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Delhi - Agra - Jaipur - Jodhpur - Jaiselmer - Mumbai - Benaulim
Well, after a hectic couple of weeks in the north, we have now installed ourselves in rooms a few hundred yards from the beach in Benaulim, Goa. Bliss and - at last - beer!
India has been everything I expected and more: cows in the street, people everywhere and poverty like I've never before seen. It's both beautiful and shocklingly polluted in places, and we have met some wonderful people. One thing that has taken a bit of getting used to is the turds: cow turds everywhere in the street and other, shall we say more familiar, turds on the tracks at stations. In fact, the smell of cow turd mixed with incense and a faint stench of urine is your basic north indian street aroma. It's was also cold up north - one thing I never thought I'd need in India was my thermal leggings, but they've been a lifesaver. And my hat and gloves - Delhi was freezing!
What little we saw of northern India was fantastic - I really enjoyed it: photos can never prepare you for the sight of the soft luminescence of the Taj Mahal at Agra, and Jodhpur fort, built on a rocky outcrop high above streets and alleys lined with blue houses, was breathtaking. The highlight so far has to be a camel trek we took into the Thar Desert from Jaiselmer, a city on the old trade route from the east that has a disctinctly frontier town feel to it, which may have something to do with the fact that it's not far from the Pakistani border and has a huge military presence. Our guides were brilliant, they lit fires to keep us warm during the cold evenings and cooked up amazing dhals and chapatis for us in minutes. We slept under a dazzling display of stars - in all our clothes - and stopped at tiny villages miles from electrcity and transport where children proudly showed us their school books. We also got very sore bums!
Despite that, from camels to trains, I think we've got the hang of the transport system here. Autorickshaws are far more scary than anticpated, trains actually quite fun, and we also tried a sleeper bus, where we had a slightly claustrophobic 5" by 7" by 3' compartment above the regular coach seats and had to contend with some very bumpy roads.
We're going to head further south in Goa tomorrow - to a place called Agonda, which should be a little less touristy than Benaulim (which has a slightly Saga feel to it - lots of British and German pensioners - we all feel very young!). From there we will head into the next state, Karnataka, and from there down to Kerala.
No tummy bugs yet (touch wood!) - we have tried to be good and avoided meat in the north and all the other no-nos. We did all get a stinking cold though that Fred and Lucy kindly brought over with them.
Sorry for the garble - it's hard to know where to start. Will try to write more next time. Also, my photos are to come - I've had problems getting a fast enough connection, but they will be next.
xxx
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