In the moring enjoyed a desert sarafi, which means a big SUV thrashing through the sand dunes until your stomach can take no more. It only just ended wel in my case, I am not well accustomed to theme park rides. Still nice to visit the desert.  Took the big bus (hop on, hop off) for the city tour in the afternoon. Dubai looks quite nice and a better tourist destination then I expected. Did some shopping in one of the amazing mall here. In the evening had a appointment in the Burj Al Arab hotel in the Skybar. Spectacular views and drinks were the ingredients. Tomorrow final day, Dubai golf tournament visit, heading back home in the afternoon.

[Pictures here]

After one more morning with snorkling (Ilona started at 07.00 AM) and swimming it was time to leave Medhufusi. 2 Island hops with the Seaplanes were a final treat. From Male 1,5 hours to Colombo for a 1 hour wait in the plane then onto Dubai. Hotel Arabian courtyard is nice.

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After tabletennis and swimming sessions in the morning the afternoon was planned for the "Island hopping tour". We visited the main inhabited island of Meemu atol. The island have 300 and 800 people living there. Maldives are 100% muslim and there are small mosques are on most islands. The locals are mostly fishermen or work in some way for tourism. Our tourguide Ahmad was looking for a girlfriend so I promised to put his picture on my blog :-) Contact the Medhufusi reception for details :-)

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Today after a calm night we enjoyed the beautiful weather and surroundings, and headed of our private sea exit in search of sea turtles. Not found so far, they are supposed to be there but do not have a fixed spot. In the afternoon a waterskiing session was planned. It was lots of fun with varying levels of success, spot the differences below. The evening was filled with more food and star gazing. The nights are very dark here, very little light pollution that we have in our west european cities,  and the amount of visible stars on a bright nights is incredible.

[Pictures here]

After a good night sleep we woke up for breakfast. The food is seriously good here and the selection borders on ridiculus. The service is great and the water villa is top! In the morning we went with a small trip to a reef offshore and did 2 hours of snorkling, the coral and the fish are beautiful and seeing  the reef dissapear into the great depth is always spectacular and humbling. Ilona was quite nervous but in the end was one of the last to climb back on the boat. The boat is also a nice platform to do some jumping :-) . Back onshore the wind picked up a litle bit so I tried some wind surfing, there was not enough wind to make it spectacular but at least I have checked the box "Surfing the Maldives" now.  After a light meal at the pool, to compensate the bucket loads of food during breakfast and dinner, it was time to head to the boat for Dolphin watching. After 20 minutes calm boating, the crew started looking for the Dolphins. Not knowing what to expect we thought it may be difficult to find them. But nothing like that was the case. 3 minutes later dozens of dolphins were swimming along with our boat and were pretty much jumping all around us and this continued for at least 1 hour. The boat was zigzagging through the waters and the dolphins were swimming along the bow were we were sat, truly magnificent and rather overwhemling. [Uploaded to Youtube: Dolphins in front of the boat]

[Photos here]

Woke up at 5.30 involuntarily, gobbled down the breakfast that was delivered to our door with the wake up call. We were brought by taxi to the harbour were we took the Dhoni to the airport. Checked in our luggage and were brought to the Maldivean Air Taxi. Seaplanes are the primary mode of transportation in the Maldives, 150 flights per day with 22 planes. The planes they use are Haviland Twin Otters [1] [2] modified for sea usage. The pilots are known as the "bare foot pilots" (See pictures for evidence). These planes at off and land on a very short stretch of water so the more or less fall from the sky close the the island. The take of and landing were remarkably smooth. Cruising speed it 150 knots (~280 kmh), we flews at 500 meters high which provides great views of Male (capital with severe space shortage) and the Atols in between Male and Medhufusi Island Resort on Meemu Atol. It was true a great way to start this leg of the trip On the apoach we got the first glimps of our island. It was pretty warm and we were welcomed with a nice drink and we shown around the island and our watervilla. Very very nice! We did some paddling on a canoe and allthough it was clouded the Sun was rather intense and we got a nice sun burn. In the afternoon a big Ray was awaiting us at our private water exit on the watervilla enough to give Ilona a good scare for the next day snorkling trip.

[Lots of pictures (on request) here]

We have filled the unplanned morning with a visit to the Ghandi Museum. The museum is filled with photos, his work and some of his possesions, of which he of course didn't have much. At 3.00 pm we were picked up to the Delhi airport. Air travel to Colombo, Srilanka (3 hours 25 minutes flight) and then on to Male, Maldives (1 hour 25 minutes). We arrived at Male around 01.30 AM and we had to be in the lobby on 5.50 so it was a very short stay in this hotel and a short night....

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Final full day in Delhi and back at our starting hotel Florence , a slightly odd name I think but the hotel is quite nice. Of course in a megatropolis like Delhi there is an endless stream of places to visit and we sure tried to cram as much as possible in this day:

1. Jama Masjid, largest mosque in India
2. Ghandi Monument
3. Humayun's Tomb [Unesco]
4. Qutab Minar complex [Unesco]
5. Massive Parliament buildings
6. India Gate
7. And lots of others while travelling from one place to another.

The majority of the tourists here are domestic Indian travellers, and it seems one of their hobbies is taking photos with foreign visitors. Ilona is a willing and popular target. The last days have been quite hazy and therefor not so good for taking photos. Once again the local guide is great and the driver speeds us through the most impossible traffic on the planet. (The local rules are: 1: You need a good brake, 2: You need a good horn (claxon), 3: You need good luck) and usually you need all the three at the same time...but for sure you need the horn... Althought both our stomachs are slowy starting to complain we are still enjoying the delcious Indian food as much as we can. Our appetite for more fort, palaces and tourist places is however slowly diminishing... Tomorrow transportation to Malives in the afternoon, and the morning is unplanned yet.

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Ghandi cremation monument:

In the morning we took it slow (short pool swim and a great coffee at Costa(life saver)) only to be picking up to full tourist speed in the afternoon. On to the Sikandra Mausoleum for the great ruler Akbar, the prolific builder/ mongol emperor around Agra and Delhi. Next was the "Baby Taj" or the Itmad-ud-Daula's Tomb , this is the imspiration that lead to the design and building of the Taj Mahal later. This is nicely located at the banks of the river Yamuna that runs through Agra city.

Our hotel in Agra wasn't something to be shouting from the roof tops so we were not too sad to head for the railway station in Agra. The railways in India are an experience in itself, with orphaned kids living on the platforms and more of the less privileged persons. Our guides guided us pretty much to our seats in the train. The train we took is called the "Shatabdi Express" and  is the fastest train in India and was quite comfortable. Food was served, a bottle of water was included, and the distance was covered in 2 hours (195 km). This train can be used if visiting Agra (Taj Mahal) while staying in Delhi, and make the trip back and forth in one day.

[Impression of a small village between Agra and Rantambore]

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Some bridges still date back to the time of the british rule and it shows:

Today we visited the Taj Mahal in Agra. Its truly magnificient when entering through the gate and the Taj Mahal becomes visible, it's no wonder it is listed on various lists of the 7 world wonders. From the Taj Mahal you can see (on the bank of the river) the Agra fort, which we travelled a short distance to, our trusty driver patiently waiting for us. Also very pretty and as most of the times our guide informed us about the place and history of this site. In the afternoon we took some rest and hung at the hotel pool for a bit. Tomorrow on to the "Baby Taj" and Sinkandra Mausoleum and in the evening we will take the train to Delhi.

[More Photos here]

Another travlling day. 6,5 hours (~300 km) from Rantambore to Agra. With a visit to the famed lost citi of Fatehpur Sikiri [Unesco world heritage]. Build by Mogul Akbar starting 1570. Very pretty and a welcome leg stretch on the long way to Agra. In the evening took a break from the (nothing but delicious so far)Indian curries in favor of the pizza hut, I hope they will forgive us :-), it'll be allright because we did our tourist duty and made some offerings to, the still highly regarded, Salim Chishti at Fatehpur Sikri.. Due to the low bandwidth internet connection and unstable power (5 drops in 3 hours) uploading high res photo's is difficult so you'll have to do with a little less this time.

[Pictures here]

Travelled to Rantambore from Jaipur, 4 hours and 170 km and relatively good road with some very bad patches usually in the villages. The Toll roads are quite usable allthough driving here is not for the faint or heart. I have seen more people driving on the wrong side of the road here in 5 minutes then in the rest of my entire life. Anything is possible in India. Our driver makes the ride rather comfortable, much different then the lives of the average Indian villager. Its hard to describe how it is here, its messy and incredibly busy on the streets but also very beautiful. Our lodge in Rantambore Bagh resort is a Tent (number 4) with a bathroom build-in. In the evening we visited the massive Rantambore fort, its foundation is about 1000 years old. The next day the safari started at 6.00 AM and one on 14.00, both no luck finding tigers. I guess they had the day off. Still it was very nice and lots of other animals and birds to entertain us.

[Pictures here]

Today was Jaipur and surrounding city trip tour. First one was the palace of Winds. Next on the list, a little outside Jaipur was the magnificient Amber fort. Very pretty laid out on the hill tops. Made some pictures at the Water Palace and looked at some local handblok printing and carpet making for the unescapable local handcrafts. After a good lunch at a very well hidden but remarkably touristy restaurant we went the Jantar Mantar (Observatory), and onto the City Palace were the current Maharadja of Jaipur still resides. Jaipur has a population of 3,5 million people but feels rather small compared to Dehli with 16 million.

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Had a good trip to Dubai, 6 hours from Dueselldorf and a 4 hour layover there then on to Delhi another 3 hours. Its nice and warm in Delhi but not too warm to come with, about 26 degrees. Stayed at the Florence Hotel New Delhi and took the Metro to the center to get some initial impressions on our own. Metro modern but VERY crowed. Got some great food at the restaurant and next day left to Jaipur, 6 hours by privat drives. All is well taken care off, just some minor trouble with the car.  Pretty much every 1 kilometer a "garage" and Tata are easy to fix. This was fixed in 20 minutes and quickly Ilona had 50 local fans, staring at people is pretty much okay here is seems :-) [YouTube] Hotels and travel so far are good and comfortable. Next days the real tourist stuff will begin.

[Some more picture here]

Soon we are off to India (New Delhi and surroundings), a few days of relaxing Maldives [WikiPedia]and 2 days of Dubai on the way home.

Checked out the local scams in New Delhi so we don't fall for them :-)