Our 12 hour journey to Varanasi turned into a miserable 15 hour journey thanks to the punctuality of the Indian rail. Plus, we had the pleasure of sharing our cubicle with a wheezing bull (well, he definately sounded and looked like a wheezing bull). Suffice to say we woke up that day rather grumpy. To make matters worse, Indian Airlines had contacted us and told us that the flight we had booked from Varanasi into Nepal for the 14th had been rerouted via Delhi, so we now had to fly to Delhi on the 13th (today) at 3pm. Thus, instead of [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yay, finally we get to see a world famous site in India - apart from its world famous stinkiness and dirtiness. However before that, a quick update on food. We have been eating, and eating a lot. So much so that I have developed noticable new pockets of fat on my stomach. Melenie however has managed to remain immaculately skinny thanks to her regularly bouts of food poisoning and vomiting. I am hoping to get some food poisoning soon as this may be the only way of trimming down before the end of this holiday. Okay, so back to Agra. We [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived at Jaipur train station at the ungodly hour of 5am tired and dirty. The numerous taxi and tour touts didn't make it any easier - every single one of them hassled us - so much so that I actually worked up enough courage to yell at one and tell him to get lost. First stop was a hotel recommended by the hotel in Jaisalmer where we apparently could get a room to have a shower for a minimal price. We then headed into Jaipur to wander through the streets until afternoon. Jaipur was a tad boring. The walls and [View Full Entry]

---

---

We got up that morning at 5 to watch the sunrise. Well actually Melenie woke up - I kind of walked still half asleep. It was so cold but we braved the weather and walked up to the top of the dune to watch the sun rise. Unfortunately, we weren't rewarded for our efforts - the sky was kind of dusty/cloudy and so the sun rise was only moderately beautiful. That morning we had a breakfast of eggs and toast and then headed off on another 2 hour camel ride. Once again we rode through some spectacular scenery and even got [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today was our first day in Jaisalmer, a desert city in the northwest of India close to the Pakistani border. Its a city where everything is made of sandstone, basically because everything around it is sand. Our main reason for visiting Jaisalmer was to wander the desert on a camel and then spend a night sleeping under the desert sky. The first task for the day was to find a travel agent to book a desert tour with. The first guy we talked to seemed really dodgy so we told him that we'd think about it and come back in an [View Full Entry]

---

---

We spent the first half of today wandering around Udaipur and looking at a few palaces. The first one we looked at had a crystal gallery where everything was made of crystal, including massive dining tables and lounge sets. Although they were very beautiful, we got a bit bored after the first three. Also had a look at apparently one of the better attractions in Udaipur - the Durbar hall. Sadly it was just a big dusty hall with lots of pictures and old furniture. Looked very British. Next was a tour of the City Palace. This allowed us to wander [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today was to be a day of luxury. We were off to Udaipur, a city in Rajasthan reknowned for its beautiful and huge palaces. In particular, the lake palace is the most famous of the lot, being situated in the middle of a picturesque lake and in fact having starred in the James Bond movie Ocotpussy. The day started off with an early morning 6:50am flight to Udaipur. However, thanks to Indian Airlines efficiency, we discovered upon arriving at the airport that the flight had been delayed until 12:30. After yelling at numerous staff (I was a bit cranky since I [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in Aurangabad at 6am, stinky and smelly since we had slept all night in the train. However, as we dismounted from the train we realised it didn't matter how bad we smelt, because this city smelt even worse. Take 1 tonne of rotten vegetables, smush it together we a few million decaying fish and then set the whole thing on fire and you kind of start to get the smell of Aurangabad. This city should really be called A-rank-a-bad. The main reason we were in Aurangabad was to see the famous Ellora temple caves. This consisted of 34 temples [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hyderabad, a city that is rarely on the tourist trail - and today we discovered why. The main reason we were in Hyderabad was because it was a stopover on the way to our next major destination Aurangabad. Nevertheless, we thought we'd look around. To our surprise, there was a really cool sounding place called Ramoji Film Studios - a pseudo Universal Studios except based around Bollywood (the Indian film industry). If you've never seen a Bollywood movie, then imagine lots of brightly clad Indians running around the screen singing and dancing to Indian music that has been remixed by wannab [View Full Entry]

---

---

If you've never seen one, auto-rickshaws are a bizarre 3-wheeled scooter enclosed in a rickshaw cabin. They're all around India and provide a cheap means of whizzing through traffic. They also provide some of the greatest action-adventure you can have in this country. You see, I suspect that driving school was one school these guys avoided. Instead of slowing down when there is a slow car in front, auto-rickshaws instead accelerate extra hard and then swerve at the last second to avoid the car, giving little attention to whether traffic exists in the adjacent lane. Another driving t [View Full Entry]

---

---