We're going to try and sum up India in one big ol' blog so get comfortable, get a cup of tea, you're in for a long one....

Day 2 - After no sleep for either of us, we had a 5am wake-up call to head for Agra on the train. While waiting at the station we saw a dog climbing down the station roof, people going for a morning stroll on the trainline, monkeys swinging on poles and a woman taking a dump on the tracks. Pleasant. When the train arrived, the fear kicked in. People were literally throwing themselves onto it before it had even stopped. Mothers with tiny babies in their arms, really young children all wrestling to get on. We were both ready to join in the srcum, elbows out, until we were told we had reserved seating and needn't rush. We sauntered down the platform and found our rather grotty but generally ok carriage. The next three hours were taken up staring out the window at shanty towns and huge rubbish dumps. And trying to get sneaky photos of guards with rifles wandering up and down the train.

When we got there our hotel was really nice. We headed staright out to see Agra Fort which was really beautiful and it was from here that we caught our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal in the distance. Getting off and on the bus here was a nightmare! Before we had even stopped there were people trying to sell us stuff climbing up the windows. Some of the sellers were quite young and to buy from them keeps them out of school so it's best not to acknowledge them. As we were leaving we saw a vision- he appeared to be a hare krishna, all dressed in bright orange with a MASSIVE bushy beard and Deidre Barlow glasses. Helen caught his eye in the middle of all this madness which seemed to encourage him to chase the bus down the road with a look of defeat on his face. His will be one of the first photos we upload, it's brilliant! Anyway then we ate curry, walked round a strange rug shop where they tried to make us buy loads, before going to the Taj Mahal for sunset. Although there were a lot of clouds and didn't really see the sunset, the Taj was still amazing. We spent a couple of hours by ourselves wandering around and taking it all in, it was fantastic. We then went to an emporium where they hand make products from the same marble as the Taj Mahal, then had another curry back at the hotel. Total curry count: 3.

Day 3 - Another early morning start, we drove an hour to Fatehpur Sikri which was also really lovely, up in the mountains. Sarah has decided that she'd like to live in Agra Fort, and Helen in Fatehpur Sikri. We are going to have monster hide-and-seek parties (though the palace tour guide didn't look impressed when we told him that!). We also visited the biggest gate in India, it was to a huge mosque which was closed off to tourists as it was Ramadan. So inconvenient! (Joke!) We walked though a little village to get to a place that sells homemade curries and drinks from mineral water so everything there was completely safe to eat and drink. The papaya lassi there was lovely and we got to eat as real Indians do in their homes, mixing it all up and scooping it into our mouths with our right hands.

We then had another hours drive to Keoladed bird park where we got on a rickshaw and had a man cycle us around explaining it all to us in his English which was in fact Hindi. Needless to say we did a lot of "aahhh right" until it got a bit awkward and he just stopped bothering. We saw; antelope, woodpeckers, deer, cows, turtles, butterflies, and a shedload of different birds. We then drove on another hour to Peharsar where we stayed in a beautiful hotel which was converted from a royal house. We were downstairs and shared the whole area with 2 other girls. We saw a really pretty peacock wandering around the garden. The hotel is actually in a really poor village so it was really strange, as soon as we set foor outside, we were mobbed by hundreds of children! They were all really sweet and charming and loved looking at the photos we had taken of them. We walked round the village for about an hour. At one point Sarah went missing from the rest of the group and appeared later from arounf the corner followed by a swarm of small children. She is now the Pied Piper of Peharsar. Free dinner at the hotel which had really good aubergine! Curry count: 5.

Day 4 - Free breakfast, score! We drove 4 hours to Jaipur ehich again was lovely as we got to see all the fascinating things happening outside the windows and gave us a chance to take some pictures of the camels, elephants and hogs which were wandering around. But on the way we got a puncture in our car tyre in the middle of nowhere. No-one was around at the moment of the puncture except a small school boy, but by the time we left an entire community had emerged from nowhere to watch. It seems that Indian people's favourite pasttimes are cricket and staring at westerners. When we arrived at Jaipur we went straight right to the top of a huge mountain to visit thr Amber Palace, which had really stunning views and not so amazing toilets. We then went for lunch and past Hawa Mahal (which was under constuction while we were there!). The city is pretty as it's all pink, which is the colour to welcome people. Our hotel was an amazing heritage hotel, which was home to the royal Bissau family. It was all very regal and luxurious inside.

That evening we went to the Raj Mandir cinema to see ChakDe! A blockbuster Bollywood film about the Indian women's hockey team. Despite being in Hindi with no english subtitles, it was amazing! It was suprisingly easy to follow and was really enjoyable. The actual cinema was incredible, really decorative and beautiful. During the film there was lots of cheering and shouting. We then went for dinner, at an Italien restaurant on the roof where they had no alcohol licence so the beer was brought out in teapots and drunk in mugs, it was great! Total curry count: 6.

Day 5 - Today was a free day, so we went off on our own and jumped in Ali's rickshaw (who by now was our mate Ali Baba). He had us in stitches all the way to the monkey temple, apparently the people behind us could just hear us hysterically laughing for the entire journey (despite him saying he had a gun and was kidnapping us). The monkey temple was right at the top of a mountain, we bought some food and went in. There were monkeys EVERYWHERE. It was at this point that Helen discovered that she HATES monkeys which made the experience hilarious for Sarah who loved it. We got blessed by a monkey god and just wandered around for a while, Helen gripping Sarah's hand for most of it. We got Ali to take us round town all day, dropping us off at various places like the observatory and a textiles factory while he went to mosque. We feel at this point we've brushed over his driving...it was nuts! But well suited to the roads. We met the others for dinner and had a ridiculous time dancing in front of everyone in the restaurant in traditional Rajasthani way, after we were both pulled up to dance (which after a while just morphed into Brush dancing). Photos soon (no video thank goodness). Total curry count: 7

Day 6 - Am. bus back to Delhi, took 6 hours with one (squat) toliet stop along the way. The bus had an old bollywood film playing which again, was great! Scenery interesting as ever. Went out for our last dinner as a group which was actually a bit sad as we'd bonded with all of them by then. Went back to hotel rooftop where we got plastered with everyone on tradtional Rajasthani booze called Maharani mahansar (in elaichi and sonf flavours) that Nitin had picked up for us in Jaipur. Was a really nice way to say goodbye to everyone, though in the morning we regretted the shots. Total curry count: 8.

Day 7 - The next day we went out with an Aussie couple, had a wander around Karol Bagh and New Delhi, jumped in a rickshaw which after taking us to a few places we didn't want to go to finally took us to India Gate (which we were excited about as it'd been in ChakDe!). Wandered up to government buildings and saw a snake charmer. It was really hot and we were constantly hassled so sat in a smelly park for a while. As we were running out of money, on the way back the 4 of us were jammed into the back of a rickshaw which are made to comfortably fit two skinny Indian people. Just what you need when you're so hot and thirsty your tongue has swollen up. Fell asleep watching Everton v Middlesborough on ESPN, Helen got a bit homesick when she saw Gareth Southgate on tv. Sarah missed most of it as had been too hungover to stay awake. Total curry count: 9.

Day 8 - Said goodbye to New Delhi and Mr. Reception liar after he told us we he'd checked and we weren't booked onto our flight to Singapore. God bless this mans efforts to make us stay. Total curry count: 10.

We have really skimmed over our time in India, there is SO much we couldn't possibly fit it all into a blog. Despite some of the difficulties and frustrations and how generally draining it can be, we've really loved the places we've seen, and consoled ourselves by taking a walk down to Little India in Singapore just to smell one more curry....