Final reflections

Monday 

Today was the last day of our adventure. We've been travelling all day and using the journey to reflect on our time in India (and watch the excellent selection of in-flight films). For our final treasure and trash of the trip we went through everyone's trip highlights and trashes - for most people the main treasures were the time spent at Sangam, the community projects, making promises at the Taj Mahal and getting closer as a group. The main trash was coming home! We also talked about how the time in India has allowed everyone to discover their potential - be it confidence, leadership, independence or something else! It has been great to see everyone flourish as the days have gone by. 

The leaders would like to thank all the girls for being so brilliant throughout the trip. 

We hope everyone will cherish their memories of the trip for years to come, and spread the message of how great international guiding is far and wide. 

Sarah, Sarah and Catherine. 

Double decker train to Delhi

Written on Sunday, but wifi was down in the hotel therefore posted ASAP.  

Today (Sunday) we woke up at 4:45am and made our way to the train station. We got a double decker train which would take us back to Delhi. Most of us slept and the journey went extremely fast. When we did arrive in Delhi it was extremely hot and humid! 

We drove to Intercity Hotel, had some free time to relax and then we went to a market to do some more shopping. There were lots of people trying to sell us things and one man, who was trying to sell bags, dropped his price dramatically in the five minutes he was trying to sell bags! We didn't buy any bags but it was funny when the price dropped from five hundred rupees to one hundred rupees! 

We were going out for dinner so when we got back to the hotel we all got ready and got the coach to a shopping centre where we were going for dinner. On the coach we had a sing using an iPod and the microphone to make the music louder!

The restaurant we were eating at was called 100% Rock. Some of us had Mocktails and lots of different meals. The restaurant played rock songs and we chose a few! We even danced a bit! At the hotel we did treasure & trash and went straight to bed ready for our day of travel tomorrow!!!!

Amber Fort, Jaipur

Today we woke up for an 8:30 buffet breakfast at the Bissau Palace hotel, then got ready to leave for 9:30. Unfortunately it was raining so we couldn't visit the observatory as we had planned, because it was all in the open. So instead we went straight to the amber fort which was next in the list of things to do. We travelled up the hill to the fort by jeeps along a very bumpy road. 

The amber fort was very interesting and beautiful and we learnt a lot from our tour guide. Although we did get completely soaked, so when we got on the bus the majority of us turned our jumpers into skirts. 

We then got back on the bus and went for lunch at Pizza Hut (still wearing our lovely jumper skirts). After all eating quite a lot of pizza we headed back to the hotel. The original plan was to visit elephantastic however we were unable to due to the heavy rain, and it may have not been safe to travel there and back as some roads were flooded. 

Back at the hotel a few of us went in the pool which was very fun and relaxing. We're now all relaxing and are about to have a nice Indian dinner at the hotel. Then tomorrow it's an early start and off to Dehli. 

Written by Daisy. 

Jaipur

Today we left Atithi Hotel (in Agra) and got the coach to Fatepur Sikri. Fatepur means Victory and Sikri means town so it's name together means Victory town! The King Akbaar made this town and it took him 14 years to build. Although, His family and the people only lived there for four years. King Akbaar is the grandfather or Great grandfather of the King that made the Taj Mahal. 

 

After visiting the town we had our lunch where lots of us were able to eat French fries! We then had a four hour journey on the coach where many of us slept. We got off the coach and entered the hotel where we saw that the walls were being hand painted! We got the coach to the cinema and watched the first half of a Bollywood movie and most of us followed well considering that it was in Hindi! At the interval we left for dinner which was delicious! And most of us danced with some of the local ladies trying out some Bollywood dancing!!! 

We are now back at the hotel ready for bed. 

Star of the day: Ellie, for being an excellent group leader and being enthusiastic at Bollywood dancing (Lara was a close second, nominated for always putting other people before herself)

Written by Ellie x

Agra

Today we departed Delhi on our lovely air conditioned bus. We arrived in Agra at 1ish when we checked into our hotel and then went to a local Indian restaurant for lunch. 

After lunch we visited the Red Fort, where we had a guided tour.  It was very interesting as we got to see the different architectural influences from the different religions. At certain points of the Fort we could see the back of the Taj Mahal which made us very eager and excited for later today. After much anticipation the time had come to visit India's most famous landmark. We were all very excited to see the front of the Taj Mahal. 

When we got in we were told all about the history of the palace which was really interesting, after learning about the history we had an hour to take photos (take on the role of Princess Diana) and look at the inside of the Taj Mahal. We all renewed our promises in front of the Taj Mahal, with seven girls making their senior section promise for the first time.  

Then we got back on the bus and did a bit of bus shopping - where the sellers show us the products  and we can decide in a safe environment if we want to purchase the item. This evening we went to a Chinese and Indian restaurant- which was sooo nice and tasty!!!

Star of the day: Daisy - for trying different foods.

Emilia and Chloe xxx

Delhi

Today we explored Delhi - a really long day but lots to see! 

We started out with a tour of old Delhi. We travelled there on the metro which was lovely because we were in a women only carriage and the metro has air con (much needed as Delhi was over forty degrees today!) The tour of old Delhi included the spice market, jama masjid (a huge mosque) and a Sikh temple where we were invited into the kitchens to make chapati! 

After that we had lunch and visited the lotus temple. We then went to New Delhi where we saw lots of wide streets and colonial houses. We saw the presidents house and India gate. We then went to Connaught place - an open air shopping market where Lydia tested her bartering skills. Finally we had dinner and we're now back at the hotel ready for bed and the Taj Mahal tomorrow! 

Leaving Sangam and arriving in Delhi (Tuesday)

Yesterday, we woke up a little late (8:20) and finished packing, and also started our first activity which was laughing yoga, it turned out to be a very new experience for most of the group. After our new experience of laughing yoga, we had reflection time to remember all of the amazing things we had done, which was an incredible amount in 10 days. This led us to finally and reluctantly having to take our bags out of our dorms and weigh them (they were all a little over the 15kg but you can't live without bangles, sari's and punjabi's). After we had lunch, we finally had to say goodbye, which was harder than we all thought it would be. We waved from the rickshaw, and found all the staff waving back. We arrived at the airport a couple of minutes later, during the very short flight most fell asleep or listened to music. After the flight, we had a short journey to our hotel where we were all very hungry. Our hunger led us all the way to Pizza Hut (which just happened to be round the corner). After some yummy food everyone fell exhausted into bed! 

Lara xx