The best things that we’ve seen is the Taj Mahal: wow too hard to explain, it was so beautiful I know I will remember it!
The Ganges River: the morning and evening boat ride was fab except the body burning creeped me out and gave me a nightmare.
We drove through Rajasthan and the area was interesting but polluted and hot.
Now we are in Jaisalmer and the first impressions weren’t great because it was raining and empty and grey. But that soon turned around as we are now staying in an old palace
which still has some of the royal family living in it so that was a surprise!

The only thing I miss is not much but family and friends not much else.
Mum is now sitting in our room shivering and moaning she is cold so dads got a blanket for the bed and a coffee to warm her up.

Our standard of living has improved dramatically since yesterday. We didn’t succumb to food poisoning and had a lovely meal last night in the most amazing setting.
The terraced top of Meharangarh Fort is a very romantic restaurant; we were greeted at the fort entrance by waiters in traditional Rajasthani dress who took us up to the very top of the fort and sat us at one of only 6 small round tables lit by the moonlight and candles.
We ate Thalis and drank Kingfisher beer to the sound of Indian music and the feel of the warm desert breeze.
In case this all sounds too good to be true I have to point out that Ali and Maisie were only reasonably behaved and dressed in my combats, battered converse trainers and with dirty hair I really didn’t feel all that glam but still we had a great time.

We leave for Jaisalmer at just gone 9am. Jaisalmer was once an important trade route and a very wealthy town. I have read that there are lots of elaborate houses and temples here. It’s as close as we will get to the India / Pakistan border and although it’s a peaceful place the airport is closed due to border disputes. Iram said the journey would take around six hours and I was feeling a bit apprehensive about this but the kids are in a better mood today.

We start the day with some science, we discuss what we learnt about the brain previously and I’m pleased they have remembered it all. I can’t teach them about any other organ of the body without study support so I teach them about the structure and functions of the liver. We then talk about food groups and how proteins, fats and carbs are processed by the body and they do really well.

Schools over for a bit and we put some music on. Today’s choices are The Killers and The Scissors Sisters. The Scissor Sisters could only remind us of one couple, our friends Di and Jimmy and a mad night we had out in Birmingham a couple of months ago.
By four o’clock in the morning following quite a large amount of beer and vodka we decided we were all at least good enough for The X-Factor and recorded ” I don’t feel like dancing” on our phones. When I heard it back the next morning I’m surprised the taxi driver didn’t chuck us out of his cab when we were practicing it!

By the time we are half way to Jaisalmer it has started to rain, it was cloudy in Jodhpur this morning and soon its pissing down and not very warm. We have to stop as Alister’s guitar is strapped to the roof rack and swap it over for one of our rucksacks which have waterproof covers.
The road to Jaisalmer is quite good and we don’t see much traffic. I have noticed that Iram seems to speed up a bit when we get closer to places and I’m glad when we arrive safely. The main risk to us on the road would be hitting a cow but sheep, goats, camels,
dogs, horses and large birds in no particular pecking order also think they are the kings of the road and completely ignore car horns.
The landscape is flat with lots of scraggy trees and occasional scruffy looking little ruins. We see a few people, the women dressed in the brightly coloured saris that are typical of Rajasthan and men all wrapped up with just their eyes showing.

We discuss where to stay on the way, there are lots of good quality hotels in Rajasthan and as the weather is crap we don’t want to be stuck in some grim room for the next 3 days. The Jaisalmer Palace is just inside the town walls and has been partially converted into A Welcome Heritage Hotel called The Mandir Palace. As we have read some good reviews about it we decide to have a look.
Some of the Royal family still live in the palace and as soon as we pull into the courtyard I want to stay there. It’s much more expensive than anywhere else we have stayed and while the kids are swayed by cable TV for me it’s the fact that loo rolls, soap and towels are supplied.
After a bit of haggling we get two luxurious rooms for 15 pounds per room per night and I can’t wait to phone home tomorrow and tell mum Maisie and I are princesses in our palace at least for the next 3 days.

I hope the weather clears up, we have brought waterproof jackets with us but as the main reason for coming to Jaisalmer is to go into the desert on a camel safari I want it to be dry. I ‘m dreading this anyway, I’ve been on a camel before and I remember they stink; they won’t go where you want them to and it hurts your arse.

I may take some persuading to swap my bed in a perfectly good palace, for a night under the stars with a wet camel.

For the 6 months prior to coming away I trained myself to sleep with only one pillow. I knew from holidaying in Asia previously, that the chances of being supplied with anymore than this were zero.
Even so I couldn’t train myself to get used to sleeping on mattresses that are about as soft as concrete other than by sleeping on the floor and I wasn’t about to start that. So subsequently every morning I have woken up feeling like I’ve been in a fight and this does take a bit of stretching to sort out.

We have our breakfast on the roof terrace, the view over The Old Blue City and up to Meherangarh is really fantastic and I’m looking forward to spending the morning there. We have arranged to meet Iram and after a bit of confusion we finally get there. Simon thinks he may have never been to Jodhpur before as he doesn’t always seem to know where to go which is slightly surprising for a Rajasthani guide!

The entrance cost to Meherangarh is about 10 quid, nearly every main tourist attraction in India is free for under 15′s but we have to pay for the kids here as the audio tour is recommended and we don’t want them to miss out. Ali has woken up evil though and really we waste our money as he refuses to listen to it properly and ambles around looking miserable. This attitude soon rubs off on Maisie and before long we have 2 sad looking kids trailing after us. It�s a shame because it’s really interesting here and I would have enjoyed it a lot if Simon and I had been on our own.

The fort is still run by the Maharaja of Jodhpur and inside there are gorgeous courtyards and palaces with lots of interesting exhibits in the museum such as elephant seats, armoury and royal baby cradles.

Still I am conscious that we need to try and do things at their pace. Ali is missing his friends and so far they have been really great so I’m fairly patient with them.
They have always been the best of friends and really enjoyed each others company until the last year when Ali has started to grow up and leave her behind a bit.

We then go up to Jaswant Thada which is a pretty, milky white marble memorial to Maharaja Jaswant Singh and they brighten up a bit. Maisie has a go on a strange Indian musical instrument and manages to make us all laugh with her efforts.

I suggest we go to The Garden Restaurant for lunch this is on the other side of town and where all the Jodhpur trendies go. Simon gets a beer and we all have mixed kebabs but they’re not piping hot and I convince myself I am going to get salmonella and don’t really enjoy mine which is a pity!
We go and check our emails I have two best friends Shirley and Lou and get an email from Shirley today, as she lives in Birmingham we don’t see each other a lot and I’m pleased she’s been following our progress and doesn’t seem to think I’m writing a load of crap!
It’s good to email but not the same as talking on the phone and as we can talk for England I promise you Shirl I will call soon!! Miss you lots XX

Tonight we are going back to Meharangarh, for dinner at their restaurant which has excellent reviews, so looking forward to that it’s now 3 hours since we ate the kebabs and so far no signs of food poisoning � fingers crossed!

Woke up at 8am today, we spent over an hour on the phone last night to home using Skype.This is good as it only costs a penny a minute. We have been using the internet a lot, most days and it’s good to keep in touch with everyone. It seems weird though to think it’s nearly Christmas and cold and wet at home. I don’t miss any of that and I can remember thinking to myself every single day last winter that in 2006 I would be in India.

We have our breakfast and leave Pushkar at around 10.30, Iram seems pleased enough to see us and we set off for Jodhpur. The roads are absolutely terrible, some of them are no better than rocky tracks. We are traveling over The Great Thar desert and Iram estimates it will take us around four to five hours.
I talk to Alister and Maisie on the way about money and wealth, this is one of the topics that Ali has to cover for R.E in year 8 and his teacher has been very good and supplied us with the curriculum. Having seen extreme poverty first hand it is easy for them to make comparisons between our lives and the lives of some people here. I’m pleased that they can discuss these issues in a sensitive and thoughtful way.

We don’t see much traffic on the way, only a few camel carts and motorbikes. The car we are travelling in is a small Indian made hatchback, called Tata Indicia. We pass through tiny villages and I notice that many of the women have their faces covered. The children are working on the roadside and we see a little girl mixing cement. She is smaller than Maisie although probably older, it’s difficult to gauge the age of children here as they are much smaller than our children.
This also means that Indian people think that our kids are older than they are and I have caught a few young fellas looking at Maisie. The Indian people we have spoken to have guessed that she is aged 13 although she is actually only 10.

We stop off at a truckers stop, Simon suggests we have some lunch but I’m having none of it and tell them to make do with crisps, biscuits and coke. I will try almost any food and I’m not a fussy eater at all but I wouldn’t choose to eat somewhere like that at home and am not about to start in India.
Also of the 4 of us I am the only one to not have had even the slightest upset tummy and I guess that is through being fairly strict about avoiding badly cooked “western food” and being a bit picky about meat.

Another hour or so goes by, I’m quite an expert daydreamer and the time flies by. The kids are being great, we brought travel Scrabble, dominoes, Suduko and cards with us and bought mini chess and a Rubix cube here but we haven’t really used them so far.
We also brought a small radio with us and use Ali’s MP3 player as a transmitter and play our C.D’s through it.. Its quite surreal driving through the deserts of Rajasthan listening to The Stereophonics and Razorlight and what Iram makes of it I’m not too sure!

We arrive in Jodhpur, around 2.30pm and head for The Shivam Paying Guest House, this place was recommended to us by the Canadians we met in Agra and turns out to be as nice as they said. We agree a price of 1100 rupees (6.40) per night; this is for a huge room that we all share. After lunch in their lovely rooftop restaurant, we spend the afternoon generally lazing around. Ali practices his guitar and Maisie practices her Nintendo DS muscles.
We are all knackered and decide to have a quiet day; tomorrow we are going to Meherangarh. This huge palace/fort dominates the city and we have fantastic views of it from our hotel.

I have a shower and wash my hair, we have all showered every day even if the water has been cold (Often) but I was super quick this morning as we were rushing. The shower heads are all fixed and very often nearly all the holes blocked up but large buckets and jugs are supplied everywhere and the best way to wash is to fill the bucket and then pour the water over yourself.
We had some clothes washed at Pushkar and it feels quite luxurious to be clean with clean hair and clean clothes. I have been hand washing a bit of our stuff but as the easy things to wash such as knickers need the most washing and it is very cheap to have laundry done I’m probably going to give up on that.

Simon and Ali go out to get some supplies ie drinks, fruit, crisps and chocolate. We decide we are having Saturday night in, in front of the telly, only difference from home I guess is that we don’t have to go so far for take out and it’s cheaper and better than our local curry house2

Today’s priority is to find a computer with a USB port so we can update the diary section. I probably won’t write it every day once we reach Goa as I guess there is only so much “I lay by the pool and did nothing today” that people want to read, although the main reason I am writing it as a record of the trip for us and Ali and Maisie.

We don’t get out of bed until 10.30 today, I am feeling tired with moving around a lot and still have a streaming cold. What a luxury to be able to think I’ll have a day off completely guilt free!

After breakfast Simon goes to sort out computer stuff and the kids I settle down to school.
Ali does 40 algebra questions and then joins in with Maisie’s science. We learn about the structure of cells and then go on onto draw and label the organs of the body. I pitch it at a higher level but Maisie seems to cope fine with this. We discuss the functions of the brain and are going to use the online encyclopaedia later to label it properly. This is a big section of work and is going to take a while to complete.

In the afternoon we visit the holy lake, Pushkar is a very mystical town and there are signs everywhere asking tourists to respect Hindu customs. No meat, eggs or alcohol, no photographs near the bathing ghats on the holy lake and no public shows of affection
.
Despite this though it does feel quite touristy, I think this may be because the camel fair has just finished and there is almost a sort of carnival atmosphere here although it is quiet
in comparison to other places we have visited.
We stop for lunch and have some pink soup; I read that because Pushkar is such a strict vegetarian town sometimes the restaurants do strange things to the food to liven it up a bit and I have certainly never seen tomatoes that colour before anywhere.

At 4.30 we leave the hotel to climb a mountain nearby and watch the sunset. The Savitri Temple is at the top and was named for Brahma’s wife. The Brahma Temple is at the base and the guesthouse owner tells us it is a fairly steep climb that will take us an hour. I am a bit worried about this as I’m not known for being particularly energetic and still have not really recovered from my experience of walking on Dartmoor last winter in my high heels.

Still we set off for what Simon calls Cardiac Hill and forty five minutes later we reach the top. I have drank a lot of water and asked Simon twice if he thinks I could have altitude sickness but I’ve made it!
I’m proud of myself as for me it’s a good achievement and well worth it as the views are great. Ali bounded up there and Maisie surprised us all by beating Simon and me to the top. (If there is anyone lazier in the world than me it’s Maisie!)

I can see why people stay here; it reminds me of festivals I have been to at home. As well as Indian music, I have heard Bob Marley and incense is being burnt everywhere.
The people are very friendly and although lots of people talk to us we haven’t been pressured to buy anything or asked for money by anyone. It feels safe and laid back here and I could definitely stay for longer.
We are moving on tomorrow though to the desert city of Jodhpur, Iram is picking us up at 10am so got to go get some sleep now.