Hi all from India!

After seeing some of you in London and subsequently catching the flu, I hastily left home for warmer climates again - not sure I can come back permanently now, I've become a wimp!!

First stop was Delhi which was interesting - I loved the chaos of tuk tuks, ricksaws, motorbikes and cars vieing for space on the crowded roads. The sights of Delhi were few and far between, so the chaos was the best bit. The old part of Delhi was pretty cool, there's a massive mosque which is beautiful (though not quite as beautiful as the dresses we had to wear to enter!), but I wasn't upset when we finally left a couple of days later. Luckily I managed to meet up with a couple of girls from the trip on my first morning, so was able to hang around with them. The group has 11 people - 4 oldies and the rest of us under 31. Everyone is ok (though 2 of the oldies are nuts and driving me nuts!!), and are cool to hang around with, but I much preferred the Africa travelling lot. This trip is only for 3 weeks though, so we'll be fine for that time.

Anyway our first stop out of Delhi was Jaisaimer via an overnight train. The overnight train was pretty funny, we were in a carriage with this Indian family who were nice enough until I called their 2 year old son a girl. To be fair, he was wearing a pink belt and had pigtails (apparently its tradition that their hair isn't cut until they turn 3), but after that they wouldn't speak to me! I was on the top bunk (there were 3 bunks on each side) which didn't have a ladder for, so once I was up for the night I didn't move. They also seem very excited by the invention of air con, so I was freezing all night. Definitely taking my super thick sleeping bag on my next train ride!

Jaisalmer is a really pretty desert town. We were based in the fort, so we were able to wander through the windy narrow streets and alleyways (contending with the cows and motorbikes), before we headed out for our desert camel trek. Compared to the camel trek in Morocco, this one was pretty disappointing, as it was mainly over ugly scrubland and as soon as we reached the sane dunes, we got off to camp. Also we weren't provided with any entertainment (usually they sing local songs and play instruments around the campfire), so after looking at the stars for a bit, we just fell asleep! So a bit disappointing, but never mind.

From Jaisalmer, we travelled to Jodhpur (oh yes the city the famous horse riding jodhpurs are named after!). Although there weren't many sites in Jodhpur either (except for their cool fort), I went off by myself for an hour and just wandered through the streets. I went all around the non-touristy bits and I loved it. I just wandered past the cows (and avoided the cow pats!) and traffic and really soaked up the chaos which was great. We also went on a half day trip out to the Bishnoi villages. The Bishnoi are like a sect who are basically tree huggers (long story!). It was cool to visit rural areas as we've been pretty city based so far, and we had opium tea at one house (they break up the opium and mixed it with water, and then you drink it out of the palm of your hand), but I didn't seem to reap any benefit from it!

From Jodhpur we travelled to Udaipur, which is renowned to be the most romantic place in India. It was really pretty with big lakes and old colonial building surrounded it (and a palace in the middle). This is where my profile picture on facebook was taken and the city, whilst touristy, had a nice vibe. It also been the only place where we've managed to have a night out - its very chilled with lots of weed and shishas available, plus alcohol (which is actually quite hard to find!). I really liked Udaipur, its probably been my favourite place so far.

Right onto the next blog - hope you guys aren't getting too caught up in the snow! xx