So I was in India stood outside, the Bandra Terminal in Mumbai, sweaty, tired and having yet another fight with an Indian tout. It is one of those things that you get used to In India but somehow there are certain people who wind you up. It seemed to us that this one guy in particular was pretty high, but that didn’t stop us laying into him for being an idiot. We were told that it would cost 500 Rupees to take us to Colaba in Mumbai, via taxi, but when we demanded a Rickshaw (so used to them from everywhere else in India) we were told they are not allowed in Colaba and taxi was the only way. Im saying this pretty straight forwardly to you all, but to get this basic information took a lot of shouting and determination to get answers. After being surrounded and followed by tonnes of drivers and touts to get us to go with them – the worst since coming to India, we spotted some other tourists in the same boat. I approached the three Chinese guys and two Germans, and after a lot of hassle with this one annoying tout, we agreed to go to Colaba together in a 6 seater van for 100 Rupees each. Believe me, the situation took around half an hour to sort out, with moments of storming off, more shouting, disagreeing and incredible amounts of frustration. Here In India, we have found that even if someone doesn’t know something or doesn’t know for sure where they are taking you, they will almost every time make up something to sound very convincing, making you think you are in safe hands. At this stage, none of the 7 of us were that naïve and so we would not enter the vehicle nor give them our bags to load onto the roof unstably, until we had proper confirmation that we would each be dropped at our 3 different hotels. I seemed to be the one raising my voice to the men, taking no shit after a 16 hour train ride. Being ripped off, just didn’t appeal to me, not here and not now anyway!

With as much confirmation as we could get – in the form of a few bobble heads from the men-, we decided to squeeze ourselves into the van, 7 of us in a what can only seat 6, and even 8 people at one point. I couldn’t stop laughing as, I was sat beside two of the Chinese guys, one on the seat beside me and the other crouched on his backpack in the aisle on the other side. We all laughed when their friend in the front passenger seat was joined by an Indian guy who claimed to be going 1 minute up the road, but had taken whatever personal space the guy had, away from him. Whether it be for 1 minute or longer, we felt sorry for the guy, being thoroughly squished by the man, and we felt is relief when the man did eventually hop out a few minutes later! We drove an hour into the city, surrounded by jam packed traffic and the usual honking horns. At one point, to be certain I asked the driver about the three hotels which he then said no to, and told us he would drop us to only one hotel. Kicking up murder, and with my other comrades as back up, we demanded to be dropped at our hotels as we had agreed, or else he would get no money from us. He agreed, and after a long and hot journey, we finally arrived at the German’s destination. Following this, we got to our hotel and we waved the boys off and hoped they would arrive safely and hassle free too. It was one of those situations that we had all imagined to turn out so horrible in the end, but in actual fact, It was surprisingly okay!

Walking yet another ‘stairs of hell’, we got to the reception of India guesthouse, where we were told a higher price, for cell sized rooms, different to what we had read in the L.P. Proud and stubborn, we declined and walked all the way back down, to compare some other hotels, which were indeed extortionate prices. In the end, with our tails tucked firmly between our legs, we made our way back up the ‘stairs of hell’ and took the damn room. The bathrooms were shared but were very modern and clean so we didn’t mind and the rooms were very small but had clean beds for us to sleep in which was all we wanted at this stage. After a well needed shower, we headed out to check out the Taj Mahal Paace Hotel, located right beside the Gateway of India. Two things we had read great things about. Both were spectacular and I couldn’t help but think If I had the money, how I would love a nice sea view room at The Taj. We were staying in the area of Colaba, a very safe tourist area where both sights are also located. As soon as we took a stroll around the area, I couldn’t help but grow a fondness towards It. I had imagined a city similar to Delhi, and couldn’t imagine the cosmopolitan image I had been hearing about. Until now! There were no rickshaws anywhere, the people were friendly and the general atmosphere was very chic. The buildings were very modern and after a walk to a nearby restaurant in Colaba called Sahakar, we could see more of what people were talking about. We ate in Sahakar which was a very American diner style restaurant with friendly waiters and large portions of beautiful food.  We then spotted 6th Street Yoghurt or 6SY which was a variation of my favourite ‘Yoghurtland’ in California. We ordered Indulgent sized cups with various frozen yoghurts and toppings which we enjoyed while reading the post it notes from travellers on the wall.  It was after this, that we took a stroll to the Gateway of India, meaning the Gateway of the British to India. We spent some time, taking pictures of the Taj Mahal Palace and the Gateway, before deciding to opt into the half hour boat ride around the coast. The choppy seas made it seem that the boat rides would be off for the low season, but we were somehow on the last boat, heading out into the rough ocean. There were a lot of people on the top deck while some of us opted to stay on the lower deck for the duration, luckily enough because the waves were so strong, that throughout the trip, we had to grip our seats to avoid being flung across the wet boat. A few people ended up hanging off the side of the boat with sea sickness while some of the group laughed at how crazy this all was and a chubby little boy screamed in horror as he got drenched by the water at the edge. The whole thing was crazy and even the getting on and off the boat was a hazard in itself, having to jump the gap from boat to safe ground, to avoid falling in. Craziness!

Afterwards, we decided to take a walk down Colaba Causeway where we spotted tonnes of trendy bars and restaurants ,among streets lined with market stalls selling everything from fruit to jewellery. Having come across Leopold’s Café and Bar which was recommended for travellers in the Lonely Planet, we decided to go in and have some beer. Upon entering this beautifully decorated bar, we began to notice a lot of foreign tourists which was always a good thing. The place was pretty full but we got a seat and after a little promotion from a staff member, we opted to buy the exclusive Budweiser Magnum which was only available in India, and would ensure us a free glass with every two purchases. Why Not! Leopold’s Café, was the unfortunate site of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks which left a lot of civilians dead. Sitting in the Café you can look around you and spot the bullet holes in the pillars, and a pane of shattered mirror on the wall, left as mementos. We were enjoying our beer, when out of the corner of my I spotted our table neighbours staring at every word we said. Feeling weird, we sat there, watching what we were saying and laughing hysterically as the two chicly dressed men, eyed us up. It was during this time, that we got talking to a group of three India guys beside us, comparing beers with them. They told us that they had also noticed the weird staring action we had being receiving from the guys next to us and we couldn’t stop laughing as the two men continued to stare, either out of jealousy or whatever, we couldn’t figure that one out. Indians like to stare, but this was different.

We spent most of the night, -and by most I mean, we were the last people to leave the bar- chatting with these hilariously funny guys about anything and everything, listening to stories about Indian culture and answers to our ever inquisitive questions. We continued to drink together and at one point spotted a group of guys who we thought we would make a bet about where they were from. Guessing Ireland, Australia and England between the 5 of us, we decided Eliza would go and ask them, to which they replied –Spain!! Booo!!! We then got some more beer to carry on the shenanigans with, and by looking around the room at all the near empty ‘beer towers ‘ on the tables,  we could tell we weren’t the only ones feeling merry. We had some great laughs with these guys and found we had a lot of things in common. They told us some truly hysterical stories about the time one of them at 5 omelettes out of sheer hunger when nothing else was available and how another had gained a ‘maximum belly’ from living in The U.K. They conversed with us in a way that made everything hilarious, and with lines such as ‘So I was shit hungry one time’ or ‘I was shit thirsty this other time’, we found ourselves gasping for a breath. It wasn’t long before we had talked through the night and the bar became more and more empty, leaving us the only people there. We said farewell to the guys and caught a taxi back to the hotel where we had a short night sleep before It was time to check out. Our time in Mumbai would be short but we had such an amazing first day there.

Our last day In Mumbai took us back to Sahakar restaurant for some more delicious diner food, followed by 6SY for some more yoghurt before we continued on in a taxi to the Marine Drive and Mani Bhavan- The Ghandi Museum. Mani Bhavan was the former residence of Ghandi when he lived in Mumbai and the depiction of him throughout the house was amazing. I hadn’t known much about him until now but I was very intrigued by his presence all over the house. He was an amazing man! We took a walk from the museum back up to Marine Drive which was a highway dotted with palm trees people, and a view that seemed it would be incredible in the summer months. Nonetheless, we walked the beach, ate some luminous pink candy floss and sat on the wall watching the wave’s crash as some locals ran in and out. After walking further we came across a bar called NY Bar and Grill which was quite hidden and seemed like it was closed, although it was well and truly open. We spent a good while there using wifi to check out hostels in Goa, drinking one ‘mocktai’l each and sharing an Itaiano Job sandwhich. The bill was quite a surprise and we couldn’t help but regret coming here. We took a taxi back to Colaba and decided to go for dinner at `Bademiya’ a local place renowned for amazing cuisine. So renowned that people queue outside for it to open at 7pm and the guys we had met the night before had travelled 20km to eat there. The place opens from 7pm until around 3am and is very popular among locals and travellers, so much so that as soon as we got in at 7pm exactly, the place took 10 minutes to completely fill up. I got the famous Veg Shikh Kebab which was ‘normal’ spicy as the waiter had mentioned, but by Indian standards still blew my head off. The kebab was beautiful though and I got over my numb tongue to finish my 4 yummy kebabs. We headed back to Leopold’s for some cheap vanilla cups, a walnut brownie, and some refuge while we waited to catch our train. Our time In Mumbai was incredibly short and I will vow to go back someday soon, and next time I WILL stay at The Taj Mahal Palace! Mumbai certainly lived up its cosmopolitan image and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of Déjà vu from waking along the promenade at Copacabana in Brazil. I will definitely be back in India during the summer season, and I think that It will be very interesting to compare travelling in India during high and low season. But so far, It has been such an incredible experience, everywhere is more different than the next and I can really understand the term ‘Incredible India’ now.

So I was in the Thar desert with my foot lodged in Eliza’s camels ass which definitely wasn’t something I had imagined would happen on this safari. My life was also saved by Bourbon biscuits on this day too, but our trip to Jaiselmer hadn’t started out so comical. It was on our rounds of pricing the camel safari tours here on our first day in Jaiselmer that we bumped into two guys, one English and one German who we came to realise were doing the same thing. We compared prices and our travel journeys before taking a walk around town, stopping off at a nice view point of the city, by chance, and then we spent some time in some of the numerous stores, with the guys trying on clothes, and us haggling for clothing. The boys were quite funny, and provided us with some entertainment for the hour or so that we knew them. It seemed that the boys were opposites completely, one seeming to be very organized and the other to be an easy going chap. The two had just met a few days ago and had started travelling together. We laughed hysterically on two separate occasions, when the boys were being dressed up in turbans by local men, to which  one of them responded to the man ‘You know what my friend, I will consider it, It’s very nice material, I will consider it’. It was truly hysterical. After we finally came to a decision to book a good camel safari deal with Ganesh Travels, the boys went off to sort out their safari’s, and  we visited  the Palace Museum. It had also been quite comical seeing the boys interact on making the decision for the trip, because considering one was organized and felt they should book asap to have it sorted and the other would just shrug in an easy going fashion or say something like ‘huh’. The two of them seemed like a good match!

We headed back to Hotel Mirage to tell our host Ba that we had booked a safari elsewhere, but he helped us book our A/C bus to Udaipur which was great. After a nice dinner at a local rooftop restaurant, where we spotted a Spanish group who we had seen on our train and around town that day, we decided to head up to Sunset Rooftop Café which boasted the best views of the sunset and fort from its terrace. We ordered a beer between us and sat and watched yet another typically colourful Indian sunset, blow our minds, while spotting some tourists complete with cameras and tripods capturing the scenery from other surrounding rooftops. I love Indian sunsets! After the magic, we headed back to have an good night’s sleep (which ended up being an unbearably hot night’s sleep) and pack for our early camel safari start the next day!

We had booked our one and a half day tour to fit into our schedule which was easily done with Ganesh Travels- recommended by the Lonely Planet, for 1250 Rupees or almost €20 which included the jeep safari to the desert, meals and unlimited water. We opted to join a group which we felt would be a great way to meet people and make new friends. We left our bags in Ganesh Travels, where we were promised use of their showers etc when we returned free of charge, and headed upstairs to have breakfast and meet our group. In our group we met a couple from Belgium, 3 guys and a girl from Spain, a guy from Mumbai but living in Canada and two South Korean  guys, all of whom were so friendly when we met. It was funny because we kept bumping into the Spanish group and we came to realise they had also been on our train to Jaiselmar.  We took two jeeps to the desert which took about an hour, and once we arrived we were assigned our camels and met our guides and cooks. We set off on our camels which are always quite daunting even if you have been on a camel before. It took a while to trust our camels and feel comfortable, but It was particularly scary when the Belgian ladies camel, recognised its sitting area and suddenly went off track and lay down, throwing her off abrubtly. Fair play to the lady, who got straight back up and carried on. I know I would have been terrified, and believe me I was hoping neither my camel ‘Ben’ nor Eliza’s camel ‘Humphrey’ (both named by us) would follow in Its footsteps, which luckily didn’t happen. We trotted along for an hour or so melting in the hot desert sun, before laying the camels down, hopping off and taking a breather in a local desert village shop. There we were, more than 9 of us crowded into the local lady’s’ shop purely for the fan she had producing sweet cool air to our clammy selves, and leaning into her ice cold fridge throwing drink orders at her like we never seen soda before. We called it heaven in the desert, and that was the moment we all bonded!

We got back on our camels after fully refuelling on ice cold drinks, and carried on through the Thar Desert of India where our next stop would be under a large shady tree, perfect for lunch. After a few more hours of trekking, and with numb bums, we were all relieved to get to the large tree. Shade- another thing you seriously appreciate when in the steaming hot desert! Here, our guides and cooks lay down some blankets for us and they began cooking our authentic Indian meals from scratch, while we all mingled over travel stories and such. It was the first time we had a chance to sit down and have a proper chat with each other and we learned a lot about each other here. It was interesting to talk about previous travels, future plans and what brought us to India! After lunch/siesta, we boarded our camels once again and set off into the sunset towards the sand dunes, where we would camp for the night. It was on this stretch of safari that my crazy camel Ben, kept trotting out of line, and instead preferred to be alongside Eliza’s camel Humphrey. This then meant that my leg was getting trapped in between the two camels and was constantly being whacked off the hard tools that the camel was also carrying. It was at one point that my shoeless, free hanging foot, swung right into Humphreys ass thanks to the efforts of Ben, which left me dumbfounded and desperately wanting a shower. It also had me calling our guide for help who in turn just called back instructions to us, which didn’t help me tame Ben, because number one, I couldn’t reach the reigns and number two I was certainly not going to ride solo with him. After a bit of help from Eliza who could reach Bens reign, he got back in line and all was right with the world. We stopped off one last time to take our camels for some water before we would camp for the night. It was here that, in mid walk to the large well, I felt dizzy, lightheaded and the strong feeling I was going to faint. I had been drinking water all day but the heat got to me and made me feel as though something was going to happen. It’s a scary feeling just before you faint, when the once near sounds now appear distant, your sight starts to decline and you suddenly feel weakness coming on. Lucky enough, as I sat down by the well (probably not a good spot for a near fainter)and drank some of Eliza’s water and had a bourbon biscuit for some sugar, I felt slightly better. I moved over to the shade where tonnes of village kids gathered around to stare at the situation. I was kind of glad I didn’t faint at this stage, and was glad to have had some sugar in my blood to keep me going. God bless Bourbons!

I made sure to thank god for making me feel better before I had to ride on my camel to the dunes, as I don’t know what would have come of me If we hadn’t made that stop, and I fainted off the camel’s back. The sun started to go down as we made our way through the desert, passed the numerous wind turbines, ending with a view of the dunes just before sunset. When we arrived, some of the group sat down and some of the group went and took pictures. The sunset appeared colourful under the clouds that night which was beautiful, but once the sun slept for the night, darkness was our new best friend. It was only for one of the Korean boys flashlight that we could even converse with each other face to face. The guides took drink orders from us, and in true English Irish style, we were the only ones ordering beer instead of water/soda. It wasn’t until later on that the others would feel slightly envious of this. One of the guides was planning to ride off to the next town on his camel and purchase the huge list of beverages for us which arrived an hour or two later when we were all huddled in a sheltered dune having dinner. We had to be sheltered as a sand storm had come our way and sitting in the open air was not an option. There we were huddled by the stove, dressed in scarves and sunglasses to save the sand from taking over our eyes and mouths. It was hilarious! We chatted about two of the Spaniards about how they had lived in Ireland among other topics such as deadly scorpions, snakes and wild dogs which lurked in our new home for the night. We tried not to think about it for the night and the beer certainly helped with that. Later we moved back to the camping area where some of the others went to sleep in the camp beds provided for us, while the rest of us gathered around for more chats about everything. That night we made new friends and new memories, and learned a lot about each other and our countries, which Is always a travellers muse. Eventually we all went off to our beds, where we tried to sleep and not think about the prospective danger around us.

The next morning woken by the sunrise, we got up and sat around in a circle for our freshly prepared breakfast of boiled eggs and toast. I love eggs so I had 3! We set off on our camels again, this time me with Humphrey and Eliza went solo with Ben. It was a very relaxing trot through the desert until the familiar pain came back from sitting on the camel all day yesterday. I couldn’t help but think how my first week of yoga would go. Ouch! The safari came to an end at a good time and I thanked my lucky stars I hadn’t booked the 3 day tour as I don’t think I would have walked again, had I done that! Nevertheless, the experience overall was so great and we were lucky with the group we met over the day and a half. We took the jeep safari back to Jaiselmar where we then all headed to Ganesh to get our bags and take a shower. It took quite a while for 9 people to use one shower though, as you can imagine, and once we were all done, It was definitely time to eat! We all went to The Sunset Café for lunch and some chill time in the air conditioned, cushioned restaurant, before we each left for our next port of call. Some to Delhi, some to Jodhpur and in our case, Udaipur.

We had a few hours before our bus to Udaipur so we relaxed for a while and then went and ordered take away pizza from 8July Restaurant for our 12 hour journey. The journey to the bus station and on to the bus was pretty smooth, which isn’t always the case in India, but this seemed to be fine. We looked forward to a nice relaxing bus journey and always liked the long journeys as you could get a good night’s sleep on them. Well from now on I won’t be taking buses after our experience to Udaipur. Our last bus ride had been dreadful and we should have known, but we had no choice but to take it this time. We hopped on our A/C luxury bus and settled into  our double sleeper comfy bed. Little did we know, It would be the journey from hell. I think the only way to describe this horrendous bus journey would be to imagine 12 hours  of speed bumps , the whole way to Udaipur. Speed bumps in India are small but deadly and when you go over them weather in a sleeper bus, a rickshaw or whatever, you are lifted right off your seat and thrown back down again. This happened literally the whole entire way to Udaipur and my head was so bashed in the next morning that I didn’t know If I was coming or going. Needless to say that our bodies were in total states of shock from the trauma. I think I may have caught some sleep on the short stopovers we had encountered along the way though, thinking ‘Get some sleep quickly, quickly before it starts moving again’. It was a horror story! Luckily we are booking sleeper trains to Mumbai and Goa following our experience which always prove to be somewhat relaxing. Its hard to believe that arriving in Udaipur would be our last stop in Rajasthan, and our third last stop together as a travelling duo.

Let’s make the most of it!

Our last and only evening in Bundi, saw us dining at the rooftop restaurant of the Shivam Hotel. Here, we met a quite persistent man who tried to push his business our way, offering us bus tickets and recommending guest houses in Jodhpur. We sat and had a nice meal while their pet tortoise roamed the floors beneath us banging into low hanging objects as it went. Our aim was to leave Bundi and head straight for Jaisalmer which turned out to be impossible without a stop over in Jodhpur. We had liked our time in Bundi, but didn’t find anything particularly special about it, having wished we had stayed in Pushkar an extra day. Earlier that day before our outings, we booked a sleeper bus to Jodhpur which would leave at 10:30pm and arrive at 7:30am the next morning. We hadn’t taken a sleeper bus yet, apart from the time when we got leaked on and were subsequently moved to the bunk at the back of the bus. We presumed it would be something like this. Our day was spent, firstly, contemplating going into the Bundi Fort and dodging the many monkeys, having lunch in the cool rooftop restaurant of Tom and Jerry’s and then dinner at the Shivam, passing time until our bus’s departure. Prior to Tom and Jerry’s, we had taken a wander through the many winding roads of Bundi, exploring everything around us, until the rain thundered down heavily above and around us, leaving us with no choice but to take shelter in a nearby ledge of a shop, which barely protected us. Looking across the road, we saw two tourists also taking shelter and we glanced at each other in amusement. Saying something telepathically along the lines of ‘This Is India’. Having said seconds before he arrived, ‘God wouldn’t It be great If a rickshaw (in a place with barely any rickshaws around) came by and took us out of these floods, our luck dawned on us when all of a sudden none other than a rickshaw pulled right over to the ledge to take us on board. The rain had lashed so heavily that within minutes the streets were entirely flooded which meant that we would have had to swim to a shelter of safety. Taking, another woman with us, we headed off through the floods, passing the tourists, and got dropped at Tom and Jerry’s where we enjoyed some chill time having lunch and using wifi to complete our blogs and catch up with the news at home.

Shivam took up most of evening before It was time to return to the guest house and take our pre booked Rickshaw to the bus station. It was a long wait in the make shift station, where we sat with our feet up in a nearby shop, avoiding the rats on the floor and watching a very captivating Indian drama on the tv. After constantly asking ‘Is this our bus’ or ‘bus to Jodhpur?’ every time a bus came along, we were finally told when our bus had indeed come. Trudging through the muddy grounds to the bus, we dropped our bags in the back and were then shown to our seats ‘H & I’ which was a quaint little double bunk complete with curtains and shutters on both sides blocking out the light. Laying on the damp mattress, we realised it wasn’t going to be a pleasant journey, and with 9 hours of, the bumpiest journey I have EVER encountered (Thanks to Indian roads), we finally got woken up from our light slumber when we had arrived in Jodhpur. With a crazy head of hair and no time to fix it, I hopped down the ladder grabbing my things and got off the bus. Hounded by touts, I began to get annoyed (anyone who has tried to converse with me this early will know what I mean) at the constant offers ‘Rickshaw, Rickshaw’, ‘Where are you going madam’. We finally took a Rickshaw to the train station where we booked  a sleeper train to Jaisalmer for that evening leaving at 11:45pm and getting there at 5:30am. Not so bad, and Not so bumpy we thought.

We took a rickshaw to ‘a cheap guest house’ where, we hoped to leave our bags, nap and shower before our train tonight. After two stop offs, I was lucky enough to haggle a good price for a room for the day. 200Rupees- Not bad! We handed in some well needed laundry and started our day In Jodphur- The Blue City, with breakfast at the nearby Ku Ku guest house, which turned out to be a charm. The owner offered us a room in his guesthouse in Jaiselmar for 200Rupees and a free pick up from the station at the oh so early time of arrival. We booked it through him and felt very relieved to know this was sorted. Our day In Jodhpur saw us taking in heaps of incredible sights such as the Mehrangargh Fort, The Umaid Bhawan Palace, The Clock Tower and the very quaint Jaswant Thada which took up the whole day and made us feel a bit like we had spent our day very wisely. After a very slow lunch in Anil Sunrise guest house, we wandered the bazar and made a few purchases in the Lonely Planet recommended ‘Spice Shop’ nearby before heading back to the hostel to take a well-deserved nap. After a two hour sleep, we packed up all our stuff, paid our bill and headed to Jharokha rooftop restaurant where we had a fabulous meal with a spectacular evening view of the fort. Very romantic ha ha! That was until, the a storm came and we were all rushed inside under the canopy complete with wicker chairs, hanging decorating’s and tropical plants. This place was truly remarkable and the staff were super friendly and genuine. Finishing our meal off, we were joined in the restaurant by a group of Chinese tourists and their technological gadgets at hand, who sat and had a few beers near us, while we all looked out and listened to the crazy hurricane like storm. In true Indian ‘this happens all the time’ style, one of the staff even stood out in the storm embracing the rain. Nothing like Ireland then eh!

It wasn’t long before we paid our bill and headed back to get our backs, and hopefully bag a rickshaw to take us to the station. Having been one of the easiest transits to transport we had witnessed so far, we were in our beds well before the time of departure. It seemed that once again, our carriage and nearby carriages where full of tourists, which always made us feel that bit safer and maybe a bit excited that we may actually make new friends in Jaiselmar. We were picked up promptly at the time of arrival and whisked away to Hotel Mirage, located inside the Jaisalmer Fort, where we dumped our bags and joined our host on the rooftop for some very delectable early morning Masala Chai. We filled out some standard forms, looked through his Camel Safari album and comment book before retreating to our bed for a long nap.

Our time in Jodhpur was very sort but very exciting and we were proud to have used the time we had wisely to see what It had to offer. The city seemed to have a different atmosphere to Jaipur and Delhi which was crazy busy and didn’t really appeal to me as much as Jodhpur did. Don’t get me wrong all the cities had incredible sights to see, but as in terms of atmosphere, we really liked the way Jodhpur was portrayed to us and could only have hoped to have stayed longer. At least we can say we’ve been to and explored India’s Blue City.

After a short night sleep, having spent the evening at Magic View rooftop restaurant with new friends drinking good old Kingfisher beers, we got ourselves ready, checked out and headed to the bus stand nearby to catch a bus to Bundi. We had been told tat we could easily catch one of the many buses direct to Bundi, leaving every half hour, but In true Indian style, you have to take everything with a pinch of salt, so much so that when we got to the bus depot we were laughed at by a kiosk boy when we mentioned this. It seemed to be the case that to get to Bundi, wasn’t as easy as planned, and would see us having to take a bus to Ajmer, change to another bus and then change again. We were beginning to wonder why we were even going to Bundi, considering all the negative opinions of Bundi that we had heard from Pushkar locals the night before. Nevertheless, In true travelling style, never taking someone else’s word for it, we took the leap and set off on an unusual journey.

The first bus we took, saw two men grab our bags and hurl them up on the roof for the one hour journey. I couldn’t help but think I would arrive in Ajmer with significantly luggage considering how bumpy the ride was. We had relatively decent seats where we chilled out and munched on our breakfast of crisps and cookies, the only thing handy and accessible in all places for trips such as these. Pulling over to the side of the road in Ajmer, we were told we had arrived at our destination, so we shuffled off the bus and caught our big backpacks as they were in turn, hurled off the roof  to our weak arms below. The bus quickly set off leaving us wondering where to go, but in true Indian kindness, we had some help to find the bus depot. We then booked our bus at the station and went to take our seats and get sorted before we set off. This time, our bags were safely at our feet where we had just about enough room in between the seats in front, to store them and stretch our legs slightly. But still, It was better to know our bags were safe. It was a good few hours of extreme bumpiness along the mushy roads which seemed to be breaking up from all the rain set upon it. Passing other vehicles along the narrow unstable roads was at time, nerve wracking but having travelled South America; I was well used to this kind of recklessness. It was all part of the journey right?

Along the way, we took naps and experienced sore heads after being banged on and off the headrests. We listened to music, admired the scenery and I of course, continued to read a heap of my book Eat Pray Love. After pulling into a rest stop, we were told ‘5 minutes’…. Which kind of 5 minutes we did not know though. Until Bundi? If so, this was great, It was super close than we thought. Packing up our stuff and ready to set off for our last 5 minutes of the journey, a man on  board then told us it was a 5 minute rest stop and if we needed snacks or the toilet then we could go. Out came my book once again and I prepared for an even longer journey ahead. In no time, we were the only people left on the bus with maybe two or three others, and when a local man told us we needed to change to the bus next to us for Bundi, we panicked and grabbed our belongings. After some confusion involving other locals as to whether we had to stay on board or change bus, we finally agreed that we needed to change. With unclear instructions, we boarded the packed bus beside us with no clue whether it was the right destination or not. With no leg room for bags I struggled to keep our luggage close to us and out of peoples way, but It worked for the short term journey. After showing our tickets we realized we were headed in the right direction which was a good start. We were sat next to a guy dressed in a white robe with a beehive full of dreadlocks who kept bending over and nearly taking Eliza’s eye out, which kept me entertained. At one point he struggled to open his bottle of water, which saw me offering my help and opening it for him, purely  to end the difficulty he was facing. He continued to entertain me as we noticed him staring closely at Eliza- talk about personal space- continuously for no reason. Another funny incident was when he thought he had lost his phone, so he was up on the chair, bending down, swinging out of the luggage rack above in search, until a few minutes later when he laughed having discovered it had been down the side of his seat the whole time. This guy was a truly entertaining  and he almost appeared to me as a biblical figure with is full beard and robe. One nice man behind us warned us when we were about to arrive in Bundi which was very helpful. We took a rickshaw to Haveli Uma Megh guest house, which we had read had a great lake view from the garden restaurant. We took a double room for 250 Rupees with a lake view and an old fashioned homely feel. The building was indeed ‘dilapidated’ as described in the L.P but I didn’t see the charm they boasted about. Starving, we dropped our bags in the room and headed down to the ‘garden restaurant’ which was merely a plastic table on the grass, wich was then covered with a table cloth when we got outside. It didn’t resemble a ‘garden restaurant’ to us at all and being surrounded by large unpredictable monkeys swinging from trees and buildings, we felt less than relaxed sitting here. I ordered a Pizza, having earlier read the ‘Italy’ section of my book which made me crave pizza, and Eliza ordered Rajasthan Thali. When my pizza came out, It was very deceiving, as It looked super tasty but actually tasted really disgusting. I had came to the conclusion that the tiny pizza was in fact a makeshift rip off  and was actually a naan bread with what tasted like curry on top. I struggled to eat it even with the hunger in my belly which says it all. Eliza finished her Thali off but later told me she had really not enjoyed it at all. The two ‘waiters’ stood close by to see if we were enjoying it, which felt a tad uncomfortable, even offering us more food when we had finished.

At the end of the meal, when we were leaving he asked us what we would want for breakfast so that he could prepare it for us and have it ready for a specific time. It looks as though we will be having scrambled eggs at 10:30 am and as long as they don’t resemble curry or the toast isn’t naan bread then it should be okay. We headed out for some snacks from the local kiosk, partly because I was still starving and partly to enjoy while watching ‘Eat Pray Love’ which yes I am obsessed with. We had decided to spend our second day exploring  Bundi and then taking an overnight bus to Jaisalmer.

We checked out this morning and after purchasing a sleeper bus ticket to Jodhpur, as Jaisalmer wasn't possible without a stop over, we headed out to the garden where we hoped to pay for dinner from last night but to avoid breakfast this morning. It didn't go to plan and we were almost guilted into taking a seat which was being set up for us as we entered the garden. We ordered scrambled eggs and toast which when it came out, was surprisingly nice. Felling awkward, having breakfast and being approached by the staff constantly about having more food, or ordering lunch/dinner for this evening, we abruptly asked for the bill just to get out of there.
It was an odd place which felt more like sitting in somebodies garden than in a restaurant, and made us feel like awkward celebrities being waited on hand and foot. Not our style! We told him we would not be eating in the restaurant as we were off to explore Bundi and wouldn't know when we'd be back. After paying off our room and food debts, we headed to see the fort in  Bundi which apparently had a lot of bats and monkeys and slightly put us off. Having seen a lot of forts and temples here In India, we decided to give it a miss and instead took a stroll through town, where we got caught in the unpredictable monsoon rain, leading us to take shelter under a ledge. As it got heavier and heavier, and we saw the roads getting more and more flooded, we hoped a Rickshaw would drive past and rescue us, which lucky enough, did. The guy took Eliza, myself and another lady away from the floods and dropped us at Tom and Jerry's restaurant where we hoped to chill out in shelter and order some food To my excitement, the owner who told us the restaurant was only open 3 days since being off season, promised us that they had the best Italian food here, which I thought I really deserved after last night. We ordered a mushroom pizza between us and sat and chilled in the cool rooftop breeze, writing our blogs. Tonight we will head to Jodhpur on a 9hr overnight sleeper bus, which if previous experiences are anything to go by, will bring about some adventurous stories of Its own.

For now, I shall say Namaste! X

After being surrounded by a motorbike, a rickshaw, a fuming rickshaw driver and three bystanders, we knew It was not a good situation to be in so we got out of there immediately. It was another day in Jaipur, and it was one that we thought would be very chilled out. We planned to take a rickshaw around three sights in Jaipur which we had yet to see- first Nahargarh, then Hawamahal and lastly Albert Hall before returning home, all with the same driver. After bargaining from 100 rupees to 350 rupees for the day trip, we hopped in the rickshaw with a middle aged man who had not very many words of English, well none really! He took us out of town towards Amber Fort and also the place where Nahargarh was, but en route he pulled over only to have a few bystanders translate to us that our driver was confused and that he could not take us up to the ruin as it was very steep uphill and the rickshaw wouldn’t see it through. Angry we told them he had agreed at the beginning and he knew where we were going but still the driver wanted us to somehow get out of the rickshaw  in the middle of nowhere and perhaps find our own way up there, we were not sure. After a lot of angry translating, he finally took off again in a huff towards the ruin. It took us quite a while getting up the mountain in the struggling tuk tuk and we had to put up with his presumed bitching bout us to himself, for most of the way. We spent a good two hours in there and It was one of the most amazing things to see in Jaipur, giving you a complete 360 degree birds eye view of the whole city. We then headed out to the angry driver who had then gathered a few more bystanders with words of English, who then translated his confusion once again. Getting absolutely sick of it at this stage we felt like getting out and finding someone else to take us but when he abruptly took off again, we had no chance. We sped down the mountain and back into the city where he not only bypassed our second stop Hawamahal, but angrily refused to turn back and drop us off, shouting ‘No parking, No parking’. We were sick of his attitude and could not wait to get out. He had been asking the translators earlier to tell us to pay him more and when we refused he got angrier, but this time he continued shouting at us in his language and handed us a rickshaw fare list. We had agreed on 350 rupees at the beginning and he was not going to charge us anymore so we thought once we get to Albert Hall, we will pay him his money and get going, but it wasn’t that straight forward.  Arriving at Albert Hall, we got out and handed him 350 rupees in the hopes of getting rid of him and is ridiculous attitude, but he had yet rounded up a group of men on a motorbike who he used to translate again. He went ballistic at us and it was obvious he had exaggerated the whole story to make us look like we had done him wrong. With him barely accepting the money from us and continuing to scream at Eliza, she gave him the money one last time and we left for Albert Hall. As we walked on, trying to get away as quickly as possible, the motorbike pulled up, parked in front of our path and the three men got off, while the rickshaw driver and his motor was blocking the other side. I knew this wasn’t going to be a pleasant situation so I tested the waters and tried to escape the ‘circle’ they had somehow made around us, while Eliza argued with the driver. Fair play to her for it, he was a very horrible man who was intimidating both of us while twisting the whole story for his own benefit. The bystanders tried to get us to pay him more money but after more arguing, Eliza escaped the circle and we both left to go to the hall. After a look around the hall, which was great, we then exited by the back entrance and took another rickshaw to the Hawamahal where we caught the last half hour before it was due to close. The day ended with a very unusually normal rickshaw back to our hotel which had calmed the day down a notch, but this was definitely a day we wouldn’t forget. Moral of the story Never ever get on the wrong side of a Rickshaw driver, and In a similar event, don’t take any shit from anyone. Namaste India!

The drama continued well into the evening but this time It was a different kind of drama, the cinematic kind. We had arrived at the Raj Mandir cinema where we planned to see a Bollywood film here. It was recommended by the lonely planet and with a description such as theirs; you couldn’t help but be curious. They described it as being ‘a huge big cream cake style building with a meringue auditorium, somewhere between a temple and disneyland’, ‘THE best place to see a Hindi film in India’. When we passed by it on our first day in Jaipur, It certainly caught our eye. The movie was a standard new release so our only input was the time- 6:50pm for 100 rupees. We were really hungry so we opted to get this ticket and hope to get food inside, and boy did we! Inside for tonnes less than you would pay at home, we got a pizza, a drink, crisps and at intermission even went t=out and purchased a slice of Black Forrest cake which was amazing. 

The movie itself, when it began, seemed familiar to me and I had remembered seeing posters for it around India so far. By the hysterics of the audience, we gathered that it was a comedy, but with no subtitles we had to purely base our laughter on facial expressions and actions. It was hilarious and the plot was very easy to follow, very funny at times, very emotional at times and very dramatic at times as to be expected. The cinema audience in India was known to be very involved in the film, sometimes getting up and dancing, or cheering on a character which this audience did- not so much dancing though. The film centred around a boy who grew up to be an Olympic champion which turned out to be ‘based on a true life’. At one part of the movie, the Indian running team went to Melbourne for the Olympics and I was surprised to see a familiar face in Ruby from Home and Away, random or what! One of the funniest scenes was when she took the team to a local country bar and after a few beers he pulled off some crazy Indian/country dancing to the Aussie country band music, to which the whole bar joined in. I am downloading the soundtrack for this for sure It was quite cool how so many tourists were in the cinema and we felt a bit better knowing we weren’t the only one  not being  able to fully understand it. What an experience, and what a day of drama here in Jaipur!

So the last blog I wrote ‘From Agra With Love’, was written from a half damp, bunk bed mattress on a rickety bus, with heavy leaks throughout the roof due to the monsoon pour down. Originally we had two ordinary seats, until an hour into the journey and with Eliza asleep and comfy, and me writing up my blog,  the roof started leaking heavily over my head, soaking  the whole back of my body. I wasn’t the only one though, and many passengers ad to get up and stand in the aisle to avoid the soakage. After a while of trying to manoeuvre myself, in the hope of finding a position comfortable enough and dry enough, the situation got worse when the leaks became more apparent and Eliza got a mini shower right beside me. It was clear we needed to move! The ladies behind us laughed at us and pointed to other areas for us to move to but we figured we would be okay. Out of nowhere a man ushered us out of our swimming pool seats and towards the back of the bus where he pointed to a narrow unstable ladder leading to the top bunk of the bus. He grabbed our bags and put them up for us, while we manoeuvred ourselves up the shaky ladder, drawing even more attention to ourselves –If this is even possible in India-. Once we reached the top, we made ourselves comfortable and laughed hysterically at the outcome of the situation. Eliza had been on buses in India already but she had said that this was the most bizarre bus experience by far! There we were in a double bed style bunk, with a perfect view of the scenery and the monsoon on one side but no protection from falling off the bunk on the other side. There was no chance of me falling asleep  here anyway!

The journey seemed to go on forever and ever and the 5hour journey turned out to be much longer, which was typically India! We had a few stops offs and one longish stop off which made it hard to know if we had arrived in Jaipur or not. Afraid we would miss our stop, we hopped down at one point and I asked the driver who told me it was the last stop. No worries! So when we finally arrived in Jaipur, I was greeted by a wet, soggy, muddy backpack on the side of the road, having been taken out of the luggage compartment. I was kicking myself for not putting the rain cover on my backpack but realised that this was a lesson to learn and I would definitely be doing this from now on. After getting a Rickshaw through town, to Juwala Niketan Guest House, we declined the expensive room and went to check out next doors prices which were even higher. At 11pm we opted to go back to Juwala Niketan for the night where we took a double room, which was nice and big apart from the families of ants residing on the floors. I tried to not let this put me off a good night’s sleep.

We had a good night’s sleep and awoke in the morning, feeling refreshed and ready to explore Jaipur and The Amber Fort nearby. In the hopes of publishing my blogs, catch up with the outside world and let my poor mother know I was okay, we set out to find a restaurant with wifi- something that seemed ‘Impossible’ according to many of the locals we asked. I was beginning to think that there was no way I was going to get in touch with anyone while In Jaipur. Eventually finding Mohan Restaurant, we ordered some food, and I began my Jaipur blog, through WORD, which will be the norm for me during this trip I thought.

So we just spent over an hour on a cycle rickshaw being taken around the incredibly bumpy roads of Jaipur, to a night bar called Reds which didn’t exist, by a rickshaw driver who kept stopping for directions because he didn’t know the way. A pretty crazy evening, but let me tell you about our day up until then. So we headed off to spend the day at the Amber Fort just outside of town, away from the hustle and bustle and up into the lush green countryside. The rickshaw was pretty cheap thanks to my haggling which saved us a few bob, and considering the distance, we were pleased with ourselves. The scenery on the way to the Amber Fort was beautiful, we passed by the odd colourfully painted elephant, wandering camel and looked out onto lush green hills, lakes and beautifully created temples. It was another world outside our ordinary busy day to day Indian adventures. It was a nice change. We arrived at the Amber Fort which was utterly enchanting and really captivated everyone’s attention.  There were not that many tourists there and overall the amount of people here really made us glad we had come in the rainy season, It was a much less stressful experience we had thought. We walked up the steps, which reminded me slightly of the setting of Machu Picchu with its lush green lawns yet, ancient ruins, together working together in a truly mysterious way to tell a beautiful story to Its visitors. It was one of the most incredible settings ever. Looking at a 360 degree angle you  could take in the beauty of the gardens, the hills adjacent to the ruins, complete with an old ‘great wall of china’ style wall running up hill through it. The igher we got, the more of the view we could take in and the more we could appreciate what we were looking at. When we reached the ticket office, we purchased a concession ticket- with my out of date student card luckily- which entitled us to half the normal price and entry into 5 attractions around Jaipur.  In true unpredictable monsoon style, the rain lashed out of the heavens without any warning, but in such a way that It was a lot more forgivable than say, an Irish pour down.  The rain here was almost a relief from the heat, although we had noticed Jaipur was a lot less hot than where we had been already. Nonetheless we, took shelter on a step with some locals, and waited for it to pass before carrying on with our sightseeing. We spent a good hour and  a half walking around the Amber Palace, admiring the marble effect from the harsh erosion on the many buildings and the sheer intricate architecture of them. When we felt like we had seen it all and it was time to move on, we headed towards the exit where we –almost by fate- came across an uber modern coffee shop right in the middle of these ancient ruins we had just been admiring. It was a weird moment seeing that! Nevertheless we went in and I ordered a sizzling brownie with ice cream and chocolate syrup, which when It came out, had a smell reminiscent of my time working at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. It was served on a hot stone plate and it did what it said on the tin, It sizzled. When Eliza tasted mine, she went and ordered one too, they were just too good to pass up. Without a doubt, come to Amber Fort, Jaipur for the best brownie you will ever have.

‘There are three things you need when driving a rickshaw in India- Good Brakes, Good Horn and Good Luck’-Sheikh, rickshaw driver, Jaipur.

Outside of the Fort we took a rickshaw back towards town where we would explore our next port of call, the Jantar Mantar observatory. En route, we switched rickshaws and were taken the rest of the way by a friend of our driver who was a guide/driver in and around the area we were going. We initially thought it would be a money scam, encouraging us to go touring with him and when he showed us his book about other tourists experiences with him as their guide, we couldn’t help but feel excited. He had great English which was a nice change, and we had good conversations for the most part. He offered to wait outside the observatory for us for an extra 60 rupees and then take us to see some textiles and jewellery in the hidden parts of town where a lot of designers come to buy stock to sell at home. It was warehouse prices he told us. We spent a good hour in the observatory in awe of the creations around us. These monuments had been erected years and years ago, an intelligence way ahead of their time, to display astrological meanings and show sun dials, time and celestial objects in the sky. It was incredible and by looking at the shapes and sheer size of some of them, It was hard to think that these were this old. One of the sun dials there, we were told, is the tallest sun dial in the world. With another unpredictable monsoon shower pouring down, we quickly took shelter in a narrow door way of one of the monuments, before bracing ourselves and running back out the exit to our rickshaw driver Sheikh who was waiting for us. Soaked, we sat in the ‘vehicle’, while he took us to the textile warehouse. ‘Just looking, No buying’ , but we knew otherwise. We were told that Jaipur is the textile and jewellery  capital of India and that It was also the cheapest place for jewellery in the world. We were told that a lot of designers and business people come here for their stock and he even showed me a card belonging to a woman from Kilkenny, Ireland who had a shop selling Indian merchandise. She came here every year he told us! We met the owner of the textile factory who showed us how the silk was made, with vegetable dyes such as indigo flower, onion skin, spinach, saffron and chilli which seemed incredible when we saw the results on the previously off white material. He then showed us the design stamps the place on the  material to create its original design. It wasn’t long before we were given some refreshments and taken up stairs where we left our shoes at the door and were invited in to see some of the materials they had. He sat me at a computer checked out dresses that I may want to have custom made here for very cheap, while Eliza joined him to check out some intricate bed spreads. After a while on the computer checking out maxi dress styles, and wishing I could instead just use his internet to upload my blog, I decided against ordering a dress here. It wasn’t cheap after all and I didn’t have anything I wanted enough, in mind. We left the store and carried on with Sheikh to the next stop, the jewellery warehouse. Here we met a nice young man who showed us how the gems are produced and designed to make all sorts of nice pieces. He then offered us a Pepsi each and we sat opposite him at his counter inside, to admire some of the rings I had asked to see. I settled on an Indian Jade stone ring which seemed significant to me and Eliza decided on another gem. We chatted with the man for a while about the benefits of meditation, appreciating what you have got not what you want and feeling happy doing what you are doing. He said to us, ‘think of all the people who say they want to come to India but you are here, they are not, you are happy to be here’. He talked about taking time to meditate and to realise that by meditating, this is helping you control all of the elements in your body. Its true what they say ‘Your body is a temple’ or in the words of John Mayer ‘Your body is a wonderland’, but either way It makes sense because our bodies have all the elements of the earth  and we need to realise how to control them and use the energy properly. He explained the red dot on the forehead, for Indians and told us that this is a sign of energy, a place of energy. A chakra, I knew because of my previous Therapy studies. It was very interesting speaking with him and we even had a laugh with him when he said to us ‘You know Sting?’ and I said ‘Yes’ and after a bit of a silent moment I said ‘Oh do you like Sting’ to which he replied, ‘Well I tell tourists I worked with Sting and they can’t believe it but when he came to my shop he was so general person I didn’t know he was famous. He went on to explain how Sting and Trudy arrived in a rickshaw dressed very casually. He had been here several years ago for yoga and meditation, and this man had met him, Kristy Thurlington and The Beastie Boys, all who had come to India for meditation and some jewellery. We laughed about this for a while and encouraged him to buy Heat magazine to catch up with the celebrities of the western world in case he should have another unexpected ‘general looking’ celebrity arrive by rickshaw. We said Namaste and were on our way with Sheikh back to our hotel… or so we thought.

Saying Namaste to Sheikh when he dropped us off, we looked around and carried on down the road he had told us our hotel was on. Around the corner he had pretty much said. As we walked further and further and nothing became familiar to us we decided to ask several people if they knew where it was, who all told us it was over 15kms away from where we were. We could not believe Sheikh had don’t this to us. The good thing about this happening in India though is that everyone is so friendly and a lot of people speak English that they will do their best to find out for you and point you in the right direction which is what happened. We took a rickshaw back home to change, doll ourselves up a bit ad planned to head out to Reds- a chilled nightbar which was located in a mall nearby. We took yet another rickshaw, but this time a cycle rickshaw, a much slower method which when you are on it, makes you feel so bad for having this tiny person working so hard to get you through the busy traffic and over the deep pot holes, at times even stopping to pull the bike. It was clear that this guy didn’t know where he was going considering that throughout the most frustrating journey ever, he stopped to ask tonnes of people how to get there. Reaching the middle of nowhere, and after a slight bomb scare which turned out to be a wedding firework planted in the road, it turned out to be the final point when he realised we had come all this way for nothing and that we had to turn and live through it all over again. This time downhill, though luckily. Eventually we reached Mall 21 where we got dropped off, and paying him the original agreed payment to his dismay, he demanded 20 more rupees for the long journey even though it was his own fault. I never understand why they don’t just say they are not sure in the beginning, even if they don’t know where they are going, but each to their own. We quickly declined and ran up the steps of the mall, followed by 5 flights of stairs, each getting less and less lit up and more and more abandoned. Being ushered down by the mall security, we couldn’t understand why there was no Reds here, after all the Lonely Planet had listed it and It was the latest edition. Seriously Lonely Planet this is your fault! How and ever, we asked the security guard who seemed pissed off and said ‘Reds closed, permanently closed’. Furious at the whole ridiculous evening so far and all dolled up and nowhere to go, we took ourselves and our growling tummies across to Mc Donalds. Sat in Mc D’s eating our super cheap, large McVeggie  meals we couldn’t help but laugh about what had happened. After glancing around the restaurant I somehow caught a glance of a sign I had been longing to see all day long, a sign I was pretty sure didn’t exist in Rajasthan at all. This sign was ‘Free WiFi Here’….

Not believing me at first, Eliza looked over and saw the sign too, before turning to me and bursting into hysterics. We could not stop laughing and I couldn’t help but think of this being another joke put on my by god. These things always happen to me! I had already made arrangements in my head to return tomorrow to get my blogs published and lift this weight off my shoulders. The evening became funnier when we were drawn to the insane entertainment we were being shown on the Mc Donalds tv. Some of the jokes were hilarious – ‘Witty, do you know who succeeded the first president of the United States?, No Kitty, who?, ‘The Second one’. Ha ha ha ha! Oh lord I could recite them all now but it would take too long, It was just the funniest in house entertainment I had ever laid eyes on. We sat there, after finishing our meal, still in hysterics at the tv, and even drew attention from a group of guys who found it hilarious too and joined in with our hilarity.  Our first day In Jaipur was an absolute mix of emotions but in such a great way. It makes me love India so much more and I have now learned to take things in my stride and expect the unexpected in this bizarre but amazing country.

The following morning, after dreaming about posting my blog (yes writing has really got to me), I decided to head off on a rickshaw to McD’s to have some veggie Mc breaky and use the wifi but to my dismay the wifi was not working and I was told It would not be working any time soon! Oh My God! I headed off in search of an internet café, after all I had time to kill, as I had told Eliza I would be back at 11.30am. I knew this wouldn’t be an easy find in Jaipur though!

Posing for our group photo with new friends, we were surrounded by locals who had gathered around to watch this occasion. The Indian sleeper train was something I hoped to never experience again while here, but the time came when I had no choice but to give it another go, this time round though it was great, surprisingly. We had made sure to ask for middle or high berths considering my experience of the lower berth the last time. This time however was made better when we met four other female travellers in our carriage, 2 from France and 2 from Thailand . We all chatted about our travels and where we were going, but on this occasion, feeling really ill I wasn’t my usual self. It had occurred to us that with my symptoms of a running super high temperature; aches, severe headache and sore throat that I could possible have come down with Dengue Fever. Feeling exhausted, It wasn’t long before I sorted out my bed and lay down for the night. I spent every hour walking back and forth to the grimy train toilets, which I hoped was the fever flushing out through my body, I had been keeping hydrated but this was unusual. I eventually got to bed, and after a few more midnight toilet trips through the scary dark corridors, I  was ready to sleep. Earlier on we had been chatting to one of the French girls who had shaved her head, and we told her how we had wanted so badly to do this too. She told us that she had her shaver in her bag, which was seriously very tempting I must say. I spent this night thinking about this and wondering whether I should or not, and believe me, It is something that I hope to do someday, so If it be in India, then why not. Watch this space. The girl had also had been reading my favourite book ;’Eat Pray Love’ which I took as a sign. I had this book with me too and I planned to read it again.

The journey went well overall and none of us were victims to any India creepiness. The next morning with us having the first stop out of the group, I quickly wrote a note on the back of my WorldTravellerz cards and gave one to the French girls and one to the Thai girls. When we arrived in Agra we took a Rickshaw straight to The Sandya Palace Hotel which sounded great in the Lonely Planet, and with views of the Taj Mahal, It sounded magical. When we checked in and got to our room  I haggled the price down from 650 rupees to 400 rupees with a last minute drop of 50 rupees which was great. We got a triple room for myself, Eliza and Krista who was coming to meet us for the weekend. The room had a large double bed but It would do! Parched, I headed up to the rooftop restaurant to get some water for Eliza and me and when I reached the top of the stairs I swear I nearly cried when I saw ahead of me. Right there was The Taj Mahal standing there pristine and perfect almost like it was placed on a green screen, It didn’t seem real. I could not believe I was standing here in the jungle style rooftop restaurant looking at one of the great wonders of the world. This is what trips are made of!

I hurried down to Eliza and told her she needed to go up, so she did, and she said the same. It was incredible. We had a few hours before Krista arrived so we showered and went for a nap, just on time for her arrival. When she arrived we were so excited. We had all met on the Thorn Tree forum previous to our travels and had been chatting throughout the time she was here. Eliza and Krista had met before I arrived but this was my first time meeting her. We got along so well and went straight  up to the rooftop for lunch. She had the same reaction as us when she saw the view, It was incredible. Our day was spent at The Taj Mahal which was an amazing 5 minute walk from the hotel, literally around the corner. When we got into the Taj Mahal, I can’t even put into words how surreal it felt, and the fact that I was at ‘THE TAJ MAHAL’ just didn’t seem apparent to me at that moment. It really took a while to sink in, in fact  I think it is still sinking in. We took tonnes of photos at all angles of the temple. We took tonnes of action shots, poses and scenic photos and enjoyed an absolutely breathtakingly, bright orange sunset which coloured the backdrop of the Taj Mahal pink. It was such a surreal day, one I will not forget for years to come. (The ironic thing  is that as I am writing this, sat on a bunk bed on a local bus with Eliza, I look out only to notice a red hot sunset , Incredible India!) It was at The Taj Mahal that we also came to notice that our new purchases from Varanasi- were ceap for a reason. Sitting cross legged looking at the Taj we noticed the crotch of our light Indian trousers was completely gone. Eliza was the first to notice, then me and then the next day the same happened with another pair. I think I will roll the waist line up from now on to save any more pairs, losing their crotches too. 

When the sun had set and we had really and truly captured the experience and the pretty pictures, we came back home, to our rooftop hotel (rated one of the best views in Agra)  to have dinner and some beers. We chatted for hours and enjoyed the great atmosphere of the jungle style deck lit up, groups of people mingling and of course the silhouette of the Taj Mahal as a backdrop to our evening. It was the most perfect evening ever! Later on after having a good laugh at the action shots we took, on my computer, we all went to sleep and set our alarms for the sunrise. The next morning the skies were cloudy so the girls didn’t  get to see much of a sunrise, but I guess the sunset made up for that. I, on the other hand had woken up with a severe headache and stayed in bed for another two hours which worked wonders. We spent some time at the mini Taj Mahal known as ‘The Baby Taj’. It was also very beautiful  in its own right and the gardens we visited which were the backdrop for the Taj Mahal itself gave great opportunity for more Taj action shots. The gardens were beautifully laid out with trees and flowers, and had many locals and a few tourist admiring the peace and serenity. We had decided to head back to the hotel for our last supper together before we had to go our separate ways, Krista back to Faridabad and us to Jaipur.

I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend and I feel so lucky to have shared these lifelong experiences and memories with such great likeminded people. I am sure we will all be together again before our time is up in India, but for now we are off to Rajasthan to create more memorable experiences, and hopefully Krista will meet us here soon.

From Agra with Love x

Still, getting to grips with the culture shock that is India, I found myself out of bed at 5am in Varanasi, our second day here, ready  to board a local boat through the Ganges. We had paid through our hostel, Sandhya Guest House the day before at a reasonable price of  200 rupees. Having been so used to the jet lag, sleepless nights and early mornings, this 5am start was nothing to out of the ordinary for my new life in India. We headed off down to the Ghats with our guide and two fellow travellers who were Japanese, to where the boat left from. We took a few scenic dawn photos before setting off down the river to explore the Ganges river at sunrise. It was a beautiful morning here on the river, and as we cruised up and down the river at times against the current which was very hard work for our guide, we had to take the odd break so they could swap the workload. Cruising down the Ganges,  we couldn’t help but think of what was beneath us and what we had seen the previous day.. Cremated bodies. It was a shock to the system seeing these bodies being ceremoniously set on fire at the banks of the river but in a weird way it brought about a great sense of spirituality and holiness. In all aspects of the life and death cycle this seemed to be the perfect way to reach Nirvana. Well according to the Hindus anyway. It was truly amazing.

Along the river we spotted many locals in deep spiritual mode, submerged in the murky river. They seemed at total peace and this seemed to be such an ordinary every day thing to do that It became so surreal to be there experiencing their beliefs with them. Varanasi was a great deal different to Delhi in the sense that It had a spirituality about it and after a few days here this was very apparent. You could almost set the honking horns and busy rickshaw traffic aside and just concentrate on what miracles where in the making right in front of you. It was surreal. Our trip was over an hour and was a very tranquil journey for us all. Making small talk with the two Japanese men and the Indian guides just brought the trip nicely together. We were all experiencing the same thing, which was lovely. We made our way back to the guest house after the trip and after noticing the time was 7am we decided to go back to bed for a few more hours. Our room was pretty cosy with a balcony and the rooftop of the hotel was friendly and sociable with a view of the Ganges. We ate mostly in the restaurant there where we quickly became known to the staff. It was also here, on our last night that we met fellow travellers from Spain, one of whom had been living in Ireland. It was definitely a small world. We chatted, had beers and watched the fireworks (usually occurs during a wedding we were told) off the balcony and after a while it was bed time for us all. One thing that struck us was the way the owner of the hotel was a very friendly upon arrival but then became quite two faced and slimy the next minute. He asked for a copy of our passports and after we had climbed the numerous stairs of hell in the heat to get the them , he insisted on a copy of our visas which meant he kept our passports to photocopy. Something neither of us were too keen on. On a separate occasion when I gave him a business card of mine he became uber friendly and told us he had many contacts who we could meet . On a few occasions he was quite forceful with suggestions for example- buying over expensive train tickets and taking another person’s belongings to Agra with us. He was not the ideal host that was for sure, but the rest of the staff made up for it with their kindness.

So for a lot of the trip, we had been depending on the Lonely Planet guide books for advice and information, but had noticed a few times that some great places hadn’t always been mentioned. Sometimes it is nice if you have the time to go off and explore some hidden treasures. With a tip from Eliza’s mum, to go to Sarnath, a place she had travelled to when she was in India before, and some info from the Lonely Planet, we decided to do just that. After our well-deserved nap, we got ready and set off via Rickshaw to the next town. En Route we and stopped off at the trains station to book our train to Agra for the next evening, Its nice to be organised and stress free. Our day In Sarnath was great, we visited the Thai temple, the archaeological museum and the monastery excavation grounds, followed by super tasty Indian meal In The Green Hut- also recommended by the L.P and I could see why, and taste why. I was really getting used to Indian food now, something I wouldn’t necessary have been keen on at home. Here, I had accustomed to what I liked and what was good to order, which was pretty much everything. It seemed to be that once you were in a decent restaurant you could order anything and It would be amazing. I was happy!

Our trip home from Sarnath was the definition of crazy. Yes, Rickshaws are unpredictable and traffic is always crazy in India, but this was a constant string of one hour near death experiences. Our young driver and his sidekick uncle seemed to  think he could impress us with his reckless driving even though after a short interrogation I had told him I was a primary school teacher with a husband named John, who I and married one year ago. Their reply to this was ‘Oh I like this name, ‘John’…’John’…’John’, ‘Nice name John’. It was quite a funny situation to be fair, apart from the fact that when he picked up two college students along the way, he told them I was a teacher to which they were very happy about. I kind of felt a bit bad but I mean this could be my life, they will never know! Unless they ever read this of course. !

After a stint of crazy near misses, honking horns and forcing the little Rickshaw through the floods on the streets of Varanasi, we finally made it home. We had dinner that evening and this was when we met the Spanish girls. The next day would be our last and we had no plans really, a go with the flow day we thought. We had our bus booked for later that evening so we had the day to spend exploring the rest of Varanasi. We had a late breakfast in our local on the rooftop and then headed to see The Golden Temple. En route, and after a long walk in the blistering Indian heat, we took one trader up on his offer of showing us some cheap clothes. Sure why not? We followed him through the windy narrow market alley ways until we reached the shop, where we were invited to take our shoes off and join them on the floor to look at the collection. Standard India! The owner of this shop was half Thai and half Korean and we laughed about crazy Kao San Road In Thailand while he showed us item by item of clothing, in many colours. Between us we bought  a few pairs of baggy pants, a silk scarf and a top. The original trader offered to walk us to the Blue Lassi shop nearby which I had asked him about. This was voted ‘Best Lassi in Varanasi’ and was a must see, recommended by the Lonely Planet. A few streets away, we reached The Blue Lassi shop which was so quaint and very backpacker friendly. You could spot all the travellers in their from outside, which is always a good sign. From the outside you can see the man who makes these amazing lassi’s, mixing up his next sweet batch. It was very unique. We took a few steps up to the shop and upon entering the shop we noticed many signs on the walls from travellers, passport photos and all sorts of memorabilia, a great place to stick up a ‘WorldTravellerz.com’ card  I thought. We took a seat beside some other tourists and were kindly greeted with menus and smile from the staff. We ordered a mango lassi and an apple lassi which, when they came out, looked incredible. I had seen lassi’s on the menu in Thailand and through South East Asia but I had never had one. I had also ordered one a few days before which was banana and actually very sour and not very nice. With mango being my ultimate favourite fruit, I knew this was the right choice. The taste of the mango lassi was a perfect mixture of a creamy texture with strong mango flavours and bits of the pulp mixed in, It was by far the best local ‘drink’ I have had In a while. Im not quite sure how a lassi is made or what the ingredients are but it resembles a thin type of milkshake but with that something special. We couldn’t leave without asking permission to put up a card and a note to the Blue Lassi Shop, to which they happily obliged. We then took a picture with the ‘Lassi maker’ at the front of the shop before we left. Next on our list was the Brown Bread Bakery which Eliza had read, donates money from purchases  to charity, so we decided to go in for a cup of herbal tea and cake. This place was pretty cool and the platforms lined with cushions and a table in the middle for ultimate comfort reminded me a bit of Vang Vieng in Thailand and their many comfy restaurants. The only downside that even this bakery didn’t have any baked goods- none- just bread, and we were not hungry enough for a meal so we settled for a cup of herbal tea each- well of he choices they had anyway. After a bit of a chill time in the booths, we finished our tea and headed off to see the Golden Temple. En route to the temple we saw a tourist with his guide in front of us who seemed to be going there too, so we decided to follow him so as not to get lost. After walking for a bit down a few alleys the tourist came to a stop and said to his guide, ‘Ok great, so I will be back in a few minutes’. We were thinking, why would he only want a few minutes at the temple but we ignored our thoughts and carried on following him, a sure enough way to get us to the golden temple. After entering what looked like a guest house, we carried on into the lobby behind the tourist before I said’ Oh god I think this Is his hostel’. Mortified, we quickly turned around and got out of there as fast as we could, before the tourist saw us. Too late though we thought. We carried on to the actual Golden Temple, which was a bit of a let down considering we were only allowed trough security down the ally and not allowed into the temple, so we saw nothing, A waste of 20 rupees. Feeling hungry at this stage, we decided to head down to The Ghats where we planned to eat at the Dolphin rooftop restaurant. When we got our table and ordered our food, we had time to take in the amazing view over the Ganges, something we had seen a few times now but  didn’t tire of.  This place was pretty high class by Indian standards but for us it was still very cheap. Our food was lovely and the view was great but It wasn’t without its mishaps. At the end of our meal we paid the bill as you do, but when our waiter took it he said with a big smile ‘Oh you enjoy your meal’ and we said yes we had. It wasn’t until a while later when he didn’t return, we realised that he had taken all the extra money as a tip. Deciding to wait a bit longer in the hopes that we were wrong, we sat there and admired the view before I took the plunge and asked for my money back. With a shocked face and he told us he assumed it was a tip and went off to fetch the money. We felt bad but we probably would have left a tip had he not presumed it. Off we went home to get our things and catch our sleeper train- something I would hope to be a better experience second time round. Next stop Agra- home of the Taj Mahal…. We couldn’t wait!

I knew It wouldn't be long before I had some pretty crazy stories to tell you, and what do you know, 3 days in and I certainly do. My second day In Delhi was amazing, Eliza and I took the metro to Akshardham Swaminarayan temple in Delhi. We had decided on this while eating a lovely free hostel breakfast of eggs, cereal and mango juice, and talking to a fellow traveller about his plans for the day. It took us a short walk tot he station and two metro's before we arrived at the temple. Unfortunately photos were forbidden and we were told to store our bags and only take in passports to the temple. In a way I kind of liked this because It was a great way to take in the scenery without your camera taking all of your attention. On the other hand it was pretty annoying to see such beautiful sights and not be able to share them with you. But don't fret, I have opted for a google image of the temple to give you some insight. It was one of the most incredible inspirational places Id ever seen, and really showed me the spirituality of this country and nation.
After a walk around the lush green, landscaped gardens, taking in the history and sights of the statues reflecting inspirational Indian people, we opted for an exhibition ticket which allowed us to take part in the three exhibitions at the temple. The first one which was a robotic version of events which depicted the life of an inspirational legend named Swaninarayan who to this day is still worshiped all over the world. It went through his life story and how he came to inspire a whole nation. One part of the show that stood out to me was when they mentioned how many people it took to carve the temple and went on to ask how many people it would take to carve a life. Just one... You. It told the spectator that they were indeed, their own sculptor, their own stone and their own chisel. The show went on, leading us through various rooms and explaining how this one boy who grew up showing so much selflessness and love for others made a huge difference to the world and that you yourself can do this in your own life if you chose to. The second exhibition was the movie about the boys life and every step he took to help the whole nation of India. He travelled for years and years through mountains, deserts and sea's to visit various communities of the country and surrounding areas how to live their life more harmoniously without fear, hate or war. He became so incredibly loved that the people knew him as god himself. Today, there are temples around the world, shrines to him throughout peoples homes and other various ways in which people still worship and look up to him and his life learnings. He changed the world and he was an inspiration to many. The last exhibition led us to a boat ride which took us through a small river lined with various aspects of India and Vedic traditions which still live on today. It proved that the people of India were way before their time even discovering Trigonometry before Pythagoras, Pi and Zero. The whole day was an amazing experience and showed the great world that BAPS does today around the world in various aspects of life ie environmental, educational and medicinal. BAPS is an organization that is run wit the beliefs of Swaninarayan in mind, aiming to help the whole world with the help of Its many volunteers. If I had learned anything that day It would be that you are the creator of your own life and you have the almighty power within you to change the world and make a difference, just don't have fear.

With all of this inspiration and relaxation in our minds throughout the day, It was all about to change with our journey to Varanasi looming. Taking two metros back to Delhi station and a rickshaw back to Pahar Ganj, where our hostel was, we barely had time before our train left at 6:55pm. It was after 6 and we hadn't got our backs, collected Eliza's laundry or eaten anything since breakfast. With all the rush going on and with very limited time to spare we decided to separate to get things done quicker. Eliza went to get her laundry and I ran to order two take away pizzas in Cafe Nirvana across the street. Waiting on the order, the monsoon kicked in and I sat their watching my first official Delhi downpour. It was incredible but I couldn't quite enjoy the craziness of the weather knowing we had to get to the train which would take a good 10 minutes walk, maybe longer in the rain. With not a minute to spare Eliza arrived over to the cafe covered in bags and bags of stuff belonging to both of us. How she carried it all in the rain I will never know. We tried to hurry them up with our pizzas but with another 5 minutes to go until they were cooked we just decided to grab them and go, cooked or not. They slowly bagged them for us before we legged It out the door and tried to run up the road with our bags and pizzas in hand. With torrential rain pelting down on me, and slippery flip flops on my feet barely staying on, we made a sight for sore eyes in our rush to catch the train. Arriving at the station with barely minutes before the train was to depart, we headed for platform 12, of course it would be the furthest one away, and proceeded to get on the right sleeper carriage- which was conveniently at the end of the train. We ran to try and get on before it took off but my slippery shoes were holding me back and nearly making me trip over myself so I took the leap and ran barefoot through the filthy platform grounds. I didn't care. I would get on this train if it was the last thing I did. And we did! Barely.
Getting to our seats 25/26, and like drenched rats making our way down the crowded aisles of staring passengers, we found our seats which were occupied. Fuming we ordered the people out of them and squished in opposite three male backpackers which made us feel a tad safer. Everyone stared as we made a ruckus socking everyone around us and divulging our pizzas in the crowded train. We didn't care, we made it and we were hungry. After a while, the train took off and we were on our way to Varanasi, a 14hr train ride which took a lot longer than expected. Surrounded by staring creepy men, but with possible protectors beside us in the form of three backpackers, we chatted and watched a movie before pulling down our beds and laying down for the night. It was a very scary journey for me as I was in the bottom 'bunk' which was very accessible for strangers to plonk themselves down on, which happened regularly both before the lights went out and during the night. I made it known that I was having none of it by kicking a few of the unwelcome visitors in the back to warn them to get away, which seemed to work.

The night went very slowly and not feeling safe enough to close my eyes for more than an hour, I was laying there for most of the journey dying to get to my destination safe and In one piece. I envied everybody In higher bunks and told myself I would definitely be requesting these next time. If there will be a next time. The whole experience was very daunting but I was relieved to arrive safely and get off tat claustrophobic train before a near panic attack set in. Only for Eliza and her calming ways and change of topic I would have thrown myself off the train. It was very scary for me and I didn't think I would ever get off the bloody thing but I did, and I think I have survived what I had feared about Delhi. It was probably more paranoia but still, falling asleep in those surroundings was not something I felt comfortable  doing, so I didn't. I watched a lot of Family Guy.

Arriving In Varanasi, we took an auto rickshaw- my first experience In India- to a hostel nearby, led by a very friendly Varanasi born driver and 'guide'. He told us some very useful info on the way and we loved this place straight away. We checked into Sanhya Guest House before having beautiful choclate and mango pancakes in the rooftop restaurant. After a VERY well needed shower we headed to reception and got a map. One of the hostel staff kindly took us down to the Holy Ganges river to see the dead bodies being ceremoniously cremated which was very daunting but actually very spiritual. Not for the faint hearted though, you could see the bodies properly on the fire, It was quite surreal. Amazing experience though. Following this, he took us to a local silk warehouse where we were invited in to see his collection. I bought a beautiful handmade scarf there. We then went to a clothes warehouse where I was in my element and bought one more pair of Indian baggy pants, which I love. We had a lovely cake and some tea and chats in a local bakery today before getting slightly lost on the way home and enjoying the light monsoon rain on our shoulders. The beeping of rickshaws around us and animals, particularly cows everywhere in the streets is becoming quite normal now and I am loving what India has given me and Is offering me. I am so excited for the rest of my trip and look forward to our sunrise boat trip down the Ganges river tomorrow morning. All hail India!

From Varanasi with love, Jade!