The restaurant was darrrrlicious and CP our group leader helped us choose our dishes to eat. I had a saag curry and Ed a cashew curry both lovely. The popodoms were so different very peppery and small a lot nicer!!

CP promises by the end of the trip that we will be able to eat hot curries, we can only hope!! We had a really good evening exchanging stories and backgrounds getting to know one another, there are 4 British, one Australian, one American and one boy from Norway.

We set our alarms for 4:30am and packed our bags as we were catching a 6 and a half hour train to Pushkar in the morning!! When we awoke we rushed down stairs and the hotel staff were asleep on the floor which made us feel guilty, the doors were bolted up so intruders couldn't come in. We made our way to the station in a taxi in the dark, dogs owned the streets, fires were alight and the streets were filled with homeless sleeping.

The station was very busy and the track was covered in waste with people continuously going to the bathroom on the track. This meant the smell was vulgar! The train journey went quite quick as we slept. Once we awoke we looked out the window at slum after slum which was upsetting with people looking for food and children playing on the tracks and others going to the toilet!! Whilst on the train we were served a breakfast and a cup of tea which was strange and when needing the loo it was a hole in the ground that dropped straight onto the track.

I saw my first cow today!! When getting off the train our bags were tied to a taxi roof and 4 of us got in the boot and 5 in the front and travelled to our next hotel. Before leaving a small boy kept begging and watching us drink our water so I gave up my full bottle which made his day he couldn't stop smiling!! We passed so many different smells and bizarrely wild monkeys!!

We unpacked changed and headed for lunch, we watched a famous Indian film and ate cross legged on cushions on the floor which was lovely. We learnt that every Bollywood movie has a happy ending!! This is the second most holiest city in India so no eggs, meat and alcohol. We ventured through the markets which was amazing but tragic we saw beggars that were crippled and other staring wanting pictures. I tried my first chai latte which was good too.

We made our way to the gypsys where we got costumes on with bindis and rode a camel through the dessert of Pushkar. My Indian name was Anita and Eds Tookrum. We got to the middle of no where and sat on cushions with individual tables and watched a family dance, perform magic and cook for us. This was amazing and we thoroughly enjoyed dancing around the fire watching the sunset and the stars come out, even if Eds trousers did fall down. Food was amazing and seemed to be never ending.

After a few of us were dropped by jeep and walked back home through the markets and then headed for bed. We are up at 6:30 tomorrow to catch a public bus to Jaipur. There was an option to be up at half 4 to visit a temple on the hill but we all passed being so tired.

The public bus was awful drifting in and out of sleep. The police stopped us for a bribe and we were told it happens a lot. As traffic slowed us down villagers would jump on and try and sell us things and once we moved they would hop back off. Witnessed a young family with a small baby walking down a main road, life is just so different here.

In Jaipur our hotel used to be an old palace so it is very grand and the staff are lovely. The street we are on however is very smelly and filled with stalls skinning chickens and sewers it has to be the worst sights I have ever seen!! I feel it has turned me vegetarian!

The streets here are busier, dirtier and smellier than what we have been used too. We have had some free time to chill by the pool and soak up some sun so it was nice to get our white bits out and get a bit of a tan.

We then had an orientation of the city where we were shown spices and how samosas were made and then we were given an Indian cigarette which instead of paper is rolled with a leaf, all the same it tasted disgusting!!

We saw lots of temples some in the middle of streets which was bizarre! We climbed one and got to view the most busiest sights in Jaipur. A roundabout which had buses, people, bikes, rickshaws, camels, cars, tuc tucs, elephants and motorcycles.

We then got on a rickshaw which took us to a lassi bar this was exciting and interesting until we were centre of a traffic jam. The lassi was yummy and served in terracotta glasses which we got to smash afterwards. We then made our way to the Bollywood theatre where we enjoyed a 3 hour movie which was so fun with the occasional pigeon flying past the screen and Indians singing, dancing, clapping and whistling along.

We then went to a southern Indian restaurant where we had an amazing dinner called dosa masala the flavours were amazing wrapped in a pancake type thing. We then got a tuc tuc home which was interesting and a tad dangerous but we made it back alive!!

When we got back the group hung out and once we headed for bed we found a cockroach which was hilarious to catch as it flew. A brilliant couple of days laughed and smiled a lot. India is extremely beautiful I will try to continue updating you on our trip xx