Camels and translation!

Holy Cow!

Well I'm in Delhi and have completed my camel trek, I get goose bumps just thinking about what an amazing experience it has been so far. The group was great, most of the girls were around my age and we had one motherly figure, the 2 men were fantastic too and very down to earth! Between us and a few other cyclists we raised 50000 quid for Mind!!!!!We had such a brilliant time!!!! We have been so well looked after, even the camping was luxurious and we were fed 3 course meals 3 times a day plus tea in bed each morning! I have not had to make one decision as everything was organised for us, I haven't had time to think either as we have done so much in the past week. The camel riding was brilliant, I fell in love with my guide Mahdu (non-english speaking) and his camel Mohti! On the first day I cut and bruised my hand from holding on so tight but by the last day we had the camels going full speed and the guides taking a back seat! Going through the countryside was beautiful, we did both dessert and forest landscape, most of the locals saw us as quite a spectacle (our camels all had bells on them so we just couldn't go unmissed!) and they would all come out and wave whilst shouting Ta-ta! We experiencesfame for a few days! Each day we had local entertainment with Magicians called Om-Phat performing incredible tricks, dancing horses, temple songs being sung, ladies dancing with huge pots on their heads, indian massages, temples, tame cobras, marble tables being made, local potters, durry weaving, we even visited an opium den and tried a very small amount that wasn't enough to have an effect! It has been INCREDIBLE!
After some long, sad good-byes to the locals we had a gala night at a nice hotel, I was awarded a certificate for culture ... respecting the local dress and effort to learn Hindi! The next morning we bused it through to Jodphur (aka the blue city) where we visited the Meherengah Fort and a local market! I just stood on the streetside and watched for 30 min, its controlled chaos with tough salemen doing business, tuk-tuksdriving where they please, bikes and motorcycles everywhere, cows roams, dogs barking, people living whilst harmonised by a chorus of hooting! From Jodphur we caught the overnight train which was an experience, similiar to one in Zimbabwe except you can not lock yourself in the compartment, there are only curtains for privacy. Once in Agra we saw the Taj Mahal in all it's beauty! Got on a coach through to Delhi where we had a delicious meal of not curry for a change, even had trifle and ice-cream. I said goodbye to the group who flew back last night and I caught a taxi to my hostel in Delhi city centre. Being 11pm I went straight to my room and finally 'stopped' for a while. To keep mecompany I watched TV, Mickey Mouse in Hindi!
This morning I am going to plan the rest of my trip, probably head up to the Himilays in a couple of days then down to Mumbai and onto Goa. There is going to be a lot of train travel but I have already slowed down to 'Indian time'!
I am having the time of my life! I do have all of you in my thoughts and I'm missing you! To those of you in the UK, please make a snow man for me =)

Photos .... http://www.flickr.com/photos/32697644@N00/sets/1471198/

Namaste