I've made a new friend....the elephant that freaked us out the other day when we burned round the corner happened to do his usual rounds of Udaipur yesterday. Turns out Maji was the cutest elephant even up close and was as stunning as i've always thought elephants would be...suprisingly hairy though but super bendy trunk that could even master the 'Namaste' sign as good as any elephant i know could do...definitely a highlight of my trip!

Can't believe India is almost over (for the first time) already! We've spent the last few days literally potting around Udaipur and playing tourist in the odd place here and there. We caught a rickshaw on Monday to a craft village which at first we thought looked totally fake and made only for tourists...all until we found the most beautiful old man, with a colourful turban and a face that anyone would just grin at who had a pottery stall and let us both have a go...it feels awesome! Am considering turning eighty early and taking up pottery when i finally get home.. I managed to squish a few little pots into shapes that vaguely resemble a round shape but even if they weren't perfect the man and his wife found it equally as hilarious as we did!
Just to top off awesome day number 26 in India we both were able to tick one thing off our life lists and rode camels around the lake. They are hilarious creatures and i really want to put up the video of me hopping on the camel while rach is commentating with various explicit words and telling me that the camel hates me..hehe.. (it didn't really, trust me). They were suprisingly more comfertable than i thought they would be!!

This morning we decided to get the last thing ticked off our list and do a cooking course- Indian food has been amazing and learning how to cook it was just as fun- hopefully we'll be able to stun you all now with our amazing cookery skills (well we can always hope!). The teacher also had a shop full of spices and utensils that were so tempting to buy.. (not that we haven't sent 20kg home already)

We're off to Mumbai in half and hour on Luxury bus (should be interesting..) where we have a day to find a Bollywood movie then Rach leaves while i have a day or so to wander! She's honestly been the best person i've ever travelled with and definitely made the whole India experience 100 times funner that i could ever have imagined. We've already planned our next trip/trips and may have been (easily) convinced to extend my ticket so we can have a Europe adventure later this year and not get home til march (surprise mum!).. I now have abs (hidden by Indian food) from all the laughs and am going to have to used to travelling alone again. THANK YOU-its been more than awesome, bring on 2011!!!

Am hoping to stash up on last minute goods in Mumbai and will do India sum up there but here's the link to our latest snap shops of India! www.statravelblogs.com/kiwi_rach/albums/india

Much love to everyone and thank you for all the emails!
Aroha nui

xx