Round the World Trip 2011-2012

Namaste from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

Our last post was from Pokhara, Nepal. We had a great time in Nepal, so beautiful and such a breath of fresh air from the hustle and bustle of India (literally). In Pokhara we took a boat over the Phewa lake and climbed the windy steps up 1100 meters above sea level to the World Peace Pagoda/Stupa. The camera has been playing up so there aren't any pics of us up there but the view was incredible. You could see the Annapurna Mountain range clearly and a few cheeky snow capped mountains popping out too! On the way back down we wandered through a few small villages which was nice. We decided to visit a couple of bars for happy hour that night so those details are a bit blurred! The next day it was really, really hot so we decided to go for a swim in the lake. After walking around the lake about 5km we decided to hire a boat and swim from the boat! This was good fun, although I was a bit of a wimp! However it was incredibly refreshing!

We reluctantly left Nepal and made our way back down to India. The journey back was much easier as we decided to stay in Bhairawa on the Nepalese side of the border instead of staying in Gorakhpur, India as we didn't have a nice time there before. This was a great decision and the journey back to India seemed much smoother. Once in Gorakhpur we caught our overnight train to Agra.

Waking up to get off the train at 4am was quite a challenge as we had not had the best train trip. However, we were excited to see the Taj! Rads negotiated a rickshaw (like a Tuc-Tuc) to our hotel in Agra, which was near the east gate entrance to the Taj Mahal. The hotel kept our bags as it was too early to check in, so off we went to buy tickets for the Taj.

We arrived back at the east gate to the Taj just before the gates opened (6am) and there was already a line up! Once we had passed through the security we were off! The Taj really is an amazing building, it doesn't matter how many pictures of it you have seen before, there is something magical about seeing it in person. So we made our way around the Taj at a leisurely pace (there were not very many people there then) and watched the sunrise. Amazing! Strange how a mausoleum can be romantic! We spent a few hours there and then went for breakfast.

After lunch we decided to head to the baby taj and the gardens on the opposite side of the Yamuna River from the Taj Mahal. We found a nice Rickshaw chap who took us around those sites. The baby taj (really called Itmad-ud-Daula's Tomb and built before the Taj Mahal) was fab, not many people and only a few restrictions on where you could go. We decided not to go the gardens but to the riverbank opposite the back of the Taj instead (it's free). The view from here was also amazing! To complete the Taj-tastic day we went for a rooftop dinner and watched the sunset (and of course looked at the Taj some more)! We were like Taj Mahal junkies all day!

We left Agra to make our way to Jaisalmer which is known as the golden city as it is made from sandstone. The journey was quite long, one train to Jaipur which was five hours long and then we changed trains to take a twelve hour train to Jaisalmer. We arrived in Jaisalmer and found a delightful hotel inside the fort, our room has a balcony that looks out over the town and into the desert! Lovely! Jaisalmer is a lovely place, with a few Jain temples, Havelis (mansions) and palaces. We intend to explore a bit before we leave. I must confess that I am still not very well so have found it difficult to get out and about here.

After Jaisalmer we're off to Jodhpur, then to Ahmedabad to catch a flight to Goa! Can't wait to get on the beach! Here are a few photos -as promised!