What fort! The bus journey from Ajmer to Pushkar was bumpy and long but we only had six near crashes, so a bit of a result for Indian buses. The last 40 minutes I made a delightful friend called Rajesh a fourteen year old boy who loved to practice his English. He had some funny sayings and described everything he enjoyed about India by emphasising the word 'what'. For example, when describing the Taj it was, 'what monument' and the sunset at Mount Abu, 'what ...

One Day... in Pushkar We hadn't planned on coming to Pushkar but whilst I was researching Chittor, our next destination, I realised there wasn't much to do there so we just took the train all the way to Ajmer and then an auto to Pushkar. James, like a good organiser, had booked us a room in Hotel Everest. We arrived quite late and we were told our room had been given away. All they had was a room the workers used with the hardest bed and a toilet situated in ...

Fame in the land of Octop**** What a beautiful city, a mirrored lake and a floating pristine white palace; truly the most romantic city in India. For a change we arrived at a decent time as we took our daytime sleeper bus.* Our hostel had a fantastic view over the lake and beautifully decorated interior to match. We found Queens cafe for lunch and soon got swept into the charismatic aura of Meenu. The restaurant looked a bit dingy but I had read great things ...

When you wish upon a star... The day had arrived, we were to wander through the Thar Desert on camels and then sleep under a starry sky. First let us meet our companions, Alyssa and Patrick a couple from America who have been working in South Korea for the past two years and Sammy (Alyssa's childhood friend) and Dan a married couple from Wisconsin. Our driver/guide/cook/photographer Edu was there to assist us in whatever way he could, apart from explain things...

Sandfort Grr.. We arrived at 5:30am after sleeping above a fat man with a snoring problem so not much sleep and to top it off our hostel didn't pick us up, as promised. Our taxi driver did a great job of waking half the neighbourhood to find our hostel and then woke the guys, who were supposed to collect us, with such force that they offered us their blankets on the floor until our room was ready. I got some sleep and was awoken by James saying 'Emily, Emily d...