Saturday 30th March, 16:22, Jodhpur by Mamie

Udaipur has become "NuWuPudaipur". "Nu" because we have tried new things; we played Holi, drank special lassis and did something which I can't mention yet. Oops. "Wu" because it was one big party of colour and we made a great new group of friends ( most of whom met each other in Korea), and "Pu"- well, I'll leave Amy to explain that one.

Now however, having just explored the beautiful Mehrangarh Fort with an audio guide that made us feel intellectual, we are sitting in a restaurant in Jodhpur, about to try a pudding called the 'Jodhpur Special Mawa Kachori'. In our attempt to try new things, I ordered the 'Makhania lassi' (biscuit lassi) but after both that and the lemon lassi in udaipur, I'm pretty sure that we're going to draw the line on lassi flavours. Mango lassi- tick. Lemon lassi? Get it away from me!

The pudding has arrived so I will finish this post now. Wish us luck.

Saturday 30th March, 16:27, Jodphur, by Amy

Trust Issues in Ranakpur

Problem- Quote Mamie: 'We can't trust anyone in India!... apart from women and girls... and even they are rude and don't understand queueing gah!!'

We spent yesterday exploring Ranakpur and the surrounding countryside. We thought this would be much less touristy than the cities we've visited and we wanted to try one of the famous local buses. We saw our favourite temple so far, called Jain temple- *update from Mamie 'Jain' is a religion Ames :p*- with beautiful engraved marble and sandstone columns, which I may have got lost in... From there we walked through green countryside stopping to chat to farmers. There was even a chance we might see a leopard! We wanted to catch the 3 o'clock bus to Jodhpur which then turned into a 4:00, 4:30, 5 o'clock and 6 o'clock bus (or so the locals said). We were also told that we were sitting at a bus stop which turned out to be a tree stump. Long story short, we can't trust anyone except...
School buses it seems. This is how we were saved. School children gave us 'chocolate' (disgusting salty sweets) and sang us a song. It was so uplifting but all we came up with to sing back was 'Barbie Girl' and The Jungle Book's 'Bare Necessities' which the kids found hilarious.

We are now safe in peaceful, blue Jodhpur, enjoying some incredibly spicey food!

Wednesday 27th March, 14:46, Udaipur, By Amy

Mamie thinks I write too much so I will try my best to keep rambling to a minimum but no promises!

On the train from Delhi to Agra we met our 'travel parents', Canadians Paul and Vavara, who gave us great travel tips. Our highlights of Agra were definitely trying on sarees, the 'baby Taj' which we found much more intimate than the 'big Taj' and seeing our first monks- who mamie accidentally called Buddhas. To Mamie's delight there were more monkeys to chase (and I have footage). Here we met fellow gap-yahers from England (Charles and Hamish) who were a nice reminder of home. We got to drive a tuk tuk for the first time which was crazy, especially when Mamie had to dodge two cows mating in the middle of the road.

We had our first sleeper night train on the way to Sawai Madhapur and got many stares from Indians as we spent ages meticulously padlocking our bags. Despite the horns from passing trains and the updraft when on the loo (all part of the package), we enjoyed the journey!    
                                          
Mosquitos where an issue here. Where I just tried to deal with it, Mamie decided to spray repellent directly into my eyes and mouth. Ranthanbour is famous for it's tigers and although we didn't see one we enjoyed the safari and got to see the rare sloth bear (mother and two cubs)... three specks in the distance! We also visited the 'magic temple' which was not really its real name but which mamie particularly loved. We spent the evening singing along to Coldplay with some Israeli backpackers. One of them, called Ben, is a very talented guitar player. While he shared his band -  called  Luna  (really good mix of Arctic Monkeys, Kooks and Franz Ferdinand), we shared Everything Everything and Alt-J. We had a really chilled evening by the poolside... yes, another pool...   
                                     
Another night train journey took us to Jaipur. One tuk tuk driver hassled and hassled us and despite, to Mamie's surprise, a sudden exasperated and feisty - I like to think - 'JUST GO AWAY!!' from  me, we actually ended up going with him. We admit this was partly for his sound system which blasted out Indian house music. This was brilliant but made us feel like two girls in the driver's music video.. with a tuk tuk as our ride. We were a little disappointed by Jaipur's pink city which is in fact orange and there isn't very much of it anyway. The royal ghettos were beautiful and the monkey temple was amazing - it provided a number of laughs. Firstly there was the baby monkey riding the pig, then there was the accidental footage of some 'monkey business' and best of all the cheeky baby monkey that stole Ben's cigarettes!  Here I had some of the best food so far- stuffed naan and cashew curry as well as an amazing lassi served in a terracotta cone. Mamie found an admirer and fellow belieber, Sharouk - who brought with him a drastic downhill turn in music!         
                                                  
Udaipur- great place for shopping. The first night we stayed in a hotel room where they forgot we were there and turned our electricity off. This resulted in our room becoming a sauna which wasn't a fun experience. Now we're staying in a friendly guesthouse where we've already been given a crash course in Indian cooking and done some morning yoga. Holi is still going and we've spent the day being coated in coloured powder and some mud (thanks to some cheeky young indian boys). It has been a mental day and despite a very long shower, we are still stained all over.

Monday 25th March 10:04 by Mamie

J(ai)B(pur)

We have just travelled from Jaipur to Udaipur and have decided to name the former as 'J(ai)B(pur)'. For those who don't know me very well, the 'JB' is short for Justin Bieber. While Amy looked forward to three months without my Justin Bieber obsession (we made a pact), I couldn't guarantee that our 19 year old tuk tuk driver, named Sharouk, wouldn't share my passion. I also couldn't predict that his tuk tuk would be pimped out with speakers that were so loud, we couldn't hear ourselves talk. I think it's safe to say that I loved Jaipur.

I also decided in Jaipur to attempt two projects. One, an album of Amy sleeping. Two, an album of selfies with animals. So far both a cow and a monkey have agreed to participate, but who knows what next?

This is supposed to be Amy's post, so I will now pass it over to her. Swaggy.

Wednesday 20th March 20:23 by Mamie

So we are currently enjoying refreshingly yummy mocktails with banana shami kebab and dahi ke sholey after a dip in the pool (opened especially for us) and a hot shower with white clean towels. Oh and complimentary tea, coffee and chocolate. Really hardcore backpacking basically.

Truthfully, we got a little nervous last night; the first scam has made us weary and perhaps over-paranoid but after being offered another 'package tour deal' by the Love Guru's friend and some other shady business we felt fed up, overwhelmed and unsure.

Back to the 'gap yah' experience, I may have called my Mother... "Mummyyy... Any chance you'd like to pay for us to stay in a pricey hotel tonight while we sort ourselves out and get comfortable?".

Oops.

Anyway now we are finally rolling on with our journey. Our train tickets are booked (by ourselves thank you very much all you India travel agents) and we have a good plan. Exciting times ahead and we will post soon!

We should probably quickly explain this blog. We are two 18 year old girls, ready for university next year, but currently travelling around Asia. Starting in India, we will then move up towards Nepal, back into India, and fly into Thailand before also exploring Laos. We're pretty excited but three months is a long time! Due to popular demand (and parental anxiety) we have decided to write a blog. We won't post everyday and we will take it in turns to write a post. We hope that you will enjoy reading about our travels and that this will reduce the number of emails or calls from my (Mamie's) Mother.

To explain 'Step by Step'; 'Step by Step' is a song by a cheesy- but cute- boyband called 'Midnight Red'. I (Mamie) am obsessed with the song but Amy hates it. However, we have realised that the song is quite relevant to the trip and unfortunately for Amy, it's become a huge part of our daily lives. Oops!

Missing you all at home,

Mamie and Amy xx