Pushkar Lake

ok, sorry i cut it so short yesterday, we thought we had lost Julia as she had gone to a different internet cafe and we had no idea where she was...we found her not much later though and the internet had stopped working so i couldnt return.
I have missed out so much but i think that's just the way it's going to be...a jumbled splurge of happenings!! We are in Pushkar today, we arrived yesterday after a 7hour car drive that actually wasnt too bad as we had left much earlier. In the evening the hotel manager was holiding a party for his 4 year old son and everyone was invited, the hotel is quite quiet at the moment so there werent that many of us. It was very formal, instead of blowing out the candle he had the cake fed to him by all of his family...one australia boy (who lives here) said "why does he get all the cake" hehe...my thoughts exactly! But this area is no eggs, no meat and no alcohol so the cake was a bit strange. They were great hosts and rushed us forward to eat the indian food we really didnt want but managed to eat a polite amount before heading off to bed in the hope we would feel better in the morning. For breakfast (included in our tour) we had banana and honey pancakes (again no egg), this was ok too but not quite right! ha

We had a walk down to the famout Pushkar lake and ghats, this is supposedly a holy place where people come to throw petals in the lake and prey..a kind of mini Varanasi i think. We were led to a certain ghat and given flowers, separated and sat by the lake..he told me some history and asked me to repeat after him. i cant remember much...he placed petals, spices, sugar maybe etc in my hand and a coconut on top! while saying what they were and to wish me and my family well. I was then given time to pray or just think of what i would like for the people mentioned. Afterwards it began! The hasslin for money, i knew there was a donation asked for and that tourists pay a minimum of 51rs..but he kept hassling me for 500! this still isnt a lot but it was so inflated that i refused, i did choose to pay a little more after he kept asking me....i said i will pay what i choose and eventually he gave up and accepted what i gave him. he was quite pushy but it didnt spoil the experience, apparently it did for julia and lizzy...thier priests got a bit sngry with them! but lizzy paid a little more too and mine only worked out about 2pound anyway so i wasnt going to let it bother me!

We came back to hotel to eat, craving something with no spices and ended up with pathetic attempt at macaroni cheese..hmm pretty awful! haha. we have a few more days here and i hope to do a camel ride but not sure if we will...better get back to lizzy and see what she's upto...and to my book "life of Pi" i really like it and am engrossed :) speak soon...is always nice to receive messages and see what you're upto by the way...as long as u dont expect a reply in a hurry! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx byeee

Hello everyone...yes i'm back in the internet cafe again! I don't think i will be spending so much time on here usually but we are still in Ranthambhore as we have decided to limit our driving around and this shop seems very reliable. Last night julia left her bag here by mistake and didnt realise until 10.30pm..we came back but it was closed, luckily after knocking and someone driving past and helping get the man's attention he came down. he took us upstairs to the room and there was her bag, untouched!! so amazing and so lucky!! he introduced himself as Kiki and was very friendly. Nice to have our faith restored in people!

Lizzy is feeling much better today and i am even better still, we even made it to the fort in Ranthambhore...very beautiful but very hot! we have changed our travel plans so that we spend another night here then travel to Pushkar for 3 nights (6hours driving) and then to Jaipur (maybe 3-4 hours?) for 3 nights and then to Delhi for 1 night before we leave early on he 13th. we havent changed our flights yet but this is the same days julia leaves and think we have had enough! haha. Although we are liking india more again now that we are feeling better!

Im not sure if i can remember lots from the first few days here, in Delhi we stayed in a pretty awful hostel, they were quite rude and unfriendly and we were glad to leave. We were constantly hassled along every street, people trying to sell us things and just in general. We stand out like sore thumbs! Delhi was dirty, lots of homeless people and beggars, we went to connaught place and on the outer ring it felt really dangerous. People kept approaching us telling us to watch our bags and be careful because of the smokers...people huddled up against the outside walls. We rushed through ignoring any people trying to cart us off anywhere!

In Delhi we met a few people, mostly men would stare at us but a few people did stop to chat and one guy even showed us where to eat and had a drink with us..but we think he was also a tout for the tour company we booked through. We thought that we had been ripped off but now that we are ill and it appears that they are very helpful and willing to help but making the journey shorter (if it was longer we would definately have to pay but i think this will be fine) we are happy with what we paid.

Me at a rest stop going from Agra to Ranthambhore...not eating due to Delhi Belly!!

In the back of the car...long jouney...so fed up!! If someone tells u driving around rajasthan in a car is a good idea tell them they are damn well joking!

Building near the Taj Mahal as we were leaving...beautiful place, photos dont do it justice
Random people always wanting to have their photo taken with us..beautiful sari tho!

Me and Liz chilling out on the Taj Mahal...check out my new indian style top..in an attempt to fit in and have less harrassment by covering up more skin!

me at the Taj :)

The other building near the Taj Mahal..should know what it's called but i dont!!

in Delhi, outside a place where they were sculpting statues etc

me and Julia in the van, just after we were picked up from the airport

India

Hello everyone :)
sorry for not posting anything yet...our first 5 days have been beyond crazy!!
This will have to be a quick message because im running out of time and need to get back to the hotel to Lizzy.
We are in Ranthambore, Rajasthan at the moment and Lizzy is very ill, i have also been ill but am recovering now. Our few days spent in Delhi were absolute madness, we stayed in he busiest, probably unsafest part but it was ok...other than being noisy. we have been sucessfully bartering, not that the few rupees we get off are much to us but it is expected here and as long as u look at is as a game it is quite fun. the constant hassling and conning etc has been very tiring and stressful at times but mostly we just walk on ignoring people. it feels like we are celebrities here, everyone wanting to have their photo taken with us, being stared at constantly...kids waving! lizzy is a look-a-like to a bollywood star apparently and so we have extra attention for this.

because of the hassling we booked a tour, probably got completely ripped off and conned but to avoid all the chaos and confusion we thought it would be better. we were driven to agra (6hours) and to ranthambore (7hours!!!) did not know it would be so so long in the back of a car, especially when we are all not well. we think we might change our plans, we will lose some money but we dont think we can cope with such long days driving all the way across india!!

ok, we must hurry back to take lizzy something to eat and make sure she is ok. will try to post some photos next time, when things are less rushed. hope to hear from you all soon and that you are all well, lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

goodbyes

Goodbye messages from two lovely girls i wont forget and will miss very much! Thank you Mary and Janey xxx

Itinerary‏

Saturday 31st Jan - Depart London Heathrow 8.50pm
Sunday 1st Feb - Arrive Delhi 10.25am

Saturday 21st Feb - Depart Delhi 8.55pm
Arrive Singapore Changi Apt 5.15pm

Sunday 22nd Feb - Depart Singapore 1.55pm
Arrive Bangkok 3.10pm

Saturday 25th April - Depart Singapore 10.15pm
Sunday 26th April - Arrive Cairns, AUS 8.20am

Saturday 23rd May - Depart Sydney, AUS 8.35am
Arrive Christchurch, NZ 1.35pm

Saturday 20 June - Depart Auckland International 5.35pm
Arrive Santiago Comodoro Arturo 12.55pm

Thursday 30 July - Depart Lima 7.55pm
Friday 31st July - Arrive Madrid Barajas Apt 2.25pm
Depart Madrid Barajas Apt 4.30pm
Arrive London Heathrow 5.50pm