Jodhpur & Agra!

I immediately fell in love with Jodhpur on arrival. Our hotel room was gorgeous, with Indian themed interior design and yet still reasonably priced (900 rupees a night) overlooking a  view of the beautiful blue buildings of the city and the fort at the top of it all. It was a good city for shopping for materials, however you need to be aware of shopkeepers lies such as that they produce scarves for Hermes and Burberry. One shopkeeper had even photoshopped a photo of Liz Hurley next to him and his staff!! (He has recently been found to be a fraud by a local newspaper). 
We visited the fort which was gorgeous with exquisitely decorated rooms, where we learnt about the most recent Maharaja of Rajasthan who was crowned at just four years old! 
The next day was holi; a hindu festival of colour, so after being kept up all night by people playing drums in the streets (we had joined them for a bit but didn't want to stay out too late) we put on some clothes we didn't care about and headed to the streets to find a place serving breakfast. Before we had even eaten we had been pelted by paint and water by children, as well as chased by angry street dogs who were obviously agitated by the festivities. Everywhere was closed so we ended up going back to our hotel for some food and spent an hour or so throwing water balloons outside our window. It was just like being a kid again. We threw some more paint around with the people from the hotel but had been warned not to go too far in the afternoon as the young boys who have had a drink get very touchy feely and rude to girls, using the paint throwing as an excuse to put their hands down womens tops. In the evening the hotel put on some traditional Rajasthani dancing and singing. 
Next we travelled to Agra to see the famous Taj Mahal! Somebody we met on our travels had told us that when they saw the Taj for the first time it was so beautiful it made them cry.. It didn't quite have that effect on me but it did make me stop in my tracks speechless for a second or two. There are lots of rooftop restaurants so you can get a good look without actually having to pay to go inside the grounds. When we did spend a day inside we got up before sunrise; meaning we had an early start of around 5am! It was completely worth it though as we got there before most other tourists and saw how the marble changed colour through different parts of the day. It is definitely the most beautiful building I have ever seen. Agra however was not so nice; the streets are so hectic, you can't walk a few metres without rickshaw and cycle drivers pestering you to take a look at their friends shop but I guess this is to be expected from the city with one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world. 
We then continued on the tourist trail to Varanasi to see the Hindu ceremonies being performed on the ghats of the holy river Ganges.