Day 6 - Onwards to Gwalior

Wonderful coach drive to Gwalior, 73 miles south of Agra. Rural India is much more manageable than city India. The rural villages looked well kept and tidy for the most part. After 2 hours drive the flat agricultural land gave way to strange undulating "bandit" ravines just cross the River Chambal. We arrived in Gwalior early afternoon for our stay at the Tamsen Residency. Harrison was awarded the 5 star room with Sky, but unfortunately that just related to his bathroom ceiling. Willy & Else's room came with resident geckoes, but Garry pointed out that they were very lucky as these would eat the mosquitoes. Grumbling was rife as we set off for the Man Mandir, just out of town - a remarkable example of a 16th century Hindu Palace - with considerably more going for it than Kevin's room.



We walked up the hill in the burning heat of the afternoon past enormous Buddhas carved out of the rocky hillside, past huge wasp nests and up to the Man Mandir at the top of the hill. The Palace is famous for the eccentricity of the exterior decor which features a row of yellow ducks in the wall tiles. A large fort area stretches along the ridge of the hill - derelict now, overgrown and neglected - oh no, that's Kevin's room again. On the way back to our sumptuous lodgings we were dropped off at some sort of mela that we'd spotted earlier. It was a kind of Ideal Home Exhibition meets car boot with fairground thrown in.

We were the objects of fascination as the only westerners there - but all the people were extremely friendly, and many mobile phones now feature Harrison and Nigel as this weeks wallpaper. As the midges started to bite and dusk descended we could put off no longer our return to the Squalior.