Oh my gosh! So much to tell so little time! I have had a week full of adventures to fill you in on.

After Jodhpur we headed out to Udaipur and little did I know that Udaipur held in store lots of exciting things like cooking, puppets and chocolate cake! It was a relatively chilled and relaxed place (for India) so it was great to spend a few days there. The City Palace on the lake looked like someone had just placed it there by magic - it was picture book perfect. It was used as a setting for a James Bond film and you could definitely see how 007 would fit in nicely here. A perfect place to woo the ladies! We also went to a cooking course while we were here. So you'll be glad to know that I'll be making an Indian banquet for anyone who's interested when I get home! And probably one of the highlights of my trip was seeing the cultural show one night at the local Haveli. The puppets were so cleverly handled and there was even a lady who balanced 9 pots on her head while standing on shards of glass - what more could you want from a night out?!

Next stop was Pushkar AKA Hippy Heaven! Everywhere you turned there were dreadlocks! This was a really awesome place to do some shopping though and I managed to stock up on some Christmas presents. The second night we were in Pushkar there was a massive thunder storm and the whole place got flooded. The streets were just gushing water and we had to wade through the puddles to get back to our hotel. I made sure I scrubbed my feet really well that night!

Then we moved onto Jaipur, which to be honest the less said about this city the better. It was a polluted, busy, crowded, lecherous men infested hole and I hated it. Two of our group got sick here and they probably had the best time out of all of us! All the sights we had been looking forward to like the Hawa Mahal and the pink city walls were a complete let down. The Hawa Mahal looks stunning in photos but in real life it is stuck in the middle of a chaotic bazaar and it looks worn out. Very disappointing!

But all of that is forgotten now because we are in Agra....the home of the Taj! Our plan this morning was to get up at sunrise and see the Taj when it was less crowded. And the plan worked! It was totally magical and lived up to all my expectations. I could probably gush about it for hours and hours. When you first walk in and see it it really does take your breath away and it doesn't look real, it looks like it's been painted onto a screen. I took so many photos that my camera battery died. It's like as soon as you see it you become totally mesmerized by the place. Definitely my number one highlight of India so far!