World Spain Andalucia Ronda

My trip 'round the globe

India and flight to India Oct 14, 2009

Day 1

We were leaving to India this morning so we woke up at 6 in the morning so we could return our car back to the car hire and so we could get to our terminal. Luckily we were staying in a travel lodge right next to the airport. We drove to the Europcar depot and dropped our car there. We then caught one of the shuttles that went to terminal 1. We found our airline (Austrian airlines) and checked in. We made good time and so we had a look at all the shops and dad and I decided that it would be great to have a better camera then what we already had so we bought a new camera. We lost mum in between the shops and so we were looking for her for half an hour! I had a look at the TV where it had all the info about the planes when it was leaving, which gate it was leaving from and the status whether it’s boarding or gate still closed and it can be last call but if it was I wouldn’t be hanging ‘round. Anyway our plane was boarding and it scared me so much I thought we were going to miss the plane but luckily our gate was close so we ran as fast as we could to the gate and we were actually okay for time. When we got on the plane I felt nervous because in the past year I haven’t managed any plane journeys. Our plane was going to Vienna in Austria first and then we would get back on another plane to New Delhi the capital of India. As soon as we got into Vienna we had to catch our flight to Delhi. The plane was old and had nothing to watch on the TV unfortunately it was quite boring so I was listening to music and talked to mum and dad. I saw a few people praying and dad told me that they were praising their gods that they got back to India. It was very dark and so I didn’t have a perspective of India yet. We organised somebody to driver (to take us to the places we intended to go to. We went through the arrivals section where we saw our driver with a sign that said Colin Liebmann. We got into his car and he took us to our hotel. On the way we saw lots of stray animals such as dogs, cows randomly walking across the streets at their own pace, it was very funny. The hotel was pretty average but it was ok for two night. We went to bed after a long day of travelling.

Day 2

When I woke up dad had left the room to go to a meeting so mum and I decided on our first day we should wait until dad gets back to go out. As soon as dad got back we went down stairs and had an Indian brunch which involved eating lots of curries. Our driver (Babloo) organised a guide to take us around the city. We saw the Red fort which is a fort that contains a palace inside. We also went to lots of temples and saw the statues of gods the gods names are as followed.... Vishnu, Lakshmi, Krishna, Hannuman (the monkey god) and Ganesha (the elephant god). We saw the Gandhi ‘s memorial (the father of the nation). We also saw the houses of parliament designed by an Englishman. There were lots of monkeys running free in the courtyard of the houses of parliament. It was amazing seeing lots of animals running free in the city. As Babloo dropped our guide off at her house we thanked her guide for showing us around the city. It was getting late so Babloo took us back to the hotel. We had dinner at the hotel and that was very nice. As I was lying in bed I was actually think I hope the rest of India isn’t like this because everything is just a bit boring. Many people say that when they go to India next time they would leave Delhi out.

Day 3

In the morning we took our suitcases down stairs where we saw Babloo waiting for us. He put all of our bags into his car and then we were nearly ready to leave Delhi to Jaipur. It was a long drive to Jaipur but unlike most countries I been to it was very exciting to look out the window because there was many amazing things to see and the unknown also made it more exciting. I did manage to sleep for a bit but mum woke me up because we were having a break from all the driving. The break definitely refreshed us all so we were ready to travel the rest of our journey. As we were coming into Jaipur we saw lots and lots of elephants it was amazing they were decorated and they looked beautiful. They were walking on the roads so we had to over take a few elephants which was very funny because they were very, very close within one metre of my window. The city was already growing on me It was so much better than Delhi. The colour was just amazing it was much more colourful than Delhi just everything was amazing. We were staying in an old palace my first impression in my head was it can’t be an old palace but since it was dark I could only see the office and I couldn’t see the courtyard and all the buildings and boy ooh boy was it nice. I was very happy to be in a place like this. I was treated like royalty, they were very kind people. Our room was very big and they said it was one of the best rooms in the hotel and when I saw the room it was easily one of the best rooms I have ever stayed in. We went out and met a guide which took us to Amber Fort which is based on top of a hill so they could see the enemies coming. There was lots of amazing detail on the walls, in one room there was lots of tiny, tiny mirrors. The mirrors helped lighten the room up because when a candle is lit it reflects of all the mirrors and makes the whole room light!! As we left the fort we were met by more elephants on the roads. We decided to go back to the palace and have some dinner, go in the pool then go to bed.

Day 4

In the morning we set out to meet our guide again. Today he was taking us to an observatory which was built by the Maharaja (the king) in the 1600’s. He built many structures to observe the solar system and astrology including the world’s biggest sun dial. Since the Maharaja (the king) built the observatory the city palace is right next to the observatory so we went in. The palace it is where the current Maharaja lives. I got many photos with guards around the palace. There was a small museum within the palace sour guide directed us around it. Then we went into the Maharaja’s reception where we saw paintings of the previous Maharaja’s of Jaipur. Our driver took us back to the palace where we were staying and we had a swim before going out again. We went to the best hotel in India and had Hi-tea, we also played croquet.

Day 5

As soon as we woke up we had to get everything ready to leave the hotel and make our way to Agra. On the drive to Agra we saw many strange things like cattle on main roads people standing on top of buses.... all sorts of things. We also saw many women out working in the fields with their beautiful florescent saris. We arrived in Agra after a 6 hour drive. We decided to out for dinner and our way of transport was the motorised rickshaw a classic India way of transport.

Day 6

In the morning I was feeling sick again so we thought it was best to stay at the hotel and relax a bit. It was very annoying but we still wanted to and see the Taj Mahal so we went to a viewing spot. When we got out of the car we had to walk a bit so we could get to the viewing point, dad and I saw a camel and his rider and he was offering a ride to the viewing point so we took the option of going on the camel. It was great. We got some great photos of the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal changes colours depending on the time of day eg. The Taj Mahal is pink in the morning, white at midday and yellow at sunset. Even though the Taj Mahal is made of White Marble it changes colour due to the sun. There was many children at the viewing point that was trying to sell us things but we didn’t buy anthing. They were very clever even though they didn’t go to school, because so many different nationalities go there they picked up on their language and they managed to speak to people from Spain, France, all English speaking countries, Russia and of course Hindi/Indian. We went back this time not on the camel and we found Babloo and then we went back to the hotel.

Day 7

We woke up early again today I was feeling a little bit better which was good because we were going to the Taj Mahal (inside it) one of the seven wonders of the world. We had another guide that told us the inside information of the Taj Mahal. He told us that King Shah Jaharn made it for his wife when she died. It took 22 years to build and there was 20,000 men working on it. It is roughly 400 years old. We went inside the main dome and we saw the shrine of the king and his wife. Once we had had a good look of many different angles of the Taj Mahal we walked out to meet Babloo again. We were on the road again this time to Unchagaon Fort. We were on many small roads on the way which made the journey very long. We finally arrived in Unchagaon Fort where we would sleep for the night. The hotel we were staying in was very nice. They had a full sized snooker table so Dad and I had a game of snooker. They even had their own horses that you can ride on, dad and I were planning to go horse riding but it was pouring with rain.

Day 8

It was hard to say good-bye to the hotel but we had to go because we were on our way to Corbett Tiger reserve. We had another long drive so we all fell asleep apart from our driver Babloo. We woke up when we arrived in a town that had been flooded; we could barely get through the flood because the roads were so bad. We did manage to get onto the road to Corbett which felt great because at one stage we all thought we were going to be here forever. We finally arrived in Corbett and boy it felt good. We stayed in a hotel called “The Hideaway” owned by the same company as Unchagaon Fort (Leisure Hotels). The hotel was very good again; it had many things to do. We didn’t stay up late because we knew we had to get up early for our Jeep safari.

Day 9

We had to wake up at 5 in the morning so we could get a permit to go into the Tiger reserve. We had everything packaged for us so we didn’t need to worry about finding a Jeep with a driver (it was already done for us). The Jeep picked us up at the place where we got the permit. It took 1 hour to get to Jhirna gate (the gate we were going in). Only a very small part of the park was open so there wasn’t much area for us to move around and find tigers. Once we got to the gate we picked up a nature guide and he explained everything we saw. We saw lots of amazing birds, spotted deer, barking dear, Tiger territorial markings and leopard paw prints. It was disappointing we didn’t see a tiger or a leopard but we still had two more chances to see them. We were drove back to the hotel so we could rest before going off later in the day. Before we knew it we were back in the Jeep going on another safari. We didn’t see many animals that time ‘round but it was still enjoyable!! Once again they drove us back to the hotel.

Day 10

Dad and I woke up at five in the morning, again so we could go into the reserve with an elephant. Babloo drove us down to the elephant mount where we found the elephant we were going on her name was Mohani Mala she was very big. We mounted the elephant and then we set off into the reserve looking for tigers and wild elephants. The day before there was a wild elephant near where we were. We didn’t see much again but being on an elephant was amazing. Eventually we had to head back so Mohani Mala took us back to the car. I got some photos with Mohani Mala at the end and dad and I got to pat her trunk. Babloo took us back to the hotel so we could pick up mum and our baggage and leave to Nanital. It was a smaller drive so we got there in good time. We went to the hotel straight away so we could leave our luggage at the hotel. The hotel was fantastic, it was the best hotel so far. We went to the local markets which were fantastic aswel. I started to play football with the local indian children but they the team i wasn't on said it was unfair so they kicked me out.