we arrived at eth station an hour early and were told to walk down to wrong end of the platform and found ourselves running past 12 sleeper carriages with all our stuff including the huge picnic that Sanjay had packed for us. By teh time we got to our carriage they blew the whistle and the train had pulled away. Ian lept on but I (claire) tried but fell back. Luckily my rucksack stopped me from falling out completely. A guard stood with his arms folded and a big smirk "calm down" he said as I was freakingf out. I am begging to think that these guyswould spit on me if i asked for help. Our liking of this country is fading fast. We found 2 Isrealis in ourseats and afetr a while gave in and just moved. The journey lasted 24hrs. We were the subject of being bullied and laughed at eth whole way. They didn't like it when we turned the tables and whispered deliberatly about them. We arrived in Kota and found out that we would have to wait 8 hrs until the bus to Udaipur, and it would arive at 3am which was no good. We went to a taxi stand but the price was 3000rs. our rickshaw driver asked for 100rs to take us to another taxi stand but guaranteed us he could find someone to agree to 2000rs and offered tips on bartering. We set off with a guy who spoke no english but was friendly enough. The roads were appaling. It was supposed to take 4 hrs but took 7. We finally arrive 20 mins before curfew , checked in but our room stank of insect repellent so badly we couldn't sleep. The next day we found the Anjani Hotel recommended by Chris and Emma. We paid 300rs for a lovely room with stained glass windows witha cushioned window seat and even a bath. We had breakfast on the rooftop in the chill out room then crashed. Sadly Udaipurs lake has dried up buty eth place is still very pretty. The peopel arepretty chilled out and often friendly. Its also peacefull once you are up on the roof overlooking the town. We walked over teh 'lake' where there areelephants and Camels and very happy cows munching of the lush green grass. In the centre is the Lake palace (the one in Octop**** which is shown in every hotel every night) and now a fancy hotel. There is another huge city palace by eth lake. You can see for miles to the hills. We had our hammocks lovingly sewn up by an adorably old tailor who packed them so well and only charged 100rs. Wethen went to teh post office to find out that teh parcel was too long. gutted. we had to take teh whole thing appart and pay someone 200rs to machine stitch up a box for us. we have to carry teh wooded poles by hand from now on. By this time it was clear that once again Claire had been struck down by a fluy virus which along with her bad crohs has taken its toll. We decided to take it a bit easier. We walked aroundto temple. A pretty nice one. the carvings on the outside arewell preserved. We then went to the city palace and just paid for the grounds pass and wandered about. its very grand and now a museum and hotel. we decided to book a table at the fancy terrace restaurant for Ians birthday. there are great views over eth 'lake'. We then took a rickshaw to eth mosoon palace on the hill with great views (unfortunately in a bad state) but we went for the sunset and it was lovely. We rushed back to shower and eat before our bus to Pushkar.