Hotel Jai Mangal Palace Jaipur

... at the top of the steep palace, the wind breezes through the small windows and lattice work providing much needed relief from the sun. Hundreds of years ago the ladies were not allowed o be seen and so watched the street activity and processions below from the secrecy of these windows and lookout points. We then went to the Jantar Mantar which is a large observatory built in 1728 that houses an amazing and huge array of astronomical measuring devices that maps out the ...

For centuries the "western" culture tended to romanticize nature as a place of purity, authenticity and harmony - starting from Rousseau's idealized "Noble Savage" to the romanticized view of American Indians. In its modern form this tendency translates into an idealization of life in rural areas in developing countries. When the western eye sees workers on rice fields or a Yak ...

... background (in other words, from a lower caste) and is certainly an example of the 'new India'. We've all read White Tiger (if you haven't you should - it's a Booker Prize winner), and I can see similarities to Naresh's story. Let me cut to the chase to say that when we screeched to a halt going 120 to 0, narrowly missing a cow wandering into the road (after careening around top heavy trucks, buses that should have been condemned, random cows, and nearly falling asleep ...

... in Delhi consisted of few things, but we were tired so dont judge. We met some people as usual and ended up agreeing to go to dinner with them, oddly enough we ended up in a Kebab shop, not the most elegant of restaurants nor what i would imagine as a sample of Delhi cuisine!!! So that about sums up our time in India... bet your all a bit bored now! If i eventually get a decent enough connection i will try and post more photos. And so to Thailand.... let the crazy continue

... the fort, there was a separate path for people walking but I choose to walk along side the beasts, navigating my way round the Elephant ****, and standing well back when one passed the other way, I envisaged a stampede, madness, and me smooshed between them, then under them. On the way out I got talking to some Indian lads from Punjab, I wasn't sure If I was to be the figure of fun or not, but it seemed more lighthearted, they wanted umpteen pictures taken with me ...

... safety lol. Fair play to her. Finally about 1 hour later it arrives and we find the carriage is actually in the direction Ben said lol. So in we go and find the passenger we are sharing the four compartment section with. Was a really nice young Telecoms professional whom we chatted with for quite a while. He works for Vodafone and so offered to help Ben get his SIM working for outgoing calls for free. We exchanged details and then hit the beds, as it was gone 12am.

... flowers...more smiles. Then it was time for dinner. We helped the sisters serve the women...who ate in the same small, dark hallway they had been sitting in when we had arrived. After dinner some women started to get ready for bed; some helped the sisters clean; and others just stayed in the hallway. One of the women I came with started making paper cranes out of newspapers after dinner. I had no idea how to do origami so I started to make paper air planes. What a hit! They ...

... evening, arriving in plenty of time for my flight to Boston at 2:10 a.m. However, right around 7:00 pm Chintu received a call that the flight had been canceled. I might get on the 7:50 Kingfisher flight, the Jet Lite people said. We promptly jumped in a tuk tuk and hurried to the airport, but to no avail. I'd have to take a taxi -- if we made good time (four hours), I could still arrive in Delhi in time for my flight home. Chintu and his cousin would ...

... fill the buckets with water, lower a heating element into the bucket and wait 10 mins for the water to warm up. You then remove the heating element and use the jug to pour the water over yourself. It actually isn't as bad as it sounds and as the water is warm it gets you just as clean as a proper shower, but doesn't waste as much water. As i walk in the house i meet Nick who is 21 and from Skipton (just ...

... and I was so glad that I had not decided to risk not getting treatment. Altogether it cost me 9 pounds...so cheap, it's not even worth claiming on insurance. When I was leaving the Doctor warned me to keep well away from dogs, cats, pigs, cows and monkeys, but that's impossible when the streets are full of them! I was in and out of the hospital in less than an hour, so Steve and I were able to keep our plans of moving onto Pushkar.