Fattypuss Fattypuss

After the Taj Mahal we went back to our hotel.

This was a lovely little hotel nestled between two traditional Indian shops - Costa Coffee and Pizza Hut.

A quick turn around later, some of the group and I got onto a local bus to Fatehpur Sikri, also known as the Abandoned City and also known as Fattypuss (Well. By Faye and I anyway,)

Now, another little bit of trivia about me is that I didn't sleep a night through until I was 5. I was such a terrible sleeper than my parents took me to the doctor who reassured them that I probably was just one of those people who didn't need any sleep. Margaret Thatcher never slept either, said she, so perhaps I would grow up to be a highly successful women. My family always made fun of me because I claimed (probably until I was 19) that I had never been tired.

HOWEVER, in India, on every single moving vehicle I fell asleep. Head back, mouth open, catching flies. Very attractive.

This was a blessing for me as I feel sick on buses. It was not a blessing for Faye as she also feels sick on buses.

So I slept and an hour later we arrived to the Abandoned City - the Mughal Empire's capital for the 14 years it was used until it was abandoned for lack of water. Pretty rubbish considering it took 15 years to build.

We went into the Mosque. A man insisted on showing us around. Pester-y people in India always seemed to preface their sentences with "I don't want anything. I don't want money." I never believe them. I always think that the genuinely nice people who actually don't want anything must think that Westerners are extremely rude.

Faye and I were made to cover-up our knees which some beautifully provided pink sheets. I had a scarf in my bag that I could put on my head. I felt like a very colonial 1940s film-star. Faye did not have a scarf in her bag. She wore a t-shirt on her head. 

It was hot as a bitch. And we were all hungry as a bitch.

In the last few days, to be fair to all, we had seen enough forts to last a lifetime and we were pretty forted-out. We searched and searched for food but to no avail and so we resorted to desperate measures. A huge crowd gathered as we made our purchase - a packet of 'Hide and Seek' biscuits. These were essentially a kind of Sainsbury's Basics bourbon. But in India, they were heaven. Anyway,  they were essential. Some of the group were about to face hard times. In the form of a vegetarian only restaurant.

I laughed at one particular member of the group's disdain about the lack of meat.

Until the waiter told me they didn't serve beer.

Then I was laughing on the other side of my face.