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Hi Folks and so sorry for the delay in our first proper update on the blog. We have been far too busy enjoying ourselves and on the toilet to logon!!
Well I guess we should update you on our adventures so far in India. We landed in Delhi after a pretty good BA flight...despite being near the back of the plane and close to the loos! I think the flight was quite uneventful due to the fact that Andy wasn't constantly worried we were going to crash (too many episodes of Air Crash Investigations on Discovery Channel!) as he had been quick to take his quota of diazepam as soon as poss.
We were 1hr30 late in leaving Heathrow but made up some time and so arrived around 11.30pm local time (7pm UK time). We were greeted by our driver and taken straight to our hotel for a much needed good nights kip. This wasn't the best introduction to Delhi as it didn't look it's best in the dark! Next morning however it still looked the same!! It is a crowded, busy, noisy and dirty place but it was great to see the sights and especially with the comfort of an air-conditioned car between stops. There was a lot of tarting up being done around the city due to the Commonwealth Games, which were due to start just 2 days after our arrival...nothing like last minute! We'll leave the photos to give you an idea of what we saw in our 2 nights in Delhi.
Next stop...Mandawa...and we were amazed at the beautiful hotel we were staying in! An Oasis in a dirty arid landscape. It was great to get out of Delhi and see some of the countryside and really experience some Indian driving! Andy is a bad passenger at home...I'll leave you to imagine how he took to this! I don't think priority or courtesy is something they understand. The best roads are like our rural roads, but with more potholes and road kill is common but just dogs and cows rather than badgers!
We saw some beautiful Havelis - v ornate and grand Maharaja's town houses/palaces and had a lovely chill out round the pool with a few beers and good dinner. I must mention at this point that we had only been in India for about 2 whole days but already we were both fed up with curry! There seems to be more choice in the UK!
Then on to Bikaner, were we arrived at a grand but slightly dated hotel with Gemma jumping out of the car rather hastily to throw up round the side of the entrance! Oops! We re-arranged the day so that we could rest at the hotel, so Gemma slept while Andy got through his first book! The next day we were feeling a bit better and managed to eat something and so headed out to see Bikaner's forts and palaces followed by a manic rickshaw ride around the narrow, frantic cow-congested streets of the old city. It was a real assault on the senses.
From Bikaner we headed to Jaisalmer. Quite a long day in the car. Hotel was amazing when we got there - see the photos. Again, it had a pool so plenty of chance to soak.
Shame, as Andy had a bad night with bad back and bowels! So much so that the doctor came out yesterday (Thursday) morning, did some witch-doctory and within an hour Andy was back 100%. Spent the rest of the day chilling and swimming before our evening camel ride into the dunes to catch the sunset.
Morning tour around Jaisalmer fort, havelis and palace before drive to Jodhpur - where we are writing this blog from. Staying in a beautiful old heritage hotel. Hopefully the updates will come a little more regularly now as we have decided to get our finger's out!
Bye for now!
A&G xxxx
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