Home #Day10

Day 10: Friday the 15th of November

Flying Singapore to Melbourne, 8 hours.
We landed at 11am.

India has been such an incredible trip. The culture and way of living here is so different. From thousands of people sleeping on the side of the road, with masses of piles of rubbish everywhere. The traffic is insane with the never ending horn beeping and thinking for sure we were going to die on a tuk tuk. The pollution in the air made it seem to be always foggy yet Indian people are so friendly and welcoming. Being a foreigner, I was stared at everywhere I went and got asked to take at least 50 selfies with people. The absolute highlights were-
1) Visting a 'Sikh' mosque where they offer free food, education and medical for anyone. We visited the giant kitchen where I sat on the floor with a beautiful old man who showed me how to roll out roti dough.
2) We were watching a wedding take place and the wedding party were dancing away with drums and trumpets. One of the women grabbed my hand and took me into the centre and I danced away! We were then invited inside to the wedding as special guest. It was the most beautiful room. We ate authentic Indian food and went to a special room to meet the bride.
3) We went to Pushka camel fair, probably one of the most hectic things I've experienced. We walked around with not only bikes, cars and rickshaws but camels, horses and bulls. Our friend Bryan, had his wallet pick-pocketed but then had it returned to him later on in the day. A bull got loose and went stampeding through the crowds.
4) Food. I've eaten so much Naan bread, I think I'm about to become one.
5) We visited so many beautiful mosque, temples and forts and of course the ever so famous Taj Mahal!

Thanks to our amazing tour group and guide for making this such a wonderful and unforgettable trip.

Delhi #Day9

Day 9: Thursday the 14th of November:

Flying home!

This morning we headed bright and early to the airport for our 9:30am flight.

We exchanged some rupees back to aussie dollars and it was quite funny handing over hundreds of dollars and getting a $20 note back!

Our flight from Delhi to Singapore was 5 hours. We weren't quite sure how long our stop over was considering all the time differences. When we landed we realised we had 5 hours so I looked at Dad and said, we have to go to the Gardens By the Bay.

So as soon as we got out, we raced out of the airport and got a taxi. It was only a 22 minute drive away!

I've always dreamed of coming here and I still can't believe we got to go! We were just in time for an amazing light show amongst the incredible Super Tree Grove. The trees are simply so unique to see and so beautiful.

The show was opera songs that played for 15minutes and the lights on the tree groves changed colour and danced to the music.

There was so much to see and we only had 1 hour! We decided to go to the Cloud Forest which was $20 each for an entry ticket. The Cloud Forest is inside a giant dome with a huge waterfall. There are beautiful plants everywhere and  platforms you can walk across and make your way up to a waterfall viewing platform.

We raced in and out and caught a taxi back. It was such a smooth process. Singapore airport is so huge we got a Skytrain to reach our Terminal.
TripADeal gave us a complimentary Lounge Pass. Ohhh what it is to be rich. They had a lovely sitting area, with wifi, food and drinks. The best part was, I got to have a shower luxury.

Agra #Day8

Day 8: Wednesday the 13th of November:

Today we woke up at 4:30am to visit the famous Taj Mahal at sunrise which is 6:30am. It was only 2km from our hotel!

It was so beautiful to see but unfortunately the air pollution was the worst we have seen yet! But it was still such an incredible bucket list moment to see it. The Taj Mahal is made from marble. It's height, width and length are all the same size. It is built in an octagonal shape.

It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

We payed to go inside to see a replica of the king and queens tomb that lay underneath us.
The detailing on the inside is spectacular all made of gem stones.

We went back to the hotel to have breakfast and grab our things. Then we headed off to our journey back to Delhi. On the way we visited a marble shop where we saw how all the individual gem stones are shaped into tiny tiny pieces and then the marvel is cut by hand with a chisel and the gems are stuck in with a special cement mix.

Once arriving back to Delhi we farewelled our lovely tout guide, bus driver and helper. As a group we decided to meet downstairs at 5:30 to head out to dinner together. 
We got some tuk tuks and went to some markets where we found a delicious bakery where we bought some treats and ended up having dinner there too!

We saw the most beautiful dresses you have ever seen. I had to take some photos.

It was a great way to spend our last night with new friends. 

Agra #Day7

Day 7: Tuesday the 12th of November:

Today is a national festival which is a public holiday for everyone.

We are travelling to Agra! Pronounced 'Argra'. It's over a 4 hour journey. It's so good sitting in the back of the bus, people watching. Majority of people sit by their own little market stalls. Cows and dogs roam the streets. There are masses of piles of rubbish everywhere which for me is the most heartbreaking to see.

On the way we visited the biggest well in India called, Chand Baori Step Well . It has 13 levels and over 3 thousand steps. It was so incredible to see!

The markets here were the best.

We checked into the hotel and visited the Red Agra Fort, similar to the Red Fort we visited on Delhi. 

This fort was huuge! So many courtyards. The King who built the Taj Mahal for his wife while died, imprisoned his father in this fort. We sore where he lived, it wasn't the worst place to be locked up haha.

We arrived at our next hotel and had an early night as we are seeing the Taj Mahal at sunrise tonorrow eeeek!

Pushka #Day6

Day 6: Monday the 11th of November:

Today we are getting up early to go to Pushka, Rajasthan to Pushka fair. It is a huge fair that happens every year in November. It was a really long drive about 3 hours away!
Pushka means blue flower. There are many temples here (around 500!) and people come on pilgrimages here also. Apparently younger people go to the fair to basically party and get drugs haha

We were warned if you accept a flower from a priest then it means you are now their deciple and have to go to services, we warned not to do this otherwise the police will then have to get involved to get out of it!

The bus could only go a certain way in so we got tuk tuks the rest of the way in which is always fun!

We walked through the thousands of market stalls. It was very intense. I've never experienced such full on crowds before, it was really hard to stay together as a group!

Our friend Bryan got his wallet pick pocketed but the most unbelieveable thing happened. Manu, our tour guide got a call just as we were leaving saying that someone had found his wallet. Some kind person found a business card from the jewellery shop we visited yesterday, the jewellery shop called Manu and then Manu called a friend at the festival who walked all the way to the outskirts of the fair to meet the bus and return the wallet. He was so lucky, although he lost $300 in cash.

Also we were standing off the side of the market path and a cow went loose, running through the crowd! It was hectic!

We saw a holy lake where 2 million people visit to get baptized in the holy water. They believe that they find salvation here.

After we went on a camel cart ride! This was a highlight sitting in the back watching the festival go past and beautiful horses too. I also got to climb up and have a ride on the camel!

I reckon I had my photo taken with people about 20 times today! It was crazy. It's so weird how everyone stares at us like we are something out of a museum. I know what celebrities feel like now!

It was a long day, getting back to the hotel at 8pm. Pheww.