So we left a cold wet London on Saturday and flew to Delhi to begin our long anticipated 'Big Trip'. We have been in India for almost a week and have seen so much and done so much I don't know where to begin, so I think the best bet is to show you a load of my images rather than waffle on!
Delhi was cold and foggy when we arrived and as you can see from the first picture it was a little on the chilly side - it almost looks like it's snowing!
Delhi is a really really busy place and I couldn't get over the amount of people in the markets, driving and riding the tuc tucs and the rickshaws and going about their daily routine. It's a really poor city and seeing the poverty on the street is shocking, but the people are so friendly and non stop busy.
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Delhi was cold and foggy when we arrived and as you can see from the first picture it was a little on the chilly side - it almost looks like it's snowing!
When we woke on Day One it was still misty, but it cleared by the time we arrived at Qutub Minar - an amazing sandstone palace and fort complex built in 1193.
Because President Obama was due to arrive on Monday we crammed our sightseeing into one day and shopped the next, but we did manage to make it to the cremation site of Mahatma Ghandi a few hours after Obama had left - the light is not great for the photo, but you can see the flowers and candles to the right hand side of our group.
On Tuesday we travelled to Agra on the coach, it was a long drive, but we arrived in time for an afternoon visit to the Taj Mahal. No words or images can do it justice, but here are a few of my photos:
On Wednesday we visited Fatehpur Sikri which is a historical 'ghost city' dating from the 16th Century.
Yesterday afternoon we drove to Jaipur and arrived here last night. Jaipur is a beautiful city - the old town is painted pink and the ornate architecture is breathtaking. The city is much richer than Delhi and it is the centre for hand cut precious and semi precious gems.
We visited the Amber Fort which we got up to on the back of an Elephant!
Inside the Amber fort is a mirrored palace - it is really stunning - again, my photos don't do it justice. The patterns in the ceilings and walls are made from mosaic pieces of mirrored glass.
After lunch we visited the market streets, made up of small shops and people selling from carts. The fact that we are travelling with an Indian group made this an amazing experience - going from shop to shop looking at saris and bags and lovely jewellery. I think Mum and I would not have done this part of the tour on our own!
We are travelling to Ahmedabad tomorrow, then on to Rajkot by the middle of next week - I will do my best to blog again!