Week 3 - India

Week three already and I'm growing somewhat accustomed to the many resplendent forts and palaces. At first I tried heartily to soak in their individual histories and stories, but inevitably they were always built by Maharaja something something Singh (insert random number) between 1400 and 1800. Instead, I have taken to amusing myself in other ways...

Filming monkeys in Amer Fort (Jaipur) - he looks cute now, 

but in 5 seconds it's like a scene from Planet of the Apes

 Just when I fort I'd seen em all! (Sorry :P)

I had heard mostly negative reviews of Jaipur from fellow travellers and so I went with low expectations. Fortunately I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the cities unique personality and tourist attractions. I was mightily impressed that it had both the world's largest cannon, Jaiwana (capable of firing 22 miles no less) and an intriguing collection of astronomical instruments at Jantar Mantar.

They call Jaipur the "Pink City" - looks kinda orange to me (Hawa Mahal View)

Yep looks about right... (Jantar Mantar)

Next up it was time for something different, a safari to Ranthambore National Park to find me a tiger! Even though I knew our odds were slim (I estimated 20% from park facts), I couldn't help but point excitedly and have the group agasp at a rock or common deer more than once.

Unfortunately taking pictures of the wildlife proved difficult, either because they were hiding, running, or in the tiger's case, did not exist.

No ideer why they couldn't all be this friendly (again, trully sorry :P)

Yep, so these are women, they tend to run or hide less often

This is where we waited for the tigers. Saying "here kitty kitty didn't seem to be working"

Perhaps the grandest landscape I have ever seen - masterfully I have managed to completely not capture it on camera

Next up was the woeful train of the night. I had foolishly allowed myself to be booked a SL. class train to Agra (I believe it stands for slum). After a short four hour delay, I was finally able to board and find my bed. I flicked a cockroach off it and jumped from a passing rat before making myself uncomfortable. This was going to be fun. I was of course the only western face out of several hundred people on the platform. Even my mp3 player seemed to mock me. "The day I caught the train" came on and then another song chided "there's no place I would rather be, there's no place I would rather be". 

Still, I think I took the news that the train was in fact now going to be going to another city very well. Details, details and 13 hours later at 3am I collapsed (clothes still on) into my hotel bed.

I've had worse, but not often

Right as rain I sprung at 7am to see the almighty Taj Mahal. What blog would be complete without a picture of one of the wonders of the world. 

Simply stunning - we do not mock the Taj