Ranthambore and Agra

From Jaipur we headed to the dry jungles of Rajasthan to search for tigers in Ranthambore national park. About 20 tourists piled in to a giant canter jeep which bumped and trundled and tossed us along dirt tracks. the car sounded like the rumble of an earthquake and I was a a little sceptical that we'd see anything at all thundering through the wilderness like that. After about an hour of spotting birds, deer, crocodiles, lizards, mongeese and monkeys, our sore butts were rewarded with the sight of Shere Khan himself, taking a very public rest from the searing heat next to a lake. Apparently we were very lucky to spot a tiger on our first and only excursion - some people take up to 5 trips and don't see any of the 32 resident striped cats. The park is over 1000 years old and was originally the hunting ground the maharajas and wasn't opened to the public until 1970. As well as wild life you can also spot clues as to its former life with the odd palace, fort, temple or hunting pavilion scattered around.
The grand finale of our road trip was a visit to the city of Agra and a 5am wake up to see the Taj Mahal just after sun rise... My goodness do you see and read a lot about that darn building before you get there but I don't believe it diminishes the experience of stepping through those gates and seeing that glittering (literally -it is inlaid with semi-precious stones) white marble facade with your own eyes. The Taj Mahal was built by the emperor Shah Jahan for his 3rd wife, Mumtaz, who died giving birth to their 14th (!) child. It was originally intended to be a live-in palace which came to him in a dream. He told Mumtaz about the dream and described the palace that he would build for them but sadly she never survived to see work on the structure even begin and so it became her mausoleum instead - he is now also buried there with her.
I think of all that we have seen so far, what has actually left the most lasting impression on me has been the roads themselves. There is nothing quite like the circus that is India's road system with cars jostling for position amongst goofy camels, uninterested cows, proud horses, rabid dogs, scampering monkeys, wide-eyed goats, and brave, brave rickshaws, mopeds and cyclists. As well as all that there are scores of lorries heaving at the seams with all sorts of goods and urging you to 'blow horn' in ever more elaborate and colourful designs - turning highways into death defying high speed art galleries with their paintwork and their baubles. With horns as the only weapon on these crazy battlegrounds you can bet that they are used liberally and vigorously - I think the highway code here is about one sentence long and reads something like 'He with the loudest horn shall pass first.'.
We are now on a night train going south to Aurangabad and although I can't say I'm as entertained or as comfortable, I definitely do feel a lot safer!

Pushkar and Udaipur

Pushkar is a holy city in Rajasthan which Hindus should visit at least once in their lives. The lake which it is built around is said to have appeared when Brahma (the creator) dropped a lotus flower and it is the only place in India with a Brahma Temple, apparently due to a curse that was placed on him by his first wife when he married his second... A woman's wrath and all that.
We had been warned not to accept flowers for prayers off anyone as they could end up charging you 100 dollars or more so when a very insistent man at the entrance of the temple asked us to take a flower to show respect we acted as though he were pointing a gun in our direction rather than a delicate rose... Eventually we gave in and he showed us around the temple and showed us what to do... Which is just as well because it was insane in there. I've never seen such aggressive worshippers! Unfortunately the experience was marred by my absolute distrust in this poor guy who as it turned out was actually just being helpful and trying to win himself some karma points, and although he naturally wanted a tip, the pound or so that I gave him seemed more than enough, and in fact he even offered to give it back to me. Anyway, the nice stranger whose name I didn't even think to ask, took us to the lake after the temple and taught me to pray in Hindi (apparently acceptable for all religions -including atheists) - So now after wishing lots of happiness and good things for all people I hope you are all feeling the benefit! More than anything the experience did teach me that whilst of course you should be wary of people and not blindly trust every idiot who comes our way, sometimes being overly paranoid can turn a potentially beautiful experience into something of a trauma. I'm usually too trusting, so behaving negatively towards someone who is supposedly trying to help feels very unnatural and uncomfortable to me... At the end of the day I think it's best to lighten up and if the worst thing that happens is that you get swindled out of a few pounds then so be it. Needless to say I'll stop short of following strangers down dark alleys or other such activities that may put me in physical danger!
In the evening we went for a camel ride and slept in our guides house in a village in the desert. On paper it all sounded very relaxing and romantic but the reality was that we were the entertainment for his 3 kids for the evening... The eldest girl kindly painted the worst henna ever on our hands and feet, the middle boy happily ran around with our cameras snapping everything and anything (though mainly photos of himself) and the youngest girl took to jumping on our backs and demanding piggy back rides... They were cute though so I guess it was ok... What was definitely NOT ok were the neighbours playing the worst music I've ever heard on full blast ALL night long. When I say the worst music, I don't mean bad as in 'I don't like hip hop or heavy metal' bad. I mean bad as in 3 men wailing into a microphone completely out of tune and out of sync bad. I'm talking music that one's own mother couldn't bear to listen to if they had written it specially for her. So after a practically sleepless night under the clouds and stars (the locals sleep outdoors and we did the same), we hopped back on our camels and bounced back to Pushkar for our sleepy drive on to Udaipur.
When we arrived at Udaipur we found the laws of karma had come into play as we were dropped off at the nicest hotel with the softest most comfortable beds possibly in the World... Or perhaps they were shit and we were just thankful for a mattress? Who knows... The photo still looks nice enough!
The city overlooks a beautiful lake with a palace in the middle of it and with plenty of roof top restaurants to enjoy the views, it is easy to see why they say it is the most romantic city in India. Unfortunately Cata and I were not really after romance so rather than stare lovingly into each others eyes we decided to go to a show at the museum of typical Rajasthani music and dance which was amazing - from the women dancing with flaming jars on their heads to Rajasthan's answer to Tina Turner who was able to give out a heck of a lot of sass while balancing 10 pots on her head and walking on glass...
During the day we did some sight seeing and visited the grand City Palace, the beautiful Jagdish Temple and a beautiful garden just outside of Udaipur... Of course I'm making this all sound rather comfortable and easy but what you must realise and remember is that between each relaxing drink, meal or sight one has to battle through the onslaught of chaos that is India's roads... Ninja rickshaw drivers whose heads pop out of nowhere looking for a fare, moped users with a passionate love for their horns, holy cows frothing at the mouth and whipping you with their tails, the endless chorus of 'where you from's coming out of shop doors, the sweet aroma of incense lulling you into a fall sense of security before falling away to reveal the sharp odour of shit... I could go on and on...
On the whole however, despite its intensity, or perhaps because of its intensity, there is something really endearing and likeable about this country, its culture and its people and for now I am learning to love it!

Delhi

I've heard so many horror stories about India that I got off the plane in Delhi with a lot of apprehension mixed with a large dose of jet lag: It is somewhat of a surprise that I didn't just stay on the plane and head straight back to London... We're only a few days in , but so far I'm loving it... Check back in a week or so!
While in Delhi we decided to make our lives considerably easier (and somewhat more expensive) by hiring a driver for 2 weeks to take us around Rajasthan. The agency arranged our car, our hotels and our train to Arangabad and Goa as well as a camel safari and tiger safari... We probably overpaid but to be fair it's still ridiculously cheap compared with anything we would get in Europe, it has so far been hassle free and I'm currently sitting in the plushest hotel I've ever paid for so I'm not complaining.
I found that Delhi as a city was nothing to write home about but then again we were only there for 2 nights and suffering from exhaustion. First impressions pretty much matched up to expectations - an overload of the senses - colours, sounds, smells and crowds, some of it good, some of it not so good! Though the culture shock that I was expecting was thankfully not quite as violent as I had imagined! Yes, we get stared at and random strangers take photos of and with us but so far none of it has seemed malicious - just a general curiosity about the white folk. Of course you are seen as a walking piggy bank as well which is a little annoying but we're getting used to that now after 2 months of being tourists!
On our second day we visited The Red Fort, Ghandi's Memorial and Humayun's Tomb - we luckily happened to arrive on 'World Heritage Day' which meant all entrance fees were waived though they would have been well worth paying anyway.
I've been trying to read up on India's history to give some context to its sights and monuments but it is bloody confusing so I'm not even going to go there... This is as far as I got... The Red Fort was built as a royal residence in the 17th century when the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan decided to move his capital from Agra to Delhi. You can sadly tell that the past 4 centuries have not been kind to the fort which must have been unbelievably stunning in its prime. The site is still impressive, but hints at its former glory such as dried up moats, crumbling fountains, weedy flower beds and empty pavilions leave you wondering what the place must have looked like in its prime. Humayun's tomb however, which actually precedes the Red Fort, seems to have managed to retain its beauty thanks to extensive restoration. The tomb was commissioned by the wife and cousin of the Mughal Emperor Humayun (clue is in the name) and was designed by a Persian architect which explains its Arabic feel. The structure is stunning and acted as inspiration for the Taj Mahal which would later be built in the Mughal capital of Agra by the same man who commissioned the Red Fort.
Ghandi Smriti is a memorial built on the spot where Mahatma Ghandi was shot in 1948... Unfortunately heat and tiredness seemed to have got the better of me and I didn't appreciate my visit properly because according to my guidebook, as well as the central pavilion which I did see, there are concrete footprints marking his last steps and a museum in the house where he had been staying with his few possessions on display, which I did not see.