Christmas In The Hills

Trying to seek out a bit of the cooler weather we associate with being at home for christmas, we headed off to Mt. Abu, a tiny hillstation on the border between Rajasthan and Gujarat. It definitely had that holiday feeling albeit not a very festive one. It's the winter holiday for all of the Indian people too and loads head to Mt. Abu for the cheap and readily available alcohol and beatuiful scenerly.

I'm not really sure you could really class it as christmas as the Hindu's don't really have any concept of the christian calandar, but we managed to sneek in a christmas curry with six other europeans pining away for a proper christmas dinner.

After a quick stopover in Amdavad (our first stop in Gujarat) we headed down to small pilgramige town of Palitana, probably the most important holy site for the Jain religion in the world. The climb up 3700 steps rewarded us with over 700 intricately carved temples probably containing tens of thousands of buddha effigies.

With new years looming we are plannig to head down to the ex-portuguese island of Diu in the far south of the state to catch up on a bit of beach-time.

City of Romance

After a couple of days hectic travelling on the ram packed buses we've arrived in the romantic city of Udaipur. It's set into a beautiful valley with mist covered hills and two huge lakes which are totally surrounded by rooftop restaruants with stunning views. Part of the james bond movie 'Octopussy' was filmed here at the lake palace!

It's been great to chill out here and take some time for a bit of sunbathing and reading. It's a bit of a social faux pas to take off your shirt or even wear shorts here, so the tanlines will be pretty horrific on our return!

It's pretty touristy here given the sublime setting making it impossible to walk down the street without being hassled constantly by people wanting to sell you stuff. It'll be nice to head down to Gujarat where it's a bit less touristy.

This Desert Life

After a flying visit through Jodhpur (and yes it is named after those silly riding trousers) with yet another fantastical hilltop fort (see photo on right), blue houses and colourful saris we headed to the desert city of Jaisalmer.

With the promise of beautiful sunsets, peace and quiet (a rare commodity in India) and a zillion stars we headed off into the Great Thar Desert on a 3 day camel safari close to the Pakistani border.

Except for a small bout of 'desert belly' (similar to 'delhi belly'), it was a truely wonderful experience, trotting through the vast open spaces with the sound of our 10 year old guide singing desert songs all day and night. Desert village life is a stark contrast to everyday Indian city life with most of the people living off the land in huts made of cow dung. With the evenings spent around a warm fire in the soft dunes, it was pretty heavenly.

Backpacker Haven

Pushkar is a small town that surrounds a lake in a large valley. It's very beautiful here and as a result it's a total backpacker haven. There are almost as many western faces as there are Indian and the narrow streets are jam packed with bizarres selling all the typical indo-

western 'hippie' type clothing.... and yes I even found myself buying a pair of (semi) hippie trousers (photos pending).

It's been refreshing not being stared at or hassled as much as in other parts of India but we move on through Jodhpur tomorrow, ending up in the desert oasis of Jaisalmer.

Pushkar Bound

We've managed to tear ourselves away from Bundi and are now in the busy, dusty and dirty capital of Rajasthan Jaipur. It's quite western here (for Indian standards anyway), but the palaces and ancient forts are pretty awesome.

Tomorrow we head on to Pushkar, famous apparently for it's camels (and yearly camel fair). It's supposed to be a bit of a backpacker and hippie hangout, we'll see.....

The Taj to Bundi

After leaving the tourist mecca of agra and the Taj Mahal, we have taken the bus to Bharatpur and a nearby national park for a bit of Indian bird spotting (ahem). The journey was only an hour, but we were packed into the front of the bus with everyone staring and grinning at us while in turn we gritted our teeth while the bus driver careered up the road overtaking without a care for oncoming traffic. Unfortnately, due to a particularly bad monsoon, hardly any birds were at the national park this year so we made a swift exit.

Taking the train down to Sawai Madhopur in the hope to see tigers at Ranthambore national park was a bit of an adventure in dodging the ticket inspectors as we attempted to stow away (without much success) in the air-conditioned sleeper compartment. Ranthamore is quite touristy (for Indian standards) but well worth it. The safari was awesome and we were lucky enough to see 2 tigers (for about 2 seconds), which we were told was pretty good.

We arrived in Bundi after a teeth rattling bus journey and totally love it here. There is a 16th century fort that looms over the small blue city. You can literlly get lost in the winding passageways and staircases of the gigantic structure. Bundi is definitely a step out of the chaos that is general India, people seem more friendly and hassle you far less for your rupees. I think we might stay a while.....

The Taj

After 2 crazy days in Delhi, we've left the capital on a first class train packed with fat westerners (I think all the Indians were crammed in the back carrage somewhere). Passing the slums on the outskirts of Delhi was like looking through a window to another time and place. Families of 5 or more are packed into stacked concrete structures no bigger than my bedroom at home, the only toilet facilities seeming to be the railside (not a nice sight whilst eating a lovely western breakfast!).

We arrived in Agra yesterday afternoon, with only the one sight to see.... the Taj Mahal of course. The pictures just don't do it justice, it's truely an amazing feat of workmanship and architecture. The whole structure is raised off the ground on a huge marble platform, allowing the backdrop to be pure blue sky that transends shades throughout the day.

Delhi Mayhem

Well, we've arrived in Delhi and it's every bit and definitely a little bit more crazy than anticipated. It does'nt really matter how much you read or prepare for arriving in India, the place will still completely shock and surprise.

We're staying in the backpackers area (Paharaganj) which is basically a narrow alley packed full with rickshaws, cows and one armed beggars and touts ready to pounce on the unknowing tourist. I might as be carring a huge neon sign which reads 'tourist' around with me, it really is that obvious.

On the upside though, once the initial culture shock has worn off I think India will be totally amazing, can't wait to see what the next 5 months will bring!