Well yet again we are back and it all just seemed to go so quickly.
Started with a 12 hour delay on our flight from Manchester, but once we were on the way we were very happy with the My Travel flight, plenty of leg room compared to the Monarch cattle trucks. The onboard meals could have been better but ok. This was the first time we have flown direct and definitely prefer it, slept most of the way.
Taxi from the airport as usual and again it felt more like going home than it does coming here, I'm sure a lot of regulars will know what I mean.
We only had accommodation booked for the first week, at Mantheven Homes next door to Little Italy restaurant off Holiday Street in Calangute.
Nice place run by a really nice couple Max and Jessica. We had an apartment for 1000/- per night which was great value. Our own patio overlooking nice gardens where it was nice to sit out and watch the birds and squirrels or chipmunks, not sure which, but very acrobatic.
This was our 14th time to Goa so it was just a lazy week on the beach eating and drinking.
When we arrive at Aggis shack it was up but no tables or chairs yet. He'd been waiting for his license which was only issued a couple of days before we got there. But there were drinks and he soon got everything sorted out. A few of the usual crowd were there to chat with and catch up on what had been going on.
Calangute was having a lot of work done on the roads laying cables, which was interesting to watch but they left the roads in a mess when they filled in the holes, very dodgy to walk on in places.
Jessica managed to find us space for our 3rd week so we were happy with that.

Our 2nd week was going to be an adventure, something we have talked about for years and were finally going to do, the Golden Triangle.
We booked with Namaste Indian Tours and we have nothing but praise for them. I would recommend them to anyone.
Our flight pattern seemed to be continuing as we had 1 hours delay flying to Delhi, but our driver was waiting for us when we arrived. I have never seen so many people stood there with name cards waiting to pick people up, but eventually we found him. It turned out he was not our driver for the trip. The journey to our hotel was interesting to say the least, as we arrived in rush hour, Goan traffic will never seem bad again, lol.
Our hotel was the Singh Sahib, which was very nice and much better than we had been expecting, quite new looking, but the area it was in looked a bit like war torn Beirut or somewhere similar, the view out of the window was very dismal with delapidated buildings, not much better in daylight as there was a lot of mist and smog which the sun was finding difficult to get through. We stayed in and had a meal in our room as the dining room was being worked on, good room service and the food was good.
The next morning I was up early and decided to have a look round. As usual I just threw on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt and went out. Got lots of strange looks and everyone around was staring and obviously chatting about me, felt a bit uncomfortable and the area was not nice.
Jawahar from Namaste came to see us to sort out the money side of things and we had a good chat. He's a really nice guy and very helpful. He told me that in northern India it's not the norm for a man to wear shorts and it would be better if I wore jeans or something, which I did from then on, and didn't get as many funny looks.
He introduced us to our driver, which was the famous Ramesh that everyone seems to get, unless they all use the same name.
Great guy and a very good driver, felt really safe with him.

I'm not even going to try to compete with Fionas great report, as most of our trip was the same except for hotels.

In Delhi we started with the Red Fort, which was very interesting, if you go there, once you have your ticket don't get in the very long queue, foreign tourists can just go to the front and straight in.
From there we went to Humayans Tomb where we spent even longer looking round the buildings and gardens. I didn't think there would be much to see, but really enjoyed it there. Chipmunk city, they were everywhere and not a bit frightened of the people.
We then went for lunch and took Ramesh in with us, nice place near to the India Gate.
Spent a lot of time near India Gate amongst what seemed to be thousands of people, families having picknics and generally a good time.
We tried to go to a big temple but the roads were closed of having work done so we went to the government buildings and the Presidents home, you can't go into the Presidents home but just have to see it through the gates, quite an impressive place though.
I have to say that apart from the tourist attractions we didn't really like Delhi much, just too busy with traffic and quite filthy in places, Calangute will never seem busy or dirty again.

The next morning was an early start to Jaipur, and the journey was interesting to say the least. The road was better than I had imagined, but nothing can prepare you for the ammount of trucks parked up in the towns being loaded up, there seemed to be thousands of them, and nothing can definitely prepare you for the sight of them coming towards you at speed on your side of the dual carriageway, saw quite a few of them that hadn't made it and were in ditches or just smashed up. Again all praise to Ramesh and his driving.
Like Fiona we stopped off at a motel, probably the same one as we sat in the gardens having lunch watching the cheeky chipmunks and lots of parrots.
When we arrived in Jaipur I loved the place, the Pink City part is amazing.
Our hotel here was the Megh Niwas set in a nice residential part of the city.
Really nice 1950's hotel with an amazing marble staircase leading to the rooms. The hotel grounds consisted of a really big lawn at the front and nice gardens with a pool at the rear. Our room was very nice and spotlessly clean, the restaurant and food also very good. It was a lovely place to just sit and have a drink and chat to other guests.
The first night we also did the Chowki Dani evening which was interesting. The Thali food I realy enjoyed.
The next morning we started about 8.30 as my wife didn't want to do the elephant ride bit, so we started with the City Palace, then the observatory next door which was really amazing. From there we went to the Amber Fort, then to Jaigarh fort which was good with great views, and not forgetting th big cannon, which took 200 lbs of gunpowder to load it and was only fired once to test it, the canon ball was found 24 miles away.
From there we went to Nahargarh fort right on the top, when we arrive they were setting up for some filming, didn't get a part though, lol. The views from here are just too amazing for words, from 3 sides as far as the eye can see is all Jaipur, it's almost too big to take in.
We would have liked more time in Jaipur, but maybe another time.
Got attacked with the mozzies that night, 13 bites in all, and I very rarely get bitten.
The next day off to Agra, again an interesting journey, arriving at our hotel about 4 pm. This was the Hotel Kant, not bad but not the same standard as the other two, but more than ok for one night, but the good thing was we could see the domes of the Taj Mahal from our room. We decided to do the Taj Mahal in the evening for the sunset, so we could have a lie in the next morning.
Ramesh picked us up with a guide and after a short ride we changed to a tuk tuk to go upto the Taj.
The first view is just breath taking. No matter how many photos you may have seen of it they can't do it justice.
We thought it may have been quieter in the evening but it was packed and trying to get good vantage points for photos needs a bit of patience.
We spent a couple of hours there before returning to our hotel for a meal and to catch up on some sleep.
The next morning we went to Agra Fort then set off back to Delhi.

Had a bit of a look round Delhi on our own in the late afternoon by tuk tuk, then to Connaught circle. Got a tuk tuk back to our hotel, I showed him a card for the hotel with a picture, the full addres etc, he said he knew it, 45 minutes later, and after a few Singh hotels, we finally got back to our Singh Sahib hotel, thought we were going to be in the back streets of Delhi for ever more.
Nice meal in hotel then a few drinks then bed.
Ramesh took us to the airport the following morning even though our trip should have finished when we got back to Delhi. Namaste recommend a 10% of your trip price for a tip for the driver, we gave a fair bit more as without Ramesh's driving and experience and sense of humour etc, the trip would not have been anywhere near as good.

If you've ever thought of trying the Triangle give Namaste a try, brilliant value for money and I haven't seen anything as cheap. We did the upgraded hotels trip with a Tata Sumo which suited us fine.

Well the flight thing was getting boring now, another hour delay, but Spicejet flights were very good.

We were picked up at the airport and taken back to Mantheven Homes for a well deserved rest.
The only thing out of the norm was one night when we were returning after a meal and drinks, as we walked through the gates we heard this noise, which was very loud and I couldn't think what it could be. As I approached some steps which lead up to the upstairs apartments I heard the noise again. As I looked to my left there was a rather large, very upset snake which was coiled up on the bottom step about a foot from my leg. The noise was the snake hissing. Now I've heard them on TV but never for real before, and it scared the **** out of me. I told Lesley to go the other way round and I jumped out of the way as it started to uncoil.
I watched it slither away from a safe distance, not sure what sort it was but it wasn't a cobra, I've seen one of those before on the beach near Calangute steps, and if you've ever been near a cobra in the loose you don't forget what they look like. So that was an interesting bit with a difference. Max and Jessica were quite disturbed by what I told them the next day, as they have never seen one that big since they've been there, but we never saw or heard of it again.
Another lazy week in Calangute which passed far to quickly. The weather wasn't brilliant either, very warm and humid, but lots of clouds for quite a few days.

We left Calangute at 4 am to go to the airport, quite prepared for another delay, but guess what, typical as we were coming home, the flight left early, and we arrived in Manchester 50 minutes early.

Calangute is changing far too quickly, and I can't believe the building work that has been done since last Christmas. The love affair with the place is still going on but I think wearing a bit thin now as we preferred it as it was 10 years ago. I know it's progress and you can't get away from that, but even a lot of our Goan friends don't like what's happening. So we'll see about next year, but every year we say the same then just end up back there again.

Anyone thinking of going for the first time prepare yourself for quite a few holidays there cause as sure as anything the bug will get you to.

I'm still on Goan time at the moment, hence the timing of this report while I wait for the Hatton fight to start.

Barry and Lesley