Namaste everyone,

Just a quick note to let you all know how we are getting on in India.

Got into Delhi safely and caught a taxi to our hotel. This was our first, somewhat scary, encounter with Indian traffic. Traffic signals are completely ignored, cows always seem to have right of way, they manage to fit at least30 people in one jeep (no exaggeration!) and absolutely everyone honks their horn all the time.

On our first day we got a tuk-tuk around Delhi. We visited a temple, Ghandi museum and India Gate. In the afternoon we then caught another tuk-tuk back to our hotel. Our driver didn't know where our hotel was and so stopped for directions. Unfortunately, when he got out of the tuk-tuk he forgot to put his brake on and left us rolling down the road in busy New Delhi traffic. The controls of a tuk-tuk resemble those on the handlebars of a bicycle so in an attempt to take control of the vehicle Rachel dove over the drivers seat to pull the brake but couldn't find it an we quickly collided with a stationary car. The tuk-tuk driver returned and suprisingly found the whole event hilarious.

Later that evening we met our tour guide Pradeep and 3 other girls who were travelling with us and we all got on very well.

The next day we ventured into Old Delhi this was totally different to New Delhi and more as we imagined India would be. We got pretty much covered in mud as it had rained the night before. We then visited a temple where Rachel helped to make chapati bread in their kitchens and later visited the mosque. In the afternoon Pradeep left us and the 5 of us went shopping in New Delhi and in the markets. We quickly noticed that absolutely everyone was staring at us and also many wanted pictures taken with us. One man even asked us whether we would mind if he followed us for the remainder of the day just 2 feet behind us. Needless to say, we firmly told him that we really would mind and asked him to please leave.

The next day we left Delhi on the train for Agra. We checked into our hotel and had a great view of the Taj Mahal from our roof terrace. We visited the Red Fort which was beautiful and elaborately decorated. We then visited the Taj Mahal which was breathtaking.

We caught the bus to Bharatpur. The other passengers watched us for the whole journey and wanted to know everything about us. It was a particularly bumpy ride as many of the roads in India have great big potholes. We then visited the Fatipur Sikri but we were bombarded by hagglers, one of whom thought Rachel was Japanese! After lunch we made our way to the Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary in a jeep. We stayed in a lodge where Bollywood had previously been filming. We circled the park in a cycle-rickshaw and saw various Indian birds but as Nerys has a genuine phobia of all birds and anything that resembles a feather she did not find it particulary relaxing.

The next day we went to Madhogarh by jeep and stayed in an old fort which had great views of the town and had stunning rooms. Later that evening we visited the village all of whom were particularly friendly. They had a festival in the village and we were asked to take part in the village prosession and later dragged to dance for the villagers on 3 occasions. We felt like idiots but we soon got the hang of it and demonstrated some pretty impressive moves. Later that evening we ate dinner at the fort dressed as Indian queens.

In the morning we went to Jaipur via the Amber Fort. Here we visited a charitable organisation called Ladli which was set up to educate, feed and generally take care of street children. We visited some of the girls while they made jewellery. They were surprisingly chatty and instantly wanted to be your best friend. We then bought some of the jewellery they had made. This is their main source of funding.

In the morning some of us visited Jaipur market and developed our bargaining skills and got some pressies. In the afternoon we went to see a Bollywood film called Race. It was 3 hours long and mainly in Hindi except for the odd phrase such as "I don't mix business with pleasure" and "That's life baby". All in all it was very entertaining.

We then moved on to Ranthambore National Park where we went on an afternoon safari, we were incredibly lucky and got to see 3 tigers.

We headed for Bundi in the morning for the hectic train, this was an experience! We visited Bundi market and town and we went into old disused stepwells where pigeons and bats nested. Aswe wondered through we unfortunately disturbed them and they came flying out from the ceilings. Nerys found it very distressing!

We went ot Bijaipur the next day where we stayed in Bijaipur castle. We then headed on to Pushkar which we loved. It was a hippyish and religious town bursting with little shops. The next daywe went on a sunset camel safari. Of the 6 camels on the trek one was a champion racer and another was a fat old fart, typically Rachel had thisone and followed the group a good few metres behind and made some detours for grass. Before leaving Pushkar we went to an Indian cooking class. Rachel made deliciousa saffron rice and Nerys made creamy flavoursome dahl amongst other things. It must also be acknowledged that Nerys is one of the best chapati makers in Rajasthan, if not THE best.

We then caught the overnight sleeper train back to Delhi where we were reunited with our dear friend Leliimeister. Bring on Bangkok!

Hope you are all well at home.

Love from Nerys and Rachel. xxx