Well I thought I'd better update this sharpish as I've probably worried mum or something with my last entry :). After last entry I suddenly got over anxiety and went for a walk round the market to eat some street food (I've been vegetarian for 5 days now and i really want some chicken!) I don't know quite how it happened but next thing I'd booked a tour around Rajastan with two Canadian girls in a car. So yesterday was the Hindu festival of holi (colour) and the our driver Amir (I realised a few days later it was Anil) took us to his house in Delhi to celebrate it. His family covered us in the holi colourful powder and made us some curry. Then we went into the garden and there were little kids of about six playing drums really well. They covered us in powder again and started playing and everyone was dancing. It was brilliant fun and by midday most of the street was there dancing and were really happy.

Then we drove to Mandewar and the journey was terrible. The amount ofpovert hadn't hit me quite until I saw the filthy tents lined up along the street and the desolation that is everywhere. When we stopped at the haryana border a little kid came to the window and begged for food so we gave him a wheat bar. Suddenly loads of kids surrounded the car and fought over this bar leaving us quite shocked at the desperation. Driving is terrible as well with cows on motorways and no traffic rules. I saw a guy die when his motorbike was hit by the car in front of us which was awful. The drive was still really interesting though because everthing is so different and odd, like rickshaws with 14 people inside and camels pulling huge carts of grass.

For this tour we paid not very much so we thought we'd be staying in budget rooms so we were surprised to arive at a converted mansion and stay for a night in luxury. We stayed in Mandewar whic h is a very remote town famous for it's mansions and palaces called havelis. When I put some photos up you'll see what they look like but they're really beautiful and exotic. In the morning we toured some of them with a guy from the hotel and he let us in the private ones and explained how they were built by merchants rich on opium trading. Some of them had murals of Victorian Britain which was a bit weird, there are bits of Britian all over the place here. Mandewar was relaxing after Delhi and even though it had seen better days I could actually live there. We met two American girls who are doing the same itinerary as us so we keep seeing them and they've invited me to stay in San Diego when I reach America so that's cool. Today we drove into the desert (though I haven't seen any cactus's yet :( ) to Bikaner where there's an enormous fort. In ancient times (same as in the havelis) woman had to stay inside the homes once they had been married and for the rest of their lives were hidden behind elaborate screens in courtyards. The fort had massive rooms all carved really delicately to prevent men from seeing the woman. My camera ran out of batteries which is why there are no photo's yet. Sorry for the huge entry but a lot's happened and i'll forget it if I don't write it all down (you know me). Staying in another havevi tonight and going to Jaisalmer tomorrow for camel safari. Camels are a lot bigger than I remember them and are a little scary when they loom over me in the street. Very tired now and going to eat samosas because they are full of tastybits.