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Published: February 7th 2011
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Jaipur Amber Fort We finished our last blog in Pokhara, Nepal. Our last day there was spent cycling to the hospital/complex where Tom used to live, riding a bike on busy Nepali roads was an experience in itself!! Tom reckoned nobody would know who he was, but as soon as we got to the hospital (even though there was designated tour times) we were ushered straight in, and lots of people and patients continually sent on their greetings to dr mike and family. We were given a thorough tour which was really interesting. Also popped into toms 1st house there, which has now been converted into a school for kids of western ex pats. The teachers said they often get random people wandering into the school and asking if its ok to look around because they used to live in the house. We finsihed the day visiting old Nepali family friends, who have lived and worked at the hospital for years, both parents were former leprosy patients there. The family think of the Lavenders as family, and so we were really warmly greeted by them.
The next few days were spent in Chitwan Royal National Park, Nepal. Suarha is the town next to
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Udaipur Palace the park and that was pretty grotty. Most people go to chitwan in package tours and so stay at fancy hotels, so there wasn't really much in the form of restaurants, cafes etc for us cheap skates not on a fancy package trip. We did a jungle walk, canoe river ride, and elephant safari (all booked through a good company called Green Group). We saw crocodiles, and the rare one-horned rhino, unfortunately no tiger though. On the way to chitwan from Pokhara we had to endure 5 hours of the Vengaboys and Aqua music video, when the guy whipped out a dvd we thought oohh nice a film to watch on the way, tom swore he saw iron man 2 on the cover (clearly not).
After Chitwan we got a bus down to the border of India. We got stamped out of Nepal fine, however after walking the 5 metres across to the Indian side we had problems at immigration. Due to a stupid system in Deli airport it meant our visas had already been stamped, and they said we had to wait another 2 months before we could get in. They told us to go to Kathmandu (a
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Udaipur Palace from our boat trip good 20 hours away on the bus) to sort it out!!! they then said they'd let us in if we paid. Then luckily an old guy who worked there said 'as we were a child' he would stamp us out this time, he did say if we felt like it we could give him some money to say thank you, we just pretended not to hear him and made a quick exit. We're both hopping it doesn't lead to problems when we fly from mumbai to andaman islands.
Into India we negotiated our price on a 4x4 jeap to Gorokphur. We had middle seats and were guaranteed that no one else would be allowed to sit with us. We left the border feeling high and mighty with 6 locals in the boot and 2 hanging on the back of the jeep. Night time fell as Ghorakphur approached. We were looking forward to getting there after dodging many cars, buses and nearly hitting several people on the road as we drove with minimal headlights!! The less said about Gorokphur the better. It is a hole, this is putting it nicely. Unfortunately the next day we were delayed by 7 hours
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One horned Rhino Chitwan National Park, Nepal at the train station, of which 6 hours were on the platform enduring taunts from a child tramp who also tried to spit on us. When the sleeper train arrived we couldnt have been more relieved.
After a comfortable nights sleep on the train we arrived at Agra (home of the Taj Mahal). We went to the Taj in the evening to enjoy the sunset there, it was amazing. We were both worried that it wouldn't live up to our expectations but it really did. Went for a slap up indian thali (after our gorakhpur nightmare) at a place called daprakesh. One other thing we need to share with you all about our time in Agra is Perry the pigeon. In our attempt to save money we asked for the cheapest room the hostel had, turns out it had a pigeon nesting in the bathroom vent (hole in the wall). It was clearly visible and would not move, so when you showered and went to the toilet, Perry was always there watching.
The next few days we got various trains to Jaipur, where we enjoyed visiting Amber Fort and the old pink city, and Pushkar. Pushkar is a
holy Hindu town, where lots of Hindus from all over the world make the pilgrimage to the Brahma temple, and the holy lake. It was totally different, lots of hippies there with there rasta hair (knotted hair), load of cows, and thus a lot a lot of cow poo, and so an even bigger number of flies. We can understand why people go if you are into that sort of hippy vibe, but for us although interesting, the smell of poo and flies was too much. 1 day in Pushkar was enough.
Yesterday we got the train from Pushkar to Udaipur, which is where we are now. Udaipur is a city set on a lake, overlooking an ex-royal palace on an island in the middle of the lake. There are lots of narrow steep streets which maze around the outskirts of the lake. Although its clear you're still in India, with the lake backdrop it could be somewhere in Italy, its really beautiful. Our hostel has a rooftop restaurant which overlooks the water and city (called dream heaven for anyone reading this going to india), we'd definately recommend it.
Tomorrow we head for Mumbai, and our much anticipated
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Bike ride Nepal. flight to the Andaman Islands is on Thursday. We've had a whirlwind 10 day trip (trains practically every other day) around India, we're glad we've crammed so much in BUT we're very excited for the beach!!! We have 7 days on Havelock Island, so we'll be in touch after we are back and before we fly out to Singapore.
lots of love T & A x
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Amy
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Bog Time Jealous
Hello, Just want to say I am sooo jealous! It is cold and grey here in London, and reading your blog has put a huge smile (and slight giggle - Perry!) on my face. I hope you are both having a lovely time and taking lots of pics. Enjoy your beach xxx