We left Delhi early in the morning at about 6ish and headed upto The Pakistan border near Amritsar.  We arrived there at about 4:30 just in time to see the ceremony of them closing the border which they do everyday.  This ceremony goes on for about an hour and consists of a lot of guards dressed up in silly outfits marching up and down outside the border gate.  All of the marching was copied from Monty Pythons Ministry of Silly Walks though, which was hillarious.  On each side of the border they have built large grandstands, which hold about 500 people on each side, as the guards march each side's fans cheer on there respective marchers and sings chants, very much like a football match.  When they finally finish the gates are slammed shut and everybody marches off home!

From the border we headed back into Amritsar which was about 20 mins away, we arrived at about 6:30 and after checking into the hotel we caught cycle rickshaws the 6km into town.  The ride into town and back again was entertainment enough, as you get into town you have to go up a big hill, (which you have to walk up because the cycle rickshaw man cant cycle up it with us on it), but then you have a long stretch of downhill the other side which has a roundabout at the bottom - I dont know if he had brakes, but we did not slow down and we had to all lean into the corner to stop it flipping over!  As we were getting closer to the centre we suddenly veered accross a very busy dual carriageway with no warning, cutting up cars and sending several cars, cows and motorbikes swerving all over the road to avoid us!  Anyway, we finally made it safe and sound with white knuckles to see the Golden Temple.  Because we got there late it was dark, but I think this was the best time to see it, you approach the temple, which is set in the middle of a man made lake and it is just a big glow of gold with lights shinning all over it - stunning.  Amritsar is a bit of a crazy town, but it was very relaxing and peaceful inside.  The journey back to the hotel was just as eventful - I was sharing a rickshaw with Claire and the driver was not paying much attention as he was chatting to another driver, he hit the curb and Claire fell out of the rickshaw! - She was OK but for a graze and a big bruise though.

In the morning we set off on a 2 day drive to Bikaner, bush camping at just over halfway.  We arrived at about 2pm and went around the fort and the town, but it is not one of the best forts and the town is very similar to the others, so there was nothing that special here.  We left Bikaner at about 5 and headed off to the 'world famous' rat temple.  This is where people beleive that people are reicarnated as rats, so the temple is crawling with them, they are worshipped and fed here.  It was a very weird place to be.

That night we bush camped again on the way to Jaisalmer which is out in the desert quite close to the Pakistan border. This is a lovely town which is very relaxed compared to some in India, it has a really nice fort.  That evening we went to a great restaurant which was perched on a hill overlooking the town and the fort, which glowed in the sunset.

I had a nice easy start to the following morning, which was good as we were off on a camel safari at 3.  The camels turned up and I was given my trusty steed Larlala, who turned out to be the slowest camel in the history of the world, which was good in a way because it hurt like hell when they ran!  We treked out into the desert for about 3 hours and stopped in the middle of nowhere.  The local guides then cooked us some traditonal food af Dal, Curry and Chipatti and then we all sat around a camp fire while they sang us some songs, including the camel safari song which the corus consisted of Dal, Chipatti, Camel Safari - quite catchy really!  We then sang them some English songs, not sure these went down to well though.

We slept out under the stars and then headed back the next morning.  We arrived back at the hotel at around 12 and I spent the rest of the day having cold showers and lying face down on the bed - ouch!

We headed to Jodphur in the morning, not before we had push started the truck though as the battery had gone flat - a good bit of morning exercise!  We arrived in Jodphur at about 4 and stayed on this fantastic stud farm/ranch, the horses where georgeous and there were lots of peacocks, goats and dogs strolling around.  We headed into Jodphur the following morning and went upto the fort, which is the best fort I have seen so far, it is huge and is set high up above the town.  You get stunning views of the town, where all the houses are painted blue, which looks great set against the desert.  As you stroll around you get a really good audio tour explaining the history and the different parts of the fort.

Towards the end if the tour I went to see a palmist/astrologer.  I told him my name, date, place and time of birth and he spent the next 5 minutes telling me about my personality which was all spot on and very specific.  He also told me that I had had a carear change about 6 months ago - which I did and he said that I will have other changes in my carear at 34 and 45 and that they will all be good moves, especially at 45.  I am going to live a long life well past my eighties and the only health problem I will have is high blood pressure between 55-60 and if I get it treated I will be fine, but if not I will have a heart attack!  I am also going to have a big commitment in my relationship at 30 and that was all he said about my love life - so I will keep you posted if any of it comes true.

In the afternoon we headed into the centre and went shopping around the market which was great and sold all sorts of things, including lots of spices and coloured dies.  Jodphur has been one of my favourite cities so far and I would highly recomend it to anybody that finds themselves in this part of the world.

We left Jodphur the following morning and drove all day to get to Mount Abu which is where I am now.  Mount Abu is great, it is a town on top of a small mountain, so is a lot cooler than the desert (26 yesterday as apposed to 35 in the desert).  The town is a bit like a holiday resort and has loads of palm trees and is very relaxed.  We all went out for a nice meal last night and polished off a lot of Vodka, so I am taking it easy today to get my breath back ready for Iran.

We head to Mandu tomorrow and then onto the caves at Ellora and Ajanta before getting to Mumbai (Bombay) on the 29th.  We then fly to Iran on April Fools day!

I will updat the journal again in Mumbai.