We started the journey up to Nepal with a brief stop in Agra. Not to see the Taj Mahal, which we've seen before, but just to rest. It was worth it for some good south Indian food and a visit to Fatahpur Sikri, an ancient Mughal city which is now ruins, a gigantic mosque and some stunning old palaces. We spent the afternoon wandering around there, then waited for the bus back to Agra, which never turned up. We squeezed into a jeep with eight other foreigners, feeling a bit tricked and missing the sunset over the Taj. Never mind.
The missing bus turned out to be the beginning of a theme. Or train from Agra to Lucknow was delayed by two hours, so we were frantic we would miss our connection to the border town, Gorakhpur. We shouldn't have worried - that train was delayed by two, then three, then five-ish hours. The whole of India was journeying home for Holi festival. Trains were pulling out of the station with three-deep men hanging out of the door. They're braver than me, but they probably just wanted to escape the station, which was more like a zoo. There were rats fighting in the tracks, scruffy monkeys foraging for banana skins, all kinds of human and cows lumbering down the platform. And the accompanying smells.
Just in time, before we ran screaming to the nearest airport, our train rocked up and we were soon settled in our nice air-con carriage with a delicious dinner, ice cream and a friendly soldier. Phew.
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