Incredible India: The countryside, Jaipur and Delhi

Background: Bill (the event producer) made the India leg a Par 7.  This means that there is a LOT riding on this leg as whoever wins it will get a BIG point advantage on everyone else.  So we knew we had to do long, hard days to even stand a chance.  Rainey and I came into India in first place but a loss here would set us back dramatically. And this is a tough country, mainly because of the powerful heat.

Bird Sanctuary:  SO - After we saw the Taj Mahal, we headed for a bird sanctuary a pretty good distance out of Agra.  There we rented bikes and rode through the park.  Hard to explain how nice it was to just be away from people for a short time.  The sheer crowds of India can be oppressive.  But we were dripping with sweat by the time we returned the bikes as it was 100+ outside.

Then we drove through the countryside to Ramthanborne National park.  The road took us through small villages and open spaces.  To women fetching water from a village water pipe or just riding along in a thoroughly dusty truck…. In such color.

We spent the night at the national park and set off at dawn the next day on a jeep safari in search of Royal Bengal tigers.  Sadly we found none but the very next Great Escape team (whose safari was 10 minutes behind ours) saw TWO tigers… one was eating a kill… and got some National Geographic worthy photos (soooo jealous).  

We did see tons of monkeys and some of the baby monkeys made me laugh out loud.  They were being so scamper-y and naughty. And the really little ones just hug on to their moms and peak out at you

Then on to Jaipur where we stayed the night in one of the most incredible hotels I’ve ever been in: The Taj Rambagh Palace.  It was the actual palace of one of the last maharajahs and recently was turned into a luxury hotel.  Talk about special.

Sadly we had to just drop our bags and head straight back out to the city as we only had one afternoon to see Jaipur and there were LOTS of points on the table there.  We even had to dress up in traditional Indian garb for a photo.

How ridiculous do we look?

Then palaces and temples and shrines galore

And we ended our day in Jaipur with a Bollywood movie at this old-fashioned ballroom-styled movie theater.  Lots of singing and dancing.  And all in Hindi with no sub-titles. Quite an experience.

The next morning, it was back to Delhi by train for some last minute scavenges before check-in. In Delhi we volunteered for a few hours at charity, working with kids in the nursery.  Such smiles...

What about a country where people just live - and wash up - on the streets?  And no-one gives them a second glance?

Emily's plotting face...

Next stop... Dubai.  A new country for me. Love it.