We arrived in Jodhpur and 6am, after we had a very bumpy bus ride in a double sleeper facility so we found a hotel and got a few more hours sleep. After waking around midday we went to visit the Mehrangarh Fort, huge, beautiful, amazing view over the old blue city and we had a free audio tour guide, uncharacteristically. We walked around the clock tower and market areas selling fabrics and incense after. We had dinner at our guest house in the restaurant which we were waited by and cooked for by the same receptionist who checked us in earlier. We Checked out early the next morning and caught a bus to Jaipur. Along the journey we saw various crashed vehicles by the side of the road which wasn't comforting. We didn't arrive until 7pm and persisted to find a guesthouse on foot at the Rick-shaw drivers here are renowned to adding a lot of commission to a room rate and found a nice one run by a family who told us lots of times 'Rickshaw drivers are cheats, never use them and you will be happy', so we didn't. We ended up eating pizza for dinner, it was good. We went out to do the walking tour of the old city and temples the next morning written in the Lonely Planet guide book, this was very unsuccessful and we just kept getting lost, we saw lots of litter and animals eating litter, it was very hectic and I think the tour was bad and the instructions were badly written. We wanted to go to the cinema and watch a Bollywood film but they didn't have English sub-titles. so we didn't Later that day we spent some time trying to stream the Brighton match which ended at a 3-0 loss (Sorry Josh, out of the FA Cup). The next morning we caught a bus to Agra and arrived at 4pm. After everything we heard about Agra we expected a terrible place but we were pleasantly surprised. Again the problem with the commission for Rickshaw drivers we spent ages for time searching on foot. We found a nice place with a courtyard, lots of monkeys around and a good price. We headed straight for a roof top place to get our first view of the Taj Mahal, we spotted lots of playful monkeys and saw the top of the palace, we also enjoyed our first beer in two weeks. We left our room early the next day, left our bags in storage and went straight to the palace. Wow its amazing in the flesh. We had to pay 750 rupees (12.50) and Indians pay just 20 rupees (40p) which is very unfair but we did get a free water. You wouldn't believe how amazing and bright the white marble is and the gardens there are also delightful. We spent a few hours taking photographs and walking around all the temples and Museums also. Next we walked about 3km to the Agra Fort, what a beautiful fort too. Small courtyards, view points, walled garden ares and a few monkeys a great place to see. We had to catch our train about 8pm to Varanasi where we met two Japanese guys also in our carriage, lots of stares for men so Josh let me have top bunk and he had middle (what a gentleman). Loooooong train, we arrived about 6am and then had to get a three hour bus which we met an American couple. So happy when we finally arrived, we walked about 5km until we didn't know where we were, it was so hot with our bags also, we got a cyclo which took us about 5km for 50 rupees and it must have been such hard work with all our bags we gave him 100. We then had to get a Rickshaw to the Ghats to find a room, everywhere was really expensive and we wanted a nice room for my 21st birthday the next day. We didn't end up getting anything too nice, for 450 rupees Ganges river view and hot shower. We napped and went for a walk around Varanasi, a very calm place with lots of yoga, meditation classes etc. We found a cheap restaurant to watch cricket world cup and eat noodles, I really wanted a beer but nowhere sold any (Varanasi the holiest place apart from Bodhgaya in India) so we had to go to a really posh hotel which sold them 200rupees each! (3pounds), but it was my birthday the next day. My birthday we woke and Josh gave me a few small things (candy phone, pashmeana, cashew cookies) and went went for breakfast at a little cafe called Aum. I had a lovely whole salad and Chai and Josh had a Burrito thing. We took a boat ride for 2 hours down the Ganges to see all the ghat and burning ghats (most people who die in India get brought here to be burnt by all their male family and ashes put into the Ganges with jewellery, which also has 140aprox open sewers running into it, and people consider this water a holy and sip and bathe in it everyday...crazy). We saw one person being burnt and many other bodies in line, it was very interesting. After we visited a Nepalese Temple which lots of images of Karma Sutra. We visited the Fort and Museum during the afternoon, this wasn't as nice as the other forts we have visited, wasn't very well maintained. Mid afternoon we had carrot cake and chai! That evening we went to The Brown Bread Bakery which is a non-profit Tibetan Restaurant (profits go to a local charity for homeless children) and met some people there who had just been in Nepal, the restaurant had a live Indian band which was nice too. We had a nice evening there and ended up having a couple expensive 'Government' beers in our hotel room. The next day we booked our train for Bodhgaya, we got some new booked and relaxed in a cafe checking up on e-mails etc. After a light breakfast we had to rush to catch our train, once we had arrived we realised our train tickets were for the next day,. It was really annoying and not worth going back into Varanasi so we had to wait around for 6 hours until the next one. We found a grotty restaurant to kill a few hours. After our train was delayed another hour and because it started to really rain our train was very slow. We met a really nice Irish guy who is volunteering for a year in Calcutta to work with the homeless (brave), we also met an Indian guy who teaches and doesn't get home until midnight everyday and leave his home at 6am. The Irish guy told us there is a lot of trouble in Darjeeling at the moment which is our next stop. We arrived at midnight and met two Russian girls who we shared a Rickshaw from Gaya to Bodhgaya and all found a cheap room together to sleep in. We found a new cheaper room in the morning in a little village area the next morning and found a lovely Tibetan cafe run by refuges. We visited the temple and tree that the Buddha became enlightened. Lots of monks and Buddhists here, meditation gardens and small gardens just to read which we did for a while, it was very nice. We tried Momos that evening - little vegetable dumplings. Bodhgaya is a very nice town in India, less traffic and litter but lots of disabled beggars which is sad. The next day we went to visit a rural village, it was great, animals everywhere. There was lots of lush food growing everywhere it didn't feel like India at all, more like China countryside. After we visited some Mountain Caves which had little shrines inside and monks meditating. This mountain was quite a climb and a few begging children too, we found a spot at sat looking over the countryside and in the distance Bodhgaya, bliss. We walked around the refugees markets (witnessed a Monk buying a BB gun) during the afternoon and ate dinner at the lovely Tibetan Cafe. Today we had to go into Gaya to sort out some money. During the day it is chaos! cars everywhere beeping, hot, everybody stares at you more than ever! we saw a poor puppy that got its paw run over by a bike and will probably be a broken paw forever in India :( After this we visited the Thai Monastery which was a beautiful building and the Archeological Museum. Now here we are 6.21pm 28th February about to make our photos into discs and looking forward to tomorrow leaving for Darjeeling!
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