Dear All, Well......hello hello hello!!! Where to start......i wont bore you with all the details of the past five days, but lets just say i am having an absolutely AMAZING time!!! And why oh why i have not done this whole travelling thing sooner i do not know!!! After meeting my group on Sunday night, all my fears of being lonely, and with people very differnt from me have gone out the window.....every single person is fantastic!! Six Aussies, Pauline and Molly (mother and daughter, so lovely, and want me to come and stay with them for Christmas!! ha ha) Barbara and Nicole (friends from Melbourne) Alanah (on her own aswell, so sweet) and Kate (just travelled Europe on her own for 2 months and this her last stop before home). Two Irish that i met at the airport- John and Aiesha- absolutely lovely, and up for a great time. And three other Brits- Steph and Sophie (from Somerset- woo woo Ryanna- and are very nice) and Stephen (he is the don- we hit it off straight away, he is completely on my wave length, we laugh at the same things and have had numerous jokes that only the two of us get, he is from Chester. He is also flying onto Thailand after India and so we have decided already that we are going to travel it together.....which is ace!!! So all in all i have made the best decision by coming on this trip, our tour guide Binu is fantastic, funny, friendly and really handy to have him around when the locals bombard you with their chat!!! So..........India.......where to start, all my apprehensions have been put to one side....it is a beautiful, amazing country, with so much to offer us Brits..........we have so much to learn from these people....it is humbling....thats the word of tour so far!!! We left Delhi on Monday and had an overnight journey to the West of the country to a town called Jaisalmer....absolutely stunning.....market stalls, plenty to spend my pennies on, although i have restrained so far, as my backpack is struggling already.....but if needs be will send stuff home, so mum be ready for the large parcels!!! I want to buy a tuk tuk.....they are so much fun on cobbled streets.....and there is me thinking my Smart is economical......tuk tuks are the way to go........so if a very large box arrives you'll know what it is!!! ha ha Yesterday, we did an evening camel safari.....we went out into the dessert and had an evening camping, and watched the sun set over the dunes....and boy are these some amazing dunes.....huge and they stretch as far as the eye can see.......quite a sight, and makes me quite humbled to watch all these amazing things, and an email really can not explain all that i am experiencing over here.......wish you could all be with over here....maybe when i win the lottery i can charter my own flight..........hhmmm...its an idea!! ha ha ha Whilst camping we had a few beers........v strong actually........and the evenings events were extremely amusing........involing Irish jigs on steep sand dunes, dancing round the camp fire and doing the hoki-poki, and Stephen rugby tackled me and i split my trousers.......ha ha ha, slept under the stars........literally.....clear and starry sky.......a picture in itself! As for my pictures, have taken plenty, but as you can imagine the internet acces out here is pretty sparse, and slow, but when in a larger town i will arrange posting them on my website.......there are some classic postcard pics, and some comedy value ones of me and my group too........ Well.....feel like ive waffled, but there is so much more to tell............but will save that for my return..........so lovely to hear from you all, i have read every email twice, and i am just sorry that at the moment i cant reply to personal emails........i know how annoying group emails are.....hope you understand, but receiving your emails is fantastic, and reminds of what is at home............ You'll be pleased to hear Delhi Belly is yet to strike, although sure my time will come, a couple of peeps are sufering slightly, but overall the food is amazing, so we've been lucky (touch wood!!) Tomorrow we leave here and head to Jodhpur...........another beautiful town apparently.........i keep thinking each new sunset is the best, although im sure there are plenty more to come! Our roof top restaurant at the hotel is pretty impressive views, and Stephen and i are sharing rooms for the rest of the tour as we are getting on so well, and we have the most amazing view from our room....like the movies. Is all very autentic, cobbled streets, small alley ways, cows just wandering around like peopl....they are very sacred out here, and so we are used to them, in fact if i dont see a cow i begin to think something is wrong!!!! Anyway, best go, long day tomorrow.....miss you all, and is lovely to hear all the gossip and news from home.....such as Big Brother......whose won!!?? And the OC and that the Thames Whale died thats a shame...........keep the updates coming, and i will be in touch soon. Hope you are all well, and wish you could all be here to share this with me.....its an amazing trip i will recommend to all...........Intrepid tours are a definite must for annual holidays.......... Love you all, and take care All my love Ellen xxxxx PS Hi Nan!! Hope your well xxxxxxx