Bharatpur

Monday 2nd July

Fatehpur Sikri and Bharatpur

Took the easy (and realively expensive) option of getting a car from the hotel to take me to Bharatpur, stopping off at Fatehpur Sikri on the way. It's nice to now be away from the hustle and bustle of the bigger cities for the next few days. Fatehpur Sikri was interesting with some beautiful Mughal architecture but at this point in my Indian trip its starting to become a little samey. There's only so many forts, mosques, tombs etc that you can look at before you start to get just a little bit bored. I'm still enjoying it but am looking forward to moving on to Thailand next week.

The road from Agra to Bharatpur was ful of Massey Fergusson tractors pulling trailers laden with all sorts of stuff which I suppose goes to show that rural areas whether you're in India or Ireland are not that different! Bharatpur is a small village with a few sites to see, the main attraction being the Keoladeo Ghana National Park which is a bird sanctuary and World Heritage site. Ironically what is now a sanctuary was originally a duck shooting preserve made for Maharaja Suraj Mahl of Bharatpur in the 1850s. A large tablet near a small temple in the park records that 12 Nov 1938 was a paticularly bad day to be a duck - 4273 birds were shot by 39 guns, of which the then Viceroy of India Lord Linthigo killed about 2000.

Arrived at the guest house in Bharatpur mid-afternoon and decided to wait to venture into the park until tomorrow, as I have two full days here before I move on to my final Indian destination before heading back to Delhi, Jaipur. (not the restaurant in Malahide/town in case anyone is wondering why I'm coming back to Dublin!). My apologies to anyone expecting photos of the Taj Mahal etc, I've fallen hopelessly behind on my photo uploading. The PCs in internet cafes here are not the fastest things on the planet and the internet connection tends to be a bit patchy. I probably wont get my photos uploaded until I'm in Jaipur/back in Delhi.

My room here has some sort of contraption for killing mosquitos, so I'm hoping I don't get bitten here. I've got my own gadget which is supposed to keep a 20 cubic metre area clear of insects which you plug in at night time. I'll be using that along with my insect repellant and will hopefully be fine.

Tuesday 3rd of July

Got up at 6am to allow for 4 hours in the Keoladeo National Park with a guide. I have to admit to being a little disappointed. Winter is supposed to be the best time to visit but I had read that you get large flocks of birds migrating here during the summer as well. I did see some monkees, antelope, deer, jackals and various species of bird but overall was a little disappointed.
The guest house that I'm staying at is nice and comfortable with good food. I think I'm going to just take it easy for my remaining day and a half here. I'd say this place is probably worth a visit for a day or two during the winter but my 3 nights here is seeming a little long. Nowhere to upload my photos as of yet, am hoping Jaipur will be a better option for that. Getting train to Jaipur on Thurs evening and arrive there about 22:30. Probably wont be posting anything until after that.