Greetings from Rajasthan! Since we last spoke to ya we spent about a week longer in Gujarat (secretly we called it gujacrap cause it didn't compare to the other states!) but we deff got off the beaten track like we wanted….we spent a while in Bhavnagar which was so polluted that we got a we cough. Went to a ship yard with loads've parts in shops from big ships. Things like port holes and door frames…but when we finally got there after being accompanied by women and stared at by the whole bus we got turned away from the place because we were white. Joke, it's because greenpeace researchers gave it a bad report for working conditions before. Not even backsheesh (bribes that usually get u in anywhere, ie into the police, army and naval service) could've helped us. Then it was Dwarka, 17 hours on a train, only one cup of chai and a friendly man lending us his key chain to lock up our bags, that we arrived at the end of the world. It was very holy, more cows than we've ever seen in one place….even 'love cows' that kissed!!! We took a day trip to the island of bet off the coast where Krishna slayed a dragon. Unfortunately we didn't see a dragon J but had some nice homecooked ciapatti with the locals.

Then it was straight, or curving 22hrs on a train, to RAJASTHAN. The most colourful place we've seen with loads of beautiful saris and processions….alot more women around too which is nice. In rajasthan cities are known by colour, for example, we first arrived in udaipur, 'the white city.' Udaipur was so nice after no tourists for ages, did abitve shopping and enjoyed the rooftop views of the place where james bonds 'octop**** was set! We took a wicked cooking course so now you can all have a lovely (vegetarian) meal from us when we're back….the cook took us to his house on a motorbike, and we learnt ya traditional aloo Ghobi along with some others. So we spent 4 days there and had loadsve fun.

Then we moved on to Johdpur, famous for it's forts, and coloured completely blue to ward off insects. We arrived at 4am to a load of touts, I was arguing with a man who charged us 20rupees to keep our bag on the bus and wouldn't give me then rest of my change, while Katie was being attacked to go to 'very cheap and best guest house'….in the end we got our change back and went to the hotel which turned out to be quite nice. The owners kids kept coming in our room and playing hitting games. As in, they hit us,laughed and ran away. The family liked us so much that they gave us a ring, tacky Indian style of course, which we've taken to wearing as a fake wedding ring. It really seems to work everytime you're asked 'you have boyfriend?' and we flash our ring (flash because it's so obviously bought for 2rupees at the market lol.) In jodhpur we saw a really cool fort. There's a lotttt of forts and temples here, but instead of 'not another fort' it was really interesting….it was ful lof older tourits who do coach tours, and we joined them in listening to an audioguide and feeling really mature! Our friendly guesthouse referred us on to their uncles guest house in Jaisalemer which was good because the more we head towards Delhi, the harder it is to avoid touts. So we got a free pick up from the bus stop after 6 hrs on a bumpy ride. The day journeys are hectic as they stop at every local village to let on more people. Even the roof of the bus gets piled up with people hanging on! It was really funny because I got off to go to the toilet which was hard enough, and a man came to katies window and started saying 'your friend, she fall down'….she is ok, but she is sleeping.' Katie was like whattttt and started getting off the bus. I was really just buying some nuts but the mean guy made Katie really worried. We had a laughing fit! Kinda scary. For soooo long everyone we've met says you have to do the camel safari, you have to see the desert. So we did, and it was everything we thought it would be. Probably a highlight of India, if not just for the beauty of the scenery! We took the less touristy option where you drive 80km in a jeep into the great Thar desert (30km from the Pakistani border) where u pick up some camels for your trip. We had the funniest group of people: Patrick and Deadre from, you guessed it, Ireland, and a German lady Silka. They had been in India for 5 weeks, and were going on to do a world tour, so we spent the middle of the day under the one shaded tree and the evening round the fire when it was cold gossiping about all the rip offs, wonders and cultureness of India. From everything to how often Indian people throw up out the bus windows (which is a lot) to seeing people and babies sleeping in train stations, we had the best laugh over chai and freshly cooked ciapatti and Dhal. The day started at 7am and our first adventure was getting stuck in the sand in the jeep. There was just no more road, and if it wasn't for another lucky jeep of locals passing us and helping us all push the car, we would've been stuck! We pushed, and pushed…..and pushhhhhheeeeeed until finally we got free. We picked up our camels, the most hilarious creatures ever seriously, and met them. Yes, they have names. Katies was the only girl (and the only one with a beard) called Sonia. Katie had her, and her little baby camel, Roaul, following her for the two days. The baby one was just roaming free. My camel was called Jhonny….We gave him the surname Black as he was the only black camel. They're like dinosaurs, double jointed legs and all they do is poo. The other camels had names like Michael Jackson and Charlie brown, no doubt named by tourists. We had guides who lived in a remote desert village and lived with the camels all the time. You could see they had a real bond, apart from they often beat em with a stick. They spent the whole day singing hotel California, the only western song they knew. It was so blistering hot in the day we had to wear head scarves and keep covered. The morning was so cold we needed socks and jumpers!!We stopped in some sand dunes at about 5, just in time for an hour or so of running in the dunes. It was sooo funnnnn………we rolled down hills with the Irish girl, wrote 'I love india' in the sand and just looked at the best view ever. It was like something out of Aladdin! Everyone chatted and watched the sun go down, had dinner, made a fire and just chilled out. The guides said they used to be able to wonder into Pakistan but that you can't anymore, in Rajastan we've seen loads more army presence and training camps. But its all safe and exciting JThe stars were like sitting in the planatariam. Katie loved the stars more than anything and we spent ages looking at all the different shapes. I'm sure we saw a camel shape. Then we slept, on and off cause it was freezing, to a 6.30 start, boiled eggs, toast and jam. Just so you know, India does Jam, normal bread and cheese so so badly. We're looking forward to some good old toast (with butter which they never bring) and jam that's not made of just sugar.So yup since then we wandered round jaisalmer, bumped into a French guy we keep seeing who has told us everything we need to know about going to Cambodia if we ever need to, and watched the 80th bafta awards show on star movies, the only English channel! Now we're in Jaipur after a sleepless bus jounery and everyone telling us their hotels full when we could see the room keys clearly hanging up. Next stop deadly Delhi. ARGHHH……they have an undergroud subway which we're looking forward too.

Ps: hope everyones well, lots of love from Katie and Kate. We're back on the 30th and flying to the Andaman island tropics for some sun for the last 2 weeks. xxxxxx