Today, we woke up early to drive to Bharuch, which is a city in Gujarat that is where my grandparents are from. We brought everything we needed. We slept in the car, since we had to wake up at 4:30 am. Then, we had a "good and filling breakfast." We played on our electronics the rest of the time. The car ride to Bharuch was going to be about 5 hours, but it was actually 6 hours. Finally, we arrived at Bharuch. We met our cousins. Our cousins were: Kumail, Lamiya, Abas, Umaihani, and Zahabia. Kumail was 11, Lamiya was 8, Abas was 10, Umaihani was 8 too, and Zahabia is 13. We ate lunch first. It was mostly fruit, but the best fruit I ever had. We also had my favorite meal, Biryani! Biryani is spicy rice with either chicken or goat meat. Then, we played hide-and-seek tag. We stopped playing that game because Umaihani and Aqeel bumped into each other. So, we played regular hide-and-seek. Then, we had to do Ziyarat. It took a short time. Then, we met some other family members. There was a baby girl named Nakiya. We stayed there and had a couple snacks and drinks, and then went back to get our stuff to go back to Mumbai. We got McDonalds and ate it in the car. When we got to the hotel, I was sick from the dust in the air at Bharuch. At least my mom cured it with Aqeel's inhaler. Then, I went back to sleep peacefully. 

Today, we had a tour of Jaipur. First, we saw the Hawa Mahal. Since ladies weren't allowed to be seen on on streets, they made a palace to see the special events or parades. It looked very beautiful from the front, but in the back it was just a plain orange wall. After that, we went to the Amber Fort. When we got there, we were waiting in a line to ride........ ELEPHANTS! I was really scared of going on the elephant. After a while, it was okay. But when the elephant stopped, he leaned to one side. Aqeel was so close to falling at the edge. One reason was because I was sliding and unintentionally pushing him further off the elephant. When we got off the elephant, we had a quick tour. Then, we saw the Water Mahal. It was made for the king for summer. When we got back into the car, we went to the Maharajas palace. Maharajas are kings of a certain religion. Maharajas where clothing that look like shiny dresses with baggy pants underneath. They were also setting up a wedding there. Soon, we left, had lunch, and relaxed at the hotel for the rest of the day.

We did lots of things today. First, we went to see the Taj Mahal. It was exactly symmetrical, except the 4 chapters of the Quaran, an Islam prayer book. Shah Jahan and his wife, Mumtaz, were buried at the Taj Mahal, along with close family members. It took 122 workers 22 years to build this burial for Mumtaz. After that, we got the chessboard from the Handicraft store. Then, we drove a car to Fatehpur Sikri. The capitol was moved here, but was moved back to Agra when there was shortage of water. It also had winter and summer palaces.  When we were going to see something else, Aqeel puked. After a while, we then went back to the car to go to Jaipur. We rested for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, I hope it won't be as hectic.

We had to wake up really early to go to Agra. We ate a filling breakfast, and then we rode to Agra. My parents slept for basically the whole car ride. The car ride was going to take 3 hours. For half of the car ride, we rested. My dad bought some "Indian Doritos" and one bottle of Coke. That was our lunch. On the second half of the car ride, we were more active. Soon, we were in Agra. We met our tour guide named Faison. He first showed us the Agra Fort. Back when there were kings in India, Agra was the capitol of India. He showed us the summer palace and the winter palace. The winter palace had a fireplace and a high bad. It was also on the ground. The summer palace was in the air with an object inside to gather cool air. When we saw the Queens rooms, 2 were fairly small and 1 was gigantic. The Queen that had the huge palace also had a winter and summer palace. When I saw everything, our tour guide said that the British Kings searched for gold to steal. That's why everything is only made of red limestone and white marble. We also went to a place where they use the material of the Taj Mahal, but make different kinds of cool things with them. Some of the stones they use are white marble, Lapis Luzuli, Black Onix, and Carnillion. We thought about getting a chess board, but we wanted to see another place if they had a lower price. After that, we went to a restaurant called, "Pinch of Spice." When we finished eating, we went to our hotel to go to sleep.    

Today, we had a tour of India. We ate at a buffet restaurant called Spring. Their food was delicious. THen, we went to our first stop, to meet the tour guide. We went to a place called Qutbminar. In this area, they had the tallest building made of limestone. It was 5 stories tall. People can't go inside because of an incident that happened to children. There were also lots of arches too. On them, there were Arabic sentences written on the arches. I also got to see a big well for water. Now, people use it for garbage. We went to other monuments too. We went to the president's house. In India, the president is symbolic. THe person who has lots oof power is the prime minister who is named Narendra Modi. There was an east and west side of the president's house. We also saw Narendra Modi's office. Another place we went to was the Lotus Flower Temple. There are people who come early in the morning just to meditate for 2 and a half hours. The person who built the temple designed it as a lotus flower because it is a symbol of peace. One of the other places we went to, but not the last, was Kashmir Cashmere. It was a store to buy carpets. They make carpets out of silk, yak, and cashmere. They showed us how they make the carpets. We also drank some yellow hot tea. It was extremely tasty. THen, we bought a carpet that costs $800. It was made of silk and cahmere. Then, we dropped off our tour guide at his stop, and went back to Raddison Blu. We couldn't decide where to eat, so we ordered room service for dinner and went to bed.

Today, we got up early to go to Delhi. We ate at Waterfront. This was the best breakfast I had during India. We got all packed up. Soon, our driver took us to the airport. When we got in line, it was so disorganized. In the line, there were a mixture of people because they were taking 3 flights in one line. Secondly, other people who weren't in the line found places to cut people. Soon, we were on the plane. There was a one hour delay. My whole family was so hot, surprisingly my mom too. It took  2 hours and 15 minutes to get to Delhi. When it was closer to the end of the flight, Aqeel and I were looking out the windows. The clouds looked very elegant from the yellow, orange, pink, blue, and purple rays of the sun. Sooner, we could see ground. From up in the air, it looked like a maze made with dirty lego bricks and green, yellow, blue, and black platforms. Finally, we were off the plane. It didn't take long for us to get our bags from the baggage claim, compared to Goa. Then, we went to our hotel called Raddison Blu. It was really cool. We were in a Business Class room, although it was small. Then, we ate dinner at Rice. It was a Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese restaurant. First, I had a lemon soup with vegetables. It was really good, considering that I don't like vegetables. Then, we had our main courses. When we finished, we went to our hotel room to go to sleep.

Today, we were going to spend most of the time at the beach. We got ready, and had breakfast. Then, my dad, Aqeel, and I went to the pool. My mom didn't come because she was having a spa. I played volleyball with a friend I made in the pool. Soon, he left and Aqeel and I threw balls at each other. After a little bit, we went to rest and dry off on our chairs. It felt so comfortable. Then, my dad came and started doing work on his computer. Aqeel started dipping his head in the water to make it smooth. I did the same, but mine turned out to be spiky.After some time, my dad went to the spa and my mom stayed with us. We didn't want to stay in the pool anymore, so my mom ordered pizza from water front. The pizza wasn't so big, so we finished it. After eating the pizza, we went back to the pool. One hour later, we got changed into regular clothes and went to the Night Market. For some reason, you had to bargain for prices of items. There were many items at the Night Market. We also listened to Beetles music from a band. We had pizza, again. The cover and plate for the pizza was made of leaves. We bought 3 items from the Night Market. I got a stone elephant with a baby elephant inside it. Aqeel got paper glowing stars to put in our playroom and his room. After that, we went back to the hotel to sleep.

Today, we went on a tour of 2 churches and the Spice Garden. After breakfast, our driver took us to Old Goa, which has many old churches. It turns out that the Portuguese came and made the Hindus switch their religion to Christian. India regained control of Goa in 1961. Since then, Goa was known for its history. Many tourists come to these churches to learn about the history of Goa. This part of Goa is called Old Goa. Built in the 16th century, the Basilica of Bom Jesu important shrine for the Christians of India, as the remains of St. Francis Xavier are held at the church. Then, we went to the other church. It was turned into a museum. My dad bought us tickets, and we went inside. I saw lots of statues of different Saints. They told us their birth, feast, death, and gave us a little description about their life. After that, our driver drove us to the Spice Garden. We got our tickets, and then crossed a long bridge. There were lots of small fish surrounding the bridge. They gave us a flower necklace and a red dot on our head. We drank some hot water, and then our tourist guide came. She told us about all the different spices and how they can help injuries or problems with your skin, or in particular, body. Then, we ate lunch their. After a while, we went to a Greek restaurant called Thalassa. It was on a cliff above a beach. The sunset looked so amazing. The food was really tasty. We stayed there for about 4 hours and came back to the hotel to sleep.     

Today, we woke up early, because we were leaving for Goa. Before we knew it, Zahra and Ateka went to school. We brushed and changed our clothes really fast. Our grandmother was yelling at us because it was 8:15, and we had to be at the airport at 9:15. So we ate breakfast "really fast." Right before we were done with breakfast, our mom came. I finished my tea, and we left. We drove for about 45 minutes to the airport. At the airport, my mom got Aqeel and I hot dogs. They were made out of chicken instead of beef.  Many people in India don't eat beef.Then, we were driven by a bus. We were so hot.  Aqeel and my dad were sweating. So was I. My mom felt cold. How?! Finally, we boarded the plane. The plane flight was going to take about 50 minutes long. My brother and I started playing on our phones. Once we were high in the air, we started looking at the clouds. It was so beautiful with the orange rays of the sun. Soon, we were out of the plane. It took like centuries to get back our luggage from the baggage claim. After the long waiting, we found our taxi driver and drove to a hotel in Goa. It was called Marriot Resort and Spa. First, they gave us a tour of the hotel. Secondly, they gave us our our room number and directed us to our hotel room. We ordered different drinks, and then rested for the rest of the day.