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Next stop Ranthambhore national park, home of the tiger, apparently. On the drive to the park we realised that you would be able to do a full series of the programme 'Pimp My...' (usually car) but here it would be 'Pimp My Rickshaw' - often they're covered with that much stuff, I can't believe they can still see out of the windscreen. Other vehicles we saw pimped were lorries, cycle rickshaws, and bicycles. The best one I saw was a truck that had flowers, pom poms and tinsel on the front windscreen; The whole truck was adorned with brightly coloured paintings & mosaics, and the mudflaps were also painted with pictures of Elvis. Their pimping is not restricted to vehicles though, as they also have 'Pimp my animal', as we saw cows with brightly painted horns, goats wearing garlands of flowers, and covered in purple hand prints and camels complete with tinsel & pom poms.
Once at Ranthambhore, we excitedly headed out on a tiger safari. Unfortunately the tigers turned out to be as elusive as the camera shy leopards were in Africa. Despite frantic searching it was not to be, I was not to be lucky enough to see a tiger in the wild, which made it all the worse when we returned from our section to see another truck whooping & cheering, as they had seen a whole family in the section they entered...rassa fassa, rassa fassa! Instead I had to content myself with deer, antelope, a crocodile & cheeky monkeys, who tried to throw branches at our heads. Oh and apparently I saw a bear too, only I didn't realise it was a bear at the time. But Why? you may ask; well, firstly I thought the guide had said a 'deer' in his strong indian accent, and secondly the forest was really dense, so I failed to get overly excited when i saw a patch of black fur rummaging around in the trees, which blatantly I would have done, if I'd known I was looking at my first ever bear in the wild.
I may not have got to see a tiger, but unfortunately for me, I did still experience the effects of a predatory animal - as I was sat next to an indian lech with orange stained teeth - mmm nice! My first indication was when I felt his slimey hand stroking my arm - blatatantly I berated him, and he seemed to settle down, but a short time later I heard one of the girls telling him off. Apparently he had not so subtly been taking photos on his mobile of my 'buns of steel' as I'd stood up to take photos. Our guide confiscated his phone, and discovered there were 8 other photos of us all. One strangely of one of the girls swan like neck, and more amusingly there was one of an australian lad in our group, which we got plenty of mileage out of over the next few days.
My bad luck in India continued as that night I broke out in a fever, and flu like aches and pains. Around 10pm, one of the nurses felt I needed medical attention, so it was off to the medical clinic again, fearing the worst - the dreaded malaria. The clinic was the grottiest thing I'd seen, and when the doctor couldn't be located, I was relieved to leave. The hotel manager knew a local doctor, and we were on our way. I felt so bad, as we had to get the poor man out of bed, and he examined me in his pyjamas. But in true GP style he pronounced "You've got a virus!" I was given yet more drugs, no wonder I think India is great, as so far I've been on a high the whole time. But don't worry, I recover over the next couple of days, so no need to panic.
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