Two Rucksacks One Boy

  On the way to Agra from Ranthamborn we stopped of at Fatehpur Sikri which is a huge structure that is part of an abandoned city. There were lots of goats as well as lots of beehives which were perched high up in the arches of the building. After half an hour we got bored of being offered chess sets and other souvenirs we weren’t interested in and so we headed back to Sunny.     We got to Agra late afternoon and went for a walk around the tiny streets in front of the palace – it wasn’t long before we were completely lost amongst the fruit sellers and ox-carts with monkeys jumping on the corrugated roof, with no idea in which direction the palace was. It took us a while to get our bearings again and we eventually found a rooftop bar from which we could see a very misty Taj. As it was our last day with Sunny we ended our time together as we had started it, with a bottle of rum on a rooftop.     The next day we woke up and it was still very foggy – appare...

  Next stop was Ranthambore which is the home of Ranthambore national park. A 392km² area which is in turn is the home of around 30 Tigers. We’d met several people along our travels who’d been to the park and had seen tigers, though we’d met many more who had been and had seen nothing; We didn’t have high hopes, but we were going to give it a try.   We set off for the Safari at 6am on a large open-topped truck that could seat about 20 people.   We drove around the park for a couple of hours. Stopping every now and then so our guides could listen for signs of Tigers. After a couple of minutes the engine would roar to life again and we’d be on the move. Our guides alerted us to sounds of monkeys – apparently it was a sign of distress they make when they see a predator (hopefully a tiger!)   We’d been driving around the park for around two and a half hours and we’d lost what little hope we’d had of seeing a tiger … then we turned a corner and saw two – which wa...

  Our next stop was Jaipur, another city surrounded by forts! We spent the day exploring the forts surrounding the city.   One of the forts had excellent views over Jaipur – and lots of monkeys who liked to steal your food! We spent one night in Jaipur and ended up meeting the Lebanese girls we’d met in Udaipur. The next day we headed towards Ranthambore national park, along the way we stopped off at a monkey temple.