So our time in India is almost up! It was only right to travel to our final stop via our favoured (not!) night bus, bumping along for 12 hours until we stumbled off at 10am at our destination – Agra, home to the Taj Mahal!

Day 42 – Agra Fort

We got a tuktuk to Alibaba’s Indiana homestay (never did get to the bottom of that name) which had a lovely roof garden where we could recover from the journey and plan our last 36 hours in India. We had a few last sites we wanted to see as well as some boring admin tasks that needed doing before we set off.

The first order of business was to source a rug, the final thing we were hoping to buy during our trip here. Our house decor is really going to scream gap year by the time we make it back. We found a nearby rug cooperative round the corner from us and were given the full tour of the workshop and the rundown on how they are made; extremely impressive all handmade usually by a father/ son duo some taking months to complete. We were then brought upstairs to the showroom for the hard part picking out a rug and of course the bargaining process. During our 6 weeks in India we have gotten marginally better at bargaining but it definitely doesn’t come easy to us and it feels like a bit of a charade that has to get played out each time we purchase something! We eventually picked out a beautiful blue rug and got down to half the salesman’s opening price (which is where we have been told is a good place to end up) and the rug is currently en route to SE London!

We then rushed off to visit Agra Fort before sunset. It was built in the 16^th century and was the main residence for the Mughal dynasty and is built in very striking red sandstone. It was absolutely packed but the sunset meant the light on the red stone was very beautiful and it was a fun place to do some people watching. On the way back we stopped off for our last thali (how we will miss these!) and got ourselves ready for an early start in the morning.

Day 43 – The Taj Mahal

We were staying next door to a mosque, so the loud early morning call to prayer woke us up even earlier than our alarm clock. We jumped up and headed off on a tuktuk to the Taj Mahal. Often the first image that comes to mind when people picture visiting India, we were both very excited to finally see it with our own eyes. As it is closed on Friday, we were visiting on a Saturday, along with the whole country it felt like! Despite being crazy busy, it was truly magnificent, it was a clear blue sky day (a bit of a rarity in polluted Agra) and the early morning sun lit up the domes beautifully. We wandered round the complex with the thousands of other tourists, snapping lots of pictures and feeling a bit awe struck to be here! After getting our Taj Mahal fill, we headed back to our homestay for some breakfast on the lovely roof garden.

After some packing and chilling out, we had to get back to business, sending back to London all our India purchases and printing off visas. Our very kind tuktuk driver, Pappu, took us to India Post, the government postal service, translating for us and taking us through the very complicated process of sending back our goods which involved them being sewn into a box and then clingfilmed. Amazingly, they made it back in five days, quicker than it can be to return an Amazon order in the UK! We then headed to the print shop to print our Cambodia visas off.

Yes, we are veering off the original plan, but isn’t that what travelling is all about? We were supposed to be flying to Kathmandu to spend a month in Nepal trekking in the Himalayas which we were super excited for. Unfortunately, a family friend and some further research warned us off as the air quality and visibility was so bad and unlikely to improve any time soon. After recovering from a chest infection, we didn’t fancy taking the risk both for health reasons and also hiking without views defeats the point a bit. We are both disappointed not to be going but we will get there one day!

Our last few hours in India were spent in the back on a taxi to Delhi with perhaps our worst driver yet, save the best to last! After a few hours being thrown around followed by an hour of standstill Delhi traffic we were at the airport checking in our bags and saying goodbye to India.

So… goodbye India! It has been a fab six weeks and I have enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. South India captured our hearts completely, with beautiful nature, beaches and more relaxed feel. The sites of the North were incredible despite the crowds and heat. We had so many kind homestay hosts and other people we met along the way who have helped us get about and taught us lots about our host country. And god did we eat well, we’ve consumed more thalis, paneer and dahl than we’ll probably manage in the rest of our lives, bloody delicious!! Cheers India, we’ll be back!