Continued

We got our flights bumped up roughly a day and a half. We fly out at 7,45am tomorrow morning, leave for the airport at 3.30am tonight.

Day 19
After much talk the group (including suggestions of "cut the time at the Taj short") the group decided to give up the red fort to get to the next town in time for bird watching.

We went to the Taj - it was very impressive. Included in teh ticket price is a bottle of water and some little boot covers, which you put over your shoes when you go into the Taj. The result is a very clean, white floor! We also discovered that India has chipmunks! Awesome. I took lots of photos of course.

After the Taj we went back to the hotel and everyone grabbed their bags. The group plan was to take the public bus for the 5 hour drive. Steve and Christie told me on the ride to the Taj (Vince was in a different car than us) that they were going to rent a car (and driver) and bypass the next stop, going straight to Jaipur, so as to not lose shopping time. Vince and I decided to join them.

It was great. It cost us 4000r - so 1000 per person (about 30AUD). We had a nice-size car which fit all our bags, and four people with room to spare. We hired one of the drivers who took us from Kanpur to Agra the night before, and after coming back from the Taj gave him an hour to get ready (he had to help drop off the others to the bus station) and we had some lunch. Into the car at about 2.30 and we were away. It was great to get away from the group, India seemed more fun alone. There was a traffic accident on the road out of Agra, and we had to detour a little. Not long after we saw the bus with the rest of the group on it. The poor buggers had been on the raod for an hour and a half and gotten as far as we had in thirty minutes. None of us felt too sorry for them though.

We got to Jaipur in five hours - the planned time was 5 hours to the next town, then 2 hours to Jaipur, which the group did the next day after visiting a school and looking at the village. According to Lonely Planet the town they stopped in was once a quaint little place but had "lost its charm" so we weren't too dissapointed to miss out.

We got to Jaipur, checked into a hotel (the first one wasn't great, then next two were booked out, and so we settled on the third). The four of us went for tea tat nice at the place next door to the hotel. The server became very excited as he thought Steve was Shane Warne. Steve said he wasn't, but of course we called him Shane or Warnie for the rest of the night. The waiter made sure we didn't have to wait for anything, drink refils coming straight away, free desert and an offer of free coffee. When it came time to pay we could hear the waiter talking upstairs about Shane Warne, but, alas, Steve paid with his credit card and the poor guys hopes were destroyed. It was a some-what dejected good bye after that.

Day 20
We went shopping today mostly as a group. Christie bought a lot, but I don't think Vince and I bought anything. We were both pretty dissapointed with the shopping in Jaipur. It's known for shopping, but gems and clothes, neither of which we were keen on. n the drive there we stopped at a Truck-Stop type thing for the driver to have a tea and saw this great souviner shop. Everything we wanted was there, but we didn't buy anything because we were waiting for Jaipur. Oh well.

We moved to the same hotel as the group (the one Geekos was paying for) and went to tea, I can't remember where, but it was with the group. On the way there we stopped off at a temple-thing (there are so many here!) and Sandy asked Vince and I to give him money for the tipping kitty - 300r each for the rest of the tour (all 3 days) and 190 each that we owed from the tips he'd already given out. Vince wasn't happy about it. At the start of the tour he mentioned a tippy kitty and told us (the group) that we could do that or we could tip on our own. Vince and I spoke about it and wanted to tip on our own, and since no more about the tippy kitty had come up that was what we'd been doing. So now, on top of the tips we'd been giving, we had to back tip. We paid.

The place we went for for tea was very nice, but very expensive. They had a nice stage show, with a lady dancing with pots on her head. The night before, when we had tea with Warnie, there was this funny little boy dressed in red who was dancing for tips. It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. I wish I'd taped it, I'll find one of You Tube.

There is a Kite gestival on Jan 14, and from the rooftops in the evening there were kites being flown everywhere. One of them crashed into our roof and I had a go at flying it, but didn't do a very good job of it! Vince tried to show me how it's done, and as he was half-jogging looking back at the kite he came to a ledge on the roof - the drop was only a foot or so, but he thought he was going over. It was funny.

Day 21
We went to my fort today, although it's pronounced "Amer Fort". It was pretty good, Vince was very impressed by it (as he should be). After we went to a block printing thing - which was really just another silk-weaving expereince, where they show us how to do it for 5 minutes, then do a 30 minute sales-pitch, followed by an hour of shopping time (at that one store only). Vince went across the street and found some leather bound books that we saw at the truck stop but hadn't seen anywhere in Jaipur yet, sothat was good. There was an optional trip to the city palace and the observatory after lunch, but Vince wanted to buy a tee-shirt for his nephew of the local Rajistan cricket team. We planned to go to the cricket ground to get the shirt, stop by the gold course to pick up a couple things for dad and luke, and then do the Palace and Observatory on our own later. Steve and Christie had similar plans so we went out together.

What a fiasco. None of the tuk-tuk drivers could figure out what we wanted. We were after a driver for the afternoon to take us to the cricket stadium, the golf club and then the Palace. Eventually we decided it was easier to walk. Following the lonely planet map we heading to the stadium, finally seeing a sign that said it was "only" two Ks away. We hailed a tuk tuk to take us to the stadium. He nodded OK and off we went. There is a funny cultural practice in India, where people don't like to dissapoint you. So even if they have no idea what you are talking about they nod "OK" and take you anyway. It took a while and our driver had to stop for directions a few times. Eventually we got to where we could see teh stadium. After getting out and having a look we were on teh wrong side and Vince and I elected to walk around while Steve and Christie took the tuk-tuk to the Palace where we'd meet after.

We walked all the way around to the entrance (a good 15 minute walk in the heat) and were greeted at the stadium gate by armed gaurds. Locals were going in no problem - on foot, by car, by bike, but we weren't allowed in. They didn't speak much English. We could see the stadium office about 500 metres away but they wouldn't let us in, and we weren't going to argue too much with the men with guns. To the golf club, we got in ok, but they were out of shirts, so a tuktuk to the Palace.

The City Palace was interesting, and an audio tour was included in the entrance fee. Much better than a guide who starts talking about things if the full group is there or not (as happened at the Taj). Thanks to the cricket quest it was late by the time we were done and we missed out on the Observatory, which is a shame I was looking forward to that.

We went to Niros for tea that night, instead of the group thing, with Steve and Christie (it was their last night in India). The meal was great. They have a thing after meals where they give you some aniseed and sugger cubes (small ones) which you eat to stop bloating. It works.

Day 22
I think I lost a couple days somewhere.... I'll have to look back and re-check when I get home.

We went to Delhi today on the bus. The ride was pretty good, Vince didn't get travel-sick which was great. I finished reading teh Alchemist and bought White Tiger (which I finished yesterday). We got into Delhi and checked into our hotel (Hotel Perfect). Vince and I had room service for lunch and went to meet for the planned "Orientation" at 2.30pm in the foyer. At 3pm Sandy came down and said that because of a festival one of the places we were planning on going to was not safe so we weren't going there, and the group would meet at 3.30pm instead. We went back to our room and Vince fell asleep so I went alone at 3.30pm.

The orientation turned out to be a shopping trip. We went to a big shopping area, saw some bazars and another street full of shops. I'll get the names later. It sucked a bit. As you can see Vince and I haven't been very social with the rest of the group, apart from Steve and Christie who were avoiding arranged activities, and so I was pretty much alone. I didn't want to be shopping by myself (I didn't want to be shopping at all actually, and hadn't bought any money) and it was very awkward having to hang around these people who have already bonded with each other. It didn't help that I didn't know their names except for a couple.

After the trip we met for tea in the foyer at 7.15pm. Steve and Christie came down at around that time by chance as they were on their way to the airport. We said goodbye and Vince and I went out for the group meal. We finished, paid early, and left the erst of the group to it. It was the groups last night together, a very different expereince for me compared to the last night in Nepal.

Day 23 (Last day of tour)
We ordered breakfast (what a drama that was) and I was about to get in the shower when the room phone rang. Sandy wanted the evaluation forms (which we were given last night but hadn't had a chance to fill in). Vince said we were eating breakfast and would be down soon. It's funny that he could figure out how to use the hotel phone system when we was chasing his tip money, but not to tell us that the tour time hd changed at any point in the tour before.

Vince and I decided not to tip Sandy. Vince and I went to the Internet cafe to start to see aout getting an earlier flight out of Delhi, then we went to organise a new hotel room (as the hotel we were at was booked out). We moved into a very nice one around the corner with a proper double bed! Not two singles pushed together! Amazing. On the way to collect our stuff from the other hotel we bumped into Sandy. When Vince went down to give him the forms I was still in the room, and wasn't sure what he said re the tip. Sandy looked at us and said "You forgot about my tip" (but in a nice sounding way). Vince said "No, I didn't" "Oh, well that's ok". I don't know how I feel about that really. True, he was drunk every night, and the last to arrive in the morning a couple times, and he didn't keep us informed on anything, and generally didn't do anything for us, but I still felt a bit bad. It wasn't an easy trip for him, what with the train mix-up etc, and maybe we were just spoiled by having such a good tour leader in Nepal (Vince and I tipped Raju USD50 each, more than twice the recommended amount).

That arvo we went to the shopping place I was taken to the day before and had a good time of the train station. I am proud to say that I managed to get us there, by the train, and back without any major drama.

Another night in Delhi. The place we had tea at was pretty good.

Day 24 (today!)
Woke up and went shopping pretty much. I managed to get everything on my list (hurrah!) let's just hope I get it past customs ok.

Blah, blah, here now. We fly out tomorrow, as I said, and have a night in Singapore. We leave Singapore the next day at midnight, giving us about 1 1/2 days tehre, which is good. Then home! 2 nights in Adelaide and then Woomera and the ferrets/cat/dog/everyone else ;)