Ok, so it's been a while since I updated this so apologies for being crap, i'll try to pack as much information into this one as I can!
After our first few hectic days in Delhi we decided to go on a tour of Rajasthan which is a large state bordering Pakistan, we were originally planning to do this (or ar a similar trip) by train, but after shopping around a bit we found a 12 night trip that covered everything and was quite cheap, and following on from a long discussion with the company trying to convince us to go to Kashmir instead, we finally managed to book it so our route was now going to be:
Bikaner
Jasilemer - Camel Safari
Jasilemer
Jodhpur - 2 Nights
Ranakpur
Udiapur - 2 Nights
Pushkar
Jaipur - 3 Nights
Agra
This totals a ridiculous number of miles (I think about 900-1000 or thereabouts) so we spent plenty of time on the road between cities!
Bikaner
This was our first stop and after a long travel, we left Delhi at 7am and got there at about 5pm! We settled into our room and had a few beers. The next morning we got up and headed off to Junagarh Fort, pictures here (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=180447&l=787bc&id=783495322) this took a up a few hours before we headed off for our next stop of Jasilmer.
Jasilmer & Camel Safari
Camels - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=180450&l=a0fe5&id=783495322
Jasilmer Fort - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=180453&l=6fc54&id=783495322
We stopped off in the desert for a camel safari, this involved us going out into the desert for a about an hour to watch the sunset (managed to get some pretty cool pictures too!) we then headed off for a meal and some Rajasthan folk dancing, followed up by venturing into the desert to sleep on the sand for the evening and watch the sunrise. After the Camels we went off to our hotel in Jasilmer to shower and relax, the desert was fun, but not exactly comfortable and sand got everywhere! After this we then meet up with a guide who showed us around Jasilmer Fort, which is quite unique as it has 2000 people still living inside the fort! Jasilmer is known as the golden city as it's virtually all made out of sandstone and hence is golden.... We also took a tour of a Haveli, which are basically houses built for the wealthiest families.
Jodhpur
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=184516&l=b4194&id=783495322
Following Jasilmer, we hit the road again to Jodhpur, which is known as the blue city as most of the buildings in the old town are painted blue (as you can see in the pictures) this had a large palace/fort to look round and one of the most impressive tours we did, and yet I don't seem to have that many pictures!
Ranakpur
After Jodhpur we hit the road again for Ranakpur where we stopped in this hotel in the midst of a really green valley, with lakes on two sides, which we later found out are populated with crocodiles and so decided to wait till morning and sobriaty before going to look for them, we then headed off to a massive fort in the mountains called Kumbalgarh, the walls around this place take two full days to walk, it encompasses a massive area and we only managed to see a small bit of it before the heat started to kill us off!
Udiapur
Next we landed in Udiapur for a few nights, this city is features in the James Bond film Octopussy, so if you head to any of the travellers cafes in town the film is playing every night. So the second evening there we ventured up to a roof top cafe for a dinner and to watch the film. Udiapur is a fantastic place and has several hotels and palaces in the middle of its lakes, which look incredibly beautiful, and no doubt cost incredible amounts to say in!
Well i've got more to say about Pushkar, Jaipur, Agra, the 38 hour train journey we had to get down to Goa, the diving here in Goa, and our plans for Thailand but the internet cafe has filled up so the internet is slow as shit and Facebook just cancelled my photo upload after 50 minutes and about 40 photos, so there's none there, marvelous. So i'm going to head to the beach to book our bus up to Mumbai (we're only there for the day before we fly!) and have a beer or two.
Cheers
Chris
