Local wildlife

I've not really written a proper update for a while so I'll do my best to bring you up to date!

We arrived in Delhi the next morning after the crash and had a search around the main area for a hotel. It took some time but we ended up staying in a small hotel on the edge of Connaught Place (the Piccadilly of Delhi!). As it had been Danny's birthday the day before we headed straight to TGI's for lunch. We indulged in very expensive nachos, burgers, imported ribs, chocolate brownie desert, pitchers of beer and huge cocktails! (I only had nachos and a cocktail out of that list!)They sung Danny their birthday song and he had to stand up on his chair and declare it was his birthday! J We had already planned to return for the evening so they were on to an absolute winner with us!

I did a spot of shopping in the afternoon buying a new camera (my broke the other day as I fell down a hill, not like me at all hey?!) and a pair of Pepe jeans which were altered for me in half and hour! They had to chop quite a bit off! Then it was back to TGI's where everyone had a wicked night especially Danny who almost completed the 'Ultimate' cocktail menu! It was his birthday though!

The next day after waking a little later than I had expected I spent the day with Sos shopping as she had been hit with the truck bug the day before and not left the hotel. But feeling better we hit the shops and got our eyebrows done. That afternoon I visited the train station and booked myself a train trip from Delhi to Varanasi missing out on a very long truck day. I will be on the train trip with Stu, John, Punchy, Lorna and Will and can not wait. I will leave the truck after spending the day at the Taj Mahal and get another day in Delhi which I'm really happy about as I don't feel like I did much 'culture'.

For my last night in Delhi I went to loose my Bollywood virginity! About 6 of us went to see the latest release Jhoom Barapar Jhoom starting the bollywood chief and his son. It also seemed to have the entire cast of the Kumars popping up through out the film as it was set in the UK. The big dances were round Waterloo Station it was a little slice of home and a complete strike of luck! We all absolutely loved it and thought the whole experience was fantastic. The film was in Hindi but had splatterings of English so was easy to follow. I was humming the tunes for the next two days and so brought the soundtrack yesterday in Jaipur I'm now bouncing around the truck with it on my MP3 and can't wait for my next cook duty to play it loud and for everyone else to be able to listen to it also.

That night Nick, Jen, Martin, Rach and Ave left for their treks in Nepal, I was quite sad to see them go but can't wait for them to return and for us all to share stories!

After Delhi we moved on to Jaipur the pink city which was fantastic. We stayed in a gorgeous little guesthouse and explored the city on rickshaw. Getting up early (I left at 7am with Alex, Tom and Sos) we went to the 'Monkey Temple' a path on the edge of the city that leads up and over a hill into the valley below where there is a large temple hidden away. On the walk up though there was hundreds of wild monkeys waiting to be fed. We each got a bag of peanuts and made our way up the hill, incredibly slowly! There were hundreds of monkeys and we got there just at the right time because it was feeding time the locals had delivered half a ton of bananas! I was amazed at how timid they were, some snatched the peanuts to ensure that no others grabbed them but others were very gentle and almost seemed to thank s by clinging on for a little while longer. Oh and the baby monkeys were even more cute. They cling on to their mum's tummy whilst moving and lap up the cuddles when they are say down. Loved them! We managed to tear ourselves away from the monkeys and made our way up to the small temple at the top of the hill and met some holly men and went over into the next valley to see the other temple. When we came back down all the monkeys had gone to relax into the shade leaving only a few left surrounded by cows, goats, a few dogs and the cutest little piglets.

Enjoy our experience with animals we crossed town to a small village to take an elephant ride. The village was so different to the city with kids running after us not for money but just to shake our hands and say hello. The only thing that they asked for was pens for school which unfortunately we didn't have any that we could give them. As soon as we walked into the elephant house (which was hidden right in the village) I was shocked at the shear size of the elephants up close. They were huge I was in complete awe! The ride wasn't very long but it was wicked. We plodded along through the village waving as we went. The elephants skin was so tough and surprisingly hairy!

We now moved on to the retail therapy part of our day and were taken by our rickshaw driver to a textile factory followed by a jewellery shop. I treated myself to the most gorgeous bed spread, two individual rings and a bangle which I think may have been made from camel bone. Oh and two cushion covers which have elephants on to remind me of my ride! After spending a wee bit too much we had a late lunch at Pizza Hut (well I thought I'd done enough culture for the day) before getting henna tattoos done but a lad who was apparently 15 but looked no older than 12. I was a little unsure of things because the men took then money after the lad had done all the work on myself, Alex and Sos, coming to a total of a tenner. They said that he was part of their family but he didn't chat to the men or feel at ease with them. I wanted to give the lad a hefty tip cause I didn't think that he would be getting much of the money but was not at all convinced that it wouldn't just be taken off of him by the older men. Sad but I decided not to give it to him I the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Jaipur and was knackered by the end of it!

We arrived today in Agra and am so close to the Taj! I can't wait to go and see it.

I'll be leaving to take the train to Delhi tomorrow night first class A/C with dinner snacks since it'll be dark we thought we would treat ourselves. I can't wait to see what's it's like! We booked ourselves into the same hotel so we'll have our beds ready for us when we arrive late in Delhi. For the sleeper train from Delhi the next day we are travelling 2nd class so that we can have the windows open and soak up the atmosphere. Ooooo I'm so excited!

Love from Nicole xxx