We took the sleeper train from Udaipur to Ranthanbourg. Was actually really good fun – we played some card games before climbing into our respective bunks. I slept surprisingly well and was quiet startled when Ravi woke me up to say its our stop. It was 2am when we staggered out onto the station and waited for our lift. About 200 people were sleeping on the floor of the platform and outside the station, was a very odd sight, not something you’d see in England. Soon enough the rickshaw drives spotted us and charged over in force, luckily our jeep arrived in time to save us and they despondently walked away. The jeep ride to the hotel was great fun.
The fist day we enjoyed doing very little by, and in my case, in the pool. It was only half full but still considerably cooler than the 38 degree heat outside. After some lunch and faff we went on our first safari – hidden tiger munching dragons. There was no room for Ravi on our truck and seeing as he’s been many times before he decided to cancel and stay at the hotel. We boarded the massive truck all excited. The truck needed to pick up some more passengers from down the road. Our hearts sand when several young teenagers boarded, equipped with rustally bags, fizzy drinks, and shrill voices. Chances of seeing a tiger had fallen from slim to non. Bloody kids. We had to endure their company for the next 3 hours. It would have been a pleasant trip through beautiful jungle except the kids insisted on standing up thus blocking our view and falling on top of me on regular occasions. They also spoke loudly all trip and shouted every time they saw an animal. Grr. Just kids being kids I suppose.
In the evening some local dancers came to entertain us. There was also a group of Indian nurses staying at our hotel, and in true Indian style were fascinated with us. When they saw as sitting on the lawn waiting for the band to start they were quick to also pull up a pew, soon we were surrounded by 30 of them. The addition of the crazy Indian ladies actually made the whole party more fun. The chap showing us how to dance was seriously more feminine than me, and I completely failed to master and of the moves. Some of the nurses then decided to take the stage by forcibly removing the poor bewildered dancer. Soon we ended up in an Indian style dance off, was all highly amusing, we lost horribly – all of us bar Anna were but bounced off. The ring leader took a liking to Claire and invited her to their after party in their dorms. Feeling a bit out-numbed she declined. In hindsight we should have all gone it would have made a brilliant story.
The next day we visited the fort. It stretched for 5 miles across the mountain. A true symbol of strength and determination, both of which it took to climb to the top of the bloody thing in the crippling heat. After many breaks and photos we reached the top. From hear we could view a good deal of the national park, including the huge lake with two large crocodiles circling – they looked like matchsticks form the top. The fort included a mix of Hindu and Muslim temples. At the Hindu temple there was a great deal of activity. Footstalls and their merchants, many tourists and loads of monkeys. The monkeys at the entrance which we had ‘awwed’ at were passive mothers and their fluffy babies. The monkeys at the top however were food stealing ninjas, waiting for an opportunity to mug you. As we were leaving the temple Sabrina was just contemplating what to do with the sweet she was given when a large mother monkey solved her dilemma, by snatching out of Sabrina’s hand. This made us all the more weary as we had to walk through the crowds of monkeys back to the entrance.
In the evening we had our second safari. This one was just us (bar Ravi) on the jeep and much nicer. The drive was a beautiful mix of savanna type planes, woodland and jungle. We saw many animals on route as well as laborers sweating away in the sun. in the jungle we saw foot prints of a male heading one way and a female with tiny cubs heading the other – eee excitement. We silently waited by the river, but no joy. On our way back we saw fresh male tiger track over our own, we must have just missed them. The thrill of seeing evidence of such a beautiful animal alive and breading was enough for me, we were all very happy on our return.
One uncomfortable night train later we arrived in Agra. We made a short pit stop at our hotel to freshen up and have breaky then we were off to the Taj! The Taj really does live up to its reputation. So much thought went into it. Its perfectly symmetrical in all aspects. The Tomb is 8 sided for the 8 children who died and when you shout at one of the pillars you will hear your voice echoing a perfect 8 times. The stone sparkles under light like its glowing from the inside. Tragically the English took the gold which crowned the top of the Taj, it does make me feel a bit ashamed that my predecessors failed to see the Taj for the untouchable wonder it is. Nearer the end of the tour, after all the necessary cheesy photo’s were taken, we were ushered our by the armed guards. Some of the athletes from the commonwealth games had arrived and they were granted a private tour. I was no too upset as I was begging to lag in the 40 degree heat. Back the apartment, lunch at Pizza hut then sleeper train home. Brilliant trip!
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