India the land of contrasts

There are many misconceptions about India, but you must go as you will feel that you have missed one of the most enchanting countries you will ever encounter. What has struck me most are the colours and the scents that are around every way of life, and the smiles of the people and the love they have for their country are etched in my memory. Basic street life lives side by side with the opulence of the grand palaces and hotels, but they all look after each other.

Traffic is Chaotic, but adds to the excitement as in the many miles we travelled there were no accidents, even with Cows; dogs, Goats and much more merely strolling in the middle of it all, all knowing they were safe.

Delhi the Capital is a city of two halves New Delhi and Old Delhi. Old Delhi is where you will find the traditional way of life - The Rickshaw ride through Old Delhi was an amazing experience with a visit to the Spice Market, and ending with a visit to the most inspiring Mosque Gurudwara Bangla Sahib - A Sikhs Mosque where everyone is welcome regardless of cast or religion, where volunteers feed thousands of people on daily basis all for free.

New Delhi, as it suggests more upmarket with green areas and hotels etc. Our journey carried on the Agra the Home of the infamous Taj Mahal, this is a must and this is such a stunning place to visit - We took a local train from Delhi (Gold class of course) which too about 1 hour 30 mins. This is the highlight of the journey and I cannot tell you how beautiful this place is.

Onwards on our Golden Triangle adventure to Jaipur, 5 hours by road take us to Jaipur and the Amber fort which is the ancient capital of Amber - not in regards to the colour. This fort is amazing, we took jeeps up to the entrance past snake charmers and various vendors. The history of this and the view was amazing. On Route again for a 7-hour interesting journey to Udaipur to carry on our journey through Rajasthan. We stayed in Delwara in the most amazing property the Raas Devigarh, Set on the hillside with the most inspiring views I have ever seen, from here we visited the City Palace, took another Rickshaw ride through the markets and had lunch overlooking Lake Pichola. During Our stay, we visited a local school in Delwara, where we arranged to have a water Filter installed in memory of our gorgeous colleague Angela Mayall, who we sadly lost far too early, earlier this year - The whole Village as well as all the lovely children welcomed us to unveil this amongst prayers and songs.

This day is one I will never forget to see the faces of the children and the teachers and the help of the manager of the hotel and Nikhil and Cheryl from ITC for making this happen. We then took an internal flight back to Delhi for our Virgin flight back to London, The internal flight was with Vistara which is part of Singapore Airlines and we were more than impressed with Udaipur Airport and this airline.

Links for hotels that we used.

https://www.raashotels.com/devigarh/

https://samode.com/samode-haveli/

https://www.tajhotels.com/en-in/destination/hotels-in-agra