India

Now in Agra after an epic journey. An hour in a tuk-tuk dodging traffic in Delhi, a manic New Delhi train station which was heaving with people who were sat/sprawled anywhere they could to shade out of the scorcher of a day. We boarded the train at 13:35 – half an hour before it was scheduled to depart. Sat on a bottom bunk sleeper seat for a scheduled 3hr journey and arrived in Agra at 18:40 with 2 bags of a crisps as sustinence! (we’re loving the crisps here and india time!) I count 5 hours on the train. Sunday’s train is a 6hr 30min journey so who knows when we’ll get to Ajmer! ...

Today is the third day since we arrived in Delhi. This place is crazy. The roads are chaotic and you assume that there must be crashes every five minutes but somehow, everyone manages to weave in and out of each other as if controlled by some collective brain. Walking around the main parts of Delhi is pretty tiring. Touts constantly approach offering helpful directions to the official tourist office where you can book trains and trips. I spent 20 minutes waffling to some guys in a park that were friendly and just chatted about travelling before Karen realised they were touts playing the long game. I’m hoping Delhi is a baptism of fire for India because I wouldn’t describe this as relaxing! ...