Incredible India

Mark and I recently came back from 8 amazing days in India. Can't really decide where to begin because it was such an experience. We saw some stunning palaces, temples and forts. Cliched as it may sound, the Taj Mahal was jaw-droppingly beautiful.
Nothing prepares you for the first sight of it.

And all the more poignant because a) it was built by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his favourite wife who died in childbirth and b) his son later shut him up for some 15 years in Agra fort where he eventually died, and from which he could see views of Taj Mahal from the tower where was imprisoned.

We got up at sunrise on our 2nd day in Agra, there were only about 6 people around the Taj Mahal and I was just sitting quietly and taking in the atmosphere when I heard a very familiar voice ring out - 'Bloody hell, it's a bloody eclipse'.
Needless to say M got some great pics which you will no doubt see posted on this blog at some stage. Mark has already told me off for loading pictures up here out of sequence so you will have to wait for him to get around to it.

So, some wonderful sights and beautiful places but it just leaves one wondering what needs to happen for India to sort out its infrastructure, and to get a handle on the poverty and disease. It was common place to see children younger than Archie wandering in and out of traffic - even in Delhi, selling magazines. On our car journey from Agra to Jaipur we saw buildings with the sides and roofs ripped off, wires hanging out and half demolished to make way for a bypass that was half finished, with people still living in them. I don't think they had actually decided on the route for the bypass even though it was half built; most of the drivers didn't know where to go so they just steered around the bulldozers and we hoped we wouldn't fall into any trenches. the young women are so beautiful and they dazzle in their wonderful clothes, it's unbelievable how, even in the villages in the countryside, they manage to look so clean and pristine, even when they are carrying children or piles of branches on their heads. The men certainly don't. Most of them were very dishevelled, and not for the work - mostly they were sitting around chatting to their mates or flat out for the count!

My favourite place was Udaipur; perhaps not as much to see as in Jaipur, but it was much less frenetic, and we were less hassled by beggars everywhere we went. We took a boat across to the Lake Palace Hotel for dinner - it should have been very romantic, moonlight over the lake, Mark and I in a little speedboat being whisked back to the Oberoi Udaivillas after a wonderful meal, just the lights of the palaces lit up - and I realise I have left my mobile phone in the bar so back we go and the mood is lost..

On our last night we were introduced to a man named Dr Dadi who is a guru to one of my work mates. Turns out that he is responsible for the best known brand of bottled water in India, called Dadi - and he invited us to stay in the hotel where he lives - I think he has the whole floor. It was certainly a massive improvement on the very nasty Uppals Orchid airport hotel and we were very pleased to have made his acquaintance as we sipped cocktails on our last day by the pool..