Mumbai

So we were dumped in the suburbs of Mumbai off the nightmares bus, miles from the city, in the early morning on a Sunday with an unconfirmed hotel reservation. We were not worried. We really did not do justice to Mumbai for the few days we were there, as we were recovering from the bus.
We saw the new James Bond movie, ate a lot, wandered about and watched lots of DVD’s.
One of the restaurants we ate in served brains but Terry was not allowed to get any as it freaked me out too much.
That was it really for Mumbai, we headed of then on a train to Mumbai.

Udaipur (octopussy country)

For the first time we meet a lovely tuk tuk driver from the onslaught at the train station, he offered to take us on a sunset ride and a city tour. We had breakfast and a nap asap- night trains are never good for sleeping, but Terry also choose not to sleep on the train and to read Into Thin Air (about the tourist tours and a disaster on Everest – READ IT). After waking we went walking about to find our bearings.

We went to a café called Lotus for a late lunch. They had a thing on the menu called a 'Special Lassi', so a conversation ensued about what made it so special. So of course Terry had to try one. It turns out that a special lassi is laced with special Indian dope called bang. Apparently it was actually very tasty. We headed up to a sunset point up a mountain; the scene was set for a lovely rosemantaic evening until terry started to be very paranoid…

So basically we had to head back to our room and stay in our room while terry questioned me for about two hours about the lassi, his health, time and relativity, Einstein, God, comas, and of course he thought I should write everything he was saying down. He is still upset I did not. It was very funny. They should have bang lassi’s at home.

So, the next day we were supposed to go on a tour with the tuk tuk driver from previous night but it was cancelled as he was sick so we went shopping and bumming about getting tickets to the next destination instead. We are getting a bus to Mumbai.

We took that tour of the city and environs with the tuk tuck driver. He took us to a spice market and then told us not to buy anything as the spices were crap there. He took us to the handmaid’s garden, the cenotaphs and to one of the man made lakes. Then of course the obligatory offer to take us to a shop he knows, so we went to a tailor and did buy a couple of bits.

The next day we were all plans to visit the Royal Place but these plans were scuppered when all the ATMs were empty. We took a tuk tuk drive to the other side of the city but they too were out of cash. Inside the bank they are unable access bank accounts and seem only to be able to cash cheques and do corporate banking, which apparently does not involve actual money. As the bank run didn’t turn up any cash we decided to wait it out by getting the cheap ticket for the palace (we had planned on a boat trip with lunch on an island palace in the middle of the lake) and to sneak in the camera as that costs more too. The ATM’s were still out when we finished. At this point we had almost no Rupees left so we go back to get our reserve dollars even though the exchange rate is really bad. We headed to the shop to collect our new clothes and on the way back the ATM was back in order.

Next day we had the worse trip of my life an overnight bus to Mumbai. We were in this small cabin with all of our luggage at the back of the bus. We had no light; with the window open it was cold and with it closed it was too hot. The bus had no suspension. Terry was close to having concussion when we got off, on the outskirts of Mumbai. People were sleeping in the aisles, how I don’t know, and I still cannot talk about the rest stops. Please don’t make me! According to terry the worst part was it didn’t have the IRE vs NZ game and he had to rely on his sisters to send him updates (he thanks both Jennifer and Susan very much).

Agra

So we once again boarded the night train, this time headed to Agra and the legendary Taj Mahal. We arrived in the morning and decided to have a snooze and have a look about. We were planning on going to see the Taj early in the morning, rather than in the afternoon heat, when it it is very busy - following a few tips from Ronan and Fiona in Darjeeling.
So we had some food and then had a nap. We decided to stroll out to a market mentioned in our guide book, Shilpgram Market it was pretty empty of shops and stalls although there seemed to be lots of tour buses, camels, elephants and sellers about.

We feel as if we must have missed something but we are not sure what.
We then headed to the uber fancy Oberoi Amari Villa Hotel for a few drinks while looking over at the Taj Mahal. The hotel and the drinks were lovely and a nice break from the hustle, bustle and horn rule of daily Indian life.
But it must be noted that for such a plush hotel they didn’t offer wifi to people that were not guests although it was freely available everywhere else around Agra.
The next morning we were up at 5am! Will the early starts never end? We were first in the queue for the Taj and we basically legged it in when the gates opened at dawn which was about 6.20. A guy working there made us run along and took some of our photos and then demanded a tip mentioning figures in the hundreds for the excellent photos.

We then ran up to the crypt and after that we went at a more leisurely pace, wandering into the other buildings and watching the sun come up over the monument and the mist roll in.

(twenty mins after the place opened its mobbed)
When we went to breakfast we bumped into Paige and Trevor, a couple I had annoyed while drunk in Darjeeling (‘painting and drinking’ could replace the last bog post) we were happy to see them and spent a while chatting over breakfast and we arranged to meet for dinner that evening.
They told us about their time in Nepal and being charged a fake fee when they got on a bus again in India. They felt robbed by the scam but would have been kicked off the bus if they had not paid. That evening we went on a small trip to see the Taj Mahal from the back. It was quite lovely as it reflects in the river.
The next day we went shopping and I bought my first Sulwar suit and contemplated buying a sari but I would have had to be fitted for the blouse part and we did not have time as we were booked on a train to Udaipur. Terry bought a Taj Mahal t-shirt;)