We left the hotel at 10am to go to visit the Golden Temple. It is a Sikh Temple so we all had to cover our heads. It is a beautiful temple, actually made of gold! My scarf kept falling off and I was worried that I would get shouted at! Also it was baking hot! We were all pouring with sweat! We walked around for a while, people kept staring at us and laughing which was a bit off-putting. We then headed to a mall for lunch and shopping. It felt so amazing getting in a car with AC after being in the baking heat for a couple of hours.

After lunch, we walked around a bit and then headed back to the hotel to chill out a bit. At 4.30pm, we left to drive to Wagah border, the India Pakistan border! We were all a bit apprehensive about what it would be like there. I think a few people were worried that it might be a bit dangerous. We parked and then walked down for 10mins. There were a few security checks on the way. We could only bring our passport, phone, camera (with no case) and water bottle. No handbags. I was assured by all the checks. There was a line for the guys where there were hundreds waiting and a line for the girls which was practically empty. I think that’s the 1 advantage I’ve seen as a woman here – getting through queues quicker as you barely see any woman here, its strange! While driving around, its rare to see women on the street. I guess they’re all at home looking after the children maybe. After we went through security, we got split off into a line for Indian residents and another line for foreigners and VIPs! Which was interesting! We got our passports checked, and were then taken to our seats. I heard they have a ceremony here so was keen to see what was going to happen. We were sitting waiting for it to start and were all just pouring with sweat! It was so hot and humid! I don’t think I’ve ever sweated so much in my life! The ceremony started with marching and music. It was really cool. We could see across to the Pakistan side of the border and they were having their own ceremony there but there were only a few people on their side. The India side was packed! Everyone was so happy! After around 30mins, they started playing really loud Bollywood music and all the Indian girls went down to the floor and were dancing. Some of the Western girls went down and joined in the dancing. I really wanted to go down and join in but I was holding back. After a few minutes, I just forced myself to go down! You only live once after all! All the Indian girls were grabbing me and dancing with me! I was trying to learn some moves from them. They all wanted to take photos with me! I guess they don’t really get any black girls coming here so I’m somewhat of an attraction! We all carried on dancing for around half an hour. It was so much fun! The last thing I was expecting was to be having a party on the India Pakistan border! I loved it though, it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far. After the dancing finished, we sat down and the ceremony continued with more marching and cheering. The Indian soldiers were marching up to the gate separating India from Pakistan. The gates then opened and both sets of soldiers were marching together. They then shook hands and then the gates closed and both flags were lowered. It was really cool to watch. After that we went for dinner at a restaurant right by the border and then headed back to the hotel. Here are some pictures and videos from the day.

Movie 1

Movie 2

We left the hotel at 6am to head to the Taj Mahal. We drove for a few mins and then switched to an electric bus which took us to the entrance. I was excited to see it and see if it could actually live up to the hype and it absolutely did! As soon as we walked through, we were just amazed! You just want to stand there and stare at it. It really is stunning! Even after seeing so many photos of it, the photos really don’t do it justice! It is no comparison to seeing it in person. We stayed there for a couple of hours, just walking around trying to take it all in and taking lots of photos. The time we went was nice as it wasn’t too hot or crowded. We headed back to the hotel afterwards for breakfast and then left at 9.45am for a mammoth journey. We 1st drove for 5 hours from Agra to Delhi train station, and then after waiting for an hour and half, we got on a train to Amritsar which took 6 hours! The train journey wasn’t bad though. We were in a 1st class carriage which was pretty similar to the inside of the carriages back in the UK. We’ll be staying in Amritsar for a couple of nights. By the time we got to the hotel there, it was 11pm so a long day of travelling! Here are some pictures of the Taj Mahal!

We left Jaipur at 7am to start the drive to Agra which was pretty long. We had to pack just 1 bag to take with us for the week and leave the suitcases at the house which they’ll bring to Delhi airport on our last day. We made a stop at a place called Step Well in Abhaneri. We got out of the car wondering what we were doing there, we were just in the middle of an Indian village, but then we were led to this place which was actually really cool!

We got to Agra at around 1pm and were pretty starving! We spotted a Pizza Hut on the way to the hotel so decided to go there for lunch. We all seem to really crave western food after eating Indian food twice a day for the last few weeks. The pizza hut was really cool. I got a chicken crown pizza which had pieces of chicken kebab in the crust! Below is a picture of it:

While eating, all of a sudden the music got louder, all the staff got in a line and started doing a synchronised dance! It was pretty funny! We were all clapping along. We thought maybe it was someone’s birthday, but it seems that there was no occasion, its just something they do. Pretty cool! The staff there all seemed so happy and friendly! We started discussing how much they get paid to work there. We were mostly guessing between 100-200 rupees an hour which is the equivalent of £1.20-£2.25 an hour. One of the guys decided to ask one of the managers who informed us that the staff there work 9 hours a day 6 days a week and get between 5,500-6,000 rupees a month, which works out at around 25 rupees an hour, around £0.30. We were pretty shocked! We take out 5,000 rupees at a time when we go to the ATM here. Its crazy to think that it is almost as much as 1 month salary for what would be considered a good job here. After lunch, we went to see Agra Fort which was really cool. Its the 2nd largest fort in India. We could also see the Taj Mahal in the distant from the fort. We went to a market afterwards but weren’t too impressed. Agra is pretty dirty and smelly. It looks like apart from Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal, there isn’t really much else to see. We headed back to the hotel afterwards and just chilled and then went to sleep as we have to be up at 5am tomorrow to see the Taj Mahal. Below are some picture of Agra Fort:

It has now been a month since I left London to start this adventure and what a month it’s been! It actually feels like a lot longer! I think its because of how much I’ve experienced in that time, its been pretty amazing! I love it here in India, I definitely want to come back one day. Looking back to my 1st day here, being lost in Mumbai airport about to miss my flight and wondering why I ever thought this was a good idea, I’ve come a long way! I have already seen some change in myself. Just being able to embrace new things instead of being scared of it. Back in London, I would have been terrified at the idea of turning up somewhere on my own where I didn’t know anyone! I liked nothing more than staying in my comfort zone. But now here I am on the other side of the world in such a different country experiencing such a different culture and environment, living in a house with 30 people I’d never met before and I’m loving it! The project here is going well, and we are seeing improvement with the girls we’re working with. I do still miss my girls in the slums in Goa though. I think about them and wonder how they’re getting on. Strangely, I haven’t really been homesick here yet. I definitely thought I would be. I think maybe because I’m always surrounded by people and always busy, either working, exploring the area, or hanging out with the people in the house here, I haven’t really had time to think about my life back home. I’m definitely looking forward to 5 more months of this!

I met up with my friend Nick today. Of all the places to meet up with a friend from London, Jaipur is possibly one of the most random places! He was here for a few days after volunteering with Vision Rescue in Mumbai for 3 weeks. It was really cool catching up and chatting about our volunteering experiences.

So I finally managed to get my visa extended on Tuesday, the day before it expired so I’m pretty relieved! It would have been pretty stressful to have to start changing all my plans if it didn’t go through. I can now relax and finish the week of volunteering here, and then join the tour for the final week, see the Taj Mahal and trek up the Himalayas so I’m pretty excited!

We went away to a town called Pushkar for the weekend. It was pretty different to Jaipur, a lot quieter. It is considered a holy town so meat and alcohol are strictly forbidden! We shopped in the markets there, visited the Pushkar Lake and some of the temples there. While walking through the markets, we got so many stares from people! I had quite a lot of the local ladies coming up to me looking so curious and wanting to touch my hair! Kinda funny! On Sunday, we went on a Camel Safari which was really cool!

The group of us doing the women empowerment program start work in the afternoon so we try to do some site seeing in the morning. So far, we have been to Hawa Mahal, Amber Fort, the Monkey Temple, and the Water Palace. I got to ride an elephant again at Amber Fort which was really cool! During our orientation here, we were told that India was known as the land of contrasts due to the contrasting climates all over the country, the religions, and the huge gap between the rich and the poor. You can definitely see that here. One thing is for sure though, even with all of the poverty here, it is an incredibly beautiful country! Here are pictures of some of the sights.

The flight from Goa to Delhi was 2.5 hours. As soon as I got out of the plane, the heat hit me. It felt amazing! Goa was pretty rainy and quite cool so I was happy to have some heat. I got out at Delhi airport, and there was a guy there holding a sign with my name on it. He took my bags and took me to a car. While driving out of the airport, there were quite a few children knocking on the windscreen asking for money for food. I didn’t see anything like that in Goa. I can definitely see the differences here, it feels like the real India. Its pretty crazy, and just like I expected! We drove to a hotel which was nicer than I was used to after the last 3 weeks. It had AC, Sky TV, and wifi! I was told that another girl would be arriving at 11pm and sharing the room with me, and we would leave for Jaipur with 2 others at 8am the next morning. I got some dinner, and by the time I finished, it was around 8pm and I wasn’t keen on the idea of going exploring on my own so just chilled in the hotel room. My roommate arrived at 11.45pm. She is from Minnesota and seemed really nice. We chatted a bit and then went to sleep.

The drive to Jaipur was long! Around 5 hours which I wasn’t expecting seeing as they’re so close on the map. It just shows how big the country is! We finally got to the volunteer house and were shown to our rooms. The house is quite nice. There are 3 floors with 8 bedrooms, each room has bunk beds and sleeps 4. On each floor, there is a shared kitchen, and communal area. The top floor has a TV with some Indian DVDs we can watch, and the 1st floor has a dining area, just mats on the floor and small tables. There are around 20 volunteers in the house at the moment, from all over the world – New York, Florida, Minnesota, Mexico, Germany, Holland, Belgium, 2 from Scotland, and then 5 from England. We had lunch together, and then headed out shopping. The girls in our group have to wear traditional Indian clothes for work here which consists of a Salwar Kurta which we can wear with leggings or trousers. Its funny, driving around here, the men all wear Western clothes while the women all wear Sarees or Kurtas. I wonder why that is! We went to a big shopping centre called Hypercity which looked incredibly Western. I haven’t seen anything like it since I’ve been here. We took a rickshaw there, and it was pretty cool driving through the busy streets crammed in and half hanging out! We spent a few hours at the shopping centre. People see us, a group of foreigners, and stare and ask to take photos with us which is pretty funny! We headed back to the house afterwards, had dinner and then just chilled out. The building has a flat roof so we can go up there and sit and look out over the city which is pretty cool. It was hard getting to sleep that night because of the heat. The AC in the house comes on from 11pm – 6am though so it cooled down eventually.

The next morning, the 4 of us who had driven down from Delhi together had an orientation where we were briefed about India and the projects here. The only project that was still available was the women empowerment project so that was what we were doing. The project tries to give girls the skills that will help them get jobs easily when they are older. Due to the globalisation in India, they believe that the most important skills for the girls are English and IT so that is what we would be teaching. I was assigned to a group of 8-15 year old girls in a village here called Ninder.

The 1st day working was good. The girls seem really nice and are keen to learn. Their English is all of varied levels, some speak no English at all while others can put simple sentences together so we have to teach different things to different groups.

The other projects they run here are teaching at a government school, teaching street children, and working at an orphanage. The volunteers at the street children program found their 1st day quite tough. It sounds like the kids there are pretty crazy. They leave the classroom whenever they feel like it and fight a lot so its exhausting and hard trying to keep their attention. The volunteers at the orphanage were complaining that the children there aren’t treated well and its very hard for them to see. It sounds like what I experienced in Goa. Its a shame that wasn’t just an isolated case though.

Here are a few photos of Jaipur: