Photo fatigue

M: We have been to the Red Fort on Saturday. It was built by Shah Jahan from 1644 - 1656. It took 5000 people to build it. While it was being built, Old Deli was too. Shah Jahan was building it so that when he was dead people would remember him by the city he built. As well as Old Delhi, he built the Taj Mahal, which you may know, so he must have enjoyed building. Shah Jahan thought that he ruled the world and that is what his name means: 'world ruler'. He was a Mugal ruler and that made him very important and powerful and people came from all round the world to see him.

When we went to see the Red Fort, dad told us lots of facts about the places we were in . Like when we were facing the throne, he told us that it was made of carved white marble set with pictures of Orpheus with his lyre and other gods . Originally it had lots of rubies and emeralds enlaid in it, and you can still see a few but most have fallen out or been stolen.

All the while, we were having our photos taken with people who were treating us like celebrities because we (english children) are so rare in there country. I thought that Old Delhi stank of dog poo and human poo as the drains aren't very good.  The streets were very narrow with an awful lot going on: cycle rickshaws, people making tea, juice stalls, lots and lots of shops and market stalls selling anything you can imagine and lots of traffic so we had to have our wits about us.

W:  The Red Fort was very big and do you know why it was called the Red  Fort? Cos the outside was red bricks.  Inside was white marble bricks.  I remember the throne - you couldn't sit on it. 

We played dogs in the gardens and L, she holded the lead, and me and M were the dogs and I was the number 2 dog and M was the number 1 dog but we were both Top Dogs!  Lots of people were shaking my hands and M said only one photo but sometimes they did lots.

I liked looking at the cows in India.  They are buffaloes.  Their buffalo pats were splatted on a wall so the sun dries them and then people use them for their cooking fires.  I've got a cold so I can't smell any stinks.

L:  As you went inside the Red Fort, it changed to white marble from red stone as you got towards Shah Jahan's Private Quarters.  There were lots of beautiful decorations and carvings and precious stones.  I really enjoyed going there because it was quite interesting.  Daddy spent most of his time taking photos, we did drawings in our notebooks and had lots of pictures taken of us!  I thought it was a bit annoying when people took my photo and didn't ask. 

I need to get on with my Hanaman story now so bye!