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Hi all,
So we have finished our group tour from Kathmandu to Delhi and have finally got some internet access to let everyone know where we have been and what we have been doing.
Our first stop after leaving Kathmandu was a place called Pokhara. We watched sunrise over the Annapurna mountain range which was really lovely. Pokhara itself was a nice place with a big lake. We only stayed for one night before setting off for Chitwan National Park. We visited the elephant breeding centre where we saw twin baby elephants for the first time and I got to ride on the roof of a jeep which was exciting. We went for a short walk to the nearest village and were amazed at the amount of elephants just walking along the road next to cars. The next morning we were lucky enough to experience elephant washing which was heaps of fun. We basically sat on the back of the elephant and it would roll over in the river and drop us then. We then scrubbed the elephant with a stone. The afternoon took us on an elephant safari and we saw a wild rhino. We set off the next day for a place called Lumbini and visited the place Buddha was born (the exact spot!) I was becoming more and more aware of people staring at me beacuse of my fair skin, blue eyes and height. It was getting quite uncomfortable.
On arriving in India, we boarded our first train journey to Varanassi. It was here we took a sunrise and sunset boat ride along the Ganges river (along with people washing and praying in there). In the afternoon our leader took us to see a Bollywood movie which we kind of understood as it was in Hinglish (half Hindu half English). The following day we took an overnight train to a small place called Orcha were we stayed in deluxe tents. This was my favourite place in India so far. The next destination was Agra where we visited the Taj Mahal. I was the first person in the queue and the first person to see it first on that day. It was amazing. The next day we travelled to Jaipur and got to see a snake charmer as well as visit the palaces (in one of them we got to see the king having lunch).
After Jaipur, we then arrived in Delhi. I didn't like Delhi much at all to be honest... the pollution, the people, the noise... by this point I was not coping very well with the attention I was getting from the men and sometimes they would invade my personal space a little too much! We hired a guide and saw the main tourist attractions and did a little bit of shopping but it was here we thought we might cut the trip short and return back to the UK. I think we got a little home sick and really wanted to be back for Christmas. I also recieved some sad news back home and I wanted to go back early. So here we are back in the UK and home. Honeymoon is over and we have had a fab time. We might go back to India to continue the rest of our trip but I think there are definately other countries we would like to visit first.
Thanks to everyone who has been keeping up-to-date with our travels. See some of you soon.
Love Lee-Ann and AJ.
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