Happily this morning is the last time I will wake up in this dump. Simon went and got us some coffees and I had a look at Ali who is covered in a rash that I think may be bed bug bites.
Simon realises that he can’t find his sunglasses and I feel sorry for him as he’s so pissed off about it. They were expensive and we bought them especially for the trip but still we can’t do anything about it and put it down to bad luck (eventually)

We have our breakfast, I’m getting braver now and have a fruit salad, although eating fruit in India isn’t recommended unless you peel it yourself, I can not face another egg and decide to take my chances.
Today we are going to walk to The Gateway to India and catch a boat to Elephanta Island. These group of caves are Mumbai’s top tourist attraction and very little is known about the origin of them except they were probably carved around 750 AD. Inside the caves are large panel sculptures all relating to the Hindu god Shiva.

We get the deluxe boat which costs us 120 rupees each and the boat journey takes an hour, as usual we are among a handful of western tourists and attract a bit of attention. This has been much less though in Mumbai than in other areas of India where the kids said they felt like part of a freak show at times!

As it is so hot we jump on the miniature train when we get off at the pier, which takes us up to the steps at the caves entrance. We are by this point completely melting in the sun and decide to stop for lunch before we tackle the steps and the stall holders who are all clamouring for our attention.

Simon and the kids have a snack and I make do with a lime soda and we’re ready for the climb. There is the option of travelling in a palanquin but I would just feel too guilty for the poor fellas who have to lift you in this heat so we give that a miss.

20 minutes later and we reach the cave entrance. It’s quite expensive to go in, the sign says the equivalent of 5 US dollars for foreigners and it turns out to be a bit of a disappointment. The museum is very small and although the sculptures are good, only 3 of the panels are worth photographing and we don’t visit the other caves as the information provided says they are of very little importance.

The highlight of the afternoon was in fact watching a monkey and a goat fighting over the contents of a bin.

We call off at a magic shop on the way back and the kids buy some cards and the information to do some tricks. This keeps them entertained for the majority of the boat trip back and we have a laugh when Maisie and I stand up on the bow of the boat with our eyes shut and our arms outstretched and pretend to be Rose from Titanic. Ali gets embarrassed and tells us we are sad.
Simon takes Ali off for a haircut when we get back to the hotel. I am a bit nervous that he will come back with a big wedge cut in the back of his hair so he takes a photo of Daniel Craig with him. This has to be one of the cheapest haircuts ever at 30 rupees, roughly 37 pence and Ali makes a passable Bond when he’s done.

We are going out for dinner now and catch the train from Victoria Station to Goa at 11pm tonight. We’re all excited about this as we feel we are going on holiday. It will be great to stay in an apartment and have a bit more space and I am looking forward to having a massage and doing very little for the next few weeks.

Its 9pm just got back from dinner, we went to The Darba Delhi restaurant and had some great food. The evening was quite strained though as we found ourselves sat next to 6 of the most cakey people I have ever met. When they arrived they spent the first 20 minutes or so singing to each other and we spent most of the evening glaring at the kids who were doing their best not to laugh!

Mumbai is India’s most cosmopolitan city and in some ways I’m sorry to be leaving. Originally we had planned to stay for longer and I don’t feel we have scratched the surface of what there is to offer here. The contrasts of India are more apparent here than anywhere else we have seen, with designer shops selling westernised clothes next to a sign advertising Slum Tours 40 rupees.
Tomorrow we will be in Goa – India’s smallest state. Its 10 days until Christmas – not feeling the cold yet.

We have arrived in Mumbai and found it easy enough when we got off at Central Station. We jumped straight into a taxi and asked the fella to take us the Colaba area where we are staying. This area is very popular with travellers as its central and we did have some trouble finding somewhere to stay but have made a reservation with The Volga 2 Hotel.

When we arrive there it is 7.30 in the morning and eventually the miserable night porter lets us in. He tells us our room is not available until 12 so we leave our rucksacks and head off to find some breakfast. Downstairs is a very popular restaurant called Leopolds and I’m pleased to see bottles of Corona lined up on the bar- hurray!!

I consider having one but decide it can wait until later and have scrambled eggs and coffee instead.
We then walk to The Gateway of India which is 2 minutes away. This huge archway is Mumbai’s icon and a symbol of colonialism. But only 24 years after it was built in 1924 the last British soldiers symbolically marched through it as India gained independence and the British left.
Its good to see the sea and after nearly a month of eating vegetarian food supplemented only by a bit of chicken and occasional goat I am looking forward to eating some fish here.

We decide as we have a few hours to kill to blag it and walk into the lovely Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel this gorgeous old hotel is in itself an institution and we do look out of place but we just act like we are staying there and make our way to their dining room where we order some coffee.
I want to use the toilets to freshen up but when Maisie and I go in there the toilet attendant is too posh for words and I just don’t have the bottle to get my toothbrush and wet wipes out so I leave it.

We make our way back to The Volga 2 and are informed that there is only one room available. It is no bigger than 13ft by 8ft and like a cell without a bathroom. We tell the fella that we reserved 2 rooms and want a private bathroom but we are wasting our breath and he just shrugs his shoulders. As we are so tired agree to take it anyway , I’m not sure how we are all supposed to fit on 2 single beds, especially as it is over 30 degrees here but I’m sure we will manage. The cheeky sod then tries to charge us an extra 150 rupees for the “privilege” of all being in the room together but Simon’s having none of it and tells him where to get off !

Its now 4.30 in the afternoon and we have just come back to our prison cell after having lunch at Tendulkars. I’ve never heard of Sachin Tendulkar but Simon tells me he is a famous Indian cricketer and it’s a bit like The Hard Rock Cafe with balls on the wall instead of guitars. We had some great food there, I had seafood risotto and creme brulee and I’m now lying on my bunk next to my cellie Maisie planning to diet tomorrow.

Mumbai is India’s most cosmopolitan city and I can’t wait to get out of here and explore it. From what I have seen so far it reminds me a bit of London, there are lots of signs of British colonial rule here and the architecture looks very familiar. Many of the landmarks such as Victoria Station now have Indian names which were changed when the city of Bombay was renamed in 1996.

We have a busy few days planned and are planning to visit the Colaba market, Mani Bhavan (Mahatma Gandhi’s old home) and Chowpatty Beach tomorrow. Simon and Ali have gone out to buy some sunglasses and for now I intend to lie here peacefully and soak up all the atmosphere that The Volga 2 has to offer.

I didn’t wake up until 9am today which is late for me, despite this I’m feeling pretty tired. We stayed out last night until about 11.30 and made some calls to home. Mum was telling me about our little niece Hope, who is apparently growing fast. Maybe my only regret about the timing of this trip is that we won’t be around for her first year and I have asked my brother to email us some photos of her.
I then spoke to Dad and Pauline they are following our journey closely and enviously by the sounds of things! It was great to talk to them and again I am reminded of the powers of the lovely internet. As Pauline says, we sound as if we are around the corner and could almost just drop in for a mince pie and a drop of sherry – That does sound quite tempting!

The Skype connection was excellent and our total bill at the end of the night for over two hours of calls to the UK, two hours of internet for the kids, one beer, 2 cokes and 2 litres of water is about 4 pounds 30, what a bonus.

Simon manages to get the hotel owner to agree to a late check-out on one of the rooms at no extra cost. This is good as it means, if and when the power comes back on in the daytime we can charge our various gadgets that will help the bus journey to go quicker.

I was a real baby earlier and started crying at the thought of the bus. I read the information in The Lonely Planet and have discovered that bedding is not provided and long journeys can be very uncomfortable, couple this with the thought of no food for hours and no toilets and to say I am shitting myself would be something of an understatement. There is however, no alternative other than to fly straight to Goa and then we would miss Mumbai altogether. I am trying to stay calm and compare it to all those vile night shifts that I used to hate so much. At the end of the day I guess I did get through them and they, like this bus journey were a means to an end.

Simon is spending some time teaching the kids maths this morning. I have never understood even the most basic mathematical concepts and I get very frustrated about this as I am unable to help them at all. I’ve decided when we get to Goa that I am going to spend some time looking at the kids work and try and learn some simple maths myself.

It’s now 5.30 and we have been on the bus for 2 hours, when we arrived at the bus station I had to go and pee through nerves and made Maisie come with me. The toilets were quite horrible, we have adjusted to the Indian toilets well and I actually quite like them as at least no part of your body touches anything.
But these were something else entirely; no hole just a gently sloping tile back to a gully of unmentionables and no water to rinse the thing down with. I never realised I had such a talent for holding my breath.

The bus on the other hand is ok so far, it is a private sleeper bus and the sleeping compartments I suppose are something like the overhead storage lockers on planes but a lot bigger. Although there aren’t any sheets its hot at the moment so that’s not a problem, Maisie and I are in one compartment and Simon and Ali in another and although we have several bags and a guitar in with us we aren’t particularly cramped and there is room to sit up and lie completely flat.
It is very noisy though, our main travelling companions seem to be women with children although they are mostly in single berth compartments with at least 2 children each in with them. The lady opposite gave Maisie some sweets and I watched her little son while she nipped out to get some chai.

5 am and I have had 2 hours sleep max. Maisie and Ali have slept on and off all night and this amazes me as Indian pop music has been blasting through the crackly speakers since we started our journey.
As we left Udaipur we stopped for half an hour whilst the roof of the bus was loaded up with tin buckets and its now unloading time. Then noise of men scrabbling around on the roof and the clanking of the buckets is slightly nerve jangling especially as I have spent the last hour or so alternately smacking my head against the window as we bounce over yet another bump and trying to stop my teeth from being rattled out of my mouth by clenching them together. It has been a very long night.

Had a great day today, we woke up at 8.30 all feeling much better and went up and had some breakfast, a bowl of banana and honey porridge and toast and jam each and I set the kids onto some work. We spend at least 3 hours going over what they have already learnt in science and discussing the structure and differences of plant and animal cells. Looking through the books we have brought with us they cover similar stuff but as Ali is at Key Stage 3 his work is much more in depth so I pitch it at his level. Maisie seems to be lapping it up and when I test them later does really well and remembers almost as much as he does.
They then do some literacy and write a formal letter to Tony Blair asking him for money to provide education and condoms for young adults in a remote village, with high rates of HIV infection, I can see a big improvement since they last practiced letter writing and its very satisfying to think I have taught them this.

We are going to visit the city palace and Lake Pichola, it isn’t far from where we are staying so we walk there. When we get to the ticket office we can choose to visit various sites of interest and we get tickets costing about 10 quid in total. These will cover us for entrance to the palace and museum and a boat ride on Lake Pichola.

We decide we want some lunch first though and choose the most expensive looking place, well worth it though, we have club sandwiches, fries and baked onions and they’re yummy! After the last few days of sickness none of us want Indian food today and I am not being too fussy about what we eat.

We catch the boat and have a half hour ride around Lake Pichola, we go past the floating palace where much of Octopussy was filmed. It is now a hotel and although it from a distance it doesn’t look anything special, close up it does look nice and for over 400 US dollars a night I guess it must be ok.
We of course opted not to stay there on the basis that we wanted to experience more of the real India.

We then wandered around the city palace, this is a truly amazing place it’s like a maze with lots of tiny corridors leading up and then down narrow winding staircases, these then open out into rooms which are all decorated differently. Some rooms are themed with colour, pale china blue bedrooms with tiny brass beds and floaty curtains and a dark red balcony overlooking the courtyard. Other rooms are huge with intricate inlaid jewelled walls and ceilings and big imposing portraits of royalty. We also visited the palace stables and the kids went in a portable tiger cage.
We said it would be a great place to play hide and seek although I don’t know if you would ever find each other.

The weather is lovely here, hot with clear blue skies and a warm breeze. Now I’m feeling better I can appreciate Udaipur and for me it has definitely been the highlight of Rajasthan. Surrounded by mountains and with the clear calm lake it is as lovely as the guidebook says. Since our arrival we have slept much better and the noise levels are bearable although it is quite lively here.
We end the afternoon with a beer and puddings for the kids on Sunset Terrace. This overlooks the lake and the floating palace and the perfect location for a cold Fosters and a few crisps.

Simon spent the morning sorting out our tickets to Mumbai and we catch the bus at 3.30 tomorrow afternoon. I am scared about this but trying to stay calm and keep thinking even if it’s really horrible it’s only 16 hours and anyone can get through that. Also from then on we only have to catch trains. We should be arriving in Goa in 6 days time – hurray! Really looking forward to this, we had a lovely holiday there a few years ago and I can’t wait to get on the beach and do nothing for a week or so.

I’m feeling very happy tonight and lucky. Travelling is wicked, so far I have absolutely loved everything about it and even though we have some interesting experiences over the last few weeks I wouldn’t change a thing. Not sure if I will still feel the same after the bus trip but I’m fairly optimistic and I hope so.

I woke up at 5am to the most awful racket; this hotel is, Simon reckons the noisiest place he has ever stayed in and I agree with him. I did sleep but only because I think a combination of being completely exhausted and ill overwhelmed me. The noise here is unreal and although Simon is usually pretty tolerant of most things the sound of what we think were Krishna’s dancing and singing outside our window while it was still dark was enough to have him swearing like a trucker.

He is now ill also and has been up half the night with belly ache and sickness and when I get up at 8.30 I leave him in bed and go to sort the kids out. Maisie is as fit as a fiddle and Ali and I haven’t been sick again so things are looking up.
Ali doesn’t want any breakfast so Maisie and I go up on our own and have a lovely breakfast overlooking the James Bond lake. Apparently lots of the hotels play Octopussy non stop on a loop so I guess we will get to see it sometime while we are here.

Our guidebook describes Udaipur as whimsical, serene and surrounded by misty hills. I’m not too sure about the serene bit but the hills are very pretty.
We have planned to visit The Lake Pichola and The City Palace and Museums while we are here and also want to go and see the Maharaja’s classic car collection which includes the Phantom Rolls Royce used in Octopussy.

As we will be having a quiet day I decide to get some stuff sorted out and send our clothes to the laundry, I ask the fella if we can stay an extra night and I’m not too sure if he agrees to this or not! I then have a cold shower which wasn’t very pleasant as I have to wash my hair and it takes ages. My Lush solid shampoo has run out and I haven’t got anymore so have to make do with the hotel soap.
The power then goes off (this conveniently happens between 8 and 10 am every where we have been and doesn’t come back on till the evening.) so I am unable to dry or straighten my hair and now look like a wiry haired scarecrow. Couple this with the fact that I am wearing Simon’s jumper as mine has gone for washing and I feel pretty scruffy. Good job we won’t be having any photo’s taken today!

I take the kids out for a bit of lunch and we have cappuccinos, toasted cheese sandwiches and strawberry cheesecake. (Very Indian!) We sit next to an English couple and their little toddler daughter and they tell me they are also travelling. They have made their way from The Himalayas to here and plan to move on to Goa soon. I think they are brave travelling with a 2 year old; at least Ali and Maisie will eat anything and can tell you if they are ill.

We are back at the hotel now; it’s difficult to know what to do when you can’t go out and I am a bit reluctant to go very far on my own with the kids. They seem to be happy enough watching the telly but I’m not a telly lover and practice my guitar playing instead. I am getting a bit better I think and Ali says he will teach me some new chords soon.

Been out for dinner, I have given Simon some Dioralyte, but he isn’t feeling much better and we go to the hotel across the road. Udaipur is very busy at night with lots of small shops selling hand woven goods, paintings and lacquer work boxes. Most other businesses seem to offer internet and “ISD” calls to the UK and we also see such services offered as henna tattooing, body massage and hair arranging.

Like all the other cities and towns we have visited in India dogs, cows, goats and pigs roam around freely scavenging whatever they can to live on, it’s surprising how quickly we have got used to seeing them and they are a part of life here as much as cars are a part of our lives at home.

We watched Octopussy and really enjoyed it, along with the other 5 or 6 couples all glued to a small screen. It actually was a great experience as we are right by Lake Pichola and it looks very pretty all lit up with fairy lights. What a classic line when Bond chucks a load of rupees at this fella and tells him “Here you go, that will keep you in curry for a few years”
Maybe you had to be there but it made me laugh anyway.

We got up at 6am as we have to leave at 8 for Udaipur. Iram tells us the journey will take around 6 hours as “no good roads”. I’m feeling a bit sick and don’t have much breakfast but just put this down to being tired. Ali also feels sick and when we get in the car I let the kids go back to sleep for a few hours.
Despite Iram’s prediction the roads seem ok and we seem to be going at a good enough pace. By now I am looking forward to getting to Udaipur and saying goodbye to him. I have enjoyed travelling around Rajasthan but it has been very tiring and I can’t wait to get to Goa and lie on the beaches in the sun.
Rajasthan has also been much colder than Delhi and Varanasi, this has meant that we have had to wear the same clothes for a week as we each only have one set of warm stuff and I am fed up with this.

On the way we have planned to stop off at Ranakpur, this is one of India’s oldest Jain temples and an incredible piece of architecture. To get to Ranakpur we have to cross over a mountain range and the roads are very twisty. The landscape is completely different to anything else we have seen so far in Rajasthan. Very mountainous and green with lots of lovely flowers, almost tropical looking. There are big monkeys sat on the roadsides watching us go by and we see signs saying this is a wildlife sanctuary and pictures of leopards. I say to the kids that they probably wouldn’t be satisfied with West Midlands Safari Park again after this and they agree.

The Jain religion was set up in the 6th century BC; Jains believe that liberation can only be attained by achieving complete purity of the soul and in order to do this, all matter that attaches itself to our soul by our actions, must be shed .Right conduct is essential and non violence to any living thing is fundamental. This means the Jains do not eat any meat or vegetables that may have caused damage to insects during their harvest. Some Jains sweep the floor in front of them to avoid treading on insects and at the temple picking flowers, wearing leather, smoking and wearing shoes were amongst many other things that were strictly forbidden.

The Jain temple was absolutely beautiful and I hope the photos will do it justice although we weren’t allowed to photograph the idols that were on the outside of the temple walls.
The carvings were very intricate and delicate and the 1444 milk white marble pillars are all different. When we first entered the temple Alister said “oh wow its amazing isn’t it” which I guess sums it up if a 13 year old is impressed.
It was without doubt the most amazing thing we have seen other than The Taj Mahal since arriving in India.

Sadly though Ali and I weren’t able to enjoy it for long as our slightly nausea turned into full on throwing up. We were followed to the toilet by a little girl who wanted money for the privilege of standing and watching us being sick and I wished she understood enough English for me to say to her “sometimes honey when you got to puke you just want a bit of privacy!”
We got back in the car and then had to drive what seemed like hours across “no good roads” this was an understatement if anything and I can only really describe it as something like torture. I lost count of the number of times we had to stop for poor Ali to throw up and I think we all had whiplash injuries by the time we finally arrived at around 5pm. We had booked a hotel and we all staggered in weighed down with all our stuff.
Eight and a half hours later and I vow not to travel in any car, anywhere, ever again for any longer than 4 hours max.
I thought Simon was going to sort Iram out in the hotel reception but apparently he had paid him earlier and I felt really bad when I realised he had gone and me and the kids hadn’t even said goodbye or thank you to him. Simon said he seemed happy enough with the tip he gave him, baksheesh is a way of life here but I still felt awful and I hope he realised I didn’t mean to be so rude.

We got in the room and Ali and I promptly both threw up again, today has not been a good day, got straight into bed aching all over hopefully will feel better tomorrow.

Its 3 o’clock in the afternoon on Thursday 7.12.06 I was just saying to Simon that I couldn’t think of too much to write today as we haven’t done much but he seemed surprised at this and said he couldn’t remember a time before when I was stuck for words and can usually talk shite for hours – how rude!

We have now arrived back in Jodhpur, our next and last city to visit in Rajasthan is Udaipur and we will leave Iram there. But as Udaipur is 600km from Jaisalmer and too far to travel in one day we are breaking up the journey and spending a night here in the same guesthouse as before.

We decided this morning that although it was good in the palace hotel it is hard to justify spending a hundred quid on 3 night’s accommodation when this place is only costing us just over a fiver and in fact has all the same facilities just not as nice.

Ali has been playing his guitar a bit this afternoon, he hasn’t played that much since we have been away but at home sometimes doesn’t play much for a few weeks either.
He refuses to teach me anymore until I agree to pay him for it so I am teaching myself which is actually fine. As I only want to learn a few songs with a year to practice I reckon I will have nailed them by the time we get back.
My friend Alli and I subjected the pub to our own special version of Michael row the boat ashore on New Years Eve a few years ago and I’m sure if I had been able to play any of the chords at all it may have sounded better so that is my aim!

Been out for a few hours checking emails from home- our fence has blown down and mum tells me the weather has been terrible in Plymouth with lots of storms. I don’t miss that at all. I can’t stand the winter and hate the cold and for the last few years we have always had our main holiday away during the British winter so we could catch a few rays and reduce the seasonal affective disorder. It is warmer here than in Jaisalmer and should be warmer again in Udaipur as it’s another 300km further south.

Simon and the kids have been complaining they are a bit saddle sore today so I guess being a girl, with the fattest ass in the family does have some clear benefits!

We are ordering room service tonight, eating out every night is tiring and Ali and Maisie like staying in the room watching TV. I have to force myself not to feel guilty about this as its hard not to feel that we may be missing out on some experience or other.
We can’t be on the go constantly though and at home all have some down time where we just doss around, they all watch the telly I tend to listen to music.

Got to get up early tomorrow, leaving at 8am for Udaipur. The James Bond film Octopussy was mostly filmed there and I’m looking forward to seeing if I can get a Martini shaken not stirred of course.

This is my first bit of diary writing! We started in Delhi and are now at Jodhpur for the second time. Delhi was cool, the traffic was crazy and the whole place had a really mad vibe to it!

We then went to Varanasi to see the river Ganges I really liked it and seeing the burning bodies on the ghat’s was weird, Maisie found it scary but I was more scared of the supposedly one hundred and three year old woman! She blessed us and apparently gave us good Karma or something like that.

We then went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. It took 13 hours on the over night train and Dad woke us all up 3 hours to early but when we finally got to Taj the next day I knew it was worth it.

We then went to Pushkar, it was hot so we went to a really posh hotel and used the pool! We spent two days there and visited a very big fort!

Then we were off to Jodhpur with our driver Ihram who had picked us up at Agra, when we got there we all had a bowl of soup! The room was nice but we all had to share one and peace was completely impossible to find but I’m sure they all thought the same about me!

We then drove to Jaisalmer and it was raining. Everyone one was a bit depressed because of this, so we decided to stay in a Palace for three nights. I had been waiting since the start of Jodhpur to watch ‘Gone In 60 Seconds’ but frustratingly for that one night the channel it was on was broken. I was unhappy but we watched ‘Spiderman 2′ and that was quite good!

After our three nights of luxury we hit the road for another five hour journey back to Jodhpur we are now in the same hotel and room as before for one night and will be driving to Udaipur for another 6 hours tomorrow!

So far I have liked the trip however I am really missing my friends and family at home.
But all in all I am looking forward to the next place!!!

The day of the camel has arrived and I feel sick. We woke up at 8.30 and after showering went and had a long and leisurely breakfast. We took the kids schoolbooks with us and Simon spent an hour or so doing maths with them. I can’t do maths so it gave me the opportunity to sit and study our guide book and start to plan our next few weeks in India.

The kids then had a game of cricket with the waiters from the hotel we are staying in. I am surprised and pleased that they have been getting on so well together and although their PSP and Nintendo DS have seen plenty of action, they had a great time today with a ball that cost 10 rupees and two empty coke bottles for bats.

We went and found Iram who seems very happy to be staying here and tells us he has a very nice room. We have decided that the best option is for him to take us out to the sand dunes where the camels are and try and negotiate a fair price when we get there.
Neither of us like organised themed trips and wherever we have been we have always found them to be very overpriced and generally shite.

We set off at 3pm, I am dreading it being cold as much as anything else but as I only have one cardi thing with me the only option is to take my waterproof jacket as well and I stick it in the rucksack.
We drive for about an hour and eventually see signs for Khuri village, Maisie makes us laugh when she tells us “I’ve just seen some massive eggs, I think they’re camel eggs”.
I have to explain to her that camels don’t lay eggs which leads to more discussion about mammals. She is surprised to learn that foxes don’t in fact lay eggs either – bless!

We get out the car and are immediately asked to sit down. The camel safari is explained to us and apparently includes an hour or so on the camels, out to the dunes, watching the sunset and then on return sitting around a fire watching some dancing and dinner. We’re having none of it though and Simon explains to the man that we only want to ride the camels and then will return to Jaisalmer for dinner.
Eventually we agree a price of 450 rupees each (about five pounds) and we set off for the camels.
I’m a bit worried to find that the camel drivers sit behind you on each camel as I have read that this is advised against especially for women but there isn’t much we can do about it and I clamber on. Simon and the kids all seem excited although Ali looks a bit apprehensive.

We set off at a good pace, the camel driver seems quite nice, he picks me some flowers for my hair and tells me he has six camels and the one we are on is called Lalu when I ask him. I’m not too sure if this is only my camels name though or if they are all called that although Maisie tells me later hers was called Baby.
Eventually the desert changes to perfect, rolling sand dunes. I’ve never seen anything like these before and it’s really beautiful. We don’t see anyone else and listening to the drivers singing and clicking to the camels in the dusk I realise I am actually having a great time.
We arrive at the top of the dunes there are lots of other people here but quite a long way from us and we get down to sit and watch the sunset. The kids love it and spend the time free running up and down the dunes. We write our names and the date in the fine sand and take lots of photos.

We get back on the camels and join the large groups of people also making their way back on their camels. The camel driver gives me the reins and shouts at Lalu to make her go faster, soon we are cantering along and although I’m hardly Lawrence of Arabia it is lots of fun and I am enjoying myself and pleased when we whip most people back to the village.

We get back to Jaisalmer and make for a restaurant called The Trio the food is probably the best we have had so far in India. We share a Rajasthani speciality mutton curry, tomatoes stuffed with goat’s cheese, raisons and almonds, chicken mughlai, mixed vegetables and special biriyani.We have banana fritters for pudding and wash it down with Kingfisher beer and cardamom spiced coffee Yum!

Today has been good, better than I thought and I should learn not to dread things so much they may turn out ok after all.

Today is bright and sunny, although not too warm at first. We get up slowly and I decide to wash some more of our stuff. It takes me ages and I will be glad when the travel wash has all gone and I can’t do it anymore.

We have our breakfast in a restaurant next door, the breakfasts are very good so far in India and I have noticed that the kids are eating loads. Usually they have cornflakes with banana and honey followed by toast and jam but today they go for an omelette each as well.

It’s nice to have a look around where we are staying as we weren’t able to see much of Jaisalmer yesterday due to the rain. It is divided into two areas inside and outside the fort. Although we are staying in this expensive place it is outside the fort walls and this is recommended as a more ethical choice.
The fort is India’s second most important monument next to The Taj Mahal but unfortunately is slowly being destroyed by the impact of tourism. It is carved out of golden sandstone and has 99 battlement things around it called bastions. Since 1995 three of these have fallen down and this fort is now on the worlds top 100 list of monuments to protect.

Around the fort entrance there are lots of small market stalls and women selling silver jewellery, carpets, saris, postcards and other touristy stuff. We’ve hardly bought anything as our rucksacks are already heavy but we can’t resist a leather cowboy hat today and Maisie and I decide we’ll share it.

We spend most of the morning doing schoolwork; they don’t seem to object to this too much and seem to have enjoyed most things we have done so far. I give them a paragraph of information about our trip so far and ask them to rewrite it in a much more descriptive way and they both do quite well. We then go over what they have learnt for science and I tell them they have done the brain and the liver. Tomorrow we can start on the heart or lungs and I will chase Simon into doing some maths with them.

We are going to try and eat a bit earlier tonight, we never eat until 7pm at home anyway but I have noticed we are having dinner quite late and subsequently going to bed late. Although I’m strict on bedtimes at home I don’t mind this but as I make us get up before 8.30 sometimes this is a bit of a struggle.
Alister loves to speak to his friends on MSN messenger but because of the 5 and half hour time difference he can’t do this until at least 9.30pm as they will still be in school. We are restricting his internet use to an hour every other day much to his disgust but as he is restricted at home also he knows better than to argue with us over it!

Just got back to the hotel, we had some great food tonight in a tented restaurant where some little kids entertained us playing the drums, singing and dancing.
I am now completely freezing and from the reports of the weather at home I reckon it’s at least as cold here as in Plymouth. Get in to bed with two extra blankets and some vile sweet drink that would never pass for coffee in a million years!

We have decided tomorrow is camel day, I can’t put it off any longer and am looking forward to it so much I can hardly contain myself.