Royal Jodhpur Camp Nagaur

... for a place to while away a few peaceful hours. As luck would have it we found the Yogi Guest House, flopped down on the rooftop restaurant with fabulous views of the fort and spent a few peaceful hours Martin napping and me writing my blogs. The sun goes down and we go once more to the fabulous Indique for dinner before making our way to the train station. We arrive early and pick up our bags from another much friendlier man and get to the platform ...

... beggars are obviously everywhere in India. In a country so heavily populated and with such a divide between those that have and those that have not, it is no surprise that beggars of all ages are present at every turn. The really difficult part is who to give to, or more precisely, who not to give anything to. The problem is the organised and systematic begging controlled by mafia type groups. These are some of the most insistent beggars but we desperately do not want ...

... Jodhpur we went to visit a famous spice and tea shop and had a bit of a lesson in using spices to cook. We bought some spices and some tea leaves and then we went off for a wander in the market. There were lots of people begging in there and we were followed by three little kids who kept trying to pick pocket us. Luckily we had nothing in our pockets but they wouldn’t leave us alone. That is a big problem in ...

... daughter, who was somewhat smaller than Judith. As Judith protested they put the blouse over her head, and pulling and pushing and laughing, finally pulled her arms into the sleeves. At one point the three of them as well as the observers are doubled over with laughter. Next came the skirt. Instead of stepping into it they pulled it over Judith's head.....at one point her arms were pinned inside the skirt, which was crammed ...

... stunning white marble monuments relating to the Maharaja's who have owned and occupied the fort over the last couple of centuries. We were then taken to a bazaar and then walked through the Sardar market avoiding the phut phuts, motorcycles and cows and the mass of people who shared the space between market stalls. There were some strange sellers present, including a barber and a dentist. It was fascinating walking through this ...

... there was me clinging on for dear life practically hanging upside down. What grace!!! Jess managed to break her flip flop getting of the camel which left us in fits for about an hour. We had decided that bus's and trains from Pushkar were a complete joke and should never be attempted, even the guidebook and various locals agreed so we hired a driver to take us to Jaipur which in the end worked out as the same price but much more comfortable............................ ....

... were sisters numerous times.. alotmore frequently than you would expect two friends to receive.. looking absolutely nothing alike, we are still baffled by the phenomenon. The plan now is to spend tomorrow in jodhpur and get a train to jaisalmer the next day so that we are there for Christmas. We did initially want to go strait to jaislmer but couldn't get on a train there, so seeing as this was on our 'vague' plans we have decided to do here first.

... Science What do you do for fun? Watch TV What is your favorite food? Ice cream! What are you afraid of? God What message would you tell all the children in the world? Do good things in science and technology to bring the country forward Tonight we had dinner outside at the palace and watched fireworks from some weddings in town. November is the start of wedding season in India so there are lots of weddings happening everywhere. It was a great day.

Have been quite sick since last night, not a fun train journey however we did get a free a/c upgrade, nice! Didn't get a great 1st impression of Jodhpur, a man sent us the wrong way out of the station to try and get us to use his rickshaw, so on principle we walked for 20 mins, an extra 20 mins then we needed as where we were planning to stay was literally opposite the other exit!! what a mean ...

... tucked into the petticoat all the way round, pleated 8 or 12 times with the ends of the pleats tucked into the waistband, and the remaining piece is wrapped up around the waist and thrown over the shoulder, often with a pin in the blouse to keep the paloo in place. it's easy enough to find a ready-made petticoat which will match the sari, but the blouse is a whole different story. first you have to find a matching center that has an array of colored fabrics ...