India

They don’t call it Incredible India for nothing! There you can drive on the wrong side of the road, not wear helmets, drive in which ever lane you have seem to make, see camels on the highway riding along the side of you, see monkeys and cattle on the side of the road, and see everyone living like this. When we first arrived in Delhi it was freezing and there was a lot of fog. We got picked up by a driver from Max Holidays and they gave us leis and water then took us to the hotel. The Singh Sons Hotel was o.k. I guess. I was cold and we ordered room service that was really good. We were so tired by the time change and it was late so we went to bed knowing we were going to be picked up at 8 in the morning. Our first day we met our awesome driver Mr. Singh, picked up our tour guide, saw the Gate of India; the biggest Muslim temple in India; Ktaar Minar (big tower); Ghandi Rot Gauge (memorial for Ghandi); and the cashmere carpet weaving company. We ended up buying 2 beautiful mix (silk and wool) carpets. Then after a long and tiring day we went back to the hotel, got room service again and went to bed. The next day we were picked up by our friendly, smiling driver and spent all day in the car driving to Jai Purr. The driving was really scary because of the crazy drivers but we felt safe with Mr. Singh. We got there later in the afternoon and first thing we did was ride a camel. We saw the Water Palace and then went to our hotel. The next day we picked up our guide and Mr. Singh drove us to the amber fort. It was pretty cool. We rode elephants to get to the fort and that was awesome! After the fort we went to the Astronomical Museum where there were a bunch of old mathematical and astronomical tools that the people used a long time ago. I got to see the biggest sun dial in the world! After that we walked over to the City Palace were we got to see old clothes, jewelry, weapons, and other things the maharaja’s used in the past. One of the pieces of clothing we saw fit a 7” 500 lb maharaja! The pants were bigger than me! It took 6 seconds to walk all along the rim of them! Now that was a big guy! After the City Palace and its museum we went to a textile printing place where we got to see how the people make the hand printed scarves, and saw more hand woven carpets. They showed us the long process of the carpets and the cool process of the printing. After all of these cool things we went back to the hotel and later that night we went to a cultural show and dinner. The food was all right but when the ladies came out and danced while balancing 6 pots on their head we were amazed. When they finished dancing we left and outside we got to see how the bangle bracelets that the people wear are made. The guy made a special one for my mom and my sister and I each got 12 small bangles that were really pretty and really jingly! We went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning we were packed and ready to head to Agra. When we got there after a kinda long drive we met our tour guide who took us through the Lost City and we saw a palace there. It was beautiful! It’s a shame that it was abandoned because there wasn’t any water sine it didn’t rain. After that we went to our hotel, got dinner, and went to bed. The next morning (really early) we were picked up and we went to the Taj Mahal. It was breath taking! I can’t believe the emperor put his country in bankrupt just so he could build the magnificent tomb for his wife. It was really touching. Right after that we saw the Agra fort then had to rush back to Delhi so we could make it back in time to get out airplane tickets to Egypt. We got there with a minute to spare and we still weren’t quite sure if we would make it on the plane, but we left at 2 in the morning and made it on the plane. We were off to Egypt!