian. It was lots of fun. Unfortunately the only cd they had was the Venga Boys so we were rocking out on "I'm a barbie girl" the whole night.
So we were at the Taj Mahal, full moon AND Lunar eclipse for our new year!

Our train was supposed to leave new-years night at 4.45 in the morning so we partied untill 3, packed our bags and took a riksha to the station. Only to find out our train was delayed. and even more delayed, and more... There we were, tired, tipsy, thirsty.. Our train ended up leaving at 9.30 in the morning. We were glad to be able to sleep in the train.

From Kota to Bundi we had to take an other riksha for about an hour. Driver was a nutter, riksha broke down, had to get in another one, then he hit a bump at full speed and I hit my head quite severe on the roof, big bump and bruise..

But what a nice town Bundi (Rajastan) is. It is a bit off the main tourist track so not as busy. The colours are amazing. Our very expensive hotel (800 rupies = 14 euro's) has an amazing view of a beautiful palace and all the blue rooftops of the town.

The palace is quite fallen-down but it has amazing views and wall-paintings (see pictures). All the painting-rooms are also filled with small mirrors and gold-leaf.


The town itself is lovely. It is a walled town and a shopping walhalla for me. I will have to buy a new suitecase for all my purchases. And all so cheap, camel leather shoes for 3 euro's, shawls for 2 euro's etc... LOVELY..!

So we've almost done 3/4 of our trip. All we have to look forward to is the rest of Rajastan which is picture-postcard India.

I must say we're both very tired, India is an intense country to travel with all its people, traffic, cows, and new impressions every day (still after 3 months..)
The continuous stream of "Come see my shop, what's your good name?" There is ALWAYS something happening.
But we're still loving every minute of it. Europe will seem so boring when we come back..



Happy new year from Incredible India,
Duncan and Ellen