Rajasthan

Hello all,

Greetings from Jaisalmer, in the west of Rajasthan near the border
with Pakistan. The most immediate observation is that it is HOT. We
had got used to the heat but this is something else and Sarah has been
unable to think about anything other than Magnum ice creams. Which
they don't have. It is torture. We arrived this morning after our
worst train journey yet. There is a very big festival going on in
Rajasthan (over 1 million pilgrims attend!) and there were thousands
of them trying to get on the same train as us from Jodhpur. The train
was over 3 hours late in the end and we had a very long, very hot wait
on a packed platform in the middle of the night.

Anyway, we are here now. There is sadly no sign of any rain. We are
about to go on the camel safari in the Thar desert. This is a very
authentic, traditional tourist activity.

Backtracking a bit, we last blogged in Agra. We went from there to
Jaipur which was a big city with a fort and a palace and so on. This
is fairly standard for Rajasthani cities. It was good but if I am
honest I am now struggling to remember what the fort looked like, we
have now seen a lot of forts!

We then went to Udaipur which was absolutely amazing. The city was
just beautiful but so was the surrounding countryside which was where
our hotel was - the peace and quiet, after weeks of staying in cities,
was just heaven. We could have happily stayed for a week or more. As
it was, we had 3 lovely days, we did another cooking class and went on
a trek (which some enjoyed more than others due to knee injuries and
the blistering heat!) in the mountains. We met some nice people and
had some great food and didn't really want to leave.

We then went to Jodphur via another fort, which was incredible, and
also via a Jainist temple, which was interesting.

Jodphur's fort was actually pretty memorable, as was the city itself
which was your typical crazy busy Indian city which was interesting to
stroll around.

So we left Jodhpur last night as we have already mentioned!

The rain in Jaipur and Jodhpur was vey heavy at times, we had a few
hairy rickshaw rides where we nearly had to get out and swim, but it
was manageable and there was hardly any rain in Udaipur.

We are going back to Delhi tomorrow and then home on Friday!

Love from Sarah and Luke x

Sent from my iPhone

Delhi (part I); Varanasi; Agra

Hello all,

After visiting some incredible temples in Madurai and the surrounding area, we moved on to Delhi. The first stop was Humayun's Tomb, a beautiful building set in some magnificent gardens right in the centre of Delhi. Considering the chaos of the city that surrounds it, it's a surprising peaceful place. After that, and with the help of a friendly policeman who stopped the traffic so that Sarah could cross the road, we visited a nearby mosque and shrine (Hazrat Nizam-Ud-Din Dargah) where we were coaxed into making a very generous 'donation', something that we've found to be a pretty common practice at most of the shrines we've visited since. We probably won't be visiting many more shrines now, although all of our families and friends should expect much luck and divine favour over the coming months... We finished the day at a great restaurant that was featured on Channel 4 by Gordon Ramsey last year (Moti Mahal), famed for its butter chicken and dahl makhani - both of which were delicious.

The following day consisted of a visit to the National Gallery of Modern Art and a very exciting trip to Costa Coffee. We were driven back to the hotel by a very friendly autorickshaw driver who kept playing the theme from Mission Impossible at every opportunity, despite the fact that we spent most of the time either at a standstill, or travelling at about 5 mph.

Next stop: Varanasi, where there were thousands and thousands of pilgrims in town for a very important annual Hindu festival. Varanasi is one of the most holy cities in India, where Hindu pilgrims travel to bathe in the holy water of the Ganges, which is said to wash away all sins. It's a fascinating place, although nothing quite braces you for the sight of open cremations on the ghats that line the river. We were able to take a short boat ride up part of the river, but it was running very fast due to the monsoon, resulting in us abandoning ship at a nearby ghat halfway through the ride in fear. One evening we also had the chance to witness the ceremony of 'Ganga Aarti', which consists of a lot of dancing, singing and fire. We weren't 100% sure what was going on, but it was very impressive all the same.

Our departure from Varanasi was an interesting one. Unfortunately Sarah's stomach took a turn for the worse in the morning, which made the journey to the station a bit of a challenge. The biggest challenge of the day, however, was presented at the train station itself, where a collection of monkeys, cows and rats harassed Sarah for about two hours while our train was delayed. On boarding the train, a man advised Sarah to be brave and to stop crying, something Luke had been too afraid to say all day (although Sarah is keen to point out that she wasn't crying ALL day).

Agra was our next destination, for the obligatory visit to the Taj Mahal. We can safely say that this is not over-rated; the building is absolutely breathtaking. We had our photo taken by groups of Indian tourists many times, who at times seemed more interested in us than the Taj Mahal itself. We also met another friendly, although crazy, rickshaw driver who liked to stop, clap his hands and sing a song at regular intervals.

Finally, we visited Fatehpur Sikri, built by Emperor Akbar in the 16th century as the capital of the Mughal Empire. He had three wives - one Muslim, one Christian and one Hindu, who all had a separate part of the palace to occupy. We visited another shrine, made another generous donation, and then caved in and retreated to Pizza Hut... After three weeks, there's only so much curry we can take. Sarah is still suffering from some stomach issues, so a break from spicy food was very much welcomed.

Heading to Jaipur tonight - hopefully Sarah will fare better on this journey. If not, Luke hopes to enlist the help of another friendly fellow passenger to talk some sense into her.

Bye for now!

xxx

Tamil Nadu - Temples, Tanqueray, Tea and Tennis

Namaste! Or Vanakkam as we say here in Tamil! Our Tamil is a bit rusty
but we're picking it up and it's almost as good as our Turkish and
Swedish now.

We arrived in Madurai on Monday morning after our first train journey
- overnight from Kochi. That was a bit of an experience.....! Finding
the right carriage was the hardest part - the train was about 3 miles
long and we were at the wrong end of the platform. There was quite an
incentive to sprint down the platform, difficult though it was with
our heavy backpacks, as neither of us fancied cramming into the
luggage compartment for a 12 hour ride. Sarah wasn't really feeling
that first class was exactly spacious though but she has readjusted
her expectations in order to avoid further disappointment on the next
journey (18 hours on Saturday night.....can't wait!). Sarah was woken
by someone wafting a tray of curry in her face. Sarah also visited the
toilets and decided she would rather wear a nappy next time. She
didn't like to complain though.

Madurai was bloody mental - it was in the mid 30s when we got off the
train, it was incredibly busy and smelly and the streets are unpaved.
Not quite sure why Lonely Planet describes it as being like
Manchester.....?! Maybe Manchester 100 years ago?! Anyway - we were
craving anything non-curry so we had something that claimed to be a
pizza in Madurai's only fast food joint. We then headed to see a
palace, we didn't really establish what this palace was but it was big
and impressive and had shady areas and hundreds of school children who
all wanted to shake our hands. Luke started to feel that it was time
to visit a bathroom again so we we went back to the hotel.

Now we were starting to think that drastic action needed to be
taken.....we couldn't spend half our time in India in bathrooms and
hotel rooms. Luckily they don't call Sarah a genius for nothing. It's
hadn't been suggested by any of the medical advice which we have
sought but Sarah felt sure it would work......we have booked into the
Gateway Hotel which is part of the Taj group (basically the Indian
version of Holiday Inn, Google it if you don't believe us). And that's
where you find us now - in our white cotton dressing gowns getting
ready for dinner with BBC World News in the background. Luke has been
like Lazarus, he has made a remarkably speedy recovery....... Sarah
has never seen him so happy. It is an old colonial building which the
CEOs of JB Coats Ltd used to live in. We have played tennis and drank
tea and the attentive staff serve Luke gin by the pool and move
Sarah's lounger around as the sun moves......

In all seriousness........! It has been a wise decision! They have a
special Monsoon deal (the hotel is practically empty) and so it hasn't
broken the bank. We also couldn't have really relaxed in Madurai
itself, the noise, heat and smell was just too oppressive. And......we
feel better! Touch wood.

On Thursday we are spending the day visiting temples and on Friday we
are flying to Delhi.

Healthier and happier love,

Sarah and Luke x

P.S. Monsoon news: the monsoon only affects prices in Tamil Nadu -
it's cheap to stay here, but absolutely no rain!