It's only been a few days since I last updated but so much has happened, I literally don't know where to begin. I am just going to briefly summarise because otherwise I will be here all day and if I stay inside all day I will never get a tan. Although tanning is difficult here because of having to cover up all the time so as to not be disrespectful and all that. Charlotte and I saw an American girl in a cafe the other day in a tiny tank top and daisy duke shorts and cringed - if you're going to go somewhere, you have to dress the part. I'm not saying I'd wear a sari or anything - to be honest I wouldn't - but, like, covering your shoulders and at least to your knees is essential if you don't want to be hassled all day. And to be honest we are still hassled. All. Day. It does get exhausting.
Anyway, I'm already getting sidetracked. We moved from Rhanthamboure after an unfortunately unsuccessful tiger safari tiger-wise, in that there were no tigers. Bad times. We were sitting next to two British guys and we saw a lot of deer and pigeons that all the other tourists were desperate to get photos of, but we agreed they were pretty much like the deer and pigeons I see on my drive to work every morning, so I didn't waste my memory card. Trust me, pigeons are pigeons in India or England.
We went to Jaipur and spent about four and a half hours, if not more, essentially furnishing our future homes at a textiles workshop and factory where the salesman was called Lucky, and brought us a LOT of chai tea and made us dinner. We both bought full-size carpets, I also got a bedspread, a tablecloth (which was free to be fair) and a wall-hanging which are going to be shipped home to mum (thanks mum) as there is obviously no room for them in my bag. I am looking at them as investment pieces and trying not to cringe about how much money I've spent! Still, no more - that is it for my shopping trips. I'm not tempted by any of the tourist tat to be honest, it's just tacky.
The next day we did some sightseeing around Jaipur, we saw three palaces which, ask anyone, is a LOT of palaces to see in a day. Regal and palace-y as they were, I think we were a bit palace-d out.
Then came my favourite bit of our trip so far - we went to see a Bollywood movie. It was about persuading people to do things, and also cricket - two essentially Indian things. Picture this premise and try and digest it for a moment - the England cricket team have been doing so badly that they all have to be fired, replaced by a team of amateurs. (Bear with me) The star of the new team is "Khali", a 34-year old fast-bowler (we never see him bat, not even sure if he can) who hasn't played for 10 years and goes on to lead the team to unprecented success and a 20-20 win before retiring gracefully with the approval of his (previously extremely disapproving - due principally to his view that English people are really racist, or something) father. I've missed out so many good things in that summary, like the amazing song and dance routines, and the various 2-D "characters" that make up the rest of "Khali"'s family (the aspiring rapper, the aspiring fashion designer, the girl who wants to marry a white guy - all have the same facial expressions throughout). And the fact that the film has an Interval - awesome right? And "Khali" spends the entire first half of the film eavesdropping on people and wearing a wounded puppy expression. Anyway, Charlotte and I absolutely LOVED the film, even though it was in a different language we understood pretty much the whole thing, the dialogue was that basic.
We had a disastrous and traumatic night-train journey to Jaisalmer for many reasons. And then the camel safari people just kind of didn't turn up, but thanks to a helpful man in an orange shirt we managed to make contact and off we went into the desert. We rode camels and watched the sunset out in the sand dunes, and then we slept out under the stars which was totally incredible. Such an amazing experience. We rode out there in this freaky camel cart and for a long time I thought the camel was magically leading us off into the wilderness because I couldn't see the man leading him on my side of the cart. Which the German guys and girl travelling with us seemed to find very amusing. And then this morning we got up, drove in the jeep back into Jaisalmer (which viewed speed bumps as a challenge - see one, speed up etc.) and now here we are in an internet cafe, about to have lunch.
So that brings you all up to date I think! Tonight we are on a night train to Delhi, have the day in Delhi (hopefully to shower) and then another night train to Rishikesh. I have to say I'm not looking forward to the endless night trains, especially after my last experience, but there we are. Very excited to get to the yoga festival though!
Miss you all, lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <3
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