Borneo

Day 1 - Arriving in Borneo

Wow!  Even looking out the window of the plane while coming in to land was breathtaking, seeing hundreds of jungle filled archipelagos dotted around the turquoise water, the majority of which looked completely untouched!

By this time our body clocks were pretty messed up after a days sightseeing in Delhi and two flights without sleep we touched down around 4am, only to be hit with a wall of nearly 30degree heat which only confused me even more.  Getting quite keen to find a base we grabbed a taxi into Kota Kinabalu where we found a small place to stay called Borneo Global Backpackers.  This turned out to be quite a find by Chris as the people are lovely, the rooms are nice and it only set us back 6quid each.  They were also very helpful in helping us find out feet by giving us maps and suggestions on places to go.  We headed into town on the bus and sorted out all the climbing permits and other things that will allow us to climb mount Kinabalu on Saturday (Borneo Day 3)  Although this was pricey by our budget, this was one of the reasons for coming to Borneo so neither of us felt to bad about parting with the cash.

After all this hard work and traveling we decided to find something to help us relax, what better that to go for a swim in the warm ocean while watching the sun set over the horizon.  The beach was almost empty in places and had a nice local restaurant where me and Chris enjoyed some Pad Thai enjoying the last of the light.  The madness of India seemed a hundred miles away and although it had been exciting, I don't think either of us missed it at that point in time.

We made our way back to our hotel and are currently chilling out in the communal lounge watching some tv and interneting while Chris is catching up on some Thai homework.  Cant wait to wake up tomorrow,  Borneo is perfect!

Ben

Day 2 - Staying in Kota Kinabalu

In an attempt to keep our body-clocks in check we opted for a fairly early night last night as tomorrow we need to be up at 5.30am in order to catch the 2 hour long bus ride to Mt.Kinabalu to begin our epic climb.
We woke today about 7ish and after a very makeshift breakfast headed back into the city to try an rectify a few issues that had arisen yesterday. Namely, after visiting a cash point to trying an draw out money, both getting declined, and upon asking the bank teller being informed that the cards out here use 6 digit pin codes and out 4 digit cards won't work, we were getting concerned about funds. (We had just spent all our cash organizing the mountain climb and were essentially broke!)
1 hour, several questions, some walking and 1 HSBC bank later, problem solved......

Wandering back towards the coast we happened across the most impressive looking mall. ( I know... hardly an exciting thing to do when all the way in Borneo) But after what we had just gone through in India we thought it well worth a look.
I suppose now would be a good time to reiterate how bad India was for buying even the simplest of things and if they ever saw a mall they would think someone had come down and touched them!
Also, everything here is so clean, spotless in fact. It's amazing and such a contrast!
I think we managed to spend about two hours in there, Which for 2 lads is quite impressive. But then we did have 8, yes 8 floors to get through!
After buying some socks (lol) we meandered along the coast just soaking in the view.  Islands in the distance, fishing boats moored up and little speed boats darting about.
Eventually we happened across a great looking bar/restaurant right on the waters edge and indulged in some decent food and a beer.
As tomorrow is a huge day, we wanted to just unwind for the rest of the day, and what better way to do it than back at the beach.
Ben even found so people to play some football with. Something he's been driving me insane with since we got to India :) So that was it. Football on the beach, a few hours floating around in water as warm as a bath and little nap in the sun, Now its off for dinner and a rest as Adventure Mt.Kinabalu begins in the morning.

Wish us luck!

Chris

Day 3 - Mount Kinabalu

Got up at 5.30 to get ready and make our way to the base of mount Kinabalu to begin our climb. As we were approaching where we were planning to get the bus, we were intercepted by a minibus driver who offered the same journey for 1 Malaysian ringet more (20p) and said it took an hour less than the proper bus.  We hardly had a choice so got it.

Everything was going smoothly until I made the number one biggest backpackers mistake.  As I am not the best early morning'er I was fast asleep within 2min of getting into the minibus and knockout for the whole 90min journey, only to be woken abruptly by being forced out the minibus as we were there.  Still half asleep I did my checks and realized I was one item down.....   MY PASSPORT!  Only to look around and see the minibus speeding off into the distance.  Surprisingly this woke me up pretty quickly and I ran to the nearest help desk and began desperately to try and explain my situation.  Although it seemed like an impossible task, low and behold they had contacted the taxi company, located which taxi that had left at our time and managed to obtain his phone number all within 20min.  The driver turned up 30min later holding it in his hand and gave me a very strange look when I tried to hug him.  Feeling more relieved then ever before and still high on adrenalin I gave the woman 20quid for sorting everything, which I regretted a little bit later as i realized it was kind of her job working in tourist information n'all but I was pretty lucky to be holding my passport anyway.  My passport is currently duck-taped to my forehead so I  definitely took on board the valuable lesson there.

As we were about to leave we met a Swedish girl called Jo who was traveling alone and she asked if she could join us on the climb as every group was required to walk with a guide and these were not cheap.  We obliged and were introduced to our guide who has climbed twice a week for 5 years and claimed his record to the top was 90min.

After this 'minor' passport mishap we made our way to the main gate to Kinabalu park and began the epic climb.  The first 3km was like a relentless stair master.  The stairs were substantially steeper than your average house stairs, most of which took a small leap to climb, that winded through the thick jungle until we were climbing through a thick mist of cloud.  At about 3km the stairs started to turn a mixture of rocks and dirt which required a lot more concentration to navigate my feet further and further up the mountain until at about 5km when we finally left the last of the clouds behind.  At this point I was so tired I was running on pure adrenalin, as well as starving hungry as my lunch consisting of 2 hard-boiled eggs, a chicken drumstick and 6 sandwiches barely made it past 2.5km.  Although 5km might not sound much at this point we had climbed to over 3000m above sea level, over 3 times taller than the highest point in England.

After 4hours and 6.2km we reached the night lodge at 3500m above sea level.  Baring in mind the average time is over 6 hours we modestly spent a while discussing how awesome we were and tried to calculate how many people we had overtaken on the way up.  We were quickly put in our place by the porters who get payed 50p a kilogram to bring supplies to the night lodges when we saw a reasonably old man overtaking people with a full size dish washer strapped to his back.  The lodges were a great experience in their own right as they were wooden buildings raised on stilts that were cut into the jungle, with a large buffet room and a balcony that overlooked the whole island, conveniently facing towards the sunset.  Even after seeing an amazing sunset in the deserts of India and a beautiful one the night before over the beaches of Kota Kinabalu this was still a breathtaking sight as it set over the entire rain-forest and the sea miles in the distance.  After dinner and some cards we headed to bed at 8oclock in preparation for the 2am departure the next day.

Ben

Day 4 - Reaching the Summit and Climbing Down.

After very little sleep we set off at 2.45 in the pitch black following a line of head-torches through the last remaining vegetation until it was just pure rock.  At about 7km it became so steep that we had to use the ropes to climb some sections and the path fizzled out until were were navigating our own way up the rock face. At about 8km we reached the top of the rock face, then turned right and began to follow the top of the ridge up to the peak.  I almost bolted up this last 800m as I was so desperate to reach the top and touched the sign at the top at 4198m after a total of 6hours climbing.  After stopping were suddenly struck by the extreme cold of easily less than 0'C with the addition of a very strong windchill factor.  We wrapped up with the blankets we stole/borrowed from the lodge and found a good spot where we snuggled up to wait for the sunrise.  Even reaching for my chocolate or peeping the camera above the blanket was enough to send me back in to extreme shivering but all was made worth it as the first bit of sun started to emerge in the distance.  We were very lucky with the weather as the visibility was good enough to see to the coast in a few directions all though a lot of the forest was covered by low clouds a 1000m below.  We had spoken to people who had seen very little due to weather but on a completely clear day it is said that you can see all the way to the Philippines.  Even with the biting cold, exhausted legs and very little sleep in days, this was still the most amazing view I had ever seen and it made every minute of the 9km endurance completely 100% worth it.

Ben

Day 4 Cont. Climbing down and Heading back to KK

At about 7 am, after the sun had fully risen and we were starting to feel a small, very welcome temperature increase, we packed up our bags and started to make our way down the mountain.

Going down is so much easier than going up, but believe me, it's still not that easy after what we had just endured. We made it back to the lodge shortly after 8 and tucked into another buffet breakfast. Our guide told us we could have up to 4 hours before beginning the decent to the bottom if we liked, but we decided that we would just have a quick 30min nap to let our food go down and crack on.

And 9 o'clock the alarm sounded and after almost literally dragging Ben out of bed we got going.

It was a beautiful morning, hardly any clouds in sight, and a great view down the mountain (on the way up it had been really misty and very hard to see anything)

 

We left dressed like Eskimo's, but after every 500m or so with the temperature constantly rising, layers were removed until we were back in shorts and t-shirts.

It was a really pleasant walk down the mountain, no huffing and puffing, just letting gravity do all the hard work. In fact I believe we made it down in about 2.5/3hrs.

Near the base of the walk there is a small waterfall, and Ben jumped right in! (freezing!)

We were almost running for the last 1km and left our guide on the mountain never to been seen again.

After another buffet lunch, and a lengthy haggling session with a taxi driver we arranged a lift back to Kota Kinabalu. We dropped our bags off at a hostel and Ben and I left Jo there and headed to the beach to allow our legs some much needed R&R.

Total bliss after the day we had just had.

We'd made dinner plans earlier after gleaning some information about a local bar serving cheap drinks (3 cans for 2quid) and met up with Jo back at the hostel around 6.30 and left for diner about 7.

It was on a busy, pedestrian only street with about 4 or 5 bar/restaurants around a central seating area, 

Temptation got the better of us and we managed to down endless cans of beer before an absolutely terrible live band came on and we left in search of a better venue.

Surprisingly we found a very English (Weatherspoons) looking pub and stayed for just a few more drinks.

Having not slept for what feels like forever we went home and were asleep in seconds.

Chris

Day 5 - Back in Kota Kinabalu

Jo had a flight to catch today as she was heading to Penang, she was up and gone by 9am, after managing some feeble goodbye's we were right back to sleep for a few more hours!

When we eventually dragged our asses out of bed the 1st thing that came to both our minds was the unbelievable amount of pain in our legs. We just sort of flopped about on the floor for a bit trying to convince our legs that we really did need to retain the ability to walk.

A nanosecond decision was made to catch a taxi back to our original hostel instead of walking, and we were off.

There's not really too much to say about today.  When we got to where we were going we made arrangements to travel to Sepilok tomorrow. (the orangutan sanctuary) and booked a taxi to take us to the long distance bus station. It's a 6 hour drive.

I'm not too sure how this happened, but we convinced ourselves that a gym session was needed and got some directions from the guys at reception to a local gym.

This turned out to be a great idea, and after a killer sesh, 15mins in the sauna and swim in a rooftop pool we were feeling great, Apart from the inability to walk properly!

We grabbed dinner in a quiet little restaurant on the walk back, and arrived back at the hostel to find a small party happening in the communal lounge.

So were off to get involved.

Chris

Day 6 - Traveling to Sepilo

Spent most of the day on the bus as it was a 6 hour coach journey across the island, we arrived in Sepilok around 5 only to find the hotel we had planned to stay in was fully booked.  Luckily there were a few in the local area and we quickly found a nice cheap place to stay called Forest Edge Lodge.

After checking in and dropping our bags off we set off to explore the lodge.  This may not sound like much of an exploration but it was buried into the rainforest with paths and trails winding everywhere and even had its own farmyard animals (not typical English ones obviously).  After finding the majority of the main attractions such as the pool and restaurant we found a path signed as 'forest trail'.  Not knowing what to expect and dressed in shorts and sandals we set off down the trail.  This turned out to be over 30min of dense rainforest, crossing streams and climbing steep banks until we finally made out way back out the other side.  This appeared to be a success until I got home and realized my feat were covered in leaches!  One of which was now the size of my big toe and still growing!  I suddenly remembered the normal advice is to burn them off, great advice unless you don't have a lighter, so I spent the next 10min wrestling with them because there extremely slimy and equally as stubborn.  At this point I was bleeding everywhere, when I went to ask for a mop to clean my room the staff said that you shouldn't go into the rainforest without leach socks, great hindsight thanks, I just wish they had given that advice before we went trekking!

Ben

Day 7 - Sepilok

Woke up reasonably early to make sure we could have breakfast in time for the morning feed at the Sepilok orangutan rehabilitation center.  We really didn't know what to expect as we had not heard that much about the place and had read in a book that you shouldn't be disappointed if you don't see any orangutans.  We payed at reception and made our way across a winding walkway suspended off the forest floor through thick rainforest.  After a few hundred meters we thought we spotted an orangutan in the trees and both desperately tried to get our cameras out and zoom in to the smallest amount of its fur in the distance.  After this we continued 30m round the corner and suddenly saw an entire family of about 30 orangutans swinging from tree to tree and lazing around everywhere.  Turns out they were a bit more domesticated then we thought and this was the initial stage in their 'rehabilitation'.  They were basically all just hanging around for the man with the bananas to turn up so they could all converge on one spot and fight over the food.  Some were a little shy and wouldn't head over to the feeding platform before the humans had left but others simply strolled over and just casually took the food out of park rangers hand.  Most of the orangutans grabbed as much they could in each hand (all 4 of them) and swung away to a trees somewhere to munch.  The whole thing was a really exciting experience and it fascinated me to see how human-like they acted.  Although these were quite domesticated, like as orangutan seemed quite fun, just spending most of the time lying around and eating bananas, although they showed us how quickly they could move if they ever needed to.

To keep busy before the next feed in the afternoon we walked the few kilometers down the road to the Rainforest Discovery Centre.  This was part of a huge conservation area that was designed to educated people on wildlife, plants and how to look after the rainforest.  We saw the supposedly biggest tree in Sabah, looked around a museum, walked across a canopy walk that peaked at 26m above the forest floor and saw a variety of borneo's plantlife.  Unfortunately after setting off for the 'big tree' it started to rain, rainforest-style, which basically means you are drenched from head to toe in minutes and large rivers start forming where there wasn't any a a few seconds before.  We ended completely soaking but it was definitely the best way to experience the jungle and the whole thing was really exhilarating.

We headed back for some lunch and got changed before going back to the rehabilitation centre for the afternoon feed.  This was a quite similar experience to the morning but I managed to get some much better pictures of the orangutans and for some reason its impossible to get bored of watching orangutans eat bananas.

I spent most of the evening sat in the jacuzzi and steamroom while enjoying the nature around the resort (except the mosquitoes) while Chris studied his Thai homework.  After dinner and some chilling we ran out of things to do and as it becomes a warzone of insects after dark we headed back to our rooms, climbed into our mosquito nets and got our heads down for the night.  Got to sleep relatively quickly and spent the night dreaming about orangutans.

Ben

Day 8 -  Day at the Beach

Day 9 -  Day Exploring Kota Kinabalu

Day 10 - 

Day 11 -  Traveling to Bali

India

Day 1: Phuket - Dehli
After rolling into bed at about 2am after party in Rawai, it's a 5am start to set off to phuket airport.
After coming to the conclusion that I regret flying with a hangover, the rest of the trip was fairly un-eventfull and the 5 hour flight to Dehli passed in what seemed like seconds.
I arrived in Dehli to find Ben waiting for me at the airport, Cheerful as ever despite being convinced by the hotel that my flight was due to land an hour earlier than it actually did and having to wait 2 hours for me at the airport.
On the up side he had managed to blag a free pick up from the hotel, and when we went to the car park the taxi driver hadn't done a runner, so things were looking good.
We set off for the hotel and "O my god" if I ever thought the driving was crazy in Thailand.... India is worse!
It's a total free-for-all, while oncoming lanes of traffic fight and jostle over every inch gap that becomes available, you can guarantee the at least 2 motor bikes will be trying to fit down the same impossible gap, and it becomes a dance of 1inch movements until you can force you way to the front. Apparently this was 100 times better than when Ben originally arrived  and he had already witnessed one accident, and the drivers incredibly "blasay" attitude towards it...    To the extent where he happily;y got out of his car on the dual carriageway and was re-attaching his wing mirror with cars hurling past him!
We arrived at the hotel about 9pm grab'd a great curry (of which Ben had had several already!) And decided to go for a little explore.   
This probably was a mistake!
After a few minutes and a couple of left turns, we found ourselves on a narrow allyway, getting darker and narrower, and then darker still, with and increasing number of packs of dogs, wild cows and the odd unsavory looking character.  We could feel ourselves increasing the pace of our walk the last streetlights fizzled out and we were almost in total darkness...... it seems to go on forever. How happy were we when we made it out the other side to see some bright lights from another hotel and at this point decided we would bed down for the night and leave Dehli in the morning!

Chris

Day 2: Delhi - Agra
We got up and made the most the the loosely described Continental breakfast - (Toast and cornflakes!)
And went to speak with someone about getting a train to Agra......  And this point, with the help of some suave sales techniques we proceeded to buy a 12 day tour around all of India! (actually just rajastan!) This included a new Aircon Car inc. Driver and 12 nights stays  in all the appropriate hotels. In hindsight, this was a fantastic decision as we are managing to fit an awful lot into such a small time frame.
Our driver is awesome, (total understatement! He appears to not need to sleep or eat, yet every day appears without fail bang on time, cleaned, pressed and a big smile!) Heaven know where he goes at night!

We loaded the bags into the car and set off to Agra (4ish hours away)

When we got to Agra we collected a tour guide that just materialised by the side of the road and went to have a look around "The Red Fort of Agra" Absolutely immense building, Built possibly in the 16th century to house an entire army, and allow the King to be able to look at the Taj Mahal. It looked completely inpenetrable apart from the swarms of monkeys that were playing everywhere and seemed to have found a good home.

After this we headed back to the hotel and to rest and catch a movie, and then tommorow its off to "The Taj"

Chris

Day 3: Agra - Ranthanbore

Up at 6.30 in an effort to watch the sunrise at "The Taj" which our tour guide assured us was plenty of time, Only to open the curtains and see daylight outside....
Met our driver and guide in the lobby and set off to the "Taj Mahal" Grabbed our tickets en-route and were then informed that cars weren't allowed to drive up to the gates and we would need an alternative method of transport. There was a Free electric bus, or for 100 rupees we could take a horse drawn carriage up to the gates. We took the horse.

When we got to the gates we found out they didn't even open until 8am so rushing for the sunrise was a futile effort. however the que was already massive so the early start did leave us in good stead.

:- "The Taj Mahal"

What an jaw droppingly beautiful building. Entirely hand crafted from huge slabs of white marble, With the most intricate carvings on all the walls, pillars, and even the ceilings. All of the black detailing and graphic designs on the walls, rather than being painted on are actually inlaid black onyx! (carved and set into the marble) All done by hand. Taking a total of 22 years and 20,000 workers to complete!
Unfortunately it was a bit of a foggy day so visibility from "The Taj" wasn't great but it did give us a wonderfully soft glowing sun which made the white marble look almost orange.

In fact our guide informed us that the marble changed colour throughout the day according to the sun.
Soft orange in the morning with the sunrise.
White in the afternoon under the midday sun
and red in the evening with the sunset.

I believe "The Taj" was built for the kings wife after she died, having left him a note asking him to make something nice for her! :---check wiki here!
If he did it b4 she died, I wonder what he must have done to need to do something that extravagant to get himself out of trouble.

After leaving the taj, we headed back to our hotel to grab breakfast and pack, then we headed off to a marble manufacturing workshop to see how the marble and inlays are crafted, Incredibly delicate work, and they produced some fabulous pieces. And as always..... The famous hard sell at the end! Being led into room after room with increasingly smaller pieces every time trying to push for a sale!

After extracting ourselves we dropped off our guide and headed for Ranthanbore, where the unkown lies ahead!

Chris

Day 4: Ranthanbore - Jaipur

We arrived in Ranthanbore early evening the previous day, The hotel was ok, and this one even had a swimming pool (Ben was straight in!)

Ranthanbore at this point we discovered was a Safari town, with not much really to do. We were told that we needed to be up and ready by 6.30am the following day, After dinner and catching the end of a show put on by the hotel, we bedded down ensure an early start.

Up at 5.45am in the morning...... "groan"
Showered, dressed and waiting by the side of the road for a pick up, not knowing who, where, when or why.
After having to wait for at least 30/45mins our off roader finally arrived......
We piled in and set off, To be fair, It turned out to be more of an off road experience than a safari :(
I guess the most surprising thing that we saw was reminiscent of a traffic jam on the M25......   Not really what we were expecting in the outback.
How-ever all was not lost, We did see a terrapin, spotted deer, antelope and a gazelle. We did apparently see a tiger paw print in the mud.... But we recon it was a guy with a paw on a stick.. lol
We were told by a few other fellow travelers that they had seen crocodiles and tigers elsewhere..... Maybe next time.

We grabbed lunch, Packed up collected cabbie(our driver) and set off for Jaipur (5-6 hrs away)

We arrived in Jaipur early evening, and checked into our new hotel. Clean, Tidy and another pool... Bonus :)
But even colder that the one in Rathanbore, After settling down we wandered the streets of Jaipur in search of a cheap restaurant and off-license  ( It appears it is quite hard to buy alcohol here and a fair amount of effort is required in the search effort)

A curry and a beer later and its back to the hotel to rest for a days sightseeing tomorrow.

Chris

Day 5: Jaipur

Up again at the crack of dawn. Managed to down a quick breakfast before leaving the hotel this time, and we set off the "Amber Fort of Jaipur"
Amber fort is another monstrous fort built by one of the past kings of India to house himself and his family. Massive, Built from the same white marble as the "Taj Mahal" with the same intricate carvings on the walls and ceilings, However all the graphics work was painted this time rather than the delicate inlaid black onyx like used in The Taj.

Being built on the side of a mountain, im sure you can imagine the views are fantastic and the flamboyance of the people the built these palaces is immense .
We got there about 8am and got a elephant ride to take us up the side of the mountain, This was Bens 1st elephant ride and he loved it.

After a few hours at the Amber Fort we headed off to... belive it or not, The Albert Hall.
A fabulous building, Built in honour of Prince Albert when he came to visit India.
Currently it is being used as a museum. Not really got much to say about that. It's the same as every other museum......

After that we headed off for lunch and then got dropped back at the hotel.

In order to keep funds in check we decided to have a lazy day at the hotel,
Ben swam (freezing pool - so i take my hat off to him) And I practiced my thai.
We ventured back into Jaipur for dinner and then crashed out for another 8am start tomorrow.

I would like to point out...... You have never, ever, ever seen so much rubbish and dirt in your life as what we have seen here! Agra and Dehli are quite literally knee deep in shit, and every where else in-between isn't much better. At all the city's the traffic is chaotic, wild stock roams freely everywhere and people line the streets shoulder to shoulder as far as you can see! Its actually quite un-nerving.

Not to mention as of yet we haven't met anyone that hasn't tried t sell us something, Or been even more cheeky and just outright asked for money......

O well, Off to Udaipur in the morning..... Lets see what awaits us there!

Chris

Day 6: Jaipur - Udaipur

Arrived in Udiapur last night after an 8 hour drive which went surprisingly quickly with 3 packs of crisps, a bunch of bananas and some banter with our cabby.  Plus its impossible to get bored with all the madness happening around and the driver swerving out the way of traffic coming the wrong way down the motorway, as well as the odd cow having a nap in the fast lane.  Udiapur is by far the best place we have been so far, beautiful lakes and rivers surrounded by palaces and tall buildings and narrow streets.  Met some fellow English travelers in the hotel and decided to go out an explore together.  One thing led to another and we ended up getting dinner, finding a nice little bar set in a private courtyard and ended up drinking beers and smoking sheeshas till closing time sat on sofas that were almost beds.  Great night in all.

Ben

Day 7: Udaipur

First 'kinda' lie-in in ages (8.15) and then proceeded up to the hotel rooftop restaurant where we met up with the English couple Sarah and Jamie that we had met the night before.  Breakfast consisted of a massala omlet and 5 pieces of toast as the toast here is basically a quarter of normal size and this was our only free meal of the day.

After breakfast we left the hotel and went exploring, as Udiapur is very compact and a relatively old city the streets are very thin and windy which only adds to the major traffic problems we've seen throughout the state and we were instantly hit by the exciting bussle of beeping motor bikes, cars and wandering animals.  Plus there are cows literally everywhere, none of which appear to have any owners and just roam the streets as they please.  In fact people tend to go to bed early in India and after 11pm you would expect to see a 10-1 cow - people ratio as well as the packs of dogs and the odd camel knocking around here or there.  We made our way through the madness to the City Palace, which is the largest in Rajistan where we hoped to discover more about the history of the city.  Before this we learnt a quick lesson in the Indian queing system which is not very 'British' to say the least.  After 10min we appeared to be even further back in the que then we started and only had this realization as we we started walking back down the stairs.  After reaching the end of this que the shutter was pulled down without any notice and we we forced to rejoin the back of the one beside.  It became apparent that if your weren't spooning the person in front then you were considered to be just an observer and not actually in the que.  Also this wasn't helped by the masses of parents sending their young children on sneaky missions through to slip in and buy tickets.  We must of looked an easy target as we were done twice with this technique even stood right at the ticket window.  Finally the man looked at my student card, decided to charge me full price, pocketed the money and tried to under-change Chris.  Fortunately we realized in time and he gave it up when he realized he had been caught red handed (with a 'worth a try' smile). 

The palace was impressive in size but not as ornate as the previous few and after an hour looking at painting after painting of the blood thirsty slaying of tigers and different kings with beards that could only be described as biblical, we decided to head for some lunch.  This was hindered by a torrential downpour that came out of nowhere so we decided eat at one of the first places we saw with a view top terrace (6th floor), that had a magnificent view of the entire city and the lake.  As I was irrationally hungry at this point and felt my 24th curry (and counting) was definitely a good idea, I proceeded to tuck in to chicken curry, steamed rice, naan bread and chapatis which I have to say, hit the spot quite nicely.

After lunch, still with our new English friends, we went for a casual walk along the lake side which got gradually more and more rural until we were the only people in sight and the road was unrecognizable, at this point we turned round and made our way back to the hotel to have some beers, play some cards and recuperate.

Going on a recommendation from the lonely planet book our friends were using we made our way to the museum where there was a display of traditional Rajastan dancing which turned out to be surprisingly impressive.  There was a man stood in the corner banging a drum while we were treated to various displays of dancing, puppet shows and a woman with a tower of 25 pots on her head.  It was definitely 'different' to say the least, we were sat on comfortable rugs and it didn't drag on too long so in all it was well worth the 60 rupees (90p).  From here we went to dinner at the same place as the night before and enjoyed some cheap food while playing some connect-4.  After dinner we re-found the beautiful courtyard sheeshas bar from the night before and persisted in chilling out, much like the night before.  The Indian staff really appreciated the loyalty and spent a lot of time chatting with us and taking photos.  We wandered back to the hotel, past so many cows it could of been considered a traffic jam, and hit the sack ready for the early morning that followed.

Me and Chris both agreed Udiapur was our favorite place so far and that the views and atmosphere were unmatched.

Ben

Day 8 Udaipur - Jodpur

We awoke under the impression that today we had a long, potentially uncomfortable drive ahead of us and not much else in the way of entertainment.... Luckily were good at amusing ourselves.
Taking advantage of the free breakfast and wanting to save some cash we headed up to the top floor for breakfast overlooking Udaipur Lake and chowed down on some omlettes and cardboard..... (toast)
The driver was due to pick us up at 8.30 and whilst we were killing time in the lobby a random tourist overhearing our conversation, decided to join in and inform us that the were some temples on the way to Jodpur that were worth a look en-route.

By the time we had got to the car, both Ben and I had forgotten the name that random guy number 1 had told us and we were on our way.
Thankfully for us, our driver, whom we have been convinced doesn't speak any English, overheard as well and deiced to stop at the suggested stop off anyway.
This turned out to be a great decision, A small collection on Temples and Monuments in the middle of absolutely nowhere, Tottaly isolated and very peacefull.
Upon arrival we were told that we must remove any leather items, which initially wasn't an issue until I looked at my wallet and it had stamped on the inside "Real Italian leather"
After removing the contents of my wallet into my bag, (no way I'm leaving my wallet in the car) Ben and I then got turned away from the gate as Ben wasn't wearing long trousers. Back to the car, quick change, and we were set to go....
Fairly uneventful, so after getting some dodgy looks as Ben was pretending to meditate for a photo we thought it best to leave.

The drive between Udaipur and Jodpur turned out to be truely spectacular, driving across dessert, over mountain ranges and terrain that looked similar to the safari we went on a few days ago.
In the mother of all cliche's we passed a group of moneys sat at the roadside eating banana's clearly as interested in the passing traffic as we were in them.

Upon arrivng in Jodpur we thought our luck was in, Comparatively clean and tidy and the shop houses even almost resembled something we might find back in the UK.
Under the incorrect assumption that we were going to go straight to the hotel for the evening as it was now 4pm, Our driver took us to Jodpur's Fort. This I have to say was absolutely amazing. I think the best one we have visited so far.  Built on the top of mountain(large hill) with a panoramic view in all directions. The weather was perfect today and it was possible to see as far as the eye could see.  Looking across "The Blue City"(all the houses were painted blue) Lakes, Rivers and another huge palace built in the center of Jodpur, which has now been converted into a Hotel/Museum.

Now as the sun was going down, it really was time to head to our hotel for the night. Again, pleasantly surprised seems to sum it up best.  We're staying in what seems to be more like a guest house than a hotel, The room is clean and tidy with massive beds, The front reception area is set up like an rich English hunters home, large carved dark wood dining table and chairs, Throw rugs on the floor and animal trophies on the walls. There is even a stuffed(presumably fake) life size tiger by the main door.

They even have a large snooker table upstairs which is free for patrons,

So..... we're off for a game

Chris

Day 9 Jodhpur - Jaisalmer


Another mammoth car journey today, about 7 hours in total.
Getting into the swing of these long car journeys and now as were used to not getting swindled at all of the roadside tourist cafes were managing to keep the cost down nicely.
Arrived in Jaisalmer quite late in the day. I think about 3 or 4pm
We got dropped off at the hotel and meandered into town.
Jaisalmer Fort is actually a live in fort, with approx 5000 inhabitant's, This was good for 2 reasons. 1. It was free to get in, and 2. There was plenty to look at.
We wandered around the streets taking the occasional glance at the textile and souvenir shops, and hunted out all the good view points.
We eventually found a great little open air cafe, right on the edge of the fort, with a beautiful unspoilt view across the city.
Thanks to our friends we met in Udaipur, We were now in possession of a photocopied version of "Lonely Planet India"      TOTALLY INVALUABLE.
Great recommendations on restaurants and sights and after a hour or so taking in the view we set off in search of a restaurant.
True to form we found a great little rooftop restaurant, with good food at good prices and tucked into another great dinner as the sun went down.
All the proper sightseeing was to be down tomorrow inc a camel ride through the dessert, So after dinner we headed back to the hotel to chillout and get prepared for the next day.

Chris

Day 10 Jaisalmer + Camel Riding in the Desert

Today started with breakfast of the usual masala omelets and toast, but this time sat at a roof top restaurant over looking city with the epic fort as the backdrop in the distance.  And as expected our cabby was outside 20min early all ready to go.

The first thing we did was drive down to Jaisalmer lake which was very tranquil and surprisingly quiet with only a few local stalls and a man feeding the fish.  (and loads of cows obviously)  As we were not that interested in shopping we decided to stroll around the lake where we managed to walk along a jetty on to a little temple island.  After removing our shoes and socks we explored the temple only to find it was completely empty.  We spent a while taking in the view of the lake and the sunrise and made our way back to the car both agreeing that it was a nice change from the insanity of the bustling streets.

 


The next thing we did was drive to the fort, which me and Chris had started exploring the day before, so we wandered round the remaining part of it and found somewhere to get a drink.  We discovered a lovely place where we could freely sit on a wall with a 50foot drop the other side enjoying the epic view of the golden city.  This place would be shut down in minutes in England but this is by no means the most dangerous part of the average day as lorries come down the wrong way on the motor way and camels and cows regularly take naps in the fast lane.

As it is not advised to spend all day in the desert we killed some time in the hotel around lunch time and jumped in the car around 3pm to make the 1 hour trip to khuri where we met an albino Indian and were introduced to our camels.  Without much hesitation we were galloping into the desert at high speed.  I was surprised at the top speed of camels as we lost sight of the village in no time but a 'bumpy ride' is the worlds biggest understatement.  The locals continuously laughed at how much we bounced around and neither me or Chris are walking that well today.

After a 30min ride we got off the camel and the guides galloped off into the distance without any explanation of what the plan was and left us in the desert on our own for 2hours.  We quickly found out that it was to watch the most amazing sunset over the sand dunes which changed colour with every 10min through yellows, oranges and finally and rich red as it was setting in front of us.  Just as we started to feel like we were truly in the middle of nowhere a boy walked past selling cold beer and water at extortionate prices.  Amusingly he checked back every 30min as he could see we were struggling with the heat and looked worried at the prospect of spending the night in the desert but we managed to hold out.  We watched the sunset and amused ourselves by taking photos of desert beetles and exploring the area until we were finally picked up after nightfall.

We then rode back to the village to meet our driver and make our way back to the city.  We had to make the difficult decision of a slow 60min ride or a quick and very painful gallop which was made up almost instantly by my rumbling tummy but we are both suffering from that decision right now.

On the way back we revived a call from the travelers we met a few days before and as our trips crossed over for the evening in Jaisalmer we met up with them and found somewhere nice for dinner, which was another beautiful rooftop restaurant.  The meal was great and we were treated to a 'musician' who just sang 'India very happy' over and over while playing a few random uncoordinated notes on a fisher price keyboard but it would of taken a lot more than that to annoy me after the great day were having.

Finally, still with Sarah and Jamie, we found yet another roof top bar, this time in the fort, and enjoyed some cold beers looking over the city until closing time.  We said our goodbyes, went our separate ways and strolled back to the hotel.

Me and Chris were suddenly struck with a problem, the hotel was all locked up and we had
no way of contacting anyone!  We decided the only thing to do was to find a way to climb in
to the complex over a 7 foot wall.  We threw our bags over and scaled the fence and spent a
min or 2 waking up the hotel staff so they could come and open the front door and then sheepishly
made out way to bed.  Although it was an exciting end to an eventful day we wont be doing that
again in a hurry.

Ben

Day 11 Jaisalmer - Bikaner

Day 12 Bikaner - Mandawa

Well it was only a short drive to get to Mandawa today, about 3-4hours.

Ben had higher hopes of our expectations for when we got there.

We had previously been told by our driver that there was nothing to do here, No monuments, no temples..... NOTHING.... and to boot we should be careful about venturing out of our hotel.

It was pretty much just a stop off point to break up a 13-14 hour drive to Delhi.

We arrived at "Mandawa Havelli" about 2pm,
It was an amazing building, about 4 stories high, surrounding an internal courtyard, with incredibly quaint rooms.

We settled into our room and then realized that there was no tv..... no problem, we'll go to reception and ask about internet. no internet.......
Ok, so it's 2pm, There's no TV, no internet, and we've been advised not to wander the streets.
What to do..  Well we thought we brave the streets and go in search of the world wide web.
After being shown to 2 possible internet shops and promptly being turned away, we found a guy offering internet services that was willing to let us in......
He showed us to a tiny little cuboard under his stairs with a computer wedged in the corner and not even enough room for us to both sit comfortably.
After 30mins of arguing with a terrible connection we gave up and left.
We got back to the hotel, wondering what on earth we could do to kill some time, and salvation! The hotel had a sheesha bar! So we settled down into some of the smallest chairs known to man in a dark little room in the corner of the hotel, decorated with coloured lights and intricate muriels on the wall and relaxed into a plume of apricot smoke and a few beers.


Chris

Day 13 Mandawa - Delhi

Mainly a day of traveling today, spent 7 hours on bumpy roads making our way to Delhi.  Wasn't  as bad as it sounds as we dozed in and out while listening to music and enjoying the landscape.  After all the complaining about people driving down the wrong side of the motorway our driver decided it was still better than waiting in traffic so it was out time to have a go.  Certainly didn't get any sleep for that short 20 min period of the trip as we were dodging oncoming traffic but we were keen on sampling as much of Indian culture as possible so this seemed like the last thing on our list.  

Finally Arrived in Delhi back at the hotel from the initial night and said our emotional goodbyes to our driver and only just realized how short he was when he wasn't sitting down in the drivers seat.  Regardless of this, he is definitely the coolest guy in India.

Got some dinner and negotiated a fair price for the hotel while finally getting the internet fix we had been craving since Bikaneer.  Watched a film in bed and fell asleep in no time.

Ben

Day 14 - Sightseeing in Delhi