"Welcome to India!"

The only word to describe how I felt our first day in India is: overwhelmed. We flew into New Delhi and our very kind tour guide Praveen picked us up and took us around for a bit and then dropped us at the train station for our train to Agra. As we drove around the streets were filled with cars,bikes, motorbikes, people, goats, water buffalo etc all swerving in and out of lanes...well there aren't really any lanes here. Like our guide said "It's like everyone is trying to win a race here!" Everyone uses their horn here like an extension of their arm. Then after the drive through organized chaos we got to the train station and went to the platform our guide told us to go to. There were people lying on the ground all over at the station. Garbage lined the tracks, and sweat was dripping down my back. As I was taking a photo of Christine a man walked by and pushed me out of the way, and another man said "Welcome to India!" And we both laughed.




Day two in India was so much better! We had a fantastic day actually.We got up early to see the Taj Mahal and it was quite beautiful.











While we were there people kept staring at us and taking photos. A couple people were daring enough to ask to take photos of us. Here is one family that did. It was so funny. I felt like we were celebrities for a bit.


We then went to Agra fort, which is very beautiful with intricate designs and architecture. We could also feel a nice breeze in this spot, which made it even nicer.


We then went to a rug weaving factory and the man their had us try on some saris.


At the end of the day we had some time before our train, so our guide took us to a coffee shop where we ate a brownie and hung out. This was one of my favorite parts of the day. It was really fun talking to our guide Nitin and his friends. As we were sitting their two wedding parties passed by in the street. The second one had dancing. So as we were taking photos of them they pulled us in to join them. Christine and I danced and they were so excited about it. The girl below was trying to teach me some dance moves. It was sooo fun! They kept grabbing me to dance with them. One person would pull me one way and I would dance and then another would pull me another direction and I would dance, while they were taking photos. Again we were treated like celebrities. They thanked us profusely for dancing with them. This experience is in my top three favorite moments of this trip.





I love these people they are so kind and loving!


This is the groom on a horse.


Some of the women we danced with.


This is are amazing guide Nitin. He took such good care of us in Agra. He bought us water when we needed it, took us to the train station and waited for our train to come, and he even bought me a muffin, so I could eat it for breakfast the next morning after our night train. We have met such great people on our trip so far!