Hi Everyone,

Sorry it has been a while between updates, I have been a little.. okay really slack.

I have just finished my three week Intrepid tour of India (which was fantastic) and are now in Mumbai with a little bit of free time before I fly out to Dubai.

Last time I wrote I think I finished up at the camel safari which was somewhere in the desert near Jaisalmer, so I will continue from there referring to my diary as I cant even remember what I did yesterday.

After Jaisalmer we jumped on a bus for Jodphur which at the time I described as being alot like Delhi having lots of pollution, cars, cows and general dirt, there was however many highlights. We visited Meherangarh Fort which was an amazing sight, its pretty much a massive fort set on a big hill with plenty of cool architecture and nick knacks like cannons and stuff. At the fort I has my first ever palm reading which was incredible. He described my personality and general nature incredibly and also gave me an insight into my future which looks pretty bright although there is two children on the horizon and he wouldn''t confirm or deny whether or not I will be married....something to look out for!!

I also visited a number of other sights and had a really tasty cheese and masala omlette from none other than the ''omlette man''. Our tour group headed out for dinner to a place called ''on the rocks'', the food was fantastic and the place also had a disco...woot!! The disco was awesome, they played a combination of western and bollywood music. We all danced away to our new favourite tune ''óm-shanty-om'', I will bring a copy home so you can all hear it.

After Jodhpur we then headed to Udaipur and only just made it there in one piece. I was sitting on the bus staring out the window (as you do) when suddenly the bus slammed on the brakes and swerved, I shifted my attention to the other side of the bus and seen two other vehicles (a truck and something else rather big) collide, it very nearly could have been us....but thats probably a standard story for India. The roads here are absolutely mental, line markings are simply there as guidelines that nobody really follows. Taxi drivers generally don't have a problem with driving down on-ramps (in the wrong direction) simply to reduce the hassle of going around the long way (if there is one....maybe this is the way you are supposed to go). Also, on the same trip we seen a spot in the road where a truck has gone over a cliff, this appeared to be a relatively frequent occurance, everyone was just standing around watching with nobody really doing anything to help. Anyway enough about the roads, I could probably tell you a good 10 stories just around roads and traffic.

Okay, so we arrived in Udaipur unscathed. Udaipur was a nice change, it was a much quieter place with much less pollution. I visited a number of the main attractions such as the city palace and also went a decent walk up a really big hill to the monsoon palace (i think this may be where some of octop**** was filmed). Octop**** is everywhere in Udaipur, everyone is extremely proud of the movie and many people have photos of themselves or their relatives with some of the main actors. A bunch of us decided to have a few drinks one night in Udaipur (well .... it was more of a decision to get really wasted) which got a little messy. The session commenced with a number of drinking games that continued on until there was nothing left to drink. It was a really fun night although I woke up a little shabby the next morning, but far better off than some of the others. Not letting a hangover deter me I pushed on and did an indian cooking class, that was awesome. I can probably say that my cooking skills are improving alot (as are my eating skills). We learnt how to make chai tea (my new addiction, I have at least one a day now), saffron tea, malai kofta, vegtable cutlets, masala curry and much more. Will be sure to cook up a feast when I get home. The afternoon was spent shopping although I didn't buy too much my bag is already chockas.

After Udaipur we headed to Pushkar which is a extremely religous place where there is no fish, eggs, meat or alcohol. There wasn't alot to do in Pushkar although we visited the 'Tirtharaj Lake' which translates to the 'king of all holy places". While at the lake we had a ''puja'' ceremony performed which is brahman ritual that is ensures health and a long life etc etc. This was a really cool experience, after waking up on the wrong site of the bed I felt relatively at ease and calm after the ceremony. The thing that really got me in Pushkar was the deformed cows getting around on the street with extra legs (well hoofs) growing out of there backs, people were parading them around asking for money. The whole concept completely shocked me....I still don't understand how a cow with an extra leg is a burden and why the guy parading it around deserves peoples money....some things about India I will never understand. The rest of my time in Pushkar was spent wandering around the streets and lazing about on the roof of the hotel reading a book.

Next stop on our whirlwind tour of India was Jaipur. Jaipur is known as the pink city as all the walls of the old city are pink, the traditional colour for "welcome". As usual I spent time visiting the sites and invested in a much needed pair of runners and trakkie pants (two months of indulging in thai, lao, cambodian and indian cuisine has taken its toll on my wasteline). I have now starting running again in places where it is not too crowded. While in Jaipur we also went to the Raj Mandid cinema to catch a bollywood movie. The movie was called "Sunday" and was basically about a girl who had her drink spiked and couldnt remember what happened, a little tacky but was still really cool to see. I think I will go watch another Bollywood film tonight. It costs around $2 to see a movie that is so long it needs an intermission, how can you go wrong. In Jaipur I had my first genuine conversation with two indian guys. One of them asked me "Why dont foreigners talk to Indian people?" I explained to him that 98% of the time when an indian man starts a conversation with you he wants something (well in my experience anyway) whether it be you to buy something, go somewhere with them or go out with them. He said that they just wanted to talk and hear about other cultures so I agreed to sit down and drink some tea with them. We chatted for around 30mins and nothing....I was totally suprised. Im a little ashamed to admit that when I left them I checked the contents of my bag to see if I had been robbed it just seemed completely out of the ordinary, but there it was my first genuine interaction.

We then headed to a place called Bharatpur, not much to report here. There was a bird sanctuary and thats about it. I decided to give it a miss, went for a run and then sat around in the sun all day writing in my diary, reading and drinking kingfisher beer and vodka. Was pretty drunk by the time dinner rolled around, but I had a good day.

Next morning we headed to Agra to see the mother of all monuments "The Taj Mahal". We headed there at around 3pm so that we could watch the sun go down. The taj was absolutely incredible, words cant really describe it and photos are unlikely to do it any justice. I really enjoyed wondering around the grounds and also watching all the crazy monkeys running around in this one little area. I can understand why the taj is a wonder of the world, it really takes your breath away. Hopefully you get an idea when you see the photos.

With all good comes some bad, I also lost a large chunk of my photos from India when in Agra. I plugged my ipod into a computer as I was going to burn all my photos from the ipod onto CD's. As soon as I plugged it in I got a message from Norton Anti Virus saying that a virus was detected and the files had been automatically deleted. This just happened to be all my photos.... If anyone knows how to fix this please let me know, not having much luck trying to get it sorted out here. I was a little shattered but at least I was on a tour so most others have photos that they are going to post.

From Agra we headed to Varanasi (sorry guys almost there....so much to write about) by overnight train. Waiting at the train station (for around 3.5 hours as the train was delayed) was an experience in itself. There was birds absolutely everywhere just sitting perched on the roof s***ting on everyone below them.....no one was safe. I found a spot to sit that I though was relatively free from bird poo and copped it only a few times, we were all really well covered up so it was only clothing and our bags that suffered from the onslaught.

Varanasi was an awesome place, it is supposed to be one of the oldest living cities in the world. On the day we arrived there was a festival on to celebrate Lord Shiva's daughter, the place was going absolutely crazy. There was men dancing on the street everywhere with loud music, drums and several durga's (a statue of shivas daughter). They were all heading down to the Ganges River where they would release (I think they also burnt) the durgas. This was an incredible sight I will try and post some video footage. We all headed out on a small boat to undertake a flower ceremony where we released a large number of candles into the Ganges River at night, this made an amazing sight and was great fun. It is incredible just how much the ganges river is used by the local people, they use if for bathing, ritualistic ceremonies, washing clothes, drinking, cremating loved ones and god knows what else, it really is a sight to be seen.

I had another palm reading done in Varanasi which was done in a really different way although I was told pretty much the same things. This guy told me a bit more about my past and was incredibly accurate. The whole palm reading thing has got me really freaked out, would love to know how they do it.

On valentines day I headed out with a bunch of guys who I was on the tour with. We had a bit of a feast and indulged in cocktails and kingfisher beer, it was great fun. We then went back to the hotel and met up with some of the girls for some more drinks. As usual this turned into drinking games and as one would expect, I woke up with a hangover....again. They say it is the kingfisher beer that gives you headaches, it has a preservative in it which is a known cause, but it is the only alcoholic drink that is widely available throughout India (that we could find).

The next day we jumped on another overnight train for Calcutta. This city was a real suprise packet for me. Everyone made it sound like it wasnt that great and there wasn't too much to do but I loved it!! Only had one full day there but managed to see the major sites including the Maiden Gardens and Victoria Memorial. Calcutta was far more modern than any other part of India I have seen, there is actually females out having lunch and walking around the street looking like they are enjoying themselves. I didnt really see this anywhere else in India. Í really wish I had more time there, but have put in on my list of places to return to. We had our final group get together at the bar at our hotel. This was really cool jut to sit around and reflect on our trip and some of our experiences. We all had a big group hug and then two of the girls left for the airport. The remaining 11 headed out for dinner and then found a dodgy little bar with a live band playing what sounded to me like old 70s or 80s rock. The kind of stuff that my dad was into as a youngster. The funny thing was that the guys in th band all looked like they were in there 40s and were really getting into it. This was great fun...another really good night with a great bunch of people. I said my final goodbyes and left at around 12.00pm as I had to be up at 3.00am to catch a taxi to the airport.

Many great times were had on the tour, I have only really briefly been over it here. I have more to come on India, will try and set up a small blog with just my highlights in the next few days along with a bit about Mumbai. Photos are coming.....I just need to find a computer that will allow me to upload them without causing me to go into a fit of hysteria because it is so painfully slow.

Hope everyone is well.

Cheers

Mandy