Two days In Jaipur- wow back to the big city. We spend the first afternoon doing some shopping the in the bazaars - shirts, pants ect. The bazaars are kind of like the mall plus every aisle of home depot and a dollar store separated into separate little shops. Need house paint, buckets , tires, a shawl dyed to match your pants anything you could think of. All sold "at special price .... Just for you " The city it self is quite gorgeous all red sandstone. The next day we headed out to the old city and Fort and place just outside the city nestled up in the hills. We rode an elephant up the long hill to the gates of the palace. We were a bit hesitant to ride the elephants as we weren't to sure about how they were treated. After talking with our rider however we felt much better - our elephants name was Ronny- she was 35 years old, loved bananas and had been his elephant for 15 years they only get ridden for 3 hours in the morning so they don't get too tired. The place was huge and extravagant. it had this one section called the hall of mirrors and it was all Marble and little bits of mirrored glass. It was gorgeous. We then headed out of to the mountains to a monkey temple. It was nestled in the hills by a stream- very old temple with a pool for bathers and tons of monkeys... Kinda cool just because it was these gorgeous old buildings pretty much built in a canyon. After this we headed back to the hotel for the afternoon for a much needed break from the heat and to enjoy the hotel. Next morning we headed out on a four hour drive to our next city. On the way we stopped at a old Fort/palace/temple that one of the Mhogal rulers had built it was kinda cool just in that it was almost Chinese in style but made in all the red sandstone materials of the the surrounding regions. There was also amazing carvings in the stone through out the entire complex. From there we headed to the city of Agra. Most familiarly known for the Taj Mahal. We headed there around 4 o'clock. The crowd are horrendous but if you just ignore everyone around you the sight of it is super overwhelming. It's simply huge , entirely symmetrical , glossy white and incredibly carved. It's part of a complex that also contains a mosque, the 4 minarets , a guesthouse and huge gardens. We spent about 2 hours there in the late evening light. Next day we told our guide we were skipping seeing the Fort in that town ( we are abit done seeing old buildings ). Instead we went to the other side of the river across from the Taj ( which is closed on Fridays ) we walked a dusty trail down to the rivers edge and from behind barbed wire, through the haze and watched over by army guys we enjoyed the greatness of the mausoleum which was built as a monument of love. On our walk back we came across a group of kids playing cricket. we watched for a while and then I joined in. They were super excited and happy to have me play. I actually surprised myself and hit it 3 out of the 4 pitches. From here we headed out towards dehli. Stopping to watch people who were doing massive amounts of laundry along the side of the river.
Once we got to dehli we checked into our hotel and then went off to the home of the manager of the tour company who arranged our driver ect He and his wife hosted is for dinner.
Saturday am we made our way to the airport once more and boarded a small flight bound for the small seaside state of Goa. We arrived mid afternoon and immediately felt the difference from the dry desert air to the humid coastal heat. We took a car to our bed and breakfast. It was an eccentric place- an old resorted Portuguese home run by a British brother and sister on a residential street in Majora Beach. We had a lovely room with a outdoor shower. There was a courtyard with a pool and broad porches on which to read. We felt a little like we were staying at the "best exotic marigold hotel " with all the British retirees who inhabited the place. But was great. There were rattley rusty bikes which we explored on that afternoon - ending up down by the beach to watch the sunset. The beach here was long, white sand, not developed with any places to stay but some beachy cafes and gorgeous warm water. FYI biking on the wrong side of the road takes significant concentration. Sunday was pretty chill as well - early morning devos on the porch, mid morning on the beach and afternoon by the pool. More biking excursions in the evening. Today we packed up and left Majora beach and headed further south to Palaloem. Here the beach is pretty developed but had a laid back hippy feel to it. We are definitely at the tail end of the tourist season and are thankful for that. We are staying in these amazing beach front "huts". Huts as not really a hut but the walls are woven and the roof is thatched. .... Besides that it has a nice porch, electricity, and a bed. Not much on the agenda for the next week except beaching and exploring around here. Pretty excited to not have to pack up again tomorrow.
Much love to everyone!! Missing you all.
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