India

Well the 26th of Feb was our last night in Pushkar - we were both pretty sad to be leaving as we'd made great friends with the chef and his little understudy called Bhopal, ,who was 12. He loved Mr Bean, and would regularly sneak out the kitchen to sit and watch it on Sky TV with us on the rooftop restaurant! He'd giggle all the way through. Thje chef, called Rajou, taught us card tricks, which he made us practice in front of him just to make sure we had them down to a 'Tee!'
Anyway, ,on our travels through Pushkar, we'd heard and read a lot about a drink called a "Special Lassi" which is effectively a milkshake made from yoghurt, ice and fruit juices. Theyre every bit as nice as they sound! However, the special lassi's have been laced with some form of mind altering substance (cannabis maybe? - although entirely legal may I add!!!) which left us both "extremely happy" and very laid back. We certainly enjoyed that night! Rajou also appeared to have been drinking these drinks, ,and by the end of the night, he was offering us free ones! Not that either of us needed them at this point!! In the end we retired to bed, in a scene reminiscent (SP?) of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas!!
All is well in Rich and Sho's little world!!

Hi ,

We made it to Pushkar on the bus from Jaipur with no problems although the driver was a bit of a mentalist on the roads!. Having a lovely time here. The hotel is lovely. This village is so peacefull compared to the city. On our 1st night here we had numerous power cuts. The village is in the mountains and apparantly this is a regular occurance here!. We manged with candles never the less and made friends with an English couple who are emigrating to New Zeland. We have been foe dinner with them a couple of times. We all went on a 3 hour camel trek into the Rhajastan desert yesterday. We watchd the sunset behind the mountains... was fabulous!. Our camels were great. Each of us were on a camel along with the camel owner. Shonah's was a 12 year old boy called Mohammed who somehow managed to climb onto the camel while it was standiing up up it's leg!.. He was so cute and he tought me indian songs for the majoriytym of the jourmey.. THe kept setting the camel into trot much to his amusement. Poor Rich had a really old Camel that seemed incapable of running! The owner of his camel insisted Rich tought him how to sing 'Nic Nak Paddy Wack!.

Thimk we are heading south to the southern tip of Goa where there are beautiful beaches - away from the main part.
Will update soon.

Love to all
Hope the bump is coming along nicely Andrea!.. Nearly bought the baby a lovlely indiasn suit yesterday! lol!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi people,

Its great to be able to keep in touch so frequently!
Just a quick entry as we are leaving for our bus to Pushkar (west of Jaipur) in a few mins.. The journey takes 3 hours , hopefully the bus will not be too packet and crazy! We managed to book our hotel in pushkar by phone last night. All of the hotels seem to be under two pounds per night and so far have been pretty good mid range hotels (exect the hole in the wall in the Delhi hotel room!)

We went for food last night at a revolving restaurant which is in the top of an ancient tower. The rotation took 45 mins and we got a great 360 degree view of Jaipur. We also visited the pink city yesterday which is a bazarre of bustling stalls selling cloth, spices etc. V interesting but am looking forward to some relaxation time away from the bustle!

Saw a few camels yesterday and the odd pig that trotts past our balcony rooting for food! Am odd sight i must admit!

Take care everyone,
Love 2 all

Sho and Rich (Dobber and Dicky Dutch!)

Sho's busy on the other computer at the moment so thought id add a quick entry whilst she does what she needs to do!
Went for a visit to the Red Fort in Old Delhi today. Had no idea how to get there so took our first ride in a rickshaw! Was certainly an experience to remember. The pollution is horrendous though - you can feel it blacking your lungs, especialy when you're stuck in one of the numerous traffic jams which plague this city. The fort was excellent though - completely dominating the skyline. Had to go through numerous security points and we were both searched before entry - the guard assured me that it was alright - "tourists good, indians not so good!!!" Made me chuckle!
There were plenty of soldiers inside as well, admittedly all sat round reading newspapers, but with AK47's slung over their shoulders!!

Got some nice photos to show, so will try and upload them at some point, although im not sure how I'd go about that just yet!!

Just had tea anyway, in an effort to get an early night as our train leaves for Jaipur at 6am tomorrow!! Looking forward to a change of surroundings and hopefully a more peaceful existence!! If not, we're going to scoot to Pushkar in our quest for a quiet life!!

Love to all,
Rich