Ok so apologies again but I keep forgetting to have my camera lead with me when we go online so no photos as yet... There are loads of good ones so watch this space, I WILL get them put up at some point in the not too distant future... can't really expect a technophobe like me to get it right completely the first few times!

Anyway, the last few days have been really eventful, and we've had both good and bad experiences so I'll start from where I left off last time...

Our train from Agra to Jaipur was scheduled to leave at 7.40am from Agra Fort station so like the optimistic novice travellers we are we got up at the craic of dawn to catch it. When I turned on the tap for a shower no water came on but we thought, 'oh well, the train's only a few hours and we get in at 1pm so we can get washed then' so off we went and jumped into a rickshaw to the station. We had already phoned ahead to Jaipur to book 2 nights in Sundar Palace hotel with a pickup from Jaipur station too so we were hoping for a hiccup free day, little did we know that wasn't to be the case!We got to the station and there was no sign of our train number on the departures board so we toddled over to enquiries to ask the rather stern looking lady what was going on, her reply? 'oh yes, that train's delayed by three hours, leaving at 10.30'.

ok we thought, fair enough, so we caught another autorickshaw (the drivers call them their helicopters!) back to Joney's restaurant to get a bite to eat for an hour, then we dutifully headed back to the station waiting to wait for another hour or two. We found the 'upper class waiting area' (basically a small room with fans and some seats as well as a rather dodgy shower and squat toilet area) and hung out for a bit til 10.30. 10.30 came and no train, so back to enquiries and we were told it would now be 11.30 'ish'...

another hour goes by and another trip to the enquiries desk, this time the train to Jaipur would be coming at 12.30 'ish'... at this stage we were obviously getting a bit fed up, and there were only a few other people waiting in the waiting room so we were a bit worried they knew something we didn't, although the train station staff we adamant that the train wasn't cancelled and everytime we went to ask we got another hour's worth of waiting added on... nearly three hours later, at 3.15pm and having been in the station since 8.30am (a wait of 7 hours, and the train being 8 hours late in total), the train arrived!!!!As you can imagine we were both really frustrated and a bit upset to be honest at this point as all that waiting in the relatively depressing surroundings of the station had given us too much time to dwell on how far away from home we are and the homesickness started to set in a bit. Also, even if we got to Jaipur on time we were assuming that we wouldn't get picked up or have a place at the hotel as the earliest we would get in would be 8.45, 7hours later than we'd said.

So, we got on the train feeling anxious and quite sorry for ourselves, and just wanting to go to sleep, and we decided to share the lower bunk togther, draw the curtain to stop everyone staring at us (which to be honest I still haven't got used to!) and have a nap. after about 2 hours though, Jade opened the curtain and struck up a converation with an indian man who was sitting across from us with his family as he had been looking at the book she was reading... half an hour later and we were both laughing and joking with the whole family including the man's little boy of about 10 and his daughter Twinkle who's 14, and what an amazing girl!!She came to sit in between us because she was saying that she liked to meet new people and talk with them because her parents and school friends didn't really understand some of the things she felt, in particular her view the fact that she disliked it when men treated women as inferior, and like they were incapable of doing anything. She also talked to us about how she wanted to marry for love and disagreed with the practice of the bride's family giving a dowry (which has been proscribed by law but still occurs quite a lot), and how she wanted to become a doctor to help people who were affected by illnesses such as her grandparents. To be honest we were both blown away and I certainly felt guilty for feeling so damn sorry for myself over a couple of hours stuck in a train station when this bright young girl with so much potential has to struggle everyday because she holds what are seen by most indians as silly opinions. It must be especially difficult for her because it was so clear how much she loves her country but is so constrained by cultural norms.Also, the whole family were heading to Jaipur too for a holiday and had been travelling (on a bus for 8 hours the day before and on the train since 12am that morning) for about 36 hours in total and couldn't have been happier!!We definitely learnt a lesson about patience and getting to know the family certainly made a hellish day much more bearable.the train pulled into Jaipur at around 10pm and after exchanging photos and email addresses we said goodbye to twinkle and the rest of her family (as well as a very cute but mischievous toddler who we'd played with on the train) and looked for a sign with our names on it from the Sundar Palace with little hope of there actually being someone waiting for us...miracle of miracles there actually was!Bahblu the autorickshaw guy had been waitiing all day for us to arrive and although he told us he could take us on a good tour of Jaipur the next day if we wanted (for 300R each of course), he wouldn't even take a tip when he brought us to our hotel. What a star. And the Sundar Palace was the nicest hotel we've been in so far (see photos to come!) with all modcons and even warmish water and a gorgeous little rooftop cafe where we had a lovely late pasta supper; so a bad day turned good by all accounts.

We had a little lie in the next day (what a treat!) and a lovely (if somewhat low pressure) showever (wooo!) then set off for Bapu Bazaar to do a spot of shopping as both of us have been struggling with what at home seemed to be quite light trousers, but here have just made us sweat bucketloads and we wanted to pick up some baggy harem pants to get more comfy (and also fit in with all the crusty hippies of course!). What a place!absolutely loads of shops selling everything from camel leather sandals to gorgeous saris, and for ridiculously cheap prices (even with the tourist tax haha!)we ended up getting 2 lovley skirts and trousers which we are going to share as the elasticated waists make it easy, as well as a couple of nicknacks too. I think our haggling has really come along as I managed to get one item down from 1900R to 500R (though I'm pretty sure the guy still turned a fairly handsome profit from the sale!). in the afternoon we headed to the post office as we had a couple of things to mail home, and our rickshaw guide Raj was invaluable as he helped us sort everything out when we really didn't have a clue what we were doing!we had to get everything wrapped in cardboard and twine and then it was wrapped in linene and sewn up, then we had to fill in a customs form and address it and then bring it to get weighed and paid for!!what a system!also, apparently foreign women are allowed to jump queues which Raj assured us was the case, but the poor Sikh man queuing behind us had a massive rant in Hindi at the postal worker so we felt a bit bad!!Next we asked Raj to take us to the Monkey Temple (apparently there are thousands of monkeys there and you can feed them peanuts- though we've seen quite a few already in agra and they freak me out a bit) to see the sunset, though he said he would take us to get a drink first. Little did we know that this involved him actually coming into the bar with us as well as his friend Rishi!!yeah so we were feeling a bit awkward so I decided to ask if either of them were married so I can shoe horn in the fact that I'm 'engaged' and Jade's 'married' (as I couldn't find a fake wedding ring to fit me at home so that's our agreed story!) but they wouldn't believe us as apparently that's what western women say to avoid talking to indian guys (what, us?!Never!!!). Jade brought out the big guns though, and while showing them a pic of her and Chris on her phone also showed them Harri, her 'son'!!well, they didn't know what to make of that and soon backed off although we didn't make it to the Temple in the end as Jade got a bit too much sun and needed to go and have a lie down.

We had a nice relaxed dinner in the Peacock restaurant which is in the nearby Pearl Palace Hotel (our first, but unfortunately fully booked, choice of hotel in Jaipur, though Sundar Palace really came through for us) with an interesting 40 something guy called Will who is an editor for the Telegraph's weekly ex-pat edition which is circulated all over the world apparently. He was holidaying on his own for 9 days and it was nice to chat to someone- he seemed to have been ripped off a fair bit more than us which was obviously annoying for him but quite reassuring for us that we aren't doing so terribly on our travels!!

Today we had an 11am train to catch from Jaipur to Ajmer, and it actually came on time which was amazing!!we met a lovely middled aged Australian couple on the platform too, John and Jacqulin from Adelaide, and after our (rather short after the last journey) 2 hour train ride with free water and mango juice (nice touch)we shared a car with them to nearby Pushkar which was great as it was pretty much the same price for us as getting a rickshaw and then a half hr bus which is what we would have had to do otherwise, though our driver did try to convince us that we each had to pay a 50R 'tourist charge' to get into Pushkar...how about no?!

We're staying at a fairly nice but basic hotel here with about 6 flights of stairs before you get to our room but the owners seem nice and it's lovely to be out in the country. Pushkar is supposed to be a very holy place and we are going to visit a few temples tomorrow, but we spent our afternoon wandering about the little streets looking at jewellery, clothes and books and trying to avoid the many cows that are pretty much everywhere (Jade got very close to being nudged by one at one point, pretty crazy!)

Anyway, as usual I've been rambling and it's time for something to eat so best head on.

love from Pushkar xxxx