Hotel Ambassador Ajmer

... works & of course we get mobbed & have to join in. We feel like the only Europeans in town & probably are so that walking out at night involved 2 more wedding parties before we get adopted by locals around the park & lake. A development since last trip is that many locals now have mobile camera phones & all want their photos taken with you. We finally escape to Mango Marsala for dinner (Ajmer is veggy & non alcholol like Pushkar ...

... low.

All I know though, is that I am happier now, in moments of uncertainty than I was in the two weeks prior to England, when I shaved my head, when I was quite deeply in despair. There's a gap, I told Jo, the girl I first game to Pushkar with. There's a blank for a lover to fill, the name changes, but the same space endures. One to go crazy for, the thing is, as I've asked myself time and time again. Is it the boys that I love, or am I in love with love itself?

... 3 years, as he died at 44 of appendicitis!

The palace had a really lavish interior (according to an internal TV and design plans), with the part open to visitors very pleasant. It houses a museum with beautiful crockery, clocks and many other exhibits. The local women were delighted to see the dining room layouts and all the household finery and I shared some time laughing with them at the antics of the hoi polloi! The gardens were very pretty too and part has ...

... a couple of hours after arrival, I was ready to see the town and first made my way to Jantar Mantar (1728): an observatory which houses a large display of what looks like modern art sculptures. But on closer inspection, these whole ranges of carefully constructed objects are methods of calculating time, eclipses and the determined astrological star signs. It was impressive. I went on to the Royal Gaitor: stunning architectural buildings housing the interred ...

... get there and there are these 4 guys sitting at a table. They were all from England. Simon (who looked a bit like Elijah Wood), Terry (Simon's dad), Steven and Steven (yes, two Stevens). Simon and Terry started out together and picked one Steven up at a hotel somewhere. The other Steven they picked up on the train. We chatted for a bit 9they invited me to join their table) and then Sandy and another girl (an Australian-Sri Lankan) came to join us as well. Then Yaarit walked in and we had ...

... a guy my age named Vinod. (Vinod on the left) It's tough!! Even though I play djembe and drumset, the positions of your fingers are so precise to get the right sound. But the drums sound amazing. He wrote down a couple pages of rhythms like "dha ti ri ki te tak di ri di ri ki te tak" and apparently i'm supposed to just practice these to perfection for a year before I get more lessons. Unlike rock where the ...

... were only a few seats left). He then told us that he would have to phone a friend who actually did the booking. Stunned silence. "Okay we agreed". He phoned a friend then told us that it was booked but the friend would need some time to "make the ticjet" (i.e. print off the e-ticket). "how long?" we enquired. "Come back in 3 hours ". !!!!!! Anyway, this experience was nothing compared to Booking a Train Ticket Part I so we counted ourselves lucky!

... is the Nasiyan Jain Temple also known as the Red Temple built in 1865. The temple is spread over three levels allowing you to look through glass down at the miniature version of the world made out of gold covered wooden carvings embellished with gems. The detail is incredible ..trees, people and a good dash of fantasty with flying elephants and geese suspended from the ceiling ...

... gates of the first mosque and through to the shrine within where we recieved our blessing and pay our respects (and multiple donations). This experience was a heaving, squeeze of bodies and not something that I felt like savouring. Once blessed and a few minutes stood in as quiet a spot as I could find amidst 1000s of pilgrims, I returned to the entrance and found The Doctor. Now exhausted, thirsty and harrassed ...