Namaste!

We have just arrived back in our hotel in Delhi after our week long stay in India. After our trek from Thailand, we spent a day and a hlaf touring Delhi before heading off to Jaipur and Agra. Delhi is definitely a world away! I told my family in an e-mail, it was definitely the first time I have gone somewhere and felt turned on my head. Everyone eased up a bit as we hit the rode with our driver for the week and drove to Jaipur. We stayed in a beautiful guest house and saw the Amber Fort, The City Palace(where the Maja Raja still lives) and Jantar Mantar (which is a massive observatory/astrology center built in the early 1700s), and The outside of The Wind Palace (a famous honeycombed building in Jaipur - it was built so that the women of the court, who couldn't go outside, could look out on the street and see what was going on). Jaipur is called the "Pink City" because at somepoint the Prince of Engladn told the Maja Raja he liked pink .... so everything was ordered to be painted pink! And it still is ... every building is a rusty pink color in the front!

After two days in Jaipur we drove to Agra. We left early in the morning and stopped off at Fatephur Sikri. Fatephur Sikri is old abandoned palace. In the 1500s Akbar the Great moved the Capital there, but was forced to leave around the time of his death because of water shortages. Because the palace was virtually abandoned, it is remarkably well preserved. After exploring the grounds of this Indian ghost town we visited one of India's national bird sanctuaries. We had a very kind guide wo showed us many birds indigenous to India. We were unlucky and weren't able to see any monkeys, and saw only one antelope, but the gorgeous cranes, owls, egrets and even a bird called the "snake bird" that looks like a reptile when it swims for food. After some lunch we arrived at our hotel in Agra and took a break to rest up for the next day. We woke up early in the morning and went staight to the Taj Mahal. I can't begin to try and sum up the enormity of that experience. So I will just say that it made all of the struggles of getting thius trip organized, dogding scammers in India left and right ... and not to mention the past year ... worth it. It was beautiful. We hung out around the grounds for awhile enjoying the scenery and people watching and relished in thr beauty of the Taj Mahal! It was wonderful.

After that we toured around the Agra Fort, which is the most spectacular of them all, supposedly. It was very confusing, so that impressed us, haha. The building was actually converted to a palace, and then a sort of prison when the Maja Raja's son took over and locked him away. You can go see where he stayed, locked away with a view of the Taj, where his wife was burried. The architecture was stunning and the ornamentation of each of the rooms was impressive - especially considering how old it all is, and how little restorations have been done. We were pretty wiped after all that, so we took it easy and ate a quick lunch near our hotel, and bummed around a local mall until dinner at one of the many cheap rooftop restaurants wiwth a Taj view. The entire day felt like a fairy tale!

This morning we got up early again, and stopped off at Sikandra (Akbar's Tomb) to enjoy the natural gardens and to get our last taste of Indian architecture before coming back to Delhi. Tomorrow morning we leave for the airport at THREE AM!!! Our flight to Cairo leaves at 7:30, and they recommend arriving three hours early in India. So that's that, and we'll get to the airport by 4.

A note to all who have been keeping up, India is sorely lacking in the post card department, so I doubt if I will be able to snag any at the airport. I am so sorry! But know I have been thinking of you all this whole time and wish you could be here to enjoy this with me!!!

Much love!