Chumphon and Koh Tao

The morning we left Hua Hin our plan had been to check out and then take our bags into Hua Hin town, spend the day there and get a late train down to Chumphon.  When we arrived at the train station in the morning we were advised that the train we wanted was full and that we would need to get the next one which was leaving in about an hour. The train was extremely busy with Thais and other travellers heading south to the islands. It was so busy that we ended up not sitting together, in fact, Andy was about 5 carriages down.  We had booked a dorm room in Chumphon before we left and so when we arrived myself and Kay stayed with the bags and Andy went off in search of the hostel which wasn't meant to be far from the train station. The hostel was lovely and clean and we were told during check in that breakfast would be served from 5am which was ideal for us as we were being picked up 5.30am for our ferry to Koh Tao. We went out for dinner once we had dumped our bags in the room. We stumbled across a wee Thai place, one of the many in Thailand that we've seen since, that has no name. Plenty of locals eating inside and lovely food being cooked on the street side.  The menu was only available in Thai, but have no fear, we were asked to go to where the food was being prepared and just point at what we wanted.  We all asked for noodles and vegetables as we were still getting accustomed to Thai food and weren't sure what would be good. When our food arrived though I was sure we'd been given someone else's as there were noodles, vegetables and an abundance of sea food on our plates.  We realised that our request had been lost in translation but what we got instead was very tasty and extremely cheap. I think our dishes only cost around £1.20 each and had crab, prawns and squid in it. You'd pay a small fortune at home for a dish like that. An early night for us since we needed to be up at 4.30am. 

The breakfast put on for us was wonderful. Cereal, toast, fruit, fresh coffee and even brownies! We were collected at 5.30am and dropped off at the train station, which realistically we could have just walked to. From there we were given a sticker indicating which island we were going to and put on a coach to the pier.  After queuing for some time and having to pay extra as the weight limit for luggage was 20kg (ours weighed 30kg!), we were on the ferry and on our way to Koh Tao.  The journey across only takes 1hr 15 but I think we all slept for most of it.  When we arrived in Koh Tao we collected our bags and tried to make our way up the pier as quickly as possible because we hadn't booked any accommodation (everywhere online said it was full). We wanted to give ourselves the best possible change of finding somewhere decent.  When we disembarked the pontoon we were greeted by many taxi drivers trying to compete for our business.  We got ourselves in a taxi, which are just pickups that you sit in the back of, paid too much for it, and made our way to Sairee Beach area which is generally where everyone stays in when on Koh Tao. When we arrived it was Andy's turn to stay with the bags while Kay and I went in search of accommodation. The first place we tried, Lotus, could offer us a bungalow for B1200 which is about £24 a night and similar to what we've been paying elsewhere in Thailand. We checked out the bungalow but even though we were told it hadn't been cleaned yet it still seemed a bit grim so we headed off to see if there was anything better on offer. We checked a few other places but they were either full, couldn't accommodate 3 people or were out of our price range. We decided to book into the Lotus bungalow for just one night and see how it was and look for alternative accommodation that day while out and about. It wasn't all bad though, they did have two pools which we could have use off while staying there. Our room wasn't quite ready for us to move into and so we just dumped our bags at reception and went to one of the pools to have a swim and do some sun bathing. Our room seemed to take forever to get ready and so while we were waiting we went for lunch and had a walk around Sairee. Sairee in a tiny little place and you can walk from one end to the other in about 20minutes or so. While we were out we enquired about rooms in a couple of places but were told to come back in the morning to see if there was availability. We also saw many many places offering scuba diving which is something we all wanted to do. We'd been told that Koh Tao was the best place to do it in Thailand.  We finally managed to check in to our bungalow, which thankfully was a different one to the one we had been shown previously, it was clean and bright, and we were all more than happy to stay there for the duration of our time in Koh Tao. We had showers and then headed out to book some trips to do while there.  We decided to go with a snorkelling trip around the island for the next day and a discover scuba diving trip for the following day. With no real wifi to speak of at our accommodation we ate at the first place we saw offering wifi, a place called brothers which we ended up in quite a few times over our stay in Koh Tao. 

I was woken in the morning by Kay and Andy saying in unison "we're leaving!". Apparently there had been a lot of noise during the night from the pool bar next to our bungalow. I'm a very deep sleeper and so I hadn't heard a thing but it had kept both Kay and Andy up all night. This meant we had a big rush in the morning.  We needed to find alternate accommodation before being picked up for our snorkelling trip at 9am. Andy showered quickly and then went in search of somewhere for us to stay that night while myself and Kay showered, packed and got some food for our breakfast.   Andy managed to find us another bungalow which was further away from the bar areas and was actually cheaper and nicer than the one we were in.  With no time to lug our belongings up to the new place, Blue Wind, we left our things at the Lotus reception and off we went on our snorkelling trip. The trip was amazing, I'm not a very confident swimmer but they gave me a life jacket. I had bought a waterproof camera for taking away and we managed to get quite a few cool shots of all the fish.  We stopped at three different places to do some snorkelling and then had some lunch. We were then taken to Koh Nang Yuan which is three beautiful islands joined together by a sand walkway. We walked to the top of one of the islands to get a view of them all. It was a lot of very steep steps to the top and then once there you needed to climb up some rocks to get the best view. We did some more snorkelling from the beach there and then it was time to head back to Koh Tao.  We went to a lovely Thai place for dinner and also went to the supermarket to buy more mosquito spray and tiger balm for our bites. We were all shattered after our day and so we had an early-ish night in preparation for our scuba diving in the morning. 

We woke early and went for a hearty breakfast as we would be out scuba diving all day. After arriving at the dive centre (Sairee Cottage - highly recommended) we were greeted by our trainer, André, who sat us down to fill in a short medical questionaire.  As I have type one diabetes I needed to go to the health centre to get them to do a medical and sign off that I was ok to dive. This was a bit annoying as all they did was take my blood pressure and ask if my control was ok and then rubber stamped my form and I was good to go. I was advised at the dive centre that in future I could either do this in advance so as not to waste time on the day or that I could possibly take a note from my GP at home to say I was fit and healthy to dive. André ran through all the safety information with me after I got back and then we were ready to get into our gear and do some training in the pool. Both Kay and Andy had been diving previously and so they were a dab hand. Me, on the other hand, not so good. We had to do 4 manoeuvres under the water. The first two were to remove the mouth piece and place it back in our mouths and then remove any water that was inside your mouth using two different methods.  First by blowing really hard and then secondly by using the air button on the front of the mouth piece.  This I managed ok. Then we had to remove the mouth piece, pretend like we had lost it, find it, place it back in our mouths and remove any water by either of the above two methods. Again, this was ok.  Finally we had to demonstrate that we could fill our masks with water and then remove that water. This is done by blowing out hard through your nose while lifting the mask, which forces the water out. This one I struggled with big time as every time I tried to blow out through my nose my mouth was filling with water. I was then inhaling water which made me panic and head to the surface. André was brilliant though and took the time to make sure I had mastered it. He eventually decided that my mouth piece was too big and said he would get me a smaller one for the actual dive. We then were allowed a little time to eat a light lunch before we collected our gear and headed for the long boat which would take us to the big boat which was moored out in the bay. Once at our dive location we all jumped in the water, deflated our BCDs and made our way below. For an intro dive you can go as far down as 12 meters. We all held onto a rope and one by one gradually went further and further down. You need to equalise your ears every meter or so otherwise your ears get very sore, like when you're on a plane. My ears were ok, Andy's hurt a lot and Kay's nose was bleeding as she has troubles with her sinuses. Once down we were able to swim about and see all the fish and other sea life. My mask filled up with water while we were down but using the smaller mouth piece I was able to successfully remove all the water. I really enjoyed the experience but it's a very unusual thing to breathe through your mouth and never your nose.  Poor André had to more or less hold my hand the whole time and make sure I was breathing slowing and not panicking. Luckily we had two others with us who were doing their dive masters and so they could go with the others so I wasn't holding anyone up.  We were down for about 30 minutes which just flew in and only felt like 5 or 10. Once we surfaced we got out of our gear and had some tea and fruit while the boat made its way to the second location for another dive.  The second dive was at an additional cost and on the way I decided that, although I really enjoyed the first dive, it was enough stress for one day and so decided to sit that one out. Kay and Andy were going down so this meant that I could take some photos of them in their gear and also jumping into the water.  We all really enjoyed our day scuba diving, so much so that Kay and Andy have vowed to go back next year and do their Padi course. We went to a nice Thai restaurant for dinner and then decided to go see a ladyboy cabaret show in the evening.  I ended up feeling a bit unwell though, maybe swallowing too much pool water, and so ended up staying at home and doing some reading and blog writing instead. Kay and Andy had a brilliant time though, Andy was dragged on stage and given a lap dance! Not an experience I think he wants to ever repeat.  

Hogmanay tomorrow.  Off to party island, Koh Phangan to celebrate New Years with 30,000 others on a beach. 

Bangkok and Hua Hin

Myself and Kay arrived in Bangkok about 3pm and took a train into the city where we got a metered taxi to our accommodation. The accommodation is just wonderful, they have the place totally set up for backpackers. Clean, modern, laundry facilities, free breakfast, wifi and drinking water.  What more could you ask for.  Our accommodation is about a ten minute walk from the lively koh San road which is far enough away for it to be quiet but close enough if we want to go drinking. By the time we showered and got ourselves sorted it was time for dinner so we headed in the direction of Koh San road to see what there was on offer. We passed a place on the way which seemed to be busy with locals which is always a good sign so we decided just to eat there.  After being veggie in India for 5 weeks it was a bit of a shock for the menu to consist of mostly meat and fish.  After, we decided to take a walk down to koh San road to see what all the fuss is about. It's very lively and  full of bars offering 'buckets' so we made the decision then to treat ourselves to a night out the following night since we have been almost teetotal since leaving Scotland. We headed back to our accommodation as we were both tired from travelling and had a lot to accomplish in Bangkok in the two days we were there.

On our only full day in Bangkok we decided to do some sightseeing. We walked about 30 minutes from the accommodation to Wat Pho which was very impressive. It was a huge collection of temples and Buddhas but the show stopper was the 46 meter long, gold plated, reclining Buddha. It was so big that you couldn't get a picture of the whole thing. We walked back to our accommodation (getting a bit lost on the way) to enquire about getting the train to Hua Hin the following day.  We were told that it was cheaper to go to a travel agent and pay them a small commission to book our trains rather than paying for a taxi to the train station and back, so this is what we did.  Trains here are very cheap, it cost us around £2.50 for a three hour journey, including the commission.  After sorting our trains we got ready for our night out. A few cocktails and numerous buckets later we went to bed having survived our first night out in Thailand! 

As we were feeling a bit worse for wear we had a relaxing morning and afternoon just walking around the area and having some lunch and a few ice-creams. After trying for a long time, and getting quoted ridiculous prices, we eventually managed to get a tuk tuk to the train station where we would meet Andy (Kay's Boyfriend) and head to Hua Hin.  The train down was quite quiet and thankfully uneventful.  Myself and Kay had been to the 7-11 to buy some dinner for the train journey during the day.  We bought some sandwiches, ham and cheese, tuna, and some pulled pork ones.  The ham and cheese went down a treat, no one was brave enough to eat the warm tuna ones and the pulled pork had a minuscule bit of pulled pork in it and the rest was just bread and butter.  Well, they say you get what you pay for and I think in this case it's certainly true.  At around 30p each we couldn't really complain at the amount of filling. We arrived in Hua Hin almost on time and negotiated a tuk tuk to our accommodation. The bungalow we had booked for the three days in Hua Hin was lovely, 2 massive beds, a fridge and we would get breakfast in the morning on the table outside.  Happy faces all round.  

We woke up on Christmas day and exchanged gifts. When I say exchanged gifts, what I mean is, Andy gave us presents and Kay gave him some tat she'd bought in India.  After breakfast we walked the very short walk to the beach to spend our Christmas doing some sunbathing.  It was an unusual feeling being at the beach on Christmas day but it's definitely an experience I would repeat. We had a few cold beers, did some sunbathing, swimming and ate some lovely pancakes, this was our alternative Christmas.  We went into Hua Hin centre for a lovely dinner followed by one too many drinks. We all had a brilliant night out and met some lovely Aussies, a Manc running an Irish bar and a dog in a dress. 

Our last day in Hua Hin was uneventful, for me at least.  We went to the beach after breakfast but it was so hot, and I was so hungover that I had to make my way back to the bungalow for a lie down for the majority of the day.  We made plans to go to Koh Tao by train and ferry, had some dinner and had an early night.  Hangover aside, I very much enjoyed my Christmas in Hua Hin by the beach.  

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.