Safely back home

After an early breakfast at the German Bakery on Main Bazaar, we got taxis to the airport.
There was another shopping opportunity at departures, and plenty of time for a Costa coffee and a McDonalds!

The flight went quickly - watching films and playing "Who wants to be a millionaire".

Our bags arrived very quickly, with nothing missing!  Then we went through to meet our welcome party, where there were lots of smiles and more photos.

We all had an amazing time in India and I'm sure you'll hear much more about our travels.

Back in Delhi

Hi

We've now arrived back in Delhi for a final day of shopping!  We're staying at the hotel we first stayed in, so it's like coming home.

Wednesday 3rd August - The Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal was breathtaking.  It was amazing to see.  Definitely a highlight of the trip.  We stayed there until sunset, but unfortunately the sun set behind some cloud, so we didn't see the orange glow.

Tuesday 2nd August - Teej festival and Amber Fort

We dressed up for the occasion at the Teej festival in Jaipur, which is a ladies festival.  When we got there, some local ladies helped to rearrange the saris!  The festival was an experience.  At times, our group had more onlookers than the festival itself.  There was a procession of coconut-decorated towers, followed by elephants, camels, dancers and bands.

We travelled by elephant up to Amber Fort.  It was a bit of a bumpy ride but an experience we will not forget.

Hope you have all enjoyed hearing about our World Challenge expedition to India.  There will probably be one last entry.  See you tomorrow!

The India team.

End of project

Hi
We're back in Jaipur after successfully completing our project at Sharda Primary School.  We helped to build a boundary wall and dug around 50 holes for planting trees, as well as weeding over 6ft tall weeds!  The temperature was almost unbearable at times, but we were lucky to get a 3 hour break from 12 to 3pm, when we could go back to our camp and cool off in the pool.  We worked from 8am to 6pm.  Our food was cooked for us by a chef from our hotel in Jaipur, and we learned how to make masala tea and chapatis, so look forward to some when we return!

So, we're now officially on R&R.  We're relaxing and shopping today, going to Amber Fort tomorrow for an elephant ride, then going to the Teej festival in Jaipur, travelling to Agra on Wednesday with some sightseeing en route and seeing the Taj Mahal at sunset, then off to Delhi on Thursday/Friday for more shopping.

Just a reminder that our flight is on Saturday 6th August, flight VS301 which arrives at London Heathrow Terminal 3 at 1755.  We should be through customs/immigration by 1830 at the earliest.  See you there!

Drinking masala chai at breakfast.

The end of our project - sweaty and tired!

Collecting drinking water from the well.

Building a boundary wall, with the "mechanic" (Builder!)

Enjoy more photos!

Jaipur - The Pink City

Hi

We are now in Jaipur, Rajasthan, where the temperature is a little different from Manali. We waited 3 hours for a coach from Mandi to Chandigarh, which didn't arrive due to a landslide!  So, we got a taxi instead, which took over 6 hours.  We just made our train, with 10 minutes to spare!  The sleeper train was an experience, where most of us managed to get the best night's sleep in ages, despite the smells and noises from our fellow passengers.  We arrived in Jaipur and then went to the Bissau Palace hotel, which is amazing!  It's a former palace, and it's like staying in a museum.  Many of us wish we could stay here longer.  The pool is a great escape from the intense heat.

Today, we had a day of sightseeing in Jaipur.  We visited the City Palace, The Water Palace, The Hawa Mahal, Gaitore, a textile factory and also fitted in some haggling!

We're off to start our project tomorrow, so may not have internet until 2nd August.  In the meanwhile, enjoy these pictures:

The City Palace

Gaitor

The Water Palace

Mandi

Hi

We've successfully finished the trekking phase of our expedition!  We decided to miss out the rest day at Prashar Lake, so we finished a day early.  On the first day of our trek, we acquired two dogs - Limpy and Mandi, who stayed with us until the end of the trek!  They usefully ate up all our leftover food each meal, including jam, onion and cucumber sandwiches - yes, all in the same sandwich!  The food that our cooks served up was delicious, with a variety of dishes served every meal.  The trek was hard at times, with steep uphill stretches, and the last day we descended all the height we gained over the previous 4 days, which was hard-going.  The team worked well together to get through the trek and spirits remained high.  We have remained remarkedly healthy.  We had a few leeches attach themselves on the last day, but were removed quickly.  On the final night of the trek, the monsoon rain flooded out Claire and Simon's tents.  The World Challenge tents were much more durable and all the students stayed dry.  We arrived in Mandi yesterday, where we managed to dry out our kit and have a much-needed shower!  Today, we visited a temple up the hillside. We are leaving Mandi on Monday morning by bus to Chandigarh, where we will catch an overnight train to Jaipur.  Enjoy the photos!

The team near the end of the trek.

The toilet tent!

Relaxing at the end of the trek.

Manali

We have arrived in Manali after a 13 hour coach journey.  It's much cooler here and the scenery is really nice - it looks a bit like Switzerland.  We've been staying in an old colonial house.  We've bought supplies for our trekking phase, including 10kg of rice!  We had to travel on our food back to our hotel,  Emaline sat on the carrots, and Nena almost sat on the eggs.  We went to the Vashisht Temple near Manali where there are hot springs.  The water was almost too hot to get in to.  We all turned a bright shade of red.
Today, we are travelling to the start of our trek, so won't have internet access for another week.
Bye!

Our last project day in Delhi

Travelling by autorickshaw to our project.

Saying goodbye was hard.  A few tears were shed!

We're off to Manali tomorrow afternoon, after a bit of sightseeing in Delhi.  Blog will be updated whenever possible!