Happy New Year!

Having arranged to arrive back in Delhi by 8pm after our Agra trip, we had planned to go to the interestingly named Gaylord Restaurant and Bar for our new year celebrations.

We forgot the Indian railways punctuality is only marginally better than the Uk's! (Giving credit for the sheer vastness of India of course)

Mrs G and I, in company with the four other volunteers who had also finished work-placements got into our hotel exactly ten minutes to midnight. We charged up to our rooms throwing our passports at reception, whirling past the too-slow porters in the process, got bags open, found whiskey, glasses and hotel room-service menus and then all jumped into one room, just in time to count down the last 10 seconds of 2007, in time with televised Delhi celebrations. When the cheer went up, Niels, a young lad from Denmark lept off the bed as per to his home traditions, and we all hugged each other passing best wishes, as fireworks went off outside our window, and the TV blared some funky Bollywood hits. We then ordered possibly the best (and hottest) curry we've had in India so far, chugging whiskey and colas for an hour before collapsing into much-needed sleep.

The following morning we all said our goodbyes (except for Bethany, who is still floating about with us, joining us for a really nice new years meal last night. From which she is still recovering, bless her).

We then got a hotel in the shitty back-packer hole that is Pahaganj, a kilometer or so from gleaming Connaught Place, with it's much-needed Amex and tourist offices, and not too far from the Thai embassy. We're here now just to sort out our replacement travellers cheques (a full month after they went walkabout, useless Gaands), check out times and prices for a trip to Varanasi, and the practicalities of a flying trip to Nepal before we start work again in Goa.

The past weeks, having no work available, was spent chilling out in Mcleod again. We visited the Tibetan museum, a sobering experience which has still not left us. We also just walked, finding real tranquility St. John's in the Wilderness church. With its grass so much like that in the uk, and it's British graves, sunlight dappling them through the tall pines, and it's silence, India seemed a million miles away, with it's endless cars, horns, cows in the road, kids on the streets, deprivation, poverty, and pollution.

After our rest in Mcleod Ganj we travelled to Delhi by overnight train (which are starting to grow on me, despite the cabbage small and constant barrage of trinket/chai/biriyani-sellers), then a further 3 hours to Agra where we stayed overnight.
Our hotel in Agra was amazing compared to the budget hotels we had been in so far, which although spotlessly clean were always freezing cold (marble floors, no heaters, mountain temperatures). The food there was good too, with a fantastic spicy Indian breakfast of curried potatoes, puri and super-hot lime pickle, washed down with fresh papaya juice.

After breakfast we went to the Taj Mahal, which is without doubt, the most amazing building I've ever seen. Going inside is not so nice- the no-shoes policy creates a stink. Really.
We also seen the Red Fort (also hugely impressive), and the marble factory, where we were shown how the precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid into the marble of the Taj' to create the fantastic pictures of birds and flowers. We then "no, no, no-ed" our way out of the shop, which just happened to be the exit of the factory. Even if we liked the solid-marble coffee table, I would need another rucksack for my socks...

After Agra, on new years eve, we made our late trip to Delhi, getting to Agra station in plenty of time before our train. There we waiting for hours reading, playing cards, and watching the railway children ply their trade. Occasionally they disappeared, slapped off the platform by the police, or renewing their handkerchief-wrapped glue which they'd sniff deeply and regularly.
From Agra, to Delhi, to Jaipur, and Palumpur, few things change.