19th March- Day in Udaipur

After an excellent nights sleep in the best bed we have had yet (I did nto even have to use my sleeping liner in it!), we got up and embarked on our day in Udaipur. We did not get a guide for the day, which in a sense was a relief as it is nice to be able to investigate a city for yourself sometimes. Over breakfast we met these 4 girls from Liverpool, who had also just arrived in Udaipur, and were doing a simular tour to us but back-to-front. It was interesting to hear about the cities that we are going to be visting, and to tell them about where we had been.

We were a little daughted to explore Udaipur alone, but it turned out to be one of our best experiences yet. After a fair bit of forreging down back alleys, we eventually found the City Palace, and got a guide to take us around it. The Palace was not a beautiful as Jaisalmer and Jodphur had been, but was interesting all the same. We then did a little bit of shopping around the cute little streets. Udaipur has to be one of my favourite cities as it carries with it a character like no other. All the streets are hilly and narrow, which makes the whole experience more intimate, and the locals were some of the nicest we have met. It seemed to be used to tourists, and catered for them well. Anyway, after the shopping we searched for about an hour for the boat trip centre... which turned out to be blooming miles away. One thing you have to realise, when an indian says '5 minutes that way' they really mean 25 minutes. But it was nice to explore further into Udaipur.

The Boat trip was great fun. We boarded a small tourist vessel that took us along the shoreline, with some great photo opportunities... which pleased my trigger-happy-self. We then stopped at Jagmandir Palace which was on a small island on the Lack Pichola, and had a fantastic view of the floating Palace, which is stunning. The place had a great ambience, and we took the opportuity to enjoy some shisha. After a rather slow hour of light headedness, we returned back to the shore and our hotel.

We had one of the best evenings. Next to our hotel was a Museum that puts on an evening concert called 'Concert de'Indien cultural heritage'. This provided a spectacular snippet of some of India's dance and puppetry. There were 5 acts in total- 4 dances and a puppet show. In once the dances the girls had symbols dotted all over there dresses and they swung the symbols attached to their fingers onto the various other symbols to create a rhythum in time with their movements- it was very skilled. The next one was a fire dance, where 2 women danced very fast with tin pots of fire on their heads! There was a 'farming' dance, which was very slow and elegant. The Puppet show was incredible, the puppeter could make the puppet lift its own head off with its arm! It was particularly good to see as I have purchased a puppet for mum's new year 1 class... which reminds me that I must publically congratulate her for getting the new Kingswood Prep School Year 1 teaching position. After all the hard work she has put in I cannot think of anyone who could possibly deserve it more! I like to think I had something to do with it as I was asked to make a wish to Rama at this Hindu Temple in Udaipur, and I wished you would get the job! Anyway, back on track! The final act was the most impressive, this lady balanced increasing numbers of pots (got upto 7!) on her head whilst dancing, picking a hanky off a glass of flowers and treading glass (all at different times but nevertheless impressive!)

All in all, one of my favourite days in India!

March 20th- Journey to Pushkar

Had a massive coughing fit in the night, which prompted me to go to the hospital in the morning, as it has been almost a month and it is not going away! It is just so expensive though! 800rps later and I left carrying 4 different medicines- one for acute bronchitis/mild pneumonia scarily! They even tried to scam me for an x-ray, which I refused cos you dont need one for a cough in my opinion, Anyway, on the plus side, they seem to be working and soon I should be right as rain!

We had a long 7 hour journey to Pushkar, but it was eventful! We have started playing a new game called 'count the beeps'. Our driver 'K.C' not only enjoys taking over trucks with oncoming vehicles mere yards away (living on the edge) and speeding over bumps/when approaching hard corners (this is particularly fun whilst driving on mountainous terrain...) but he also enjoys beeping excessively! Rather than moaning about this, Amos invented a crazy game. You have to count how many beeps he does for a chosen interlude. Between 4pm and 5pm he beeped 417 times... and on a smaller scale between 4.40-4.50 he bepped 64 times. The worst 5 minutes was at 3.25 when he beeped 57 times!!!The least I counted was 12... which was surpisingly high as I dont recall any other cars on the road in that 5 mins... probably just beeping at corners, cows or people who are walking at least 5 yards away from the roadside! What with our new pack of playing cards and this game there is a new lease of life to our car journeys!

We stopped for lunch, although the medicine has takn my appetite away somewhat, plus I am sick of not exercising... I feel so fat. Somehow our tyre burst whilst we were eating (probably due to K.C's speeding over large road bumps) so we waited on the roadside whilst it was fixed. It was at this point that the first rainfall we have seen in India began! Strangely the sky was fairly cloudless... we tried to stick it out in true British style, but eventually etreated to the shelter. Eventually we were back on track and we arruved at the new hotel in Pushkar at around 6pm. There was a massive thunderstorm in the evening which was very exciting!

Even though we had to travel today, it was good fun. And speaking to dad was a lovely interlude... as was the 2 hour conversation with Liam... I will have to apologise to his dad for the phone bill.... woops.

Anyway, having fun and staying positive!

March 21st- Day in Pushkar

It is very hot today, and therefore we decided to have a chilled out day in the sunshine. We had a brief one hour tour of Pushkar, which is a tiny little town spanning only 1km, and saw a hindu temple called 'Rama temple' which was very pretty. We got given flowers to throw for luck, and I found out that 'Pushkar' means 'flower throwing' in Indian. We walked through the market, but it was so hot we decided to retreat to the hotel and chill out. Despite the floating flies and pigeon feathers, Amos went for a swim and I eventually joined her... though refused to put my head in! It was good to do some exercise and sunbath a little. Tonight we are going to hit the markets, which will be good fun as it will be cooler and I am in the mood for some retail therapy... as always!

Missing everyone, and hope your all well!

Jess xxxxx