Jaisalmer

We thundered through the desert in a dilapidated bus to the sleepy fort town of Jaisalmer. It's just 100 kilometres from Pakistan here and right on the edge of the Great Thar Desert. It's customary to go trekking in the desert on a camel and spend a night under the stars so I guess we'll be doing that at some point. Although there are many hotels in the fort itself, the government urges tourists to avoid them and to stay in the adjacent town as the whole fort is slowly sinking under its own weight. We got a good price on a room after much umming and ahhing (3 quid a night!) and are looking forward to spending a few days here, which will include Emma's birthday. No broadband = no piccies.

Jodhpur

We hurtled across Rajasthan in a bus bound for Jodhpur. It was hard to leave Mount Abu.  We tried to move the bus we had booked for a third time but this time they weren't having any of it. We spent the last couple of days doing much the same: eating great thalis, trekking in the mountains and drinking with our new friends. All in all a great time was had.

Jodhpur is a thoroughly likable city with many of its buildings painted bright blue, giving it a unique, blue-washed look. We're staying in a beautiful, 400 year old Haveli in the (quieter) old city. The fort here is excellent, with awesome views of the city and a superb audio tour (and this is definitely a rarity in India!). We plan to spend a few days here before heading up to Jaisalmer, on the edge of the Thar Desert.

Mount Abu Pics

Still in Mount Abu

Basically, we bloody love Mount Abu so we're still here. We do a half day trek every day in the woods with the local guide who leads parties out in the morning and evening. It's just fantastic that a place like this exists in the middle of Rajasthan which is known for being a very arid, flat, desert state. We've also met some great people here so spend the evenings eating great food and making merry. Tomorrow we're going to Jodhpur......probably.

Mount Abu

We took a bus to Mount Abu, Rajasthan's only hill station (sitting at a mighty 1200m above sea level). It's fundamentally a holiday resort for Indian families and couples and feels strangely like I expect Blackpool would have felt in the 1950s, with pedalos on a big lake, ice cream vendors everywhere and shops selling tourist tat. Having said that, it's actually quite a nice place to be with loads of restaurants serving great all-you-can-eat Gujarati Thalis (we are only a stone's throw from Gujarat) and excellent walking in the hills. It definitely makes a refreshing change from the throngs of Western tourists in the other Rajasthani cities and towns. There's nothing approaching broadband Internet connections here so we won't be uploading any photos for a few days....apologies.

Udaipur

Udaipur is really pleasant town next to a big lake and surrounded by mountains. We've been here a few days and really like it. We're staying down by the lake in a great hotel called the Gangaur Palace. Due to some confusion and some expert bartering/walking away/game playing on our behalf, we managed to get a great room for half the price paid by it's previous occupant (I sneaked a look at the payments book). The hotel is a Haveli, which is a large building (usually 3 or 4 stories) with rooms built around a central, open courtyard. It's a beautiful old building with narrow stone staircases, big tall double doors and a nice restaurant on the roof. Part of the James Bond movie Octopussy was filmed in and around Udaipur, so many of the restaurants show it in the evenings (it's a classic). There's loads of great shops in Udaipur selling art, clothing, wall hangings and all sorts. We are having some clothes tailor made, which we are picking up this afternoon. You can get fairly good suits made for about 60 quid a pop (and have them sent home) which is very tempting. It's very touristy here so prices start ridiculously high and you have to barter ferociously and at length to get a good price.

Yesterday we had a cooking lesson with a local woman called Swati. It was a superb morning spent in her family home learning to make veg curry (the base sauce used for almost all curries), biryani, samosas and chapatis. Whilst we were cooking away, her mother (a Gujurati) kept cooking dish after dish and offering them to us to try. We sampled so many delicious foods, most of which we have not seen on any restaurant menus before or since. We really enjoyed ourselves and are so glad we chose Swati over the bigger (and more expensive), classroom style cooking "schools".

Pushkar

We're in Pushkar and it's Diwali, the festival of light, which turns out to be more accurately describable as the festival of noise, as young children spend 48 hours letting off bangers and fireworks in the street (mildly entertaining at first, but now just plain irritating). Pushkar is a great town though, with long alleyways filled with lots of interesting shops, surrounding a large lake in the centre. There is a temple topped mountain on either side of the town, both of which reward a long, sweaty walk with excellent views over the picturesque surrounding mountains, the town and it's lake. No alcohol, meat or eggs are allowed to be consumed in Pushkar so the restaurants have to get inventive (which some of them do very, very well). We were expecting Pushkar to be full of the bong smoking baggy trouser crowd but were surprised to find what a popular tourist destination it is.

Although we have definitely been through a low period recently (India can be hard work and slowly grinds you down), we are now really looking forward to seeing Rajasthan and Punjab and intend to make the most of our last few weeks in India.

Jaipur

The Agra to Jaipur train was only delayed by a mere 2 hours - reeeeesult. We shared our carriage with the Jaipur University Womens' Handball team who insisted on sitting 5 to a seat, which was a little annoying. Jaipur has loads of great shops so would probably appeal to the holiday maker, but as we are not shopping there is little to keep us here. We head straight off to Pushkar tomorrow morning.

Agra

Let's just say Agra's not the nicest place in India. Fortunately (and more by luck than judgement) we are staying away from the Taj Ganj area, which is full of lame restaurants, filthy guesthouses and persistent rickshaw drivers. Our accommodation is nice and the area is relatively hassle free with a few nice South Indian restaurants serving great Dosas. The Taj Mahal was mightily impressive, an architectural masterpiece that looks too perfect to be real even when you are stood right in front of it (shame about the ridiculous entrance fee). The Red Fort is also a very impressive sight, but, again, overpriced by Indian standards. Indeed, as we are now within a day trip of Delhi, many things are much more expensive than in the rest of India. This is mostly due to the sheer number of tourists that visit this area without any idea of the value of things in India. As a result the inflated price becomes the price and it's very difficult to negotiate a reasonable price. There's also an unbelievable amount of sellers and rickshaw drivers trying to extract money from you, which can be very tiresome. We are looking forward to heading into Rajasthan and should be in Pushkar (home of the famous camel fair) for the Hindu festival of Diwali.

Gwalior

Gwalior is a town roughly equidistant between Agra and Jhansi. Its only real claim to fame is its hill top fort that looms over the sprawling town. The fort is fairly impressive in size, housing a number of different palaces, temples and ruins and with incredible views of the town and surrounding area. Also to be found in Gwalior is the Jai Vilas Palace, home to the Maharajah. It's a massive building, built around a central courtyard and lawns. The rooms are enormously extravagant affairs, with some of the most hideous chandeliers I have ever seen, and, in true Indian style, lacking in cleanliness and any real effort at effective maintenance. Still, an interesting experience.

Due to various restraints we found ourselves in Gwalior for two nights and three days - definitely too long. Budget accommodation is not really Gwalior's strong point either, with a few run down looking places near the train station. We stayed in what we considered to be the best of the bunch, although the TV didn't work, there was no hot water and we shared the insanely filthy bathroom with a number of cockroaches. We're off to Agra this afternoon, home to the famous Taj Mahal.

Orchha

We left Varanasi on a night train bound for Jhansi. For possibly the first time since we have been in India the train was waiting at the platform nearly an hour before it was due to leave (although, astoundingly, it still managed to leave late). Orchha is a small town about 18km from Jhansi, perched on the side of a river and surround by temples and palaces. It was a lovely, relaxing place to spend three nights (including my birthday). We stayed in the (relatively expensive) Betwa Retreat, in a private cottage surround by well tended gardens and with a view of the river. It was a spectacular setting and worth every penny. I was ill once again for the first half of the stay but better by the morning of my birthday.

Yesterday we took a train down to Gwalior. Needless to say it was significantly delayed, but this gave us more time to chat with John and Lesley, an English couple we keep bumping into on our travels. We arrived late last night and were a little disappointed by our first impressions (the hotel is a bit of a dive), however the fort and the Maharajah's Palace that we visited today redeemed it somewhat. Photos of Gwalior coming soon.