The final few days...

So, as Simon mentioned he didn't have the best of times on the train up to Delhi, after 24 hours in bed he was well enough to the next morning to move hotels, so, having spent 50 pounds on one night we went back to the more familiar grounds of a 5 pound a night room. Simon spent the rest of the day in the room again although he did make it out in the evening for a little bite to eat.

The following day we had a train ticket booked to go to Chandigargh. This is one of the thigs that Simon has wanted to do throughout the whole trip so we decided that we would go even though he wasn't feeling 100%. The main reason for going was the rock garden. A man called Nek Chand started collecting rubbish and stone that no one wanted for about 15 years he built a garden on government land that no one else knew about. When they did eventually find out they made it into a tourist attraction which is now the second most popular attraction after the Taj Mahal. Its all incredibly impressive that one man can build all those sculptures with no-one else knowing, have a look at the pictures we put up of it. The other thing we liked was Chandigargh itself, it has no culture or history whatsoever but its a brand new city, built on a grid system like the american cities but because its new, the roads are all very good and there isn't the usual rubbish and sewage in the streets like we've come to associate with india. The train back took 5 hours but was fairly uneventful.

The next day we stayed around Delhi and did a bit of sightseeing, unfortunately the city was smothered with smog which got into your eyes and also visibility was really bad, not good for photo's! We went to the national railway museum and the gateway of India, that was about it though, we were both fairly tired and the smog was getting to us so we just played on the internet and watched a film or 2 in the hotel.

Day 5 round here was another early start (about 5.30am) to go down to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and the red Fort. It was definately worth the early start, we got a car and guide to take us around a few different sites, although we did have to play along while he took us to local handicraft sites.

Today was our last day, we took it fairly steady and didn't get up to early, we went to the Delhi fort but as the pictures will show you, the only day in the week it is shut is a monday, and guess what day we tried to go! We spent the afternoon at Huammans tomb instead which was very impressive and made up for not getting into the fort. Now its time to go for a bit of food and then its our last night in India, tomorrow is another early start to get to the airport in time and then its off to China to meet up with Rob and Colm.

we get there at 2pm GMT and we're both really looking forward to it, although its really going to be a shame to leave India, we've really enjoyed our first six weeks, only another 4.5 months till we get to Australia...

Paul and Simon