From the North to the South

Hello! We have been traveling around like mad I haven’t had chance to write. SO much has been happening. We left Jaipur to spend 3 and a half nights in the Thar desert. This was fantastic, an absolutely magical experience. Our guides went by the names of Del boy and Rodney. They were legends. Our camels were called Raj and… oh dear I forget James’… Anyway they were also great although let off an awful smell a little too often.

We saw only goat herders for the whole 4 days, just what we needed after crazy Kolkata. We walked for 3 hours in the morning then cooked on a camp fire and ate. Then had about a 2 hour sleep under a tree whilst the hottest part of the day passed, then we walked (well the camels did, we bobbed) for 2 more hours to where we would camp for the night. It was so much fun. Then to top it off James asked me to marry him on a sand dune at sun set…. How very romantic! I said yeees so we’re weeell excited!!

After Jaisalmer and the desert we traveled to Udaipur, another town in Rajasthan, this is famous for it’s lakes and palace in the water. It was here that the Bond film ‘Octopussy’ was filmed.. We watched It in a bar there… what a classy film. I never realised Bond was such a perv! Ah well, I shall add it to the huge list of things I have learnt on this trip!

After Udaipur we trained it back to Jaipur in order to head down to Kerala. So now we are in the south. We spent a few days on Fort Kochi where they have the most amazing Chinese fishing nets. You see them all the time on photos but to see them in action was fascinating.

We went to see a classical performance with the ‘Bamboo flute’ in the local bamboo theatre. This was beautiful. I got talking to the flute player and he agreed to give me a lesson the next day, wahoo! I was so excited as I bought a bamboo flute in Kolkata and haven’t been able to make it work.. So I went along the next day, he proved to me the flute did work. This also proved how terrible I was! (I used to have flute lessons so to not be able to make a sound was pretty upsetting). He gave me a south Indian flute and told me to learn on that. It was ace to play/practice with such a fantastic flute player. So now here I am wondering round India with a bamboo flute on my back, getting it out at every opportunity! I really do look the part! I’m thinking is perhaps time to come home..

Also at this theatre we saw an 18th century Keralan play. There were 3 actors and the all had the most amazing make up. Part of the performance was watching them do their make up. This theatre really was a good find.

We have now moved on from Fort Kochi and we are in a place called Alleppy. We are going on a boat around the backwaters tomorrow, then we are heading to a beach as time is ticking away and after hearing about the weather at home, I want to make the most of the sun.

Thank you everyone for the gorgeous messages to both James and I about the engagement, we’re glad you’re all excited too! Amy xxx