We left Jaipur for Agra city in the state of Uttar Pradesh where is one of the seven wonders of the world, the famous Taj Mahal. Agra is a city of over one million inhabitants and obviously very touristy, very noisy and it was where we felt more annoyed. It is impossible to step into the street without being approached every 3 meters by a seller, a tuk-tuk driver or a hotel or restaurant recruiter, well, nothing very pleasant. We stayed in a simple hotel but with a great view of the Taj Mahal.

The day after we went early in the morning to the long line of Taj Mahal entry. And there is nothing better to put Carol in a bad mood than refusing the entry to Kiki, with a smart reason that: ” there may be a bomb hidden inside of him … ” Ridiculous! The monument is really beautiful like in the pictures and luckily we arrived at 7am because with over 3 million visitors a year, the site is constantly crowed. But Taj Mahal without Kiki is not the same thing, hahaha …

Then we visited the fort of the city that didn’t impress us, even if it is still quite well preserved. We loved a little local restaurant called ”Joney’s place’’ that was super small and very simple, but the dishes were all delicious, and we ate there 5 times in 3 days.

From there we took a train to Orchha in Madhya Pradesh state. A small town super relaxed and pleasant, far from pollution, traffic and millions of horns. Aaaaah … So good! Orchha has 5 streets, a river with big rocks, beautiful and colorful old houses and 6 magnificent monuments including two nice palaces that we particularly liked with beautiful architecture. And in the evening we enjoyed a beautiful sunset in the river with view to the temples.

We met in the streets a local who invited us to his house to introduce his family and to offer a ”chai” (Indian spicy tea). We love this kind of experience; it is often the best you can get when traveling.

By chance we met again Serena and Silvia, an Italian and a Spanish girls living in India that were in our Camel Safari in the desert of Jaisalmer, and we spent a pleasant evening at the restaurant with them. The next day we went swimming in the river to refresh a little. Very nice…

It’s been over a month that we are in India and we can say that things are going pretty well. Travelling in India is much easier than many people say!