A very late update!

hello everyone!
Sorry it's been awhile since we've updated! The past few days have been a little hectic- lots of good-byes, lots of traveling, etc. We departed Lucknow on Saturday night on an overnight train. We were a bit apprehensive about the cleanliness of the beds, but it was much better than we expected. We got to Delhi at around 9:00 AM and Zan headed off to spend a night at the embassy and continue on to spend some more time at another orphanage at which she spent alot of time last summer. The rest of us headed back to the Hotel Ajanta to freshen up and have breakfast at their rooftop restaurant. We then boarded the bus to Agra; it was a bit of a long ride, but we all knew it would be worth it as we anticipated seeing the Taj Mahal the next morning. We made a quick stop at the emporer Akbar's tomb; the architecture was amazing, and there were monkeys running around everywhere. When we got into the city of Agra we checked in to our hotel, and had dinner. It was Anna's 18th birthday so we had a cake (Indian style, of course) and a little celebration. After a night of bonding, everyone went to bed so excited for the next morning. We got up around 6 to avoid the crowds, and started the drive over. I had seen so many pictures of the Taj Mahal, and I'm not sure what my expectations were exactly, but whatever they were, they were definitely exceeded. We all got our standard "this is me at the Taj Mahal!!!" pictures, and then toured around the grounds. We were reluctant to leave, but our hunger got the better of us. We headed back to the hotel for a buffet breakfast. After that, we got on another bus bound for Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Again, the bus ride was long, but we had heard nothing but good things about the city, so we were all excited to finally see it. However, after pulling into the gates of the Hilton we found a nice little surprise. It turns out hotels.com messed up our reservation so we only had 3 rooms for 16 people- not exactly comfortable. Navin and Pamela negotiated a deal, so Navin, Zubin, Grant and Kevin spent the night down the street at the Holiday Inn. This morning we all once again loaded on to the bus to go check out the Amber Fort. When we drove up, we saw what seemed to be an endless line for elephant rides up to the fort. After the trek up atop the elephants, we all realized it was definitely worth the 45 minute wait in the blazing Indian sun. When we got to the top, our tour guide, Mr. Singh, showed us around, and there was plenty of time for pictures, relaxing and checking out the amazing view. After the fort, we came back to the hotel and hung out by the pool for a few hours- a much needed time for relaxation. We all headed back to our own rooms (the manager finally finagled us the promised 6 rooms), and now we're about to head out to the market to buy you all gifts!

xoxo
Kelley M and Anna H