Famed for the awe-inspiring Taj Mahal, Agra is a city with a fascinating history and is rich in Mughal heritage,  lush gardens and exquisite buildings and temples. (Trip Notes)
Finally the awesome Taj Mahal!
This is when being on a tour with an amazing tour guide really helps. Monty had taxis ready for us at some ungodly hour and we were waiting at the top of the queue well before the gates opened at 6am. It was just amazing to see this wonderful view as the sun rose, long before the crowds took it over. 

You cannot visit the Taj Mahal without visiting the Agra Fort. Watch the short video below to understand the connection. 

Hawa Mahal or "Palace of Winds" was built in 1798 as a part of the City Palace.
It is an icon of Jaipur. Its unique honeycomb design comes from the five stories of intricately latticed windows.
These were designed to allow the ladies of the court to see out over the street with out being seen.
The lattice also helps to cool the air flowing through it.
It is built of red and pink sandstone and is spectacular when it seems to glow in the early morning light.

As part of the tour, we had an option to go to the cinema and watch a Bollywood movie. We all opted to go and we saw Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. 
The film itself was very enjoyable. Not too long by Bollywood standards at about 3 hours (Bollywood movies can be much longer). It was the true story of Milkha Singh, one of the greatest Indian athletes. While the dialogue was mostly in Hindi, some of the film was set in Australia and it was easy to follow the storyline. We also had some whispered help from Monty. Eventhough it was a serious story of courage, resiliance and endurance there was room for plenty of Bollywood dancing and singing!
Now the cinema experience. First of all the cinema was a beautiful building, very plush and ornate. There was an interval during the film and plenty of time to stock up on snacks. The audience behaviour was something none of us were used to. Maybe because many films are so long, the audience seemed to treat it as background entertainment to their own conversations. Phones were freely answered, catchups continued and the noise level from the audience was quite high. As we got into the film, the audience seemed to participate with it more. When Milkha competed in a major race the audience cheered him on, hollered when he won, whistled when he kissed the girl and shouted at the badies! Truely an experience. 
While I won't provide links to it here, I see the full movie is uploaded to youtube if anyone would like to view it. 

Jaipur is Monty's home and he invited all 12 of us for dinner at his apartment. He is also an amazing cook!

Also known as the Great Indian Desert is the 18th largest subtropical desert in the world. It is 200,000 square kilometres in area and how else to travel this ocean of sand but on the "ships of the desert". My first camel trip!
The plan was to travel by camel to our campsite and sleep under the stars. I suppose there's a clue in the category of desert "subtropical". We had just finished dinner when the thunder and lightening started, followed by heavy rain! The camels were abandoned and Monty called for the jeeps-back to the hotel in Jaisalmer!
Can you guess why we couldn't stay in the desert if there was a lot of rain?........snakes!

 In the summer of 2013 I spent a month in India beginning with a three week Intrepid North India Unplugged tour and ending with almost a week in Kolkata. I was very lucky to have Monty Bhatt (2015 World Guide Award Winner) as our tour guide on this "basic" trip. Basic in Intrepid travel terms means local trains, buses, tuk-tuks, rickshaws and basic accommodation- home-stays and guesthouses. We got a true sense of India and got to partake in lots of Indian everyday life. The tour has changed slightly and can be found here. Monty has since set up his own company Undiscovered India Travel.
​You will see from my account and photos, that Monty or Intrepid Travel are a great way to visit India.