Hi!

Straight after I wrote my last entry I went to the Taj Mahal again - OMG I had my photo taken so many times with Indian people, seriously they couldn't get enough of me.....ha ha!!

The next day we had to get up at 4 am (yes 4am whlist on holiday!) to get a train to Jaipur. We were supposed to be going to a small village somewhere in between Agra and Jaipur but because of a protest and road blockages it would have taken far too long to get there so instead we took the train directly to Jaipur.

We arrived at our hotel in Jaipur at about 11am - the others had breakfast, but Pauline and I (ever the resourcful ones) had bought bread, jam, fruit juice, apples and grenola bars for the train, so we were fine. After a quick shower we went on a short walk to a lassi shop.I decided that I would risk having a lassi (a yogurt drink) and a semosa (v spicy here!) - all together costing about 50p. I'm pleased to say that I didn't get a dodgy tummy as a result of this delicious snack!!

That night we went to the cinema to see the latest Bollywood film. The cinema itslef was quite a special place - very grand! The movie was relatively easy to follow as it was in Hinglish (sentences made of a mixture of Hindi and English). The story line was funny.......I'm sure that they could have cut a considerable amount out!! Anyway it was good fun!!

Yesterday we took the local bus (aprox 2p a km) to the Amber Palace. This is a massive structure full of lots of sub palaces and gardens. Above the palace is a fort and around the whole complex is a wall 12km in length (a smaller version of the Roman Wall)!! It was just a shame that there was a sand/dust storm whilst we were there - obscuring the view from the top.

That afternoon we went around the palace of Jaipur - it had lots of museums in it and to be honest I was too hot appreciate it, but it was still nice.

Jaipur iteslf is a very dirty place, in part due to the sand/dust storms, but also because people just throw their rubbish out into the street (like most of India it seems). Also on the corner of most streets are urinals - this doesn't create a pleasant aroma I can tell you!! He he!! There are alos alot of homeless people around.

Today Pauline, Sarah (English, 27), Maureen (Canadian, 35) and I went on a shopping trip. We were supposed to be doing a walking tour of the markets, but we didn't get very far along before we got side tracked!! I bought loads of stuff - I have no idea what exactly I am going to do with it........a problem for another day!!

Tomorrow we move on to a national park to try and spot tigers (so keep your fingers crossed for us!!).

Bye for now.

Louise x