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!

Where do I start... Well, the journey to India so far has been pretty smooth, which is quite unusual for me and my travels-something always goes wrong, but so far its been great! After a morning of emotional goodbyes, I headed to the airport where I caught my flight to London Heathrow. I had lots of time to kill so I decided to start 'To Kill a Mockingbird' again, while surrounded by avid Wimbledon fans concentrated on the game on the tv above my head. It wasn't long before the flight boarded- quickly- and took off -even quicker-, despite a 15 minute delay. On board the flight I was lucky not to be placed at the back of the plane, beside a crying baby or an unpleasant smelling individual, which I thanked the lord for. It was only a one hour flight, but nevertheless. I, on the other hand was assigned a window seat -yey- beside two young girls. Upon, stopping at seats 14, I told the girls I was in the inside seat, to which they hunched their knees towards their chests and motioned me to squeeze by. Mortified, I did just this and fell into my window seat. The flight was very smooth and the highlight was definitely the Lily O' Brien's double chocolate chip cookies they handed out- I wasn't use to this luxury, having previously flown to the UK with Ryanair, so I enjoyed every bite. The landing itself was the smoothest Id ever witnessed but prior to this It wasn't without Its turbulance and during one point the plane literally fell halfway down the sky sending my stomach into knots and filling the plane with 'ahhh' sounds. Not the worst plane journey Ive ever had though that's for sure.

Arriving at Heathrow, a place I had been more times than I can remember, I followed the signs, and other passengers to our connecting flight bus. Following yet another bus to the specific terminal for Jet Airways, I reached security and where I repeated the usual steps. This time, feeling like I was in the U.S once again, I was placed in a booth, where I raised my hands under instruction and then proceeded to be frisked by the polite security guard who admired my tan- and my sunburn! Surprised I hadn't returned from a sun holiday, she laughed and wished me a pleasant journey. The warm British welcomes kept coming, as I approached the Jet Airways desk to swap my boarding pass. I asked about ordering a vegetarian meal for the flight, which I had forgotten to do when booking it and which the Irish agent In Dublin airport had refused me, and was told that because it is an Indian airline, It is mostly vegetarian anyway so It was no problem. Nice one! Nevertheless, I headed to Boots for my usual 'meal deal'-perfect for flights, to suppress the hunger pangs. I charged my phone, watched the planes pass by, did some people watching- the best part-, and waited for my big Jet Airways plane to invite me in. The next and final stop would be Delhi.
The flight to Delhi was good overall, no screaming babies- well one for the first five minutes, then she must have fell asleep-, no unpleasant odors etc etc, It was all fine on that front. The plane was massive and the provided pillows and a blanket which came in handy during the cold rush of air conditioning through the night. I watched a few films, had a very spicy meal -which If that was anything to go by Ill end up being on a 10 week diet, slept on and off for a few hours and eventually reached Delhi at 9:15am local time- stupid o clock Irish time. I was exhausted but managed to drag myself through customs, baggage claim and went to meet my driver who was right there with a placard saying 'Jade Poleon'. It all seemed very easy! It was the drive to the hostel that made me feel like I should have tried to sleep more on the flight, I was just too exhausted for the hustle and bustle before me. Nevertheless I tried to embrace the sweltering heat in the small car and the dodging of cars and bikes all around us. What struck me with Delhi was the fact that there seemed to be a free for all on the roads, except when we came to traffic lights which literally stopped for 15 minutes on each colour. I counted! Crazy! It seemed like a mad place but the driver assured me that this isn't the norm. After what was supposed to take 40 minutes, but ended up taking over and hour, my taxi arrived on the street filled with bright coloured shops selling Indian attire and wandering backpackers peering into them in the hopes of grabbing a bargain- everything is a bargain here! A nice man stood at the car door waving 'Smily' and invited me in. He grabbed my backpack from the backseat and walked me down the ally way lined with people shouting 'Welcome to India' to me. I was an obvious newbie. The hostel was lovely and clean, and the guy informed me that Eliza was in the room waiting on me. We chatted and chatted before deciding to head out for some lunch at 'Kathmandu Cafe' down the road. Following this, we went to the train station and booked an overnight sleeper train to Varanasi for tomorrow night. We will spend a few days in Varanasi and then catch another sleeper back to Agra where we will hopefully meet Krista to see the Taj Mahal together. From there India is our oyster and we have some rough plans of what we want to do etc, but the best part is going with the flow. I still feel like I'm dreaming and that I haven't actually arrived to India, probably because of Jet-lag and the sudden change of scenery/culture, but after a good relaxing evening, I will be all set to go! I picked up a pair of super swanky Indian pants which are pretty similar to hareem pants, but with different designs. My backpack will be full of these by the time I leave this country, they are that irresistible! Tomorrow we plan to chill out before taking our overnight train at 7pm and I cannot wait for it. From past experience with sleeper transport, I sense Its going to be a great journey! India seems to be a very unique place to me from what I have seen so far but I am loving the complete change of culture and this is definitely a place you need to be open to changes. From the Smyle Inn Hostel in Delhi, this is its for now. More on Varanasi over the next few days!

Our last stop in Rajasthan would be Udaipur and our journey from Jaisalmer to Udaipur would turn out to be our last bus ride of the trip. I know I have previously mentioned that we had bad journeys before, but this was definitely the worst one. So bad in fact, that we were convinced we would wake up either with concussion, a brain haemorrhage or maybe not wake up at all. It all started with the optimistic purchase of an A/C sleeper ticket which ensured us comfort and hopefully no damp mattress this time. Boarding the bus right on time, we had to pay a ‘luggage charge’ of 20 rupees, which didn’t seem so genuine, but hey what are you gonna do, leave your bag behind? We got onto the roasting hot bus, which had obviously not  got It’s A/C running, but It was still more bearable than the heat of the atmosphere outside the coach. We hopped up to our upper double berth sleeper, nearly scalding our hands and legs from the heat of the metal ladders and handles, and leaving me with a large bruise/dent in my leg from the quick entry  into the sleeper  compartment. The journey was 11 hours overall, but to be honest it was 11 hours of complete torture. At first, we lay down and got ourselves comfy on the soft, dry mattress which conveniently had a built in head rest, but It wasn’t long before the ‘bumper car’ journey began. The entire 11 hours consisted of us being thrown from our beds, in a levitating manner, during each encounter with a speed bump along the way, and believe me there was a lot. At the beginning of the trip, we laughed at how utterly crazy the drive seemed, but we had imagined that the trip would soon calm down once we got on a proper route. Well little did we know! During the time that we did sleep, we both had nightmares about crashing and being stranded in the compartment or even worse, being flung out the windows with the force of the speed ramps. It was confusing to us, why there were so many speed ramps on the roads which seemed to go on for ever and considering the force of the bus over these ‘speed ramps’, this didn’t really seem like an accurate word for their purpose, at least not on this journey. When the trip came to an end in Udaipur at 6am the next morning, we both woke up with banging headaches and extremely sore bodies and heads. Combined with the muscle soreness from the camel safari, we felt like complete zombie wrecks getting off the bus. Nevertheless, we powered through and hoped to get to our beds soon enough for a well-deserved stable nap.

Taking a rickshaw to a hostel we had read about in the L.P, I ran in to check it out while; Eliza stayed and watched the bags. At first glance, the rooms were really nice, but with his terrible attitude towards me and extortionate prices, I refused his offer and quickly hurried out to continue on with our search. After checking out a dorm room in a nearby hostel and hearing about another guest house with a private room for the same price, we decided to let the driver take us to the guest house he recommended. After checking out the room in Jag Niwas Guest House, I agreed and we went in, dropped our bags down and took a well-deserved nap. Waking up around 1pm, feeling somewhat refreshed but still with traces of minor concussion from the damn bus ride, we slowly pulled ourselves together , got ready and headed out to find ‘The Lotus Café’ for some food. The place was very near to our guest house, and had a very comfortable and traveller friendly atmosphere. We were escorted up the stairs to a private seated balcony complete with numerous cushions placed around a large table, where a group of others were sat. We joined them and ordered some food. We left after our meal of Jacket Potatoes and Veggie Burger, and headed off for a well-deserved cheap massage and pedicure. After our pampering, we took a rickshaw to the train station to book our tickets to Mumbai and Goa, which turned out to be a disaster when we were told the ‘system was down’. Our driver Sunny who patiently waited for us outside the station, then took us to a local folk dance and puppet show down by Pichola Lake, which he had recommended we do.  We bought tickets and then headed into Café Eidelweiss for some lovely cake before the show started. The hour and a half show, was incredibly entertaining on a comical and educational level. Some parts of the show were hilarious and some parts were so interesting that you could tell by looking around the room how much people were enjoying it. There we were, a room full of travellers sitting on benches and cushions around the open courtyard of the palace watching cultural dances take place, an unusual puppet show and a brave middle aged woman who danced around with what ended up to be 9 bowls on her head. The show was very entertaining! After the show we headed back to the guest house where we planned to get an early night, before our friend Krista arrived the next morning. We were so excited to see her again, as we had such an amazing time In Agra and she was so excited to come and see Udaipur.

The next morning we woke up early and took a rickshaw to the train station once again where we met Krista and booked our tickets to Mumbai. This time however we would be placed on a waiting list which meant we would possibly be on a 16 hour journey the next evening with no guarantee of a seat. We took Krista back to the guest house, where we got ourselves ready for breakfast at ‘The Lotus Café, where we spent some time chilling out and catching up! Afterwards, we took a tour with our rickshaw driver Sunny to Shilpgram where we were taken around various traditional style houses, saw many craftsmen at work and bought some intricate one off hand woven blankets- perfect for travelling. Our next stop was Tiger Lake, which Sunny had told us was still quite unknown to the tourist and was not in the guidebooks, which we could see why. It was so beautiful and so peaceful here that we could see why the locals would not want to spoil this. We sat there for a while enjoying the mountain and lake views which complimented each other perfectly, before taking some scenic photos. The last stop was to The monsoon Palace situated on top of  a mountain overlooking Udaipur and Lake Pichola. Unfortunately the monsoon kicked in and we were forced to go up the mountain with no guarantee of a good view. Sunny dropped us at the gate where we bought tickets for the Palace and tickets for the taxi up there. With the rain pelting down around us and with my precious Canon around my neck, we opted to take an old man up on his offer to take shelter in the nearby barn until our taxi came.

After some frog spotting and monsoon watching, our taxi pulled up- full of people- and on the opposite side of a large flooded area. We ran to the taxi, wading through the floods and squeezed into the boot where 3 other men were sitting. Driving up the mountain, we counted 14  people in the taxi which took us to the top within 10 minutes. We were all in hysterics as the men tried to converse with us, having no luck whatsoever. Squished into the back of the taxi we couldn’t help but laugh at yet another seriously dodgy, seriously random, seriously Indian situation. When we got to the top, we walked the rest of the way in the lashing rain, with me skidding all over the place in my new leather sandals. Gripping on to the girls arms I made It up to the top just barely, without breaking my neck. These shoes were like Ice skates and I was beginning to wonder why I had bought them in the first place. After catching some shelter in the the palace and taking some amazing panoramic photos from upstairs  in the palace, with luckily not too much mist covering the scenery, we then decided to go back down to the exit where we presumed our taxi would be waiting for us. When we got there, we were told ‘5 minutes’ and our taxi would be  back, so with my camera tucked safely under Krista’s skirt from the rain, we climbed a nearby stairs and took refuge in a shady alcove. Shady in more than one sense!

A couple who were also waiting for a taxi, followed us up and also took shelter while they waited. With the three of us squished into the tiny arch trying to avoid the rain, we were approached by a creepy looking man, who looked at us in the weirdest of weird ways and said ‘I like foreigners’. The man was quite tall, with a serial killer image and glasses that made his cross eyes look ten times bigger than they were. For about 10 minutes, he would disappear and then reappear saying more  things such as ‘You come to my home?’, to  further portray the ultimate creep factor he so aptly inhabited. At one point, probably the last straw for us, he said ‘Can I ask one more question?’ to which I replied without a second of hesitation, ‘No you cannot have a photo’, having made my prediction. He then replied ‘OK’, proving me right, and setting us all into convulsions of laughter, until he finally went away. The drama wasn’t over though, and when our taxi finally arrived, herds of people- the same guys from the ride up and the same ones who followed us around the palace- , ran to get a seat. Lagging behind, we were left with miniscule space for the three of us in the boot of the jeep yet again, with me hanging onto the edge of the seat next to a man who seemed quite content, while Eliza sat on my knee, head bent right down to avoid hitting the roof, and Krista, in a Gollum like crouched position, body  up against the the back window. The whole car full, laughed as the jeep bumped its way down the mountain and back to flat ground. The rain had typically stopped at this stage, but we were too tired to care and just wanted Sunny to take us back. It took a good 7 minutes before Sunny’s rickshaw would start and we had a horrible feeling we would be stranded up here for the evening. Luckily enough, after following orders and getting out, he got the Rickshaw started and off we went slowly but surely through the lush green countryside, passing familiar villages again on the way back. It was lovely out here in the countryside and on the way back we were greeted by local kids and adults waving at us and shouting ‘Namaste’, as we had experienced on the way there.

Oh and did I mention the fight we had that morning with our hosts at Jag Niwas guest house? No? Thought not! Well here we go, It all started before we even left the guest house to go on our day trip with Sunny. We had decided to be good guests and declare that Krista was staying with us that night. It was a triple room after all and we had a spare bed for her. We asked one of the staff if maybe he needed Krista’s passport details, as per usual in India, but with little English, our communication went out the window and so he called the manager, who we had met when we checked in the day before. As a middle man between us and the manager, he was telling us that we would have to pay extra for Krista to stay, even though we argued that It was a 3 bed room, so why should it make a difference.  The argument carried on, leading to Eliza to take the phone call and speak to the manager herself. Fuming, we stood there as we overheard the conversation and wondered what would come of the situation. It was the principal of not being ripped off, yet we did not want to have to pack up and find somewhere else to stay, but nevertheless we powered through, until eventually the manager came to the guest house himself. When he arrived , I made it known to him that if he charged the same for one person in the room as two people, then why would three people in a triple room be any more. He demanded more money and we kept declining, leading to escalation of the argument. The three of us took turns at making valid points, but being as stubborn as he was and telling us ‘This is my business not your business’, he was not having any of it. I then looked at my two friends and as if we had made a telepathic decision, I looked back at him angrily and with very forceful tone in my voice, I said ‘OKAY, So we have decided that we will pay extra for the room, but that we WILL NOT be doing our laundry here nor will we be eating in their restaurant for any of our meals , so he would be losing out on a lot of business from us. The girls laughed, but he nodded as if in victory. He made my blood boil! It had seemed like the day was dramatic from start to finish here In Udaipur.

When we got back from the palace later that day, we had told Sunny that we would change and he could drop us to The Sunset Café which was located in the City Palace complex. The complex demands 25Rupees from everybody entering the complex who is not staying in any of the hotels in there, so we had decided to go this evening as a trio, for drinks, live music, dinner and a good night out. All dressed up –to Indian standards anyway-, we said goodbye to Sunny at the gate and walked up the hill to The Sunset Café where we planned to spend a nice evening together. When we got there, we noticed that the outdoor restaurant was not only empty but no tables were laid out. We asked a passing waiter, who refused us entry as we were outsiders, and after Krista had spotted the incredibly extortionate prices on the menu, we took the walk of shame down the hill, passed all the guards who had seen us enter. Mortified, we took a rickshaw back to the Lal Ghat area where we were staying and had dinner at ‘The Lotus Café’ where our outsider status meant nothing. Here we had a nice meal and met a Spanish couple who we chatted to for a while. We decided to would go to The Hookah Lounge nearby to smoke some sweet sheesha- something different we thought-but when we enquired, we were told It was shut down. It seemed nothing was going right for us, that was until I had heard about a place called The Whistling Teal from a local who told us that they had Hookah pipes also. We took a stroll there, and when we entered the restaurant, we were in our element. We ordered some beers, fries and a green apple Hookah to share before, the waiter told us that an outside booth had become free in the garden. We mad ourselves comfortable  in the sinkable sofas, and enjoyed a great evening together in what appeared to be a jungle like scene. There were a few other tables of people enjoying each other’s  company – and sheesha, but by te end of the night we were the last ones standing. We headed back to the hotel where we chatted for an hour or so before nodding off for the night. It was a night to remember in Udaipur!

The next morning we got ready, collected fresh laundry (not from our hotel, mind you), and checked out. We left our bags in storage while we had breakfast on the rooftop, to my regret. I had hoped not to pour anymore Rupees into the Jag Newas account but we ended up ordering two meals each- they were tiny! Nevertheless, we took advantage of the WIFI there, and checked our waiting list status for the train ticket. Hoping we would not have to stand for 16 hours on the damn train, we eagerly awaited our status, which didn’t seem to have changed. We would check again later! We spent a while relaxing with the nice view of Pichola Lake, and the nice cool breeze that Udapiur was treating us to, before taking a long stroll around town wandering in and out of leather, handcraft and clothes shops.  We took Krista back down to the lake and afterwards to Café Eidelweiss which we loved. We had cake after cake, while chatting and giggling before It was time to say goodbye to Krista who would take the train back to Delhi. We spent our last evening in Natural Lake View rooftop restaurant, drinking refreshments, recharging equipment and watching the rain our heavily down, once again in Rajasthan. 

It was here that we realised we may have seats on the train, not only seats but beds, which was great. Nevertheless, It was India, so we decided we would order take away pizzas and get to the train station early just to make sure. Needless to say, our luck kicked in and we had two good beds on the train which didn’t seem half as full as other trains we had previously been on. We were sat next to a family consisting of a husband, wife and their shy ten year old son. Their broken English didn’t stop them, and It was great to see them trying so hard to converse with us. We chatted about our travels and families and learned about their very happy  arranged marriage and their  older son. We carried on chatting, and the woman offered us a piece of some Indian baked good which we obliged. Chewing it, with fake smiles, we looked at each other telepathically knowing that each other wanted to spit it out at once. Nevertheless, we kept up the façade by chewing the bland, cardboard tasting baked good (or baked bad), before thanking her and patting our stomachs to politely refuse any more she had offered us. It didn’t stop her giving us some ‘mouth freshener’ sweets which she had and which tasted like solid pieces of perfume. This time however we couldn’t lie, without gagging, so we had to throw them out the window and apologise. She laughed! We later found out in Mumbai from some locals that these were  a dodgy type of chewing tobacco which could make you sick, and was a big surprise to the guys who told us that we were offered these from a mother travelling with her family. The 16 hour journey from Udaipur to Mumbai would be the last journey in Rajasthan for us, our second last journey together and our longest journey of the trip so far, but for once, I awoke a few hours before our arrival, feeling refreshed and well rested, something I never thought I would say three weeks ago.