Sorry its been a while again I have been keeping a log but due to some technical problems haven't been able to update for a while so I have few gaps to fill in!! I hope you're sitting comfortably!!

Blog from Rajistan...

Ragistan: - Jaipur - Bundi - Udiapur - Ranaka - Jodpur - Madawa - Delhi

After a relaxing time we endured on the beaches of Goa, it was definitely time for some down right and dirty India! We flew with aptly named Spicejet up to Jaipur, a dingy city with not much to offer, to begin our quest of Rajistan.

Of course we hadn't really planned how we were going to get around the area and my great idea of jumping on a few trains seemed so easy in theory... until we got to the station of course!

We ended up being taken under the wing of a charming tuc tuc driver, who took us to meet his friends the travel agents....what a coincidence!! Well after some hard bargaining we eventually did a deal for a taxi and a driver to take us aroung Rajistan. Paying up front was the most scary part knowing full well we were probably getting done, and the police would do nothing if we were!

Thankfully Shirish or however you say his name turned up the next morning much to our pleasant surprise and we set of for Bundi. Bundi was a charming place quite clean by Indian standards, and quiet! Ahmed travels delivered on the hotel that was well decorated and extremely clean. The place was small enough to walk around, even by Al's standards! We explored the first of many palaces and forts, that while have some fascinating history no effort has been made to preserve them yet they have no problem ripping you off to go and see them.

The next place described in the lonely planet as the fairytale city was Udiapur. The place did have a certain romantic feel to it and once again we had a nice hotel in a quiet part of town, but the rubbish floating in the almost stagnant lake was a bit of a turn off! I was forced to spend the first afternoon there watching England loose the cricket as I wasn't feeling so good. A good nights sleep seemed to get me back to health and we were free to explore the town.

There was some interesting sculptures and small temples around the town the main palace however was over run with tourists and the price was a stinger, unless your a student of course!! Having to que up to deposit your very expensive camera was the last straw though! Later we opted for an Indian cooking course, where our teacher through us burly brits on the back of his 125cc loaded with shopping bags! He then took us to his house where we sat on his bedroom floor in front of a gas burner where he taught some classic vegetarian curries all delicious apart from the deep fried milk powder balls dessert!! The house was a typical Indian set up with the whole family living under one roof in this case 20 people in a three bedroom house!!!

We finished the day off on with a nice but pricy beer on the lake behind the palace and watched a pretty spectacular sunset.

Next on the itinerary was the remote village of Rakaner that boasts a splendiferous temple all hand carved from marble. We spent a while wondering around in awe of the place, and took in some nice unpolluted air that was extremely rare for India! Later we took a stroll out to the lake to see the first white sunset we'd seen in a long long time!

The next day was early start as we started the drive to Johdpur which was a good 5hrs, where we edged closer and closer to the dessert. The heat was a bit unbearable, and our lovely Indian taxi driver was trying to bargain with us to turn on the air con, only 1rupee per kilometre! We held out and eventually he had to turn it on anyway... cheeky b*****!

Johdpur itself was a fantastic place lots of history and palaces, but they were actually looked after well and had audio tours quite a contrast to Bundi, were they'd been left to rot and the guards follow you around and demand money! Fact of this place is that it where the Johdpur (as in riding trousers) were invented, subsequently they're obsessed with polo.... well the rich of course!

After a couple of days in Johdpur we arrived at our final destination on the tour Madawa. On the way our driver took us to the most memorable of temples... the rat temple! It was disgusting rats, pigeons, flies everywhere. The place reeked and droves of people knelt worshipping them and feeding them, I think we lasted about 3 seconds before we were back in the taxi demanding a shower! The story behind the temple is that Hindu's believe that the rats are reincarnated storytellers.. however I won't be going back, and thats 5 rupees I'll never see again!

Next on the list of Madawa's famous sights was the 'Camel reasearch centre'. Basically a camel farm, not that Al is particularly keen on Camels at the best of times, but especially not when they dribble all over him!!! Also not somewhere I'd rush back to as they pretty much spit and fart and hump!

So on to our deluxe 1000 rupee bus ride to Delhi!! More like a clapped out, old rust bucket, death trap, and the roads weren't exactly how can I say car worthy! In nutshell we spent 7hrs bouncing around at 5 miles an our, another fine Indian experience we got ourselves into!!

When we reached Delhi tired and bruised, we then had the task of finding our hotel. The auto rickshaw drivers of Delhi will tell you absolutely anything to get you into a hotel of their choice instead of the one you've booked. Their tales including "its fallen down", "there's a riot on outside it", or even "it doesn't exist"! So we stood having a nice blazing row with the guy on the motorway where we got in and back out twice before he got the idea of where we were going and how much we were paying!!

The Hotel Eurostar, despite the odd name was the best luxury we'd had in a while. As in the beds weren't made of stone! We ventured into Delhi's main area which was without doubt the nearest we'd come to civilisation in a while. We met up with a friend from England who'd chosen to spend a relaxing couple of weeks traveling round India with us! Delhi's prices ar'me a million times more expensive then the rest of India and the white mans tax is through the roof, which I might have explicitly mentioned to them.

We spent about 3 days in Delhi and had a visit from good old Patsy who hard at work again covering the cricket world cup. In her usual style got us completely sloshed in I'm ashamed to say the Man united bar (it was all we could find and it was happy hour!). The night ended with a round of freebie beers from a strange men we met down a dark alley who followed us on his motorbike, but luckily didn't give us any more trouble. The next day I spent hugging the toilet bowl, thanks Patsy!