We've spent the last few days travelling through Rajasthan. Having left the Taj Mahal we travelled to Ranthambore Nation Park. We arrived at night and struggled to find our way so ended up staying at the 'Pink Palace', which was certainly pink. The drive from Agra to Rathenmbhore took a staggering 8 hours, as the roads were terrible. The driving is pretty scary too; everyone seams to be playing a game of 'chicken'. We've witnessed the most random things on our travels. The streets are full of sheep, goats, donkeys, pigs and piglets, cows, buffalos, camels, dogs and puppies, rabbits etc... And that's also true in the cities. When it got dark our driver, Barbee, reassured us by saying (in broken English). "Men live in the jungle along this road and they obstruct the road to tourists so they have to stop, then they rob them", we were all so scarred, especially as we had all our rucksacks strapped to the roof. We've had quite a hostile welcome in India. Men stare at us as if we're abnormal; they are so sleazy it's disgusting! We've all learnt to avoid eye contact and to be rude to everyone, as no one is genuinely trying to be nice. We also get charged double the price for everything, as nothing has a price tag. Despite all of the bad things we are all having an amazing time. The national park was fantastic; we went on a 3 hours safari in an open top jeep. We saw loads of animals, but no tigers unfortunately. All of us got covered in sand. Today we arrived in Jaipur, which is much better as it's a big town and the people here 'have' seen a white female before. We've all managed to get a room together which is cool and we staying here for 3 nights, so we can chill out a bit. Abby and Lauren have stayed at the hotel whilst Nadia and I explore. We're on a mission to buy fruit, chocolate and an English newspaper. We're all so fed up of greasy Indian food and we haven't got a clue what's going on back home. It's feels like I've been away for ages. I've set my mind on spending a month in Thailand; none of us feel we'll last 3 months here. The others may go to Bali early. Having spoken to some other travellers they all say Thailand is perfectly safe, everyone's meant to be so friendly (unlike here where we all feel like aliens). We'll be in Bombay in 10 days, which should be cool; Nadia's hoping to become an extra in a bolliwood movie!