OK, so I've been pretty rubbish with writing on this blog. Partially due to the lack of speedy internet cafes, and partly lack of effort on my behalf! There are now, however, some photos on facebook, since it seems much easier to upload from there.

As such, I have now left rajasthan...so will now do a fast update on our travels there. Who knows, maybe by writing it in this way I will convey the whirlwind nature of our journey thus far?!

Day 1: Agra. Agra only really has one thing in the small town worth seeing, but it is THE thing to see in India, the Taj Mahal. I thought before we set off 'better not get my hopes up!' since I have seen loads of pictures, and wasn't sure there would be much more to it. But there is! It is, I can say without a doubt, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! Pictures just don't do it justice (not that it stopped me taking about a thousand!)

The pure white marble. The engravings from the Koran around the door, the inlay of gold and precious stones everywhere! It is breathtaking. And the designer clearly had a thing for symmetry, since it is amazingly symmetrical, adding to its beauty!

After a few hours just staring at the Taj we headed off to meet the descendants of the workers who built it, still inlaying stones into marble. It was great to see the process, and it takes months to design, carve, grind the stones into perfect tiny shapes and inlay! This was, however, the first in a long line of the 'Indian soft sell' as we found out. Nice demonstration - "come look at our stock" - "looking is free, you like, you buy, you no like, you no buy". Sounds fair enough, except they never mention "you like, but we charging 10000Rs., you no afford". Hah!

Anyway, we bought some small gifts and left for the hotel lighter in the pocket, heavier in the bag!

Day 2: Jaipur. Jaipur, as with almost every city in Rajasthan, is famous for its fort. This one we spent some time looking around with our guide. However, the time we spent looking round each fort got less and less throughout our tour.

The city itself is a little grimey, and our exciting Elephant ride consisted of us sitting on the back of a old tired elephant and walking ten minutes down a road and back again. Not exactly a magical experience.

Day 3-4: Pushkar. when we arrived in Pushkar it was late afternoon, and we simply walked round the quaint little bazaar road that semi-circled the (unfortunately dried up) lake. But when we went for a more thorough look around the next day we suddely saw a different side to Pushkar - 'The Holy Town'.

We were hassled at almost every store, and when we were offered a holy ritual down by the lake (which seemed a nice idea) we were suddenly expected to pay 1000Rs. 'donation' money, which then seemed to slip straight into the hands of the dodgeyest looking guy I have seen so far! But at least we got a nice thread for out trouble!

Disheartened we chilled out in a cafe for most of the rest of the day, avoiding all the hassles of the Pushkar market, and only popped into one of the 200 odd temples that make Pushkar 'The Holy Town'.

Day 5: Khuri. Khuri is a small village area outside of Jaisalmer - the desert town, and next on our list. Our itinerary here was simple - to experience traditional Rajasthani music show over a home cooked meal, and to do a sunrise Camel safari. Ah how nice it would have been, if not for the nasty case of V+D (vomitting and... welll I'll let you guess the 'D')

I'm told the food was lovely, and I just about made it out to watch the music show - which was to be fair a really nice show. One note though. The desert at night, is Freezing! Especially in the quaint, yet very ventalated little huts we were staying in. Fortunately I had stopped being violently sick at the sight of anything consumable in the morning, and could evjoy the spectacular sights our sunrise desert safari afforded us - pictures coming soon!

Day 6-7: Jaisalmer. This is a very picturesque city, with...yes another fort, that seemily rises up out of the sand into a magnificant sandstone castle. However, after wandering around the fort there really wasn't alot to do! So I got a massage! Mmmmm...

Day 8: Jodhpur. Jodhpur is quite a nice town, and was our only posh hotel on our tour (but not nessecarily the nicest!) situated next to the central market. The fort here was very high up on the crest of a hill and overlooked the whole city, making the view the best part of the fort trip! What also makes the view extra nice is that all the houses on on side of the city are painted a nice cornflour blue colour. There was also a world famous spice shop which we got the chance to sample some of their tea, and infact buy some genuine masala chai!

Day 9-10: Udaipur. Udaipur was our last stop in Rajasthan, and tough though it had been, this was the town we were glad we had finished on! Set just over the ridge of mountains that comprise Rajasthan's only natiional park (which we took a 'shortcut' through) and away from the desert. It has 3 lakes that feed into each other, and by a clever, and very old, underground set of pipes water the whole of a botanical garden purely through water pressure alone! The gardens were beautiful, and radiated a sense of quiet and peace (hard to find in India)

Of course it did have a fort, with some truely fantastic rooms (especially the entirely mirrored mater bedroom...the vain b******!) and some fantastic views! However, what was nicest about Udaipur was the collection of shops that all sold local crafts. There was no hassle from anyone, no grubby street vendors, just a nice easy city to enjor ourselves. Also, incase anyone is a Bond fan, it is the city in which the film Octop**** was shot.

Day 11: We left Udaipur by bus in the evening. The idea had been sleeper train, but we seemed to get screwed on that from and ended up with a sleep bus. I know, I know, the idea of a sleeper bus just sounds ridiculous. It is! You get a tiny little bunk bed cabin, not big enough to sit up in, or stretch out in. And the bumps, the noise, the banging on the side to make sure you're awake incase you need to stop and pee! Sleeping didn't really factor into the equation! Then at 4.20, bleary eyed, we were dropped (it felt literally) in the middle of Ahmedabad, not that we could tell where we were at 4.20am! Then it was off onj the longest, and first Rickshaw ride of my life! Not a nice littel cycle rickshaw, but a little motorised one driven by a crazy, overcharging, chain-smoker! Then we had to navigate the airport! 2 flights and 8 hours later we arrived in Cochin, Kerala, drove to Fort Kochi (lovely) in the 33degree heat and 90% humidity to our little homestay, and slept. Hard!

Will write more on Kerala in a while. Suffice to say that for now, it's very laid back, very hot, and has lots of beaches! Mmmmm....