Days 3&4- Joanna

The past two days have been a little bit hectic and totally exhausting. Yesterday (Friday) we went on a day trip to Agra in order to see Fatephur Sikhri, the Agra Fort, and of course, the Taj Mahal. This meant that we had to get up at 5:30 am to catch the 6 am train to Agra, which I was not very happy about. We joined a tour group and hopped on the tour bus. And then, just our luck, it started to rain. Like thunder and lightning, water bucketing down everywhere. It continued on and off on the way to Fatephur Sikhri, but unfortunately it poured while we were there. Fatephur Sikhri was pretty cool, the buildings were very impressive and our tour guide gave us a VERY detailed explanation about what all the buildings were used for. I felt a bit bad because he was putting a lot of effort into it and I couldn't understand half of what he was saying due to his heavily accented English.

The guide hurried us on to the Agra Fort, where we were very excited to enter and find monkeys scampering along the walls and coming right up to us. Actually if they got too close we had to move away in case they had rabies or something. The Agra Fort was amazing, we had already seen the Red Fort in Delhi but this one was much better. It wasn't raining anymore but it was very foggy and absolutely freezing, especially in the wind. Once we were done with the Agra Fort we hopped back on the bus to go to the Taj Mahal. I can say without a doubt that the Taj was one of the most breathtaking buildings I have ever seen. We were given an hour to explore and do whatever we liked. So of course we took heaps of photos, and also featured in other people's photos too.

I'm kind of sick of that now to be honest, I really don't understand why Indian people want us in their pictures so badly. If they ask from now on I think I might just say no, even though I feel a bit guilty. It was a shame about the weather because it would have been amazing to see the Taj with a blue sky background, but I loved it even with a murky grey back drop. Eventually we got the bus back to the train station and had some dinner. By now it was about 7 pm and our train was supposed to come at 9:30 so we had a bit of waiting to do. This is where it all kind of went wrong, for me at least. Mum and Dad think that I'm exaggerating when I describe it as a disaster, but they don't realise how essential sleep is to my well being and sanity. Anyway it turns out there was going to be more waiting than anticipated. Our train was originally an hour and a half delayed, which was annoying but bearable. Then the train was delayed another half hour. I was at the point of hitting someone. We were tired and cold and we wanted to sleep. Especially since we had to get up at 6 the next morning to catch a different train.

By the time the train finally arrived it was midnight, by the time we returned to Delhi it was 2:30 am. We walked back to the hotel and fell into bed, only to get back up again about three hours later. I'm writing this now on the train to Patankhot, it is almost 3 pm and we have been on the train for about  8 hours, and we still have three to go. I'm going a little bit crazy and honestly I cannot wait to get to Patankhot. I kind of want to keep writing cos it kills time really well but whoever is reading this is probably getting sick of me so.. Bye?