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.