Namaste from Jaipur!

We have arrived! Everything is going really well so far.

Arrived in Delhi on Sunday @ 11.30pm (Delhi time)(7.30 pm Irish)

Very Hot..about 28 degrees at night, quite humid and it reaches about 38 during the day..in the city that can be quite oppressive.

Delhi is maddeningly wonderful if you can understand that! There are 10.1 million people all trying to get somewhere, there are NO traffic laws whatsoever..give way to the bigger vehicle is about it! The Tuk-Tuk (three wheeled motorised rickshaws) drivers seem to believe in re-incarnation because they all drive like lunatics! I'ts marvellous though!

We visited the massive Red Fort and the "Jama Masjid" a huge mosque in the centre of Old Delhi, holds 25000 people.

On Tuesday morning we travelled to Agra by train..the trains here are very well run and it was a real experience to have breakfast from the traders on the platforms as we travelled through India. Food like spicy Bhajas, Kofta, Samosas and Chai which is the Indian version of tea.(They bung the tea,milk and sugar all together in a pot and boil the life out of it then serve it to you in little clay pots (like small flowerpots) which you just smash on the ground when you are finished!

In Agra, of course we went to see the Taj Mahal and I have to say that words failed me as I walked through the massive gates of the fort surrounding it..It is spectacular. It was built by Shah Jahan as a memorial to his wife, and it s made from pure white marble inlaid with hundreds of thousands of precious and semi-precious stones. We stayed there until the sun had set, to see the changes in colour of the Taj. It was a truly magical experience. I couldn't believe I was actually there.

We left Agra this morning to take the train to Jaipur, the Pink City, named as such because of the reddish pink sandstone used in all the buildings.It is in an area of India known as Rajasthan. The hustle and bustle still continues here except on a smaller scale. We left Agra at 7.15 am and got here at 2pm.

In the next few days we will head to Pushkar, which hosts an annual camel fair (200,000 people, 50,000 camels,horses etc), hopefully we are not too early for this (dates are determined by the moon)

"One camel smells bad enough!!!"

Then we are planning to move on to Jodhpur (The Blue City)As seen on that mastercard ad!

( then to Udaipur, Adhmedabad then Mumbai (Bombay).

After Jodhpur we travelled by bus (8 hours) to Udaipur, home of the famous " Lake Palace" which sits literally in the middle of beautiful Lake Picchola. (For all you James Bond fans..Octopussy was filmed there, and true to form, the hostels and guesthouses all use this as a major selling point, offering nightly screenings of Mr.Roger Moore, over acting, throwing out many a corny quip!!)

The night we arrived, travel weary (awww, I hear you say?)we decided to splash out and treat ourselves to dinner at the Lake Palace. So we washed (And we REALLY needed to do that, believe me!), shook out some half respectable clothing (Got them ironed locally too, for about 0.20pence!) and made our way to the Ghat (slipway)from where we caught the little punt boat over the lake to the hotel. It was magical..the sun was just setting over the mountains, it was a warm hazy heat,the boat could just be heard gliding through the water towards the palace which was lit up with tiny white lights..We looked forward to our night ahead. The boat docked literally at the front steps of the hotel and we were greeted at the door by traditionally dressed Rajasthani Ladies, they were absolutely stunning, and we made our way to the bar..of course. What a contrast..from what we have witnessed up to now, the poverty etc. This country is, indeed, very badly divided. The hotel was opulent,as only Indian traditionalism with the help of lots of money, can be.(Cheapest room approx.$250 per night) We sipped some overpriced cocktails and then ate a wonderful dinner in the restaurant. We made it last as long as we could and caught the boat back to the town at about 11.30pm. We walked "merrily" back to the guest house.

We left Udaipur after a couple of days.We caught the overnight train to Ahmemdabad(10 hrs) then changed for the connecting train to Bombay (another 12 hrs) Arriving in to Bombay at about 10pm at night. 

We stayed in Bombay for one night only. Great city though, much more cosmopolitan than Delhi, which had it's own charms too. The next day we caught the train for Goa (9 hot,sweaty,grimey hours!)and arrived into Madgaon station at about 10pm.We just kept thinking "Beach..beach..beach.."

We stayed right out on one of the beaches south of the main hotspots in a beach house called "Furtado's" Definitely a more laid back attitude in Goa owing probably to the Portuguese influences. We toasted ourselves for a couple of days, swimming in the Arabian Sea which was akin to splashing about in a huge bathtub! So warm and calm.Great to sit in the evenings and watch the fishermen in their traditional wooden fishing boats moving back and forth, following the shoals.

Unfortunately we had to tear ourselves away from there and make the trek on the train back to Bombay, to catch our flight to Bangkok.

We should be heading for Bangkok around the 28th of October.

Here we are now in Puskar the city of the Holy Lake.We arrived here yesterday having spent the first few days in Delhi, then on to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and then a few days in Jaipur(Pink City).

We are now at Puskar, at the holy lake where a lot of Hindu's come to find religious enlightenment and do pilgrimages, of course we had the blessing done and are now both sporting the red spot on the forehead, cool or what?? Tomorrow we head for Jodpur, home of the Riding Pants or as its known locally the "Blue City".

So far everything has gone really well. Up until we arrived in Puskar we were pretty much a novelty with very few other westerners, the locals think our pale skin is hilarious and the local boys love my smig, one of the big movie stars here has one.

The only thing that has gone against us are the insect bites, if its not the mossies, its the bed bugs and yes they do bite, like hell.

Haven't had a sniff of red meat since we got here and am unlikely to as I've been warned off, in fact I've only had chicken twice, every other meal that I've had has been totally vegie! I've also had to start drinking tea without milk which I've got used to already.

We then decided to travel south through Gugaratt to Goa for a few days R.& R. On the train journey down which took almost two days in total, we were treated to some on board entertainmaent by two kids who busk to make a living. One was about 12 and the other about 5 years old. They both sang to their hearts content while the older girl played a drum. Louis Walsh doesn't know what he is missing - Westlife my ass, these kids were more talented than alll of Billy Barry's kids put together. We finally reached Goa after a brief stop off in Bombay. We found a really quiet place away from all the Ravers and Unionjack Boxershort crowd! The beach was about 50ft from our room door and we stopped to eat breakfast somewhere halfway. The sea water here is warmer than the shower water and as you can imagine we made the most of it. There is something very special about swimming in the Arabian Ocean as the sun sets in late October - are you jealous yet???

Something had to give though and later that night I got my first dose of the "Belly", thankfully it was short lived and after about 12 hours of feeling like a weak kitten, I was back in action, eating all around me again.