New Delhi

Where we stayed - Palace Heights Hotel

We decided that since we were only staying in New Delhi for a few days, we'd base ourselves right in the city centre, in Connaught Place. It is a huge roundabout which is divided up into about 8 different blocks and they are lined with shops, and restaurants. There is even a huge underground market, which we spent alot of time wandering around in whilst picking up some lovely bits and bobs.

One afternoon, when it wasn't so unbearably hot we took the kids to a huge playground which is located close to India Gate. The kids had an absolute ball playing here, as it was the first playground we'd come across in weeks. It was great watching them run around like idiots while letting off a bit of steam.

One of the highlights of our time in New Delhi (as sad as this is going to sound), was going to Macca's for lunch. For some reason you don't really think that the Macca's menus will be all that different in other countries, but boy the menu here in India is tiny (minuscule even). Hindu's don't eat beef, as the cow is sacred to them and Muslims don't eat pork, so you can almost imagine how limited the menu is... Honestly, they have 3 types of chicken burger (including the rather funky tasting McMaharaja - imagine a processed chicken/curry Big Mac and you've got yourself a McMaharaja), they have a fish burger, a vege burger and chicken nuggets and that's it... It's weird!

Agra

Where we stayed -

We hired ourselves a driver to take us from Jaipur to New Delhi, via an overnight stay in Agra. The journey was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Agra in the early afternoon. I'd heard from other travellers, that Agra was a pretty crappy town and it sure is. It looks like the cesspool of India. It's disgustingly polluted and just plain old horrible... It's really hard to believe that something as beautiful ass the Taj Mahal can be in a town as shitty as Agra.

We arranged for our driver to pick us up at 7am the next morning to take us to the Taj, as we wanted to arrive before all the tour groups did. I'm glad we did because it was relatively quite, by Indian standards when we arrived.

The Taj Mahal is beautiful. When you catch your first glimpse, it quite literally takes your breath away. It is quite simply amazing...

While we were walking around the most bizarre thing happened!! We spotted an American guy, JR, whom we'd met in Cairo 3 weeks earlier. He had only arrived in India and we were nearly leaving, but what are the chances of us running into each other again, in India, at the Taj Mahal at 7am? Coincidence, perhaps? We mentioned to JR that were heading to South East Asia after India, and he said he'd be heading that way a few weeks later, and he looked forward to bumping into us again... Seriously, if that happens, I'll be freakin' out!

Jaipur

Where we stayed - Jas Vilas

After our long journey from Bikaner, it was pure bliss to finally arrive at Jas Vilas. This hotel is simply beautiful, if you ever find yourself in Jaipur, you really should stay here! The rooms are beautifully decorated and have every creature comfort you could desire, the staff are attentative, and the food they serve is divine.

We were supposed to do quite a bit of sightseeing whist in Jaipur (the Pink City), but all of us ere feeling rather fatigued, so we simply hung out at the hotel... It was great and exactly what we needed to revive ourselves.

When we did manage to peel ourselves away from the hotels swimming pool, we went and visited Jaipurs beautiful palace, which is located within the old city limits. Shamefully though, we didn't go and see Amber Fort, nor the monkey temple, both of which are pretty high on most peoples 'must see' lists.

Bikaner

Where we stayed - Bharion Vilas

From Jaisalmer we headed to Bikaner for an overnight stay, enrout to Jaipur. We visited Bikaners Fort, but were weren't really impressed with it as we'd seen better just days before... This town did however win first prize in the 'Stinkiest town we've visited in India'! OMG, this town is just rank, I can't even begin to describe the stench... *gag*

The next day we were up early and visited the legendary Karni Mata Temple (aka - The Rat Temple) in nearby Deshnok. We all made it into the temple and for a few brief moments, all was well... That was until one of the hundreds of holy rats decided to start running directly towards Mia. The poor poppet freak out majorly, so I gratefully took her back out in the courtyard. Dallas however wanted to stay and look at the rats with this father, so off they went... About 5 minutes later we spotted Alain and Dallas emerging from the temple, however, Dallas was no longer walking. He was safely perched upon his fathers shoulders... away from the rats!

Jaisalmer

Where we stayed - Shahi Palace Hotel

From Jodhpur we hired a car and driver to take us to Jaisalmer, which is a lovely town with an amazing hil top fort, our in the desert. Driving on Indian roads is a true experience, you not only have to watch out for crazy drivers, but you also have to keep your eyes peeled for the numerous cows, goats and camels which just wonder out onto the road. Jodhpur is less than 3 hours from Jaisamer, but because of the mental conditions it took nearly 6 hours to get there!

Jaisalmer fort is great. It has narrow cobblestone labyrinth-like alley s which huge cows wander around aimlessly in, it has numerous finely detailed Jain temples and in some places it also offers some pretty great views of the surrounding desert.

One day our driver, Jessie (or was it J.C??) took us out to a nearby village called Khuri, where we hired a camel cart to take us out to the sand dunes. A little local boy asked if he could join us on our trip, and of course we agreed. Alain and the kids had a fab time running all of the dunes, we were the only ones out there and it was quite a surreal experience. We were also lucky enough to be invited into some of the locals homes, to see how they live and how they build their cow dung and thatch houses...

The local boy who joined us on our camel-cart

Jodhpur

Where we stayed - Devi Bhawan

Meherangarh Fort

After our mammoth train journey we were glad to finally arrive in Jodhpur. Unfortunately for us, the tuk tuk driver we got at the train station took us to a hotel of his choice rather than the place we had pre-booked. This dude was a friggin' egg and I could have seriously kicked his ass! Grrrrr...! These mongrel tuk tuk drivers blatantly ignore your destination request and take you to a hotel that will give them commission if you stay there. It's bloody ridiculous!

Jaswant Thada

Once we figured out what was going on, we grabbed our backpacks (and the kids) and shot the driver some seriously evil looks, while muttering swear words under our breath, before setting off to find another driver to take us to our hotel.

Umaid Bhawan Palce

Our hotel was divine. It had great staff, huge beautiful rooms, wonderfully tendered gardens and a huge swimming pool area. It was perfect!

What the best curry in the world looks like...

When we could bear to tear ourselves away from the hotels swimming pool, we went and visited Jodhpur's beautiful Meherangarh Fort, Jaswant Thada and Umaid Bhawan Palace. We also went to lunch at a fabulous restaurant called 'On the Rocks', when Alain and I both had the best curries of our lives. OMG, they were delicious!!

Jodhpur - The Blue City

Staff at 'On the Rocks'

Class photo at the Fort

Dallas' new friend at the Palace

Mumbai

Where we stayed - Hotel Suba Palace

We literally didn't do anything in the 3 days we had allocated to Bombay, Dallas got a bad case of jet lag and spent 2 days recovering. We did however get to know the room service attendants from our hotel pretty well...


From Mumbai we caught the overnight train up to Jodhpur. It is only 930km from Mumbai to Jodhpur, but it took just over 18 hours to get there. Thankfully we were in one of the 2nd class sleeper carriages, so at least we had beds and managed to get a few hours sleep.

We passed some quite pretty scenery along the way, but the most striking thing you notice is how much poverty there is here. Families live right next to the train tracks in makeshift housing, which is surrounded by mountains of rubbish. The kids play in puddles of filthy water, whilst dogs and cows scavenge around them... It's an extraordinary sight, and one that I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing. The poverty is just so 'in your face' it's quite startling.

Cairo

Where we stayed - Sara Inn Hostel

Several people we'd come across during our time in Egypt warned us to be prepared for Cairo. They told us their horror stories of the city, stating it was really polluted and the touts were super pushy, Alain and I however really enjoyed Cairo, we took an instantly liking to it. Yes, it is pretty grotty and the air quality is really poor, but Cairo is still charming nonetheless.


Obviously, we took a trip out to the beautiful grand old pyramids... They're amazing and should be on every ones 'must see' list.


No trip to Egypt would be complete without a visit to the Egyptian Museum. This place is literally overflowing with ancient relics and the collection is pretty astonishing actually. By far the most interesting displays were the Royal Mummies and Tutankhamen's burial mask, coffins and the loot from his tomb.

Aswan

Where we stayed - Keylany Hotel


From Luxor we caught the train down to Aswan... for free! We tried to buy tickets at Luxor train station, but they told us just to purchase them aboarded the train. So, we hopped on the train and waited for the ticketman to come, and well... he just didn't appear. We thought perhaps we'd have to pay upon arrival at Aswan, but nope, noone even asked, so we just waltz out of the station after a 3 hour train trip... Choice!!!


Aswan is a lovely city, it is a total contrast to Luxor. You can walk down the souq without every Tom, Dick and Harry harrassing you, which was a pleasent surprise. The Nile is also spectatular here, it's so wide and moves swiftly, and its actually pretty clean.


We booked onto one of the early morning trips down to Abu Simbel. The minibus picked us up at 3.15am, so we could join the 4am convoy down to the site. It was well worth it too. Abu Simbel is amazing and definitely worth the effort to get down too.

Luxor

Where we stayed - El-Gizera Gardens


Luxor was a bit of a shock to the system after Dahab. The touts here are so aggressive and persistent, they really do get on your nerves. They follow you constantly and vigorously try to get you to buy whatever it is they are trying to sell, it's annoying to say the least... If Luxor didn't have the touts, it probably would be a nice place to visit...


We visited the beautiful Luxor Temple, Karnak and the Valley of Kings. Valley of Kings was definitely the highlight of Luxor for us, we really enjoyed visiting the tombs, especially the tomb of Ramses V and VI, it was beautiful.