India

November 2018 - March 2024
An open-ended adventure by Shahnavaz
Currently traveling
  • 52footprints
  • 1countries
  • 1,957days
  • 306photos
  • 0videos
  • 7.6kkilometers
  • 3.2kkilometers
  • Day 1

    India... First Stop Kochi!

    November 19, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌧 31 °C

    The moment I have been waiting for a long time, travelling India. We have been granted a 2 month visa which still won't be enough for this enormous country but I am very excited,nervous, but excited. The main aim of the trip is to visit my dad's old friends in Mumbai and to hear stories from his school days. Flights to Mumbai were very expensive, so we are flying to Kochi in Kerala, the South, and we will slowly make our way up aiming for Mumbai around Christmas time.

    Although we have taken quite a few flights this time round we really hate the impact it has on the environment and therefore avoid it where we can. Unfortunately today we have to take a very inefficient flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur where we then change for our flight . Its only an hour and we were hoping to get a bus instead but the buses would not get us there in time. Feeling very guilty for this short trip we got up at 5:30am, packed and jumped into a Grab to the airport where we had our final sachets of porridge and a coffee.

    The flight was easy as assumed and we were soon in KL airport drinking coffee and then eating lunch in the shopping centre at arrivals. We then began the dreaded procedure of checking in and going through security. We are flying with Air Asia to Kochi and at this particular terminal they are crazy for checks. They weighed all hand luggage (7kg), they sized up all hand luggage and you have to go through security at the beginning and before boarding the flight. We got our bags down to 6kg and pulled all straps to make them look as small as possible and luckily we were fine but I had stuffed 3kg worth of items around my body to get it all through! After an hour of waiting at immigration and document check area we had a well deserved sit down. I must admit reading Jurassic Park is helping me keep sane through these enormous waiting times.

    We had a very late lunch and then headed to our gate for boarding. Will was the only whiteguy in the waiting area! The flight was pretty average again and I finish Jurassic Park, I would definitely recommend it.

    When we arrived Will got through immigration with no questions asked, whereas I got all the questions. Gosh I hate flying... We were soon in a taxi and on our way to our homestay.

    When we arrived Juliet and her husband were really welcoming, but to be honest we were so tired we went straight to bed.
    Read more

  • Day 2

    Kochi!

    November 20, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    We both slept amazingly well but probably could have slept for ever haha Aware we told Julie we would have breakfast for 9:30am we got up and ready, had Puttu a local dish with rice noodles, sweet black tea and then began our journey around the town. We saw the famous Chinese fishing nets which were gifted to the Kochi King from the Chinese Emperor in the 14th century. We wandered around the costal line which was clearly suffering from severe damage from the flooding a couple of months ago. We then wandered along the narrow lanes to St Francis Church, the oldest church in India built in the 16th Century and then had a late lunch around 2pm.

    In the afternoon we took a rickshaw to Jew Street and the Dutch Palace. This area was very fun and lively with lots of hip cafes. We met a mother and daughter in a cafe who had been travelling in India for a month and they gave us lots of tips on what to see and do,which was great as we have come with zero plans!

    For dinner we decided to wander down the local area and found a restaurant full of locals. We had Othampan, dosa, 2 lemon teas, we were absolutely stuffed and it cost us £1.

    Today was just what we needed to ease us into the Indian life. A few sights and great food. Perfect.
    Read more

  • Day 3

    Backwaters - Boats, Boats, Boats

    November 21, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Wow and we thought the storms were bad in the Philippines! The storms last night were absolutely crazy. I've never heard rain or thunder like it. We didn't have a proper window in the room but it was very intense. The night before we had booked a boat tour along the backwaters and with this storm we really weren't sure if it was a good idea. We asked our homestay for their advise and they rang ahead to see what the weather was. They assured us that it would be fine for the morning at the least, so we just went for it.

    The road outside the homestay was just a river and we had to walk to the end for the pickup so we just had to wade through! Luckily it wasn't as bad as it looked and the bus soon came to pick us up. We met Jerry (from Vancouver) and Charlotte (from Essex) on the bus and they were super nice and the hour sat in crazy traffic soon passed and we were soon on our first boat.

    The ride was basically silent the whole way. The boat driver pushed the boat the whole way using a stick and therefore there was no annoying engine noise just the subtle splash of his stick coming out of the water. I must admit I do wish I brought my book as it was perfect for it. Instead I spent the first part updating my blog.

    Along the way we saw beautiful eagles, a green king Fisher, lots of red dragon flies, cormorants and A LOT of coconut trees.

    For lunch we stopped in a local village and were treated to a really yummy kerela spread. I must admit I'm currently in food heaven being in India and everything being vegetarian!

    The journey back after lunch was unbelievably peaceful and still. I think the whole boat was asleep at one point. I'm so so glad we didn't end up cancelling. The boat ride wasn't eventful but it was so peaceful, relaxing and calming.

    In the evening Will, Charlotte and I went to a hip teapot cafe and then we joined up with Jerry for dinner and had a paratha thali. It was super yummy. We've been here a couple of days and I just can't get enough of the food. I'm definitely going to gain weight here!
    Read more

  • Day 4

    Road Trip to Munnar!

    November 22, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    Last night Jerry had very generously offered to share his trip to Munnar with us. He had it already booked and asked if we wanted to join him. Of course we said yes and it was so much fun.

    We had a private car the whole day and we visited waterfalls, saw monkeys, saw lots of sea eagles, saw the gorgeous landscape along the way, ate endless amounts of incredible food and experienced our very first full journey on the roads of India. I must admit there were quite a few hair raising moments and moments of our life flashing before us but we arrived in the Beauty of Munnar safe and sound. Wow. Munnar is in the countryside on the border of Kerela, famous for growing spices and tea and it was just beautiful. The absolute highlight of the trip was when all of a sudden we saw all the cars pulling in and a cop sat at the side of the road. There was a family of wild Elephants!! I just can't explain their beauty. It just couldn't have been more perfect. They looked nothing like the beaten, flabby elephants in the zoos. These were magnificent.

    Our favourite Indian quote spotted for the day was from the Indian Navy, "Hit hard, hit fast keep hitting".

    That night we stayed in Munnar and did a bit of planning for our next steps. After taking a few people's advise we decided we needed to get up north ASAP before the weather gets bad and the fog ruins the beauty of the north. So we last minute decided to completely change our plans and go to Dehli! So tomorrow evening we will be in the hectic North of India. I don't think I'm mentally prepared for the craziness after all this peacefulness!
    Read more

  • Day 5

    Kochi - Dehli South to North in a day?!!

    November 23, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌧 31 °C

    Waking up in the beautiful tea plantations was a great way to start our morning. We started the day with Poori for breakfast and then wandered around the small town where we visited a very busy local temple. Reds, golds, blues, purples, green coloured saris flow around us like a multi coloured sea. It's just so beautiful. Everyone has huge pearly white smiles beaming at us as we walked around their town. What a perfect morning. Jerry must have amazing Karma as he paid for the whole trip and wouldn't take a single penny from us. He even us gave us his Indian Sim and in return we gave him our from the Philippines where he was heading to.

    We all then jumped in the car for our long journey back. To be honest we didn't really stop until we got to the airport around lunch time and then we went for lunch before having to kill 5 hours before our flight. We sat and chatted to Jerry which helped pass the endless hours and we were soon on our flight to Dehli. To our surprise our plane wasn't a budget tiny flight! It was a boeing 787! It had huge seats, in flight entertainment and even food! Luxury, well we did spend quite a bit on it having booked less than 24 hours in advance! On the flight I watched Fault in our stars and it's such an incredible inspiring, but sad film. I must admit I was crying on the plane! As I've decided to be vegetarian in India I was a bit nervous about the veggie option as normally its just terrible but I quickly remembered I'm in India and actually they only served vegetarian food! It was super yummy!! I had mori dhal, bhajia, rice and white Gula Jamun. Yum yum and more yum.

    Although we haven't been long in India and we definitely haven't done the south justice our few days here has been fun, spontaneous and picturesque. I can't wait to come back and explore more.

    When we arrived in Dehli I was super nervous. Dehli is scam central. I've heard horror stories of people being raped, people being taken to random hotels and being told theirs doesn't exist by locals, I even saw a woman in in the toilet at arrivals in tears because she had been robbed. My scam alert and guard was on. Before we left the airport we checked everything was securely away, that we knew how and where to go for our uber and we had the address clearly marked for our driver.

    Well we tried... Firstly the address didn't save and Google offline was not working for some reason, then when we arrived at the hostel our uber fair was r200 more than it should have been. To be honest I just didn't care and I was glad to be safe in our hostel. The owner of the hostel Vindu was incredibly kind and friendly. It was 1am when we arrived and he đạt and chatted to us, made us Chai Masala, discussed what he thinks we should do in the morning and then gave us a dorm room to ourselves.

    I must admit I'm just in love with India so far and we are only 4 days in.
    Read more

  • Day 6

    Whistle Stop Tour of Dehli

    November 24, 2018 in India ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    The plan for today... No plan!

    Vindu recommended that we get up at 8:30am for breakfast and then he would take us to the real tourist information centre and there we can discuss what we want to do and how. So we just rolled with it. For breakfast we have paratha (seriously I'm going to get fat...) and then we jumped into the car to to the tourist information. Our very vague plan was to go to Rishikesh and then begin our tour of the Royal state of Rajasthan. Our only aim and need at the Tourist Information was to book our train to Rishikesh as it seems impossible to do online without an Indian Credit Card.

    When we arrived at the centre we were greeted with a warm and grinning Latif. I must admit my scam alert guard was still on. I trusted Vindu but didn't trust anyone else including the driver that took us here. One of the most common scams in Dehli is taking tourists to a fake tourist information and then making them pay for ridiculous things. I checked our location on the map and it seemed legit although very close to our location on maps.me were various warning annotations of "fake tourist information", so all I could hope for was that my GPS was right!

    I must admit we soon warmed to Latif and let our guard down completely. He knew his stuff, he knew our requirements, budget, he was happy to help and I must admit we fell for everything! He gave us an incredible deal that I'm praying works out. We have a personal driver for 2 weeks to take us round all the sights of Dehli, Agra and Rajasthan including one night safari in the desert. He convinced us that going to Rishikesh this early is not a good idea as it we go to Rajasthan after it gets very busy and expensive whereas Rishikesh will be a bit easier to book trains etc in 2 weeks time. So we signed our name on the dotted line and we've taken a huge risk. We've paid the full amount, again something I thought I would never do, so I'm really praying it all works out. Sometimes I hate myself for thinking the worst in people, it's something I actively try and disengage from as honestly I truly believe I should always trust in humankind first. This is the biggest risk we have taken, in terms of handing over a wod of money, but only time will tell!

    So I've been in a car a couple of times now and I don't think I've really talked about the traffic and mental driving. Is it as bad as people say and what we see in documentaries? Yes. Do I feel safe? Yes. Are there moments when I hold tight and press my imaginary break? Yes. But honestly, maybe it's because we have been travelling for a while, the traffic and crazy driving doesn't feel or seem as bad as expected. Maybe my expectations are ridiculously low... I don't know. Of course there were points that we were in total grid lock and I genuinely felt like I was in the problem solving game Rush Hour with cars facing and moving in all directions albeit with the addition of a couple of bulls pulling carts, but I have 95% confidence in our driver and am just glad it's him and not me!

    Our first stop was to pick up our bags, we also discussed what we booked with Vindu and seemed happy with it. We then went to the cash machine and after a bit of a debacle with Halifax we were finally able to get out the required amount and paid the centre for our 2 week trip. We had a poori for lunch and then head out with our driver Ajay on our journey.

    First stop was the presidential area. The presidential Palace wasn't open unfortunately but from the outside it looked enormous. Ajay told us that the Prime Minister has 366 personal rooms purely for himself not including governmental rooms! Just across the Palace was the famous Gate of India. The reminded us of an enormous version of The Mall in London. Although the buildings were very impressive it was actually the number of Black Kites, the birds of prey, that was much more impressive. There must have been at least 30 black kites circling the area! It a rare sight to see.

    We then visited Akshardham Mandir, a temple on the outskirts. Wow, just wow. The rules of temple were quite strict and you weren't allowed to take in cameras, mobile phones etc so we left everything with Ajay and went in. What a peaceful, beautiful and mindful experience. Obviously I now don't have any pictures for my blog of the mandir but honestly I'm actually quite thankful for the experience. Sometimes you visit these incredible places and you just get wound up in taking pictures, getting annoyed at others "ruining" your shot or taking too long etc but without all this it was just fantastic. We walked around the whole mandir feeling unbelievably calm. It was such a nice feeling to not have to plan or care where our next stop was and to just enjoy being in the moment. I think this moment made me realise what truly being mindful means. In the guide book it says the Mandir represents the mind becoming still and where the soul connects with the divine and I agree. Obviously if you want to look at this incredible temple, please do on Google! The Mandir was one of the most beautiful temples I've ever seen, and we have seen a lot!

    After the Mandir we began our journey to Agra! Of completely honest I was quite nervous and unexcited to see the Taj Mahal. I heard that actually the experience would be a bit of a nightmare ie getting there, getting a ticket etc but after the events of today I am feeling really excited and calm about visiting my second wonder of the world. I am the luckiest person in the world right now and I just can't believe how fortunate I am and how we really do take everything for granted. I am going to soak in every single moment!

    The journey from Dehli took about 3 hours and I couldn't believe how straight the road was. It was literally one long road for 3 hours and not because of traffic but because it was just a ridiculous straight long road!!

    Another subject I've not touched on is pollution. Obviously Dehli is world famous for being one of the most polluted cities in the world and I must admit you can feel it. Luckily the temperature wasn't so high today but not only can you feel the pollution but you can see it.

    After dark we finally arrived in Agra at our hostel. We had a quick dinner and then went straight to bed ready for our early morning start.

    I'm so excited for tomorrow's blog.
    Read more

  • Day 7

    Who needs sleep... Taj Mahal

    November 25, 2018 in India ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    What a night. We booked a prioty dive of a place to stay in the night before the Taj and it was ridiculously loud the whole night. Music blasting, traffic noise constantly, what sounded like dogs killing each other all night. It was just carnage to be honest. After watching the hours slowly tick by we eventually peeled ourselves out of bed at 5am and got ready to head out to the Taj.

    In the dark we walked to the south gate. One queue for women and one for men. Luckily we had spoken to a couple the night before who gave us various tips including buying the ticket online and making sure the ticket was sent to both of us as we will be split in gender queues. Great tips!

    From the outside you can't see anything. You just queue at the towering south gate and you can feel the eagerness to see the wonder behind the wall! Luckily we got there for 5:45am so we got in quite quickly and at first you enter a court yard. I remember thinking... Where is it?! And then you turn a corner and it's there. This beautiful, glowing masterpiece. It was a surreal moment. My mum had always wanted to visit the Taj Mahal and hadn't had this opportunity. I was so honoured.

    We waited for sunrise to see the golden glow and it was really magnificent. We then walked through the mausoleum like a heard of sheep and were soon out enjoying being next to the incredible structure again.

    Did you know that due to pollution the Taj Mahal is now a browny yellow colour due to pollution and the government have to actively clean the monument to get it to its original white state. Today the pollution levels were 4.3 times the acceptable allowance and I must admit I could really feel the suffocation and I've come away with black under all my finger nails and in my nose. It's pretty disgusting...

    Now if I'm honest it would have been more incredible had they had the ban of cameras etc like the temple yesterday as it did ruin the atmosphere with people just trying to get that perfect shot but to be honest it wasn't too busy when we were there.

    After leaving we went for breakfast, collected our bags and met up with Ajay for the next part of our trip, Agra Fort.

    Agra Fort construction began in 1565 and is a made from palatial red sandstone. Jeez its big. When entering we had the usual touts and "tour guides" attempting to go in with us and luckily we didn't fall for it as we saw one guiding another tourist later and they were having an awful time. The Fort was really impressive and would have been better with a real guide who actually cared then it would have been great but it was still great walking around and just enjoying its grandness. From the edge we could see the faint outline of the Taj Mahal, not because it was far but because of the pollution.

    We then jumped back in the car to begin the long journey to Jaipur. It was very long... It took about 5 hours and we arrived checked in to our accomodation around 5pm. We then did our washing, had dinner and was in bed by 8:30pm shattered.

    What a great day.
    Read more

  • Day 8

    The Pink City - Jaipur

    November 26, 2018 in India ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Today we woke up very very worried. As I mentioned we decided to get a driver for our two week trip around Rajasthan. Although we have overall got a really good deal (£30 a day) it's begun to dawn on us how expensive this is when you begin including all the royal sights. We try and keep our budget to £30 a day total for the 2 of us including everything, but now it's becoming more like £75 including accomodation and sights! Although it's been a really great day sight seeing, we've not felt present at all. Our minds have just been drifting and getting worried about money. We then made it worse by looking at the cost of trains etc if we had done it ourselves and it would have been around £100 total for 2 weeks for transport... anyway that's probably very boring information for you so I'll move on to the sight seeing.

    Today we had a tour guide to take us around Jaipur. First we went to the Amber Fort which was very grand sat on the mountainside. So many people took a ride on an elephant to get to the top and honestly I just felt so bad for the poor creatures. On average each elephant does 5 journeys to the top and when we were walking back down the elephants looked so exhausted and were barely walking. We were told that the female elephants were beaten from a very young age to become docile and are trained to be transport. It's so sad to see tourists thinking this is OK. The fort was built in the 17th Century and to be honest it seemed the King had rather friendly neighbours and so there weren't any major battles during its time, so it was just used as the home of the King.

    We then visited the Water Palace, a Palace in the middle of a lake, which used to be the summer holiday home for the king. Its currently not in use and the government are thinking of privatising it so that it can be restored and looked after again.

    The next stop was completely pointless and to be honest made me a bit angry. Our tour guide took us to "textile factory". Let's be honest this is the most obvious scam, they show you how to print the pattern and then all they care about is making you buy stuff. We initially went along and saw him print a really awful elephant painting onto some cloth and then he took us to his shop, but I warned him I will not be buying anything. He sat us down, offered us tea etc and I told him I don't wish to waste his time and we will not be buying anything again. He just went on and on and I said we are leaving. I was really unhappy and told the guide I don't have money and if he does this again we will leave. Ajay, our driver, saw that I was upset and he shouted at our tour guide. Ajay is just super sweet and has been really understanding of our little money the whole way.

    Next stop was the City Palace which wasn't anything special and to be honest by this point it was 11:30am and I was beginning to flag. In the Palace were the two largest silver Jars in the world and boy they were big, 345 kg without water and would hold 4000 liters each! The King at the time filled these Jars with water from the ganges and took them all the way to England as he would only drink water from the Ganges. By this point I couldn't concentrate and I was feeling very weak. We both hadn't slept with worry of finances, we were both very dehydrated and we hadn't eaten any breakfast. Just overall we were not looking after ourselves.

    Next was the Observatory. To be honest this was quite the hidden gem. It wasn't listed in any of the blogs I read and it was fantastic! It hosts the largest sun dial in the world and it is very impressive! It also had various other astrological instruments including a zodiac reader. I would definitely recommend going to the observatory instead of the Palace.

    Our final stop was Hawa Mahal, Wind Palace. We didn't go in as its empty inside and the impressive structure on the outside is actually the thing to see.

    We then walked back to the car and got dropped off for a late lunch and agreed to meet Ajay at 4:30pm to go to the Monkey Temple for sunset.

    I must admit for the next couple of hours I just felt upset and broken. I was upset that we had been persuaded to get the driver for the two weeks instead of making our own journey. Its nothing against Ajay, he's been perfect and the journey has been top class, but it's the overall cost for us. If we were here on a holiday then obviously it's great value for money but when it is our full budget per day then it's just worrying. We spent the afternoon sat in a cafe with a view of the Wind Palace and discussing whether we should cancel the trip. The likely hood of being able to cancel was basically nil but we ummed and ahhed our time away. Before meeting Ajay we decided to go for a short wander down the back streets of Jaipur. It was soooo busy. Narrow lanes filled with hundreds of shoppers and motorbikes fighting there way through. CARNAGE! The walk helped us cool down and realise we can still enjoy and do our own things even with a driver, but I think we might go through ups and downs in this journey...

    In the evening we watched sunset at the Sun Temple and then went to the Monkey Temple. Both insisted on us doing Puja, welcome ceremony, which basically just meant they wanted money. We gave them a small amount and they were clearly annoyed but it's all we genuinely had with us. I hate when a donation is not seen as a donation and has to be a minimum amount. Temples and places of worship should be open for everyone without the unnecessary greed.

    For dinner we had mutter paneer and chapatti and for 2nd dinner Will bought an I versed omelette sandwich. Instead of the bread on the outside it was cooked in the middle of the omelette! Yum!

    In the evening we decided we enjoyed being with Ajay and that we would stick with it. The rest of the evening was spent chilling and planning for Pushkar.
    Read more

  • Day 9

    Pushkar

    November 27, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    In the morning we set off for Pushkar which is a smaller, quieter town centered around a lake where devout Hindus pilgrimage towards due to the abundance of temples, 300. The lake is considered the most sacred lake in Hindu mythology and many Hindus come to wash in the holy water particularly during the month of Kartika, Oct - Nov. Pushkar is also one of five places in the world that has a Brahma Temple.

    Along the way we asked Ajay to stop and help is get fruit fo breakfast to which he happily did. When asking how much the fruit should be he said he will come with us. Just as Will was about to get out he said "oh no you should stay in the car otherwise he will see you are white and make you pay a lot!". I'm loving having Ajay here. Although overall we probably wish we hadn't booked the car Ajay is really understanding with our very low budget.

    When we arrived Ajay said he has us accomodation for cheap and it was in the end very nice and a good location but at first I must admit I did feel pressured staying where he wanted us to stay, which was technically not part of the agreement. This begun to set me off in my down hill thoughts again. I've realised the main reason I don't like having a driver (although I would recommend Ajay to anyone who requires him), is that I feel a bit trapped and compelled to agree and say yes to what they want even if it means I compromise my needs.

    Once checked in we wandered around the lake and I broke. Will was saying hello to everyone under the sun and doing all the 101 Things Not To Do in India. He suddenly had a big crowd around him of people of all ages. Let's face it he's white and therefore rare in India, but he's also just seen as a dollar sign and even more when they find out he is British! I must admit I walked away and sat down by the lake as I couldn't stand it anymore as I knew exactly what all the people wanted, but he just kept thinking everyone was being nice. Some of the kids got bored with Will and then came to sit with me. Again with only one need, money money money money. With me they weren't as subtle and I got quite angry inside. In the end I grabbed Will and we just walked away from the crowd.

    This is when I broke down. I've not mentioned it yet but I've been struggling. Being in India is making me really homesick and really miss my dad. When things go wrong I just keep thinking, "if dad was here I'd be safe and fine". It's a horrible thought but if I wasn't here with Will I would probably be ignored and left alone because I look Indian. But I'm not, so I just have to get stronger and educate Will more from this craziness. We were both now super low, upset and felt trapped. Again we still had barely any breakfast or lunch so we decided to go for a shake at Sonu Shake Shop where I had a Banana, date and coconut shake and Will had a pineapple, lemon and lime juice. Then we had lunch at Ganga Falafel which I read about in a blog, where we met a mother and daughter and they made us feel 1000 times better. They said we got an amazing deal for our car and should be proud of our haggling, that we need to be more blunt on exactly where we want to go and see and they really made us feel more empowered. Phew, I think we just needed some outside perspective.

    It was now late in the afternoon and so we went to see the Brahma temple which was really nice and peaceful and then we went to the lake to watch the little sunset there was and listened to to the temples playing music. For dinner we had our first try at Indian Street food, including Bhel Puri, potato balls with chana dhaal and puri with dhaal. For dessert we even found Gulab Jamun and a cup of hot milk. Perfect end to a not so perfect day.

    It's time we forget about the money and feeling sorry for us and just enjoy it. We are so privelliged and it's sometimes easy to forget how fortunate we are to even be here never mind to have been able to book a driver for 2 weeks! Tomorrow is a new chapter.
    Read more

  • Day 10

    Lake City - Udaipur

    November 28, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The pollution has finally caught on and I have fully swollen glands. But I'm not going to let that stop us enjoying. We got up first thing ready for our long journey to Udaipur which actually did take a very long time. I fell asleep for most of the journey and woke up about 3pm...wups!

    We tried to go to a famous temple along the way but unfortunately it was closed till the evening. Then we visited the Palace Gardens which was a very welcomed break from not stopping for 4 hours. Then we just went straight to our hostel in Udaipur. Wow wow wow! Two friends from Udaipur worked, lived and travelled to various countries around the world and during their travels they came up with the idea of creating a hostel. They have a hostel in Goa which is in its 2nd year and then due to its success they decided to have one in Udaipur. They decided as its their home town they would buy a castle. And that they did! The hostel is in the grounds of the old Fort and has possibly one of the best views of the city. It's really beautiful. The ground of the hostel is humongous and there are just 4 of them working on it so I think it will take years! It's truly a beautiful sight though it would be amazing to come back when it's done. For now we are honoured to see it from the beginning.

    We went for a late lunch at Millets Mewar and had Bhindi Masala and Sev chhana daal and chapattis, which was really different from other dishes we've been having. We then Skyped with Will's parents before heading out again for more food. Seriously we haven't eaten all day and even though we don't feel hungry we are definitely both loosing weight so it's not good! We found a man on the street selling Pani Puri and then found a masala chai stall. So we sat, people watched and chatted with the locals. They recommended a cheap but fantastic thali restaurant so we couldn't not go. We were definitely full now!!

    We walked around the town at night for a bit before heading back to the hostel as it was beginning to get quite cold.

    The night was really cold. It dropped down to 13 degrees Celsius from 28, so it was quite a difference. I think I might have to wear all my clothes tomorrow night including a coat!
    Read more