Banjara Mount Abu

... as there were really impressive looking horses carrying people up to the top and instead of rickshaws Mount Abu has tiny shopping trolleys that they push people around in. We went for dinner and had another look around the town which gets more bustling at night surprisingly. Chris had a corn on the cob from a street stall and now we are both hooked on them, they are just boiled but they rub lime, chili and salt on them and they taste ...

Die Weisheiten des idyllischen Touristen-Paradieses in den Bergen am idyllischen Nakki (frei aus dem Hindi uebersetzt: goettliche Fingernagel-Arbeit) Lake gelegen:
1. rauf geht's manchmal besser als runter.
2. nicht jeder weise Mann ist gern fuer sich.
3. einige handverlesene Verkuendigungen ueber die Zukunft: Leonie sollte keinen Deutschen heiraten. Juli stirbt mit fuenfzig ...

... to sleep in! On Saturday we took peddle boat out on the lake then a 6 hour bus tour around Mount Abu. It was the state run bus service and cost 60 cent for the 6 hours, needless to say we were the only foreign tourist on the bus and soon after we set off we found out why - the guide only spoke Hindi. So we stopped off at a few temples and stuff, guessing what they were called by referencing the Lonely Planet book. Nothing special for the first few hours ...

... for availability of trains. Now the train that I wanted was full; sold out. Therefore, one would assume that there are no tickets (or is it reservations?). This is somehow not the case. I step over entire village-sized families spread out on the floor of the Ahmedabad rail station, and past coolies carrying luggage on their heads this way and that. Nervously, I approach the ticket counter (hoping the guy speaks at least some English) and ask ...

... per un viaggio di circa 5 ore. Quasi subito, siamo entrati nel deserto. Non le dune, certo, ma pianura sabbiosa e sterpaglia. Il cielo era coperto e, stranamente per la stagione, ha cominciato a piovigginare. Ce ne siamo accorti per l'odore dell'acqua sulla polvere, ed era magico osservare questo colore grigio del cielo, strano per un deserto. E' stato un segno di buon auspicio, per la nostra visita in questa zona arida. Che comincia con Jodhpur e la sua stupefacente fortezza.

... sweaty, weak, and unable to even hold my head up. My aunt was woken out of her sleep by my vomitting in the bathroom, and the both of us remained up for the entire night until the sun started to peak through the window, discussing our symptoms and some deeper life issues (its funny the things you talk about when two people are feeling at their worst and wanting to die and get it over with!) while waiting for the next episode of vomitting to begin. I seemed ...

... intricately carved images of female figures in dancing poses on some of the pillars. On Friday we organised our bus to Udaipur, picked up our washing and wandered around the small town. Cattle with large horns wander freely around the main street. We ate breakfast at a small roadside cafe where we got talking to some Indian youths there. Once they find out that you are from Australia all they want to do is talk cricket which Gavin is very happy to do.

... for Marya we dismissed this with a shrug and went upstairs to watch Harry Potter. With my days in Pushkar over I am back to traveling India and discovering its charms and irritations. My days are slowly coming to a close as I have bought my flight to Warsaw leaving Delhi May 1st to spend the summer in Poland before resuming further world gallivanting. With 6 weeks left I still have Gujarat and the rest of Rajasthan to explore while hoping to spend my last two weeks up in ...

... he's alive but lost an eye and ear and is currently in the hospital. Yes, we should be ok as we're in a group, whereas he was on his own collecting wood. Not surprising bear spotting became a more defensive activity afterwards. On our way down did some opportunistic caving which consisted of our guide instructing us through a cave that was about 60m long and headed up a gentle incline for around 10m. Sounds easy but when the process consist of ...

... to Mt Abu, so we settled into a 3 tier non-a/c sleeper coach. As soon as the train left the station we discovered why a/c is so nice! Obviously the a/c train attendants don't let any beggars or shoe-shine/zip fixing boys into a/c coaches, so they have nowhere else to go than to the non-a/c coaches! Waz had taken the wise choice and camped up on the top bunk - out of sight. I decided to sit on the lower bunk and look out the window for our 7hr trip. Bad choice. For 7 hours I was hassled ...