Trains, Taxis and Tuk-tuks!

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I think on my last blog I was just about to go see a Bollywood film in Jaipur. The film I watched was ChakDe! India. This was not your usual all singing, all dancing Bollywood movie. This was more in the style of a Hollywood movie, namely the Mighty Ducks but with better acting and an Indian womens field hockey team. The atmosphere in the cinema was great with people cheering at the screen and whistling at any beautiful women. We were laughed at when coming out as the UK hockey team were beaten by the Indian team during the film.

After to Jaipur we went to Udaipur which is a really beautiful and small city. The city is walls are surrounded by lakes and there are small mountains everywhere you look on the horizon. There is a mad obsession in Udaipur with James Bond as part of Octopussy was filmed in the Monsoon Palace there. Nearly every restaurant plays Octopussy every single night. We also got caught right in the middle of monsoon for the first time here and got absolutely soaked. It goes and comes really fast and the streets flood in seconds. If you do ever go to Udaipur I suggest visiting the worlds largest turban in the Bagore Ki Havelli. Its a truly amazing sight to behold and needs to be seen! Other than that there is very little touristy things to do in Udaipur. After two days there with on off Dehli Belly, it was off to Goa.

The journey to Goa was a mammoth one. It took 47 hours from when we left the hotel in Udaipur to get to the hotel in Goa. It was an 8 hour overnight train from Udaipur to Ahmadabad then a 3 hour wait before a 9 hour train to Mumbai (Bombay). In Bombay we took a taxi from central station to the Mumbai CST station. The CST station from the outside looks like a huge British cathedral. In Mumbai we had seven hours to kill so we went for a walk round to discover there was a festival going on. In the street there were groups of people making human pyramids about 5 people high. Once this is done a small child climbs to the top and breaks open what looks a coconut to spill paint all over the pyramid of people. Everyone seemed to be having a really good time. When we went to go get our train, it was delayed by 5 hours till 4 in the morning. It then took 13 hours to get to Goa and then a half an hour ride in a tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw) to Baga beach where our hotel is. Autorickshaws are the best way to get around as they are cheap and fun to ride in. They are basically motorised tricycles with a shell on that you can just about fit two people and their bags in.

We are now in Goa for seven days so probably a good time to chill out on the beach and visit a few bars. As long as the rain stays away!

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