Big Buddha and a night train

We quickly walked down to where we'd arranged to meet our driver, giving ourselves a few minutes to visit the impressive Big Buddha.

We then returned to the hotel and met up with Kathy for a late lunch in the hotel restaurant. We had a repeat of yesterday - dal and bread for Fiona and chicken fried rice for me. I still couldn't finish it! We then chilled in the day room, chatting to our fellow travellers, until it was time to go to the station for the night train to Agra. During the evening, we were told that Meriy was too ill to continue the trip. She would travel with us to Agra, but another guy, Annu, would be our point of contact if we had any problems during the night. We would be getting a new tour leader when we arrived in Agra. I can't say we were sorry. Meriy is lovely, but she's not a leader. She hasn't been very good at keeping us informed and has left us to fend for ourselves in many instances.

At 9.15pm, we left our hotel in autos to be taken to the station. Our train wasn't leaving until 11.10pm, so Annu cleared some people off some benches, so we could all sit together. He then stood guard over us (he was a big guy!) and made sure we were all OK. He moved beggars away and generally kept us safe. It felt very reassuring 😊.

When the time came to get on the train, ot seemed that Meriy had completely handed over her responsibilities to Anu. He was the one who checked that we were comfortable. He even prayed for us to have a peaceful night 😀. Fiona, Rachael, Emma, and myself were in a section with a couple and their two young children. We swapped our allocated seats around a little bit, so that Fiona had a middle bunk and I had a lower one. We set off, knowing that we had a shorter journey than the other night. We were due in to Agra at 6.10am.Read more