Last time I wrote the blog, I didn't even have time to mention our roundabouts, since I had to rush out of the internet cafe to catch the James Bond film "Octopus" which was shown nightly in most of the restaurants in Udaipur. I guess they are very proud that the film was shot mainly in Udaipur, but just imagine working as a waiter at one of those restaurants.. every single night.. but then again, it was quite a funny Bond film. So we spent 5 fantastic days in Udaipur, our favourite place so far. Udaipur is called the Venice of the East and it was a beutiful city by the lake. The most famous sights are the floating palace in the middle of the lake and a majestic City palace with wonderful views. The two palaces gave the city a mystical feel.

All the palaces we've seen here in India have been really beautiful. One night we went for drinks at this amazing palace hotel, it was so magical it felt like straight from a Disney film and I couldn't help myself, had to sing "A whole new world" from Alladin (had that song stuck in my head for a couple of days after that). The hotel is said to be one of the best in India so you can imagine us two being a bit misplaced in our traveller outfits..

In Udaipur we did this cooking class, which I absolutely loved. We learnt all the basics of North Indian cooking and the teacer was very good. I bought all these special spices, so I can continue cooking when I get back to Finland. (Although I am a bit doubtful since my recepie book from a cooking class in Thailand is still untouched after 4 years, but this time I'm determined to use these recepies I learnt.)

We're getting used to the traffic and can easily walk in the midst of everything, but when you're sitting in a car, it feels like you're in this computer game, with near misses and close calls, cars speeding towards you from the opposite direction, even there are supposed to be lanes for different directions. And add to this the elefants, camles and donkeys roaming around - it does feel quite surreal.

We've met so many nice people here and after the touts in Agra, we haven't even been harrased much. All the hotel keepers are friendly and especially Ravi, this hotel owner in Pushkar was very entertaning with his funny stories about his childhood. We also met this artist who visited Finland last summer and he showed us pictures of his trip and we visited his gallery. He was very helpful and recommended this horse trek for us. I wasn't so keen on the horseback riding at first, since my last experience was in Bolivia, where we had no helmets, a 10 year old "guide" and our horses hated each other, my horse even bit Saaras horse, if I remeber correctly.. Anyway, away we went. This time with helmets and an experienced guide and another boy who came with us to see that the cows or rickshaws wouldn't distrub our horses. The trek was good and it was nice to see the rural countryside and we stopped for chai (indian tea) in a small village. The scenery was pretty, with lots of mountains and the horses were great. We even galloped, which was quite a thrill, for someone, who hasn't ridden a horse properly since second grade.

The men with their pick up lines are quite lame though, like this one time we were walking down the street at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and these two guys came up to us and said "we are two, you are two, let's go party" Errr, no thanks. And second of all, it's 3 o'clock! So we ignored them and kept walking, but still hopefully they asked "so are you coming?" Another time, this guy walking towards me and said nice bum and I was like how can you know if you like or dislike my bum, when you're walking from the other direction and have just seen me from the front, you eejit. They pester you more if you're by yourself, but mainly we've sticked together.

We're again in Jaipur, just for a quick stop over, and Liina is desperately trying to find us an easy/direct route to get to Risikesh, but looks like there isn't a easy way, so tomorrow we'll spend travelling.. I'll write again from Risikesh.