Varanasi and Delhi

We left Khajuraho on an over night train and arrived in Varanasi about 3pm.  After getting a tuk tuk to our accommodation we showered and went in search of food for dinner.  Our accommodation was very close to Assi ghat so we decided to head in that direction first.  We found the ghat really quickly and so just went for a wee walk along some of the ghats before heading back as it was starting to get dark. We found a place for food near the main street at Assi ghat and when we were climbing the stairs to the roof top restaurant we both clocked how nice the rooms looked.  Our own accommodation was cheap and included breakfast but while we were getting ready after our showers we both noticed how hard the bed was so we agreed that after dinner we would enquire about the room prices just incase. We both ordered veggie burgers, which we've really enjoyed while in India, for a change from curry and chapatti, but when it arrived it didn't really look like a vegetable burger and upon eating it we both concluded that the burger was just potato.  It was still very tasty though.  When we left we asked about the rooms, to which they told us they were Rs900 a night.  This was almost twice what we were paying at our own place so decided to leave it but when we went to leave they said they would give us the room for Rs600 if we stayed for more than one night.  This was still a bit more than the place we were in and it didn't include breakfast so since we'd already paid for one night at the original place we decided to give that one a try and come back in the morning if the bed turned out to be too hard.

I woke up the next morning having dreamed that we had been sleeping on a bed which didn't have a mattress, just wood...that's how hard the bed was.  Kay had a terrible sleep too, she kept waking up in pain.  We decided to check out there and then and head over to the place we'd eaten at the night before. We were told at check in that they offered a complimentary guide who would show us around Varanasi and that they could arrange boat trips up the Ganges for us.  We said we would think about it and went to inspect our new room.  The bed wasn't very soft either but it was much better than the previous one, maybe hard beds are just the norm in Varanasi. While we were up in our room we checked the reviews on tripadvisor for the place we were in.  I was leaving one for the place before to warn people about the awful beds. We read a lot of people say that the complimentary guide was brilliant and very useful as the old part of Varanasi is a bit of a maze.  We decided we would go for some lunch and then take them up on their offer of the guided tour.  We had lunch at a place called open hands which was a NGO place who sold items made by women in need, be that women fleeing from violence or women with disabilities who couldn't work. We had banana and chocolate pancakes and Kay had chai and I had a huge cafetière of beautiful coffee.  I also bought an indian christmas tree decoration to add to my ever growing collection.  Ajay ( our guide) came to collect us from the cafe at 1pm and showed us around some temples and the university campus (which is huge).  We walked around all these places for about 4hrs so when he wanted to show us some place where Muslims lived and made silk we declined as we were getting tired and hungry. Ajay took us back to the accommodation but told us he would take us down to the ceremony at the main ghat if we wanted, this started at 6pm so we had a quick rest and then got an Indian helicopter (bicycle tuk tuk) down to the main ghat.  Ajay waited for us while we watched the ceremony which lasted 45minutes and involved 5 priests offering fire sacrifices to the gods. It was really good but the best view seemed to be from the boats which were sitting in front of the ghat so we made a mental note to come see it again from the water.  After, Ajay asked if we wanted to carry on further down the ghats and see the cremation ghat.  We said that we did because this is what Varanasi is famous for.  When we got down there Ajay handed us over to someone who worked at the cremation ghat.  He explained to us what was happening which was really interesting but then he guided us into the ghat so we could get a better look. Myself and Kay really didn't enjoy this bit for a couple of reasons, firstly it wasn't very pleasant being so close to burning dead bodies, especially when the guide continually pointed out skulls and feet hanging out the end.  We also felt that we were intruding on something that is sacred and  very difficult time for the families. I'm sure the last thing they need is to have tourists gawking at they're loved ones.  Our guide had been telling us while we were walking around that the wood used for burning the bodies was very expensive and that they needed a lot of it for each person and so the poor couldn't afford it. I thought, here we go, he will be wanting us to buy loads of wood because they think that because we're western that we have loads of money.  He did eventually ask how much we would like to buy and also said that it would be good karma for our parents (guilt trip). I handed over Rs 100, to which we was utterly appalled and asked us if that was all our parents good karma was worth to us.  I told him it was all we had on us (lies) but what I really wanted to say was, "I know this is a scam, and my parents would be mad that I gave you any money at all!". Ajay took us for some nice chai after, he knew all the best places in Varanasi for chai, and then we went back to the accommodation and completely changed our clothes as we we were both smelling like fire which was just reminding us of the sights we'd seen at the cremation ghat.  We decided to just eat at the same roof top restaurant we'd eaten at the night before (the one at our new accommodation) as it was really late by this point and we were both tired and hungry.  

The next day we decided to take a walk along all the ghats in Varanasi. We went as far as the main cremation ghat but we were both still a bit traumatised from the night before and so decided to stop there and head up into the old city. The place is a complete maze of narrow streets and very tall buildings and so we got lost pretty quickly.  Luckily for us the restaurants and guest houses usually have directions painted on the walls.  I clocked a sign for a place called Blue Lassie that I had read about in our guide book, it said that it was really tasty lassie in every flavour imaginable. We eventually found it by following the painted signs and it didn't disappoint. I had chocolate orange flavour which tasted like Terry's and Kay had apple and mango which was lovely too.  While we were sitting having our lassie we saw some dead people being carried by their family members down to the cremation ghat.  They are wrapped in dressings and decorated with flowers and other offerings so this wasn't an unpleasant sight to see, very interesting.  We left Blue Lassie and tried to navigate our way to the ghat on the other side of the cremation ghat so we could carry on with our walk. We got very disorientated and after a while we started seeing signs for the Blue Lassie again so we suspect we were just walking around in circles. We asked a local for directions and they kindly led us down to the ghat.  By the time we got there it was starting to get dark, and since the streets were difficult enough to find your way around in the light, we decided just to head up to the main road. Once up at the main road we decided to do a quick detour to the golden temple on our way back.  We hopped on a tuk tuk and went the short ride to the temple.  Unfortunately, you weren't allowed to take and photos and because we aren't Hindus we weren't allowed in either. We could only stand at the entrance and peer in so it wasn't really worth the trip.  We were told that if we bought some flower offerings for Shiva we would be allowed in to the temple to give our offerings.  I didn't feel very comfortable doing that as the temple was strictly for Hindus and I didn't want to disrespect that.  We headed back along to Assi ghat for dinner after that. We weren't feeling too hungry either of us so we decided to order 4 things from the Snacks part of the menu to share. It ended up being one of the biggest meals we had in India! The portions were huge, 8 pieces of veg pakora, 2 broccoli paratha, 8 pieces of potato pakora and 4 things which I thought were going to be onion baji but were something completely different (very tasty all the same). We were totally stuffed but still managed to fit in some Indian sweets that we bought on the way home from dinner. 

We had a lazy day the next day, eating  food and writing post cards.  We did go in search of the post office in the afternoon only to be told that there were no stamps. The post office staffs lack of English and our non existent Hindi meant that "no stamps" was all the information we were getting. We went back to the accommodation to ask if we could buy stamps from anywhere other than the post office and they kindly sent one of the employees to show us where to get stamps.  Some miscommunication meant that he just took us back to the post office even though we tried to explain that we had already been and they didn't have any.  He did managed to translate for us though that there was a "shortage of stamps" at that time and if we wanted to get some we would need to travel 8km away. So, sorry to everyone who got an Indian postcard with a Thai stamp. That night we took a boat ride along the Ganges so that we could see the ceremony from the water. Our rower was the oldest man on the planet and couldn't row.  Could. Not. Row.  I was so tempted on several occasions to take the rows off him and do it myself. What should have been a 1hr boat ride, including some time at the ceremony turned out to be an almost 2 hour ride, with very little time at the ceremony and Kay trying to jump ship while he went to relieve himself. I did try to remind myself whilst I was starving, freezing and cursing him under my breath that he probably had arthritis he was so old and I shouldn't get so mad with someone just trying to earn a living. 

Our last day in Varanasi consisted of being dragged by Kay in and out of endless shops, taking your shoes on and off each time of course, looking for a new handbag. She was behaving a bit like goldilocks, too big, too small but thankfully she managed to find one that was juuussst right.  Our rickshaw ride to the train station (25km away) was one that I will never forget! We started off on normal roads but soon ended up on some dirt track.  I thought at one point we were going to topple over the road was so uneven. I wasn't put at ease by our driver when he said "very dangerous road" whilst chuckling away to himself. We then went over a bridge I'm sure was only meant for pedestrian use, it was wooden planks and not much else.  This was closely followed by a typical Indian dual carriage way where lorries just drive on any side of the road they like. Nerves shattered, we arrived safe and well at the train station about an hour before we were due to depart. We checked the board at the entrance to see which platform our train would leave from and noticed a 6 next to our train name. We thought to ourselves, surely that isn't how delayed it is, surely not.  Surely yes indeed it was.  Nightmare.  We made our way to the ladies only waiting room which, FYI, are never occupied by only ladies. But they are usually clean and quiet so an ideal spot to rest for 6 hours until our train showed up.  As the night went on our train got more and more delayed.  We eventually left at 9am the next day, over eleven hours later than expected.   We just slept and ate our way through the 23 hour journey (it lost another 9 on route) and arrived in Delhi almost a full day later than expected.

With less than 24hrs in Delhi we decided to shower and head straight out. We headed for connaught place which wasn't far from our accommodation. This is an area in Delhi where all the designer shops and boutiques are. This area is supposedly one of, if not the most expensive places to rent a retail unit in the world.  Kay was desperately making one last ditch attempt at finding a decent Christmas present for Andy from India. There is really nothing aimed at men for sale anywhere in india unless you want custom made shoes or a suit, but without Andy's measurements this was out of the question. We saw a million trinkets, beautiful carved boxes and jewellery galore that would have been lovely to take home as gifts (had we had any room in our bags) for the ladies but really nothing for men. Andy woke up on Christmas morning to a key ring, fridge magnet and a box of Indian sweets - what a lucky boy.  We met a really lovely Belgian couple while having some lunch. They were doing almost exactly the same trip as us but they started in south america and were on the last leg of their trip in India. They were appalled when we told then how much our bags weighed and she told us that hers was 15kg at its heaviest. She brought only 3 tops, 3 shorts, 3 trousers etc and her theory was you only needed 3 of anything.  Wear one, wash one, dry one.  The thought of having a light bag does appeal to me but so does having endless choice of clothing, i would get bored with just three outfits. 

Sad to be leaving but off to the airport for the next part of our adventure....Thailand.

Some of my favourite quotes regarding the Indians sheer lack of knowledge of Scotland's existence:

Indian: " where are you from?"

Me: " Scotland."

Indian:  "oh....near Poland?"

Me: " Erm...no? Next to England"

Indian: " ahhhh...ok. In the US?"

Indian: " where are you from?"

Me: " Scotland."

Indian:  "oh really? Because you have very British eyes"

Indian: " where are you from?"

Me: " Scotland"

Indian: " what part of Scotland do you come from? The English part?"

That last one made me chuckle, little did he know how right he was.  #Plockton

Jaipur, Agra and Khajuraho

We arrived in Jaipur very late and so just headed straight for a place we'd read about in our book.  The rooms were lovely but priced a bit out of our budget but we were so tired after the bus we decided to just treat ourselves for the night and find somewhere cheaper in the morning.  After a relaxing sleep and a nice hot shower we went to check out.  They asked why we weren't staying, we were honest and told them that it was a bit out of our price range to which they responded by offering us their "wifi room".  This was a room which had one computer in it but also two beds made up on the floor.  Because we couldn't really be bothered moving our bags again we accepted their kind offer of the Wifi room for Rs150 a night, roughly £1.50.   It was actually a very comfortable wee room and other backpackers had left lovely messages all over the walls which were nice to read.  

We met our first scottish back packer since arriving in India! Him and his Aussie girlfriend were doing some travelling in india before emigrating to Australia.  His girlfriend remembered that we had all actually already met briefly on a bus from Udaipur to Jodhpur.  It's such a huge country but we've actually met a few people more than once since arriving.  After breakfast we walked from our accommodation down to the Pink City which was about 1.5km away.  We visited Jantar Mantar which has loads of huge astronomical devices which were built in the 1700's.  We hadn't seen any restaurants or cafes since arriving in the pink city so we grabbed some tasty street food for the pricey sum of around 40p for the two of us.  After our lunch we visited the Palace of the winds and Albert Hall which were both very beautiful.  Kay had caught a cold in Pushkar from one of the girls in our dorm room and wasn't feeling very well so we got a tuk tuk back to the accommodation in time for dinner.  

The restaurant service in India has been generally painfully slow but this place took the biscuit! Kay waited almost an hour and a half for some tomato soup which when it arrived tasted like cuppa soup! My dinner was tasty though, and arrived ages before Kay's did.

The next day we went on a wee tour to some places outside of Jaipur.  We were first taken to Amber Fort which was really impressive and very ornate.  We were then taken to Elephant Village so we could spend some time feeding the elephants.  We could have done a ride, it wasn't too expensive, but we are planning to do one in Thailand so just spent some time hugging the elephants and giving them food!  We watched a couple who were doing a ride try to get onto the elephant by climbing up the trunk.  The guy managed ok as the elephant moved its trunk to help him once he started but his girlfriend didn't get the same courtesy when the elephant decided not to help her.  she was just dangling from its ears while we all laughed.   We asked the driver to take us to a washing ghat which had loads of cool stairs down to it which looked like something out of The Labyrinth and then we went to see the water palace on the way back to the city which was pretty but nothing in comparison to Udaipur's Palace.   

The driver dropped us back on MI road which is the main road running through Jaipur and we headed in the direction of our accommodation.  We stopped at a famous Lassie shop which is a yogurty drink that they have here.  We have had flavoured ones in restaurants but they only had Sweet or Salted on offer here.  The lassie was served in clay pot/mugs and when we went to hand them back when we were finished they told us just to chuck them in a big metal bit at the front of the shop.  We couldn't decided if they would recycle them somehow or if they were one use only? I hope they are recycling them, it's very wasteful if not.

We went to a place called Pearl Palace for dinner which had been recommended to us by the Scottish/Aussie couple.  The food was really tasty and they had a wee paragraph about each star signs eating habits and they were actually pretty spot on! 

We woke up early on our last day in Jaipur so that we could go to the monkey temple before heading to our bus.  We got a tuk tuk along to the bottom of the path and it was only a twenty minute walk or so up to the temple.  The temple isn't anything spectacular but there are 5000 monkeys living around the temple which was very cool to see.  I'm not sure we saw that many but there was a lot.  We bought some nuts at the bottom of the path and they showed us how we should give them to the monkeys to make sure we don't get scratched.  When we started walking up the hill one monkey came trundling along towards us, I duly held a nut in the way we were shown but the wee *beep came and grabbed the whole bag out of my other hand!! 

Our bus journey to Agra was a bit of a white knuckle ride! They drive like absolute maniacs here! They don't need to get a licence here which probably has a lot to do with it.  They quite often drive the wrong way around roundabouts and we encountered quite a few trucks driving towards us on the wrong side of the duel carriageway, whatever they were up to.  We arrived in Agra quite late but our accommodation was really nice and had a view of the Taj Mahal from the roof top restaurant.

We woke up really early (5am) so we could go and see the sunrise at the Taj Mahal.  We spent a few hours here taking photos.  It's so impressive and very beautiful, especially seeing all the different colours as the sun rises.  The Taj Mahal is a symbol of love but here are some interesting facts you may not know: 

1.  Mumtaz was Shahjahan's 4th(!!) wife out of 7!

2. Shahjahan killed Mumtaz's husband so he could marry her

3. Mumtaz died during her 14th(!!) labour

4. After her death Shahjahan married Mumtaz's sister!!

There are other things to do in Agra apart from the Taj but we decided to spend the day catching up on our laundry and writing and sending some postcards.  We should have bought some postcards from each place that we've been but instead had to settle for sending mostly postcards of the Taj Mahal.  We managed to find a few that weren't of the Taj but they look like they were produced in the 70's!  We met the Scottish/Aussie couple again at the Taj...I think they're following us around India!  Our laundry man was one of the nicest people we've met.  He was so happy and jolly and when we brought him our washing he made us sit with him and have chai and then more chai when we collected it.  We are both addicted to chai and can never decline an offer of sweet lovely chai.

We left Agra early the next morning and took a train down to Khajuraho. Khajuraho is famous for having temples which are carved with erotic images, these are said to be based on the Kama Sutra.  It's quite a small place and so we managed to visit all the temples over the two days that we were there.  Our accommodation in Khajuraho was amazing, they came to collect us at the train station which was a lovely surprise and took the stress away of having to negotiate a tuk tuk ourselves.  we were stuck in doors on the first night when there was torrential rain, and so they taught us to play an Indian card game which was more or less poker and we taught them to play rummy.  We went for some cake and chai at a wee patisserie type shop here.  Our eyes were bigger than our bellies though and we couldn't even finish the scrumptious cake.  What was not scrumptious, was the chai.  I started to drink mine and thought it tasted weird so I asked Kay but she was still so bunged up with the cold that she couldn't really taste anything.  I drank some more and again thought it tasted weird when I suddenly saw the label on the tea bag which was still in the cup....it was Earl Grey! A warning to anyone that hasn't had the misfortune of trying it, Earl Grey with milk and sugar is rancid! Kay's was lemon tea (!) with milk and sugar but fortunately for her she couldn't taste it!

Only a week left in India which is making us sad :( time has flown in so quickly and at the same time Mumbai feels like a million years ago.  

Jodhpur and Pushkar

Arrived in Jodhpur on the bus journey from hell at stupid o'clock in the morning so headed to the train station to sit until it was a more reasonable hour to go in search of accommodation.  The sleeper buses in India are actually quite luxurious ( compared to the trains anyway), but the roads are horrendous and I think the driver purposefully aims for every massive pot hole just for some entertainment.  They actually tried to chuck us off the bus on the side of the highway where some rickshaws were waiting,to rob us blind presumably,for a ride to where we should have been dropped, but we stood our ground and demanded they take us to the train station, luckily there were some Indians helping fight our corner for us.  

We had breakfast at the train station and some lovely chai and got a rickshaw to a place we had read about in our book.  The book was saying that it was a reasonably priced place to stay, but I think things have changed since the book was written as he was showing us, granted very lovely rooms, for Rs1500 which is about £15. This might sound cheap but when everywhere apart from Mumbai has been £3-4 a night for the two of us we weren't about to start shelling out that much.  We'd passed a few places on the way so I stayed with the bags and Kay went in search of somewhere more in our price range.  Because we hadn't slept on the journey from Udaipur we decided to go for a wee nap before going to see what Jodhpur had to offer.

Our accommodation was really well positioned for all the touristy things (there isn't much!) so we decided to walk up to the fort of Jodhpur which was only about 10minute walk away.  As far as things go here, it was pretty expensive, for the two of us and a camera it cost Rs700 but included in that cost was an audio guide.  We spent a couple of hours walking around the fort which was very beautiful and had some amazing views of the blue city below.  It was getting quite late and as we weren't 100% confident in the way back to the accommodation we walked quickly to the white temple which wasn't far from the fort to take some more photos, we got some lovely ones of the sun setting behind the fort.  

We went in search of a restaurant that we'd read about in our book once we walked back down from the fort but got a bit lost and ended up at the clock tower which is surrounded by a market.  A guy came and spoke to us claiming that he worked at our accommodation and told us that the restaurant that we were looking for didn't open until 7pm but that we should go to a "government" shop where we could buy designer clothes even that famous English design house Chanel....I think you mean French!? We eventually convinced him that we didn't have any money for shopping and headed in the direction of the restaurant which he had kindly given us directions to, but again advised it was shut.  Of course it wasn't really shut and of course he didn't really work at our hotel but god loves a trier!  The restaurant looked lovely but was very expensive, they've maybe put up their prices since being in the guide book, we were so tired we decided to just go back and have dinner at our accommodation. It was nothing to write home about but filled a hole at the time. 

The next morning we went on a village safari with two others from the hostel, we took a jeep out to some local villages where they made different crafts.  The first village was one where they made clay pots.  We watched the guy making all sorts of things from spice pots to candle holders.  He made it look so easy but we learnt this isn't the case when we were allowed to try for ourselves.  Other things we saw were rug making and opium tea which is technically illegal in India but apparently they turn a blind eye to it out in the sticks.  We saw our first elephant walking along the street but the driver was too slow and didn't stop to allow us to take any photos in time.  We had lunch at the family house of our guide, we had some really lovely spicy potatoes and chapatti.  I'm loving the food here but because we're eating out two to three times a day we have tried everything they have to offer on the menus and are starting to sicken ourselves of a few things.  We do treat ourselves to the odd veggie burger or French toast just to eat something bland. 

There wasn't a lot to do in Jodhpur and you could probably squeeze it all into a day if you really wanted to so we spent quite a lot of time just wandering the streets and markets just looking at stuff.  They had a Mr Softy machine in the market and you could get really lovely ice cream for about 15p.  Kay had to drag we away from there each day kicking and screaming! We went to eat at a place called The Omelette Man  and I'm sure I won't need to tell you what we ate there.  It's a really famous wee place right next to the clock tower and it's literally some stools on the street and one man with a frying pan.  He claims he can go through 1000 eggs a day! For about 55p you could get a delicious big omelette sandwiched between two slices of sweet bread and a steaming hot cup of chai. 

Our bus to Pushkar (Ajmer) left at 10.30pm and we were told that it would arrive at about 4.30am which wasn't ideal but we figured we would spend a couple of hours in the train station until day light.  We were rudely shouted about 3am and told that we were in Ajmer.  We hurriedly packed our things and made our way off the bus but because we were so disorientated we didn't realise until it was too late that they'd managed to just dump us a the side of the highway! With only one rickshaw demanding Rs400 to drive us to the train station we had no choice but to pay it as there was no one else, we were in the middle of no where, at the edge of a slum, it was 3am and he wasn't willing to budge at all on the price! Furious doesn't even come close to how we felt that morning and as soon as we were in our accommodation and connected to their wifi I sent our travel agent a message going bananas at him for booking us on a bus that would arrive a that time in the morning!  He has tried to book us on more buses but we went so mad that he is cancelling them (at his cost) and booking us on the trains that he should have booked us on and that we paid him through the nose for.  The amount of money that we paid for them to book our train tickets has been the biggest "lesson" so far in India.

We sat in the train station until morning and then took an 11 pence bus ride to Pushkar.  We had booked ourselves into a dorm room before we left Jodhpur for £1.20 a night.  When we got off the bus we had to navigate through the usual wall of rickshaw drivers trying to get your custom but we thought our accommodation was within walking distance (we were wrong) but when we told one of them that we didn't need a ride as we were staying at Milkman Hotel (yes that is the name!) he said he would take us for free as the owner was his friend.  I don't really believe that they are friends and I am sure he will receive commission for dropping us there but that's not really our issue, we were just happy to catch a break after our awful morning.

Our accommodation here is fine, a little rough around the edges but what do you expect for £1.20 a night!  It's the first dorm we've slept in since we arrived but we were so tired from another sleepless bus journey we managed to get a couple of hours shut eye once we arrived.  We woke about lunch time and decided to shower and make the most of the rest of the day.  We had some banana and chocolate pancakes for lunch and then walked down to the lake which is surrounded by 500 temples.  Your shoes need to be removed and no photos can we taken, although I think Kay managed to sneak a few in when we walked around.  There are a few people trying to sell you flowers so you can put them in the water while they conduct prayers.  Our book said it was wise to do it as they wouldn't leave you alone until you had a string bracelet which showed you had.  A guest in our dorm advised that it was all nonsense though and that no real priest would ask you for money to conduct a blessing and so just to ignore them which we have duly done.  They haven't actually bothered us too much since we arrived.  We had dinner at our accommodation which was a huge portion blandness and had an early night.

Trip advisor lists the 8 attractions of Pushkar to be a camel safari, the lake and 6 temples.  Since we'd already seen the lake and aren't allowed into the temples as tourists we decided to do a wee camel ride today.  We had a lazy morning followed by a long lunch at one of the roof top restaurants overlooking the lake.  We are really thankful that we decided to only do a one hour camel ride and I'm not sure my legs could have taken much more.  They were really sore from clenching so tightly through fear of falling off! A girl at our hostel said she did a two day trip into the dessert and she actually did fall off! She was showing us her hoof shaped bruise from where it stomped on her! It's been a nice relaxing couple of days here...of to Jaipur tomorrow.

Days 8 to 13 (2 days on a train)

Spent a couple of days in Gokarna, soaking up the rays and swimming in the warm water.  The village was about a twenty minute walk over the hill, it's a very holi village with loads of temples.  There were only a few that we were, as tourists, allowed to go into as apparently there had been some incidents involving tourists in the past and they decided not to allow anymore in.  There seemed to be a lot of French in Gokarna, it wasn't very busy but the locals that we spoke to told us that it would get busier over the next few weeks and then very busy over Christmas and new year.  After a couple of relaxing days we paid some boys who worked at our guest house to carry our bags up the horrendous path ( they carried the bags on their heads which was very impressive) and caught a train back to Mumbai.  The train only left an hour late which seems to be good going for the trains here.  It took just under twelve hours to reach Mumbai but because we left at 7.30pm you actually sleep through most of it.  We had time to have some breakfast, pick up our next tickets and head for the next train to Udaipur.  18hrs and a pretty crappy sleep later, we arrived in Udaipur.  

This has to be by far the nicest place we've been so far and made us realise what a dump Mumbai was.  We checked in to a nice guesthouse for only Rs400 a night, had some (hot!) showers and decided to make the most of the day since we only have a few days here.  The city palace is only a short walk from our accommodation and is a big complex which is now three hotels.  One of the palaces is out on the huge man made lake, we took a lovely boat ride out onto the lake and around the palace.  They dropped us off at the 'garden palace' which is out on the lake so we could have a walk around.  It seemed like they were setting up for a wedding, which by the looks of it was going to cost a fortune! An absolute stunning setting for a wedding though.  We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the town trying to get our bearings.  We came back to the accommodation and met some nice people who were staying here also, there is a common area where everyone seems to hang out.  We met a Belgian guy who had bought a motor cycle and was riding around India.  He had found a beautiful stray puppy in the last place he was and decided to take it with him.  He has since managed to get it microchipped and is waiting for some papers so that he can eventually take it home with him.  He just carries it his jacket when he is riding and it just sleeps.  We went for a nice dinner with a couple who were staying here to a roof top restaurant where we caught some amazing views of the last of the sunset.  

We had arranged with our tuk tuk driver who took us from the train station to do a tour with him today around Udaipur.  For only Rs600 we were taken to a big fruit and veg market where we took some photos and bought some nice bananas.  We visited the place where all the royals from the area were buried in huge ornate crypts.  We took a boat ride out onto the lake to see a beautiful floating garden and a few other sights.  We then went for an all you can eat thali which was delish and well worth the £1.20 it cost! The last part of the trip is to go to up to sunset point by cable car.  This obviously needs to be done at sunset and because me and Kay went round the other sights quickly we asked him to just drop us at the guesthouse and pick us up later (5pm), just before we got out Kay asked how much henna was here as we've seen a lot of people doing it and it's much nicer that other places we've been.  Our guide advised it would be roughly Rs100-150 and then said that his sister did it so if we liked he would take us to her.  We agreed and currently Kay is sitting with henna on both hands, front and back, waiting for it to dry (4hrs)....she isn't able to even scratch her nose far less do anything else.

Days 5, 6 & 7 Goa / Gokarna

We arrived in madgao about 2.30pm, about 2 and a half hrs after we were supposed to arrive.  We've come to realise since then that the trains in India rarely run to schedule.  We had phoned ahead and booked accommodation in a village called Benulium, it wasn't a payphone like you'd expect to see in the uk but just a wee hut on a street in Mumbai where they had telephones stilling on the ledge that you could use.  The call to Goa only cost 5p.  We took a rickshaw to Benulium, they somehow managed to squeeze myself and Kay along with our two ginormous bags into this tiny little three wheeled thing.  Our accommodation was lovely, our own room with private bathroom and balcony for only £5.50 for the two of us each night.  We had showers and then headed towards the beach in search of dinner.  The beach was absolutely stunning with wee restaurants along the sea front.  We ate our dinner and decided just to head back to the accommodation as we were both pretty tired after our very long train journey.  The train should have taken 11hrs but ended up taking almost 14!!  On our way back along the beach all the lights went out which meant that the 20min walk back to the accommodation was a bit of a mission and neither of us that thought to pack torches with us ( they are now firmly situated in our bags at all times).  The lights came back on a wee while after we arrived back at the guesthouse but went off again another three times between then and us falling asleep.  The worst part about it was that our fan wouldn't work during these times and the room became unbearably hot very quickly.

The next day we decided to just have a relaxing day on the beach.  We got some supplies ( fruit and water ) for breakfast and headed down early, we both got a wee bit sunburnt but thankfully this is now turning into a nice golden tan. There are a lot of Russians in Benulium so much so that all the signs are in Hindi and Russian rather than the usual hindi and English.  We spoke to a Thai/Swedish guy who was travelling around india too, he had already been here a few months and thought he would probably stay a few months longer.  He was a chef so was just working his way around.  He told us that if we wanted to meet other backpackers we should head for a beach just 150km south of where we were called Gokarna.  It's not actually in Goa but in the next state.  While we were having our lunch we decided to take his advice and started searching ways to get down to Gokarna.  There was a passenger train leaving at 1pm the next day that would take 2 and a half hours.  Because of the type of train we weren't able to book in advance so we would just need to check out the next morning, head to the train station and hope for the best.

The next morning we went into the village and got some supplies for the train journey.  Getting a ticket at the train station was much easier than we anticipated and only cost around 60p for the two of us.  In true Indian fashion the train was late, over two hours late.  This meant that we arrived in Gokarna much later than we thought we would, about 5.30pm. The sun goes down around 6.30pm so we had to be quick to try and find accommodation.  We took a rickshaw to the main beach which we had read about ( there are 4 within walking distance), the driver dropped us at the top of a big hill with a dirt road leading down to the beach.  This was a horrendous task with our big wheeled bags. About half way down some guys took pity on us and lifted our bags the rest of the way down. Accommodation that we had read about was luckily very close to the bottom of the path.  They only had one room left which he advised was only a simple room which meant we had shared bathroom and showers.  At £3 a night for both of us it did the job just nicely.  We inspected our bags once we were in the room and they were both manky and mine even had some small tears in the bottom, thankfully not all the way through though....one week in, I wonder how long my bag will last at this rate.  We walked along the beach looking for a place to have dinner and eventually decided on the busiest looking one.  It was pitch black by the time we had arrived so we just went back to our room after dinner to relax and look forward to seeing the "paradise" beach the Thai/Swedish man had told us about.... 

Days 3 and 4 in Mumbai

We set our alarms so we wouldn't sleep in for our guide arriving at 10.30am, our guide for the day turned up bang on time and off we set in the direction, or so we thought, of the slum from slum dog millionaire.  After a short while we arrived at the Laundry which we'd actually seen the day before but he assured us that there was no way we had been shown the bits he would show us.  We went further into the laundry to where some lived.  On the way round we saw a woman refilling old water bottles with tap water!! I really hope they were for her own use and she wasn't going to try and sell them to some poor unsuspecting tourist.  There wasn't much going on here just people going about their daily lives but our guide decided to get a shave while he was there.  I think after realising that we were a bit bored, since we'd been there before, he tried to convince us to dump the car and take a local train out to the slum.  We declined his offer as these are the trains where they are so overcrowded that people are hanging out the doors or sitting on the roof.  I'm sure it would have been some experience but this was only our third day in India so best left for another day.  We walked around the slum for a bit and he showed us where they do all the recycling, the slum generates over £700million annually for the residents through waste recycling and other small businesses.  Our guide decided to take us to his sisters house, who lived in the slum,for some chai tea.  Her house was lovely, all marble but very small but I suppose they don't spend a lot of time indoors like we do.  We had some lovey tea, met his family and then they dressed Kay up in a burka for a laugh ( pictures to follow if Kay will let me ).  On the way back to Colaba our guide asked if we wanted to go see a film that night, he said he would drive us there and back for free if we invited him along.  We had wanted to see a Bollywood film while in Mumbai so we agreed.  We parted ways and he advised he would pick us up at 9pm as the film started at 9.30pm.  For dinner that night we went back to "bulimia" aka Budemia and had some more tasty food.  True to his word, our guide collected us at 9pm and we went to see the new blockbuster Kill Dil which was actually really good if not sometimes a bit cheesy.  We managed to follow the film, even though there were no subtitles, with the help of our guide.  We were asked a few times while in mumbai if we'd like to be extras in a Bollywood movie, we obviously declined because it sounds like a scam if ever ive heard one but we told our guide and he said it was real but that they would treat us like "white monkeys" and have us on set all day but only be in one small scene and we'd only be paid Rs500 for it.  When he dropped us back a the hotel he tried to convince us to go on a very long and very expensive tour with him to the national park which is at the very north of Mumbai and would take hours to drive to.  We managed to use our 3 days of experience with mumbai's locals and stood firm and told him that we were going to elephant island the next day and so didn't have time to do his tour.  

We got up early the next day as we had a lot to do and needed to check out.  We first went to the "government" tourist information to book only our train tickets as we'd been looking online the night before and discussing it and booking them ourselves was turning more and more into a complete headache. For example, there were no available tickets from Goa back up to Mumbai for weeks.  We paid a lot more than it would have cost us to book so if you ever plan to go to India then be sure to plan ahead and book all your trains before you leave. 

After checking out of the hotel we wandered down to the Gateway to India which is where the boats leave for elephant Island.  The return trip to the island cost Rs420 each and took roughly an hour each way, the breeze on the boat was a pleasant escape from the stifling heat in Mumbai.  On the island there were 5 caves which had interesting carvings and statues inside them.  There were also loads of monkeys! Kay got a bit close at one point and one started chasing her! We felt like C-list celebs while there, we were asked by indian tourists at least ten times if they could have their picture taken with us!? They can't see very many white people where they come from.  In fact, there are not that many tourists around in Mumbai, I had expected to see more but it's mostly Indians on holiday that you see in the touristy bit.  Mumbai is very expensive compared to other parts of India which might keep them away.  While on the island we ate these amazing grilled corn on the cob which were drizzled with fresh lime juice and then rubbed with a salt and chilli mixture....yum!!  We were back in Mumbai about dinner time and so headed to a place we'd read about in our guide book called Olympia Coffee House where we had a chicken tikka masala, a butter chicken dish, 2 chapattis and a bottle of water for the grand total of Rs 290 (£2.90), an absolute bargain and so delish! 

After dinner we collected our bags from the hotel and headed up to the train station where we had to sit until 1am for our train to Goa.  We met some German guys who we'd seen on the boat to elephant island.  You tend to notice other white people because we stick out like a sore thumb.  They had arrived in Mumbai the day after us and it was nice to exchange experiences.  After boarding the train we made our way to our bunks which were in AC3 which means there will be 6 bearths in the "room".  Our beds were the top and middle bunks, when we arrived it was obvious that we're weren't going to manage to lift either of the bags on to the top bunk and so we had so leave them both on the middle bunk and sleep head to toe on the top bunk.  There were sheets and blankets available but we declined as we have our own sleeping bag liner which we've been using.  This was a huge error as the air-con was up so high that the two of us near froze to death during the night.  Next stop Goa :)

Day one and two in Mumbai

Arrived in Mumbai about lunch time yesterday and took a prepaid taxi into Colaba which is the most touristy area of Mumbai.  We took a prepaid taxi which are meant to be a wee bit more expensive but then you're guaranteed on the price and that they'll take you the most direct route.  We were advised that to Colaba it would cost Rs1200 which is roughly £12, which did seem quite steep but were advised that it was over an hours drive from the airport so we agreed.  Once outside the airport we were greeted by a wall of heat! It was about 35degrees but also ridiculously humid, luckily the taxi had air-con.  We opened the guide book we'd bought in the airport to start looking at things to do in the area when I noticed that they'd written that a prepaid taxi from the airport to Colaba should only be roughly Rs400!! They obviously saw us coming.  I slept most of the car journey, as i hadn't managed to sleep on the flight, but the parts where i was awake were an experience....they drive like maniacs here and beep all the time! We can't decide if it's in an aggressive manner or just to let the pedestrian/car/bus know they're there, but either way they are all at it constantly.  We eventually arrived at a hostel which we'd seen in our guide book but unfortunately they were fully booked for the next 4 days, after lugging our heavy bags around for a wee while we were shown the way to another hostel/hotel by some friendly locals.  The place looked ok, had AC and a private bathroom so we decided to haul our bags up three flights of tenement style stairs and book ourselves in ( thankfully two nice Australian boys carried our bags up after the first floor because if they hadn't, I think myself and Kay would still be there trying).  We decided to change our clothes and just head straight out to get our bearings and find some food and water.  We ended up a street down from our hotel at the sea front (Arabian sea) and took some photos of all the boats and also the Gateway of India which is down there too.  After that we went back up to the main street which is just a street up on the other side of our hotel in search of food and water.  After walking up and down the street in search of a supermarket type place we gave up and went to a busy restaurant called Leopards which we've since then learned was targeted during the 2008 terrorist attack and still has the bullet holes.  We had a vegetable biriani, garlic nan and some chips to share and including two 1l bottles of water this only came to Rs650 which is £6.50 which seems very cheap but is actually quite pricy for India.  We didn't stay long because we were both feeling a bit sea sick/dizzy.  We couldn't figure out if the top floor of the restaurant where we were eating was actually moving or if we were just really really tired.  We were back and tucked up in bed for 8pm having logged onto the hotel wifi to send our loved ones a message to say we were safe and happy.  I slept like a baby until 2am when I woke up thinking it was the morning but luckily managed to get back to sleep, Kay wasn't so lucky, some noise during the night kept her awake. 

We slept in until about 9.30am had quick showers and headed out into the heat and humidity.  I think it was a bit cooler today but I might just be getting a bit used to it.  We went back down to the sea front to see the Gateway of India again as we hadn't managed to get very close last night to take any decent photos.  While we were down taking photos we were approached by a tout trying to sell us different tours, we eventually agreed to go on a 3-4hr tour of different places for Rs750 each (£7.50), we were shown to our car and driver and off we went, first stop was the mahalakshmi dhobi ghats which is the world's largest outdoor laundry, we got to walk about a bit and take some photos.  It's all very impressive looking but the water running from the clothes looked pretty manky! Our guide took us up two flights on some rickety old ladders to stand on the dodgy corrugated iron roofs so we could get a better look - it  was scary! Next stop, fisherman's village where, surprise surprise, all the fishermen live.  There isn't much to tell about this place as we didn't hang about long, the smell of fish was pungent! We drove past and stopped at a few things that I won't bore you with but along the way our driver stopped on a motorway over pass to let us out to take photos, apparently they're allowed to do what they like here! We drove past, but weren't allowed up to, the Tower of Silence.  This is walled area where the Parsi faith leave their dead on top of the towers to be 'cleaned' by vultures and the weather.  Only those of the Parsi faith are allowed into this walled area but, luckily for us (not), our tour guide had some pictures on his phone of the dead bodies he could show us.  The last stop was Gandhi's house which has been turned into a museum.  

Once back in Colaba we went and bought some fruit and Indian crisp type things which were yummy, only Rs10 and a welcome break from curry.  We were then advised by some "helpful" locals to go to the tourist information ran by the government to get some local info and maps.  It was just around the corner from our accommodation but it became clear quite quickly that I wasn't government run when they started to try to sell us more tours!  They mapped out our whole trip and included flights, our own driver at parts and accommodation but at Rs159000 (£1600) we politely told them thanks but no thanks.  They did however convince us to go on a tour of the big slum that was in slumdog millionaire tomorrow for Rs1250 for the two of us which we've since been told, by some nice Indian boys we met while out for dinner, is a very good price for this tour.  The driver will come and collect us at the hotel at 10.30am tomorrow.  We went in search of food after the "government" tourist info place and some shop man told us to go to a place called Bulimia which he said was cheap, but really good.  He wasn't wrong, we had some veggie shish kebabs  and some chapatti type thing.  Very tasty and very cheap at Rs315 for the two of us.  All in all, a great first two days in Mumbai. Oh, also, it's not called bulimia...I did think that was an odd name for a food place.