Beth's India story
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Three wonderful weeks spent in India
Three wonderful weeks can be spent in India exploring the southern regions around Manipal and Goa as well as northern cities like Jaipur, Agra and a little bit of Delhi.
Our adventure started in Manipal University, home to some of the nicest people and most helpful staff you will ever meet. They took us beautiful temples, traditional schools, taught us how to cook Indian meals and dance Bollywood (not at the same time!), adorned our hands with henna and took us to stunning beaches. We also got the opportunity to stay in wooden huts in rural India and also play volleyball in a rice paddy field before an evening watching Bollywood movies under the stars.
It was hard to believe that the rest of the trip would be able to match any of this but the trip continued to amaze.
Goa was our last taste of the South with more stunning churches and spice plantations before we headed north. A sure highlight was our trip to Amber/ Am’er Fort. Our jeeps carried us up to the fort where painted elephants stomped across the yard. We walked through beautiful arches through the fort and into the palace section that looked over the mountains of Jaipur. The splendour of the palace architecture alongside these views was breath-taking. Next it was on to Agra.
Agra had a lot to be compared to and yet, walking through the darkness of the morning to reach the Taj Mahal just as the sun began to rise behind was magnificent, particularly as we arrived before most of the tourists and could freely walk where we wanted in the (comparable) cool of the morning.
Beth travelled to India with Lancaster in 2019.