We started off today at the Amber fort in Jaipur. For some reason, the hawking here seems particularly heavy, a theme that was to continue. The Amber fort, though, is magnificent — it’s a labyrinth of connecting rooms, built through the walls of several connecting courtyards. Strange for me, the most interesting bit was the latrines (historical, not modern day, I hasten to add) and the water system. They had underground storage facilities, a system for elevating the water. In general, though I had a great time wandering through the rooms, finding new places.

After that we drove to a Agra Fort; we were short of time, but we managed to see much of it — the rooms were strange, over built over several levels. Finally, we saw the mosque at the back with relentless hawking, including demands for money in exchange for shoe guarding.

Finally a hellish journey into Agra — it was foggy and polluted, worse in the cold snap I suspect than normal. The driver didn’t know his way, and his relentless stopping resulted in a bike crashing into this rear end; minor injuries, fortunately, no worse. We finally got to the Garden Villas guest house, where we were staying. This was inside a drab, gated community, but inside the rooms were good with a warm welcome and an excellent, home-cooked curry. No complaints there.