Namaste! I write this from the hotel reception desk, in the hotel I started in at the beginning of my trip in Delhi. It feels like a lifetime ago! So, since I last wrote anything on this. we were just on our way to Agra and the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world. I can truthfully say that the Taj lived up to all of my expectations, I was blown away. It has been described as, "the most extravagant monument ever built for love" and, "a teardrop on the face of eternity," according to an Indian poet. [View Full Entry]

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Seems I can only add 21 photos per blog entry so here are some more for your viewing pleasure...!x [View Full Entry]

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Namaste! Managed to squeeze in some extra internet time to publish some photos. These ones are from earlier in my trip - some from Nepal, Delhi and Jaisalmer... Have enjoyed a very hectic couple of days. Yesterday we went to see a Hindi movie at this very beautiful old cinema. We could get the gist of the plot and the singing and dancing was very entertaining. The locals would laugh and clap at certain points when we didn't understand the jokes. To blend in we decided to clap along too which was fun. Last night the group enjoyed our first night [View Full Entry]

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Namaste! Since last I updated we were just about to set off for the Blue City of Jodhpur. On the journey over, crowds of local people joined our bus. It became so full, a woman sat down on my seat and we ended up sharing it the whole journey. I think it would have been easy to have been annoyed by this since we paid for seats, but this turned out to be a lovely experience. We ended up chatting and she told me about her life in India. Her husband was picking her up in Jodhpur, where she worked as [View Full Entry]

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Namaste! It's official: I love India! I was worried I wouldn't like it since I had such an amazing time in Nepal, but India is beautiful in different ways. Since I last updated I was just about to board the sleeper train. This was surpirsingly comfortable and I actually managed to sleep. So well in fact, that I didn't even notice the guy who sat at the end of my bed for an hour in the middle of the night with his head in his hands! My friend who was sleeping next to me noticed and said he looked like some [View Full Entry]

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Namaste! I have some time to kill before we depart for our sleeper train so thought I'd update again (plus I suspect internet access might be a bit hit or miss in the Thar Desert!). My group consists of 14 people altogether. The rest are English apart from myself, a German girl (who's really nice and who I'll be room sharing with) and an American girl. The tour leader is a local from Udaipur called Adi who seems very knowledgeable and has a cool curly mustache! We travel mainly by train and local buses. Today we went into Old Delhi and [View Full Entry]

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Namaste! Just a quick update to say that I've arrived safely in Delhi and have now joined my travel group for the next 3 weeks. My first impressions of Delhi have been that it's a lot more developed and Western compared to what I've been used to in Kathmandu. The hotel I've been staying in is quite plush - I've a massive bed and a plasma screen satellite TV to myself! Did some sightseeing today and managed to squeeze in seeing India Gate (their version of the Arc de Triomphe), the president's house, Humayan's Tomb (the pre-cursor to the Taj Mahal), [View Full Entry]

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Namaste! The last few couple od days have been pretty thrilling to say the least. Yesterday Nabs and I decided that bungy jumping into a 160m gorge sounded like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. The jump took place in Bhot Koshi, 3 hours out of Kathmandu near the border with Tibet. The bus journey over was almost as perilous as the bungy because heavy rains had caused a landslide to block the road. The natural reaction was to get out of the bus and stare at the rubble for a bit. Then everyone decided to run across, scared silly of [View Full Entry]

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Namaste! And so after a mix up the week before, last weekend we finally made it to Chitwan National Park. It's situated south of Kathmandu near the Indian border, and took about 5-6 hours on a non-AC bus - fun fun! We got a really good price on a hotel with meals and a guide included, organised by Rama's brother. Chitwan was incredibly hot - the hottest place I've ever been to. It felt like we were sweating constantly and as soon as I had a shower I felt like I needed another one. The weekend involved a variety of activities [View Full Entry]

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Namaste! And so we have arrived at our last night on our paradise getaway. Yesterday we met up with Nepalese friends from Kanti who took us out boating on a lake. The weather here is hothothot, so of course after the boat ride I discovered I was very red indeed! Ouch! We also climbed up Sagargot for a spectacular view of Pokhara valley and some of the Himalayan range. Today we enjoyed a lush buffet breakfast (the waitor made my omelette in front of me!), some much needed chilling at the hotel swimming pool and took a taxi driver/tour guide up [View Full Entry]

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