La Vida Colorida

Day 126 - 129.

It was a smooth and scenic ride to Jaipur and as always we were regularly resupplied with onboard chai and samosas to keep us going.

We arrived at Montys place, him and his new wife Harshita would be the kindest and most genuine couch surfing hosts we've had to date. Being an avid traveller Montys flat resembled our own, the colourful wall hangings, well stocked bar, as far as even owning some of the same colourful furniture as us (which ironically we likely imported at a grossly inflated price from Jaipur in the first place!)

The next day, after feeling rested, clean and refreshed Jaipur was ours to explore. Limbster decided she would rise to the occasion and go out in style, although initially torn between the guilt of not wearing her new attire and the likely unwanted attention she decided to stay strong and head out sporting some classic Gujarati clothing. She looked fantastic might I add.

Jairpur was a sprawling pink city, therefore as always we tried to get up high first - me having a slight fascination now with seeing every city from above before being ready to explore it. We headed out to see the famous Amer fort, an impressive sight although sadly we were to catch only the end of the elephant convey descending the great steps despite our sprinting efforts in the 30° heat. We were rewarded instead with having to dodge the plentiful elephant dung left behind afterward.

Being a city of forts it was on to another for sunset, it was to be a long one as well thanks to our rather uncourteious Rickshaw driver but we embraced it nonetheless. It was hard to drag Limbster out of the fort museum (uncharacteristically a real stickler for history of late) however I eventually succeeded and we perched up on the fort wall. It was a perfect sunset view, and there we watched the daylight disappear whilst admiring the masses playing cricket on the sand dunes below.

The town itself is a bit of a jungle, literally. Crossing the road is a daring adventure which requires you to dodge not only cars & rickshaws but jeeps, scooters, camels, cows, horses, monkeys the odd pig and last but not least elephants - granted the latter were relatively easy to spot. To our delight one thing that always seems to come hand in hand with such madness is exquisite street food and we certainly did not hold back, stopping on each corner for chai, pakora, kulfi or just some good old delicious Pav Bhaji!

First, and second lassi here too, finally indulging in this famous Indian treat. Turned out to be just the sweet remedy for our bitterness one morning also after a few interesting encounters, but it is India after all.

Our host continued to deliver in terms of entertainment in the evening, from seemingly never ending wedding albums to an evening of bollywood dance lessons with Montys wife and her sister - I'm still doing my best to ensure the resulting footage goes no further but it's good to know limbster got a good belly laugh or two.

We spent out final evening with Monty and Harshita, sharing stories from childhood to politics over an ice cold beer and maybe one too many Jalebis.Läs mer

Day 141 - 143

The final stop on this incredible Indian adventure brings us back to Jaipur on the eve of India's biggest and most colourful festival - Holi!

After successfully sourcing some appropriately white attire (albeit very last minute) along with plenty of lovely mustard oil for Ellie's hair & the beard we were ready for the celebrations. We went to bed fully prepared for total carnage come morning, truthfully I was not expecting us to make it into the Uber without being completely bombarded with paint, only time would tell.

At first light we headed over to Monty's, our previous CS host and were joined by some of his family for some pre paint party prep. We miracualously made it to the Uber and across town unscathed, concluding the children must still be sleeping, it was 6am after all! Monty has sourced a stack load of paint, we couldn't wait to get started & took to the roof to get our pre battle faces ready. The children it appears have now awakened, boomboxes have moved to the rooftops and Hindi classics can be heard far and wide!

Driving through the streets of Jaipur to our Holi party was quite a sight, children, shop owners, policemen & just about everybody else was head to toe in pink, yellow and blue paint. The streets for Jaipur standards at least were deserted, with the participation in the colour festival taking precedent over the usual day to day activities.

You wouldn't get what came next anywhere else but India, certainly not in the western world. We arrived at 9am to a festival like area with booming music, a delightful if slightly odd combo of Hindi & Western remixes. Not only was everybody dancing their heart out, there was not a drop of alcohol or drugs in sight. We quickly loosened ourselves from our typical western reluctance to dance when not properly intoxicated and headed for centre stage to really let go, limbsters moves especially proving a hit with the locals. My mix of classic old man dancing merged with the odd bollywood move I'd copied of a local was less attractive, the video doesn't lie.

By midday the dancing began to take its toll, not only is dancing to Hindi music rather intense, the constant throwing of paint under the 34° heat was having it's own impact, my initial bright colours beginning to darken as the swear started to seep through - nice. We sought the solace of our hostel rooftop for the remainder of the day, hiding in the shade and enjoyed some well deserved Jalebis.

The remainder of our stay here was consumed with somehow shifting the 13kg of Indian goodies we had accumulated for our dream house back in the UK (Still hypothetical of course). The post office as expected after our previous Nepalese experience was pretty old school but by far the cheapest option. After waddling our way there we would spend a mere two hours inside before parting with our cash and saying goodbye and good luck to our well travelled belongings.

It is also time to reluctantly say goodbye to India and what has been an unforgettable adventure. We had toyed with overstaying our visa, given the willingness to accept a good old bribe I'm sure we would escape the government customs officers just fine but eventually decided against it, memories here will last forever - & it's time to make plenty more in the Phillipines.Läs mer