Funky Patrol Girls

We arrived in Chennai at night time, got a taxi to a hotel, any hotel we could get at that time. We only spent one day driving around in a little three wheeler “auto”. The first thing that struck me was the smells. Literally, it smells like curry and piss. But you learn to love it after a while. I also noticed lots of families just sleeping on the pavement which shocked me. And also the stray cows just hanging about everywhere! Saw the fort that started the whole city when the British took over, and inside where original portraits of queen Victoria just hanging in this smelly damp little room. We couldn't believe it! Then while we were still looking around, this Indian woman came up and starting chatting to us. She was so lovely, and took to a little place for some local Indian food. She then invited us back to her house for some dinner, and kept inspecting me to make sure I was healthy and smart. She was saying, “ my new daughter! “.

A very cute lady. We exchanged numbers and promised to go to her house one day.

Got an auto to a little beach town two hours from Chennai called Mamallapuram And went to this little guest house 5 minutes walk from the beach, with an okay but cheap room. On our first night we went out and got the most beautiful fresh seafood dinner and this small restaurant call the rose corner. We met some other travellers there and ended up being mates with them for a few hours. The day afterwards we went to all the famous touristy things to do around. We went to this place called Krishna butter ball, a rock the shape of a ball just sticking out of a hill. The story goes that all the kings and all the emperors brought elephants and hundreds of men to try and move that butterball, but to no avail, there is still stands today. A 17yr old boy came up to me and we got chatting and he wanted us to walk around with him so he could practise his English. We went to these carved temples right near to it. Massive big slabs of rock had been hand carved and formed 2000 years ago by some Hindus. The temples are all vines around with trees and carvings of all the Hindu gods. The boy explained all of the gods and everything to us. Very interesting. We looked at some other temples, and even though they are beautiful, after a while when you've seen one temple you've seen them all. We stayed there another night and then early the next morning got a taxi to the airport on our way to Delhi.

Delhi:

We checked into our hotel and then went to our first meeting for the Intrepid tour. We met all of the other people on the trip and went out for dinner and just got to know everyone. The next day we got up bright and early and did a walking tour through old Delhi . The markets and streets where crazy! Nothing like I had ever seen before in my whole life. Just so many people all crammed into one street. The traffic is crazy in Delhi! The roads there just aren't made for cars. And the tooting would drive anyone onto the edge of insanity. We went to a Sikh temple, and saw how they worship and provide homes and food for the homeless and disabled. Its really quite nice because we saw heaps of people just sitting around making Chapati (flat bread) voluntarily. After that we visited a Muslim mosque Qutub Minar, the biggest one in the whole of India. It was quite beautiful and old.

That night we went out for a walk to the streets where we could see and hear the main fireworks coming from.. It was Divali, the Hindu 'festival of lights'. There were so many crackers and fireworks going off it was like we were in a bomb zone, we couldn't walk one metre without some kids lighting a cracker. Really scary! Everyone was really friendly though, we had families and children coming up to us saying “happy happy Divali!”. Really nice.

Agra:

Got up early for express train for express train to Agra. After we got off the train, we got taxis to this place called Red Fort or Agra Fort. Such a beautiful place! Got heaps of pictures, and had a tour guide , which was kinda boring for me but the oldies loved it. Interesting to find out all the history of it though. Went back to hotel and had some yummy traditional Indian lunch. In the afternoon we were on our way to the Taj Mahal! When we got there it was breathtaking! Took five hundred million pictures, then lined up in a massive queue to look at the tomb of the old Maharajah and his dead wife. Soooo many families and people came up to me asking for pictures. They just love the blonde hair. One guy asked for one and as soon as he walked away another one jumped in and it just kept going. They were all standing around giggling and stuff. It was really funny.

Madhogarh

The morning after got on a bus for 5 hours to go all the way down to Madogarh Fort. Such a sweet place. We were welcomed with a prayed and some ochre paint on our forehead. And the fort itself was just stunning. So old, but restored so beautifully. The king (Maharajah) of the area owns the fort, and his forefathers lived there also. He welcomed us to, and was a really nice guy. He sorts out all of the village problems. Afterwards, we went on a village walk, and all of the kids came out and were loving all the attention. They just loved getting photos taken of them, we got about one hundred of little kids just mucking around. So cute. We then stopped at a jewellery making factory in the squashed back of someone's house and saw all these beautiful ladies in this cramped room sanding beads all dressed up in stunningly vibrant saris. We bought some pretty beaded necklaces. We stopped at the local chai man and got some cups of the best chai (Spiced tea) we have had so far. Just delicious. We then stopped at the bangle shop, and saw how they melt the resin and stick in the jewels and the paint . We bought a ridiculous amount of bracelets. Even now as I'm typing its going jingle jangle jingle!

That night they dressed us all up in traditional gear and gave us a bindii and had some classic Rajasthani musicians playing some music. We had a little dance lesson and all got up and had a go. We ate some beautifully cooked food and sat around and chatted all night. It was really fun.

Jai Pur:

The next morning we jumped into some Jeeps and on the road we were again. We arrived in Jai Pur, also known as the pink city. All the buildings, palaces and shops are all painted a rusty pink colour. We went to this place called Janta Manta observatory.. It was an ancient astronomic site, with big instruments that they used to calculate time in other countries and cities. It was also home to the worlds biggest sun clock. All about three hundred years old. With all of these instruments they can calculate the latitude and longitude of other countries, and how high the sun would be on that side of the world.

Also giant horoscope instruments used for understand and working out each months star signs.

The next day we went for a walk around the city, and saw the city palace. They had a museum inside full of all the old maharajahs clothes and old war weapons. Pretty cool to see some of the weapons they used. Some of them wear seats with cannon holders made especially to go on top of a camel, horse or elephant.

Then we went to the biggest cinema in India, holding almost 900 people in the one movie. We saw an Indian blockbuster film called “Blue” which was pretty cool but I couldn't understand a word of it because it was all in Hindi, the most widely spoken language in India. On out way back to hotel I was in tears. Riding in the rickshaw I saw mums and there babies just asleep on the pavement. I couldn't believe that they would even have children knowing that that's the life they were going to live too. The beggars really get to me too. Scruffy 15yo kids with babies at there hips. And the babies are all floppy with glazed eyes. So unhealthy. And there's nothing you can do, I mean, giving them a few rupee wont save there lives and for all you know they're druggies who don't even care about there kids and only use them as begging tools.

We had lunch and then decided to go out for a shop. We met this handsome young auto rickshaw driver named Risky who offered to take us to his Guru who was helping him train in reading people and healing. We agreed, but first had a cup of cha and he took us out to all of these warehouse places for clothes. The clothes were nice but when you are there you kind of feel obligated to buy stuff. We probably paid way too much, but got a few tops and a dress. Afterwards we went and saw his Guru. He said I was too young to read but he took Mum into a separate room and told her all this crazy stuff. She didn't talk about it on the way back, I think she was in shock or something.. We went back to the hotel and dropped her off because she wasn't feeling well, and then me and Risky chatted in his rickshaw. He was really nice, and had just got married to an American girl who he met driving the rickshaw. After a bit I went back to the hotel and ate.

Ranthambhore:

In the morning we got up soooo early to get a taxi all the way to Ranthambhore National park . On the main street away from the national park we were staying in the cutest resort with a swimming pool and a lovely garden, and our room was like a beach bungalow overlooking the green garden. Then we left for a Jeep safari through the national park. We saw a tiger and some samba, a black crested serpent eater, quails, languors, crocodiles and heaps of other birds I don't know the name of. The other group saw two tigers and a leopard! We were so jealous, but at least we got to see one tiger.

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Bundi

We went to this little town called Bundi and stayed in a palace heritage hotel which was really nice. We walked around and checked out the local village and went to the palace which is big and old and isn't touristy so its falling apart. Its a really cute village. We went to this guest house for dinner run only by women which is really unusual for India/. When there husband died they had to make money somehow so they turned their house into a guest house.

Near Bijaipur:

We went down to this massive lake and camped. But the tents aren't like normal camping tents, they're giant permanent ones with heaps of room and lots of furniture and a bathroom situated right on the lake. We sat around the camp-fire listening to music and watching the birds go past. The lake is full of water chestnuts and fish and lotus's which the locals come to farm and make a living on. We went for a walk around the village close-by and all of the children went crazy. They love having their photo taken but as soon as you take it, they all stampede you to get a look of the picture. They were the cutest kids, and we were happy to find out that they get free schooling, free lunch and school and free uniforms. The incentive for the parent to send them is the free meal so that's one less mouth to feed per day. Got in a Jeep for a few hours, our driver was really nice and showed us the henna plant, moonshine plant, the leaf used for making bidis ( a type of cigarette) and all sorts of other local uses for plants and trees.

Arrived in Bijaipur:

Such a beautiful palace (belongs to the Maharajah, king, of the region) with a warm welcome of drums and clarinet, a red bindi painted onto you, and a necklace of flowers. We went for an explore and found the nicest pool ever!

I got henna patterns done on my hands by two sisters from the local village. They did a really good job. They said it was the local style of henna for that region that their mother passed onto them before she died. It made me feel quite special actually! Then we went for a horse-ride around the villages and farms. My horse tried to buck me off a few times and was really nervous the whole time so I couldn't really relax but it was still a nice way to see the countryside. It kind of felt a bit demeaning to the village people. I mean, lets go for a trot in your village, look around, take a few pictures and then strut back up to our palace, harrumph. It was still nice. In the evening I did an indian cooking course, learning how to add all the right amounts of masalas and chillis and all that sort of thing. I can make a mean Chai now. (Spiced milky tea).

Udaipur:

We said goodbye to all the residents, jumped in a car for a few hours and ended up in Udaipur. A nice little town also by a lake. A little bit touristy for us though, but still nice to check it out. We had to change hotels like three times but when we finally got one, we went for a walk around. Some people went to the city palace, but I am so sick of palaces and forts that I convinced mum to just go shopping. Bought some new silk dresses and a leopard print pashmina and silk scarf which is really pretty. Had dinner on the roof top, looking over the water and the city, The next day we did a river cruise and some shopping and basically just relaxed.

Pushkar:

We woke up early for an AM train to Pushkar, where the biggest camel fair in India was taking place. We stayed in a little village of tents on the sand called the Royal Desert Camp. Soon after we arrived we had camels waiting out the front to take us on a safari through the fair. I felt like a maharani! (queen) Up so high! When we got to the actual fair we were breathtaken. Thousands upon thousands of camels just lined up in the sand. Some painted, some shaved in cool ways, some covered in bells and pompoms, some baby ones. Some were for sale, some for were shows, and some for rides. Every year, Thousands of Hindus also make a pilgrimage to Pushkar, to go to its holy lake. In the Hindu legends, when lord Brahma (creator of the universe) was making the world, made an extra puddle which fell down by accident from the sky and landed in Pushkar. Something like that anyway. Not only were there camels, there were donkeys, cattle and horses EVERYWHERE. Also the fun bit is in the other section its also a fair so there is rides and games and shops and fairy floss and everything a kid could dream of. So I had heaps of fun.

Mumbai (old name Bombay)

The next day we hired a taxi to take us to the train station a few hours away for our overnighter train to Mumbai. We booked a first class air-conditioned Coup, a little private cabin with bunk beds just so we could have out privacy while we sleep. 20 hours it took us, but you hardly notice once you sleep. The first impression of Mumbai is more modern than the rest. Girls wearing singlets and not saris was the biggest shock for me. But it made me feel like I could relax a little more. When we got off the train we jumped in a cab and came straight to our friend Ruchi's apartment. When she was studying in Melbourne, we took her in as a paying guest in out flat. So I guess its her turn. The place is a little poky, but cosy and relaxing.

For the next few days we didn't do anything too much. Just relaxed, went shopping and Ma got her teeth done at the dentist. A couple of nights we went out, either to see a movie or go somewhere for a dance. The nightlife in Mumbai is pretty good. So far Mumbai streets seem pretty clean but still polluted.

 We went to the city and saw old Bombay, Victoria station and Colaba the shopping street. We saw the Taj Hotel, which got bombed one year ago, and also a cafe which got shot up by terrorists around the same time. They kept the bulletholes in the wall as a memorial to the people who where killed.

The last day we went shopping at some mall, and went for a nice walk on the beach and visited Ruchi's work, a film production studio, then went out for goodbye dinner and drinks at a pub.

We said goodbye to Ruchi and Vishal and got onto the plane to Dubai to see my dad.