Wow, what a journey! It all started 2 days ago......

Me and mitsuru got the bus to Ajanta to see the caves there.... or at least we tried to.... when the conductor came to give us tickets and we said "Ajanta", he just said, "No, Silom", and we said "ummm, no, Ajanta please", and he said "No, silom"... I tried asking him what he was going on about, but he didn't speak english, and all the while the bus is driving steadily towards ...ummm...somewhere.... So I shouted at the rest of the bus "Hello! Does anyone speak english??".. Luckily a woman came and helped translate, and told us that despite what at least 3 ppl had told us at the bus stand, this was not the Ajanta bus, but it would take us about half way, and we could catch another bus from there.......

So anyway, we got there in the end, and the caves were once again pretty mindblowing! Although to be honest my biggest thrill was just singing in them and listening to how cool my voice sounded!! :)

So then we went to Jalgaon to saty the night before getting trains the next day. The Hotel we stayed in was amazing!! It was like...well.... a Hotel! With clean white walls and stuff! And the manager was extremely helpful. he kept treating us like we were guests at the Hilton or something! :) We even had a TV!

Then we went to eat and he told us that he had a restaurant next door, and that although it looked expensive, it was really very reasonable... So we went out to find it, but the only place we could see was this REALLY posh place with a doorman and everything that quite clearly costed an arm and a leg and 4 fingers, so we went back and asked him to show us where it was. Well, it turns out this IS the place! So we go in and sit down at the glass table in the immaculate air conditioned dining room, and when the menu comes we are pleasantly relieved to find it is not going to cost a weeks budget at all, and it is as he said, very resonable. The food was pretty good too! So afterwards we go to bed, and I cant help but notice that the beathroom and part of the room have no roof, just a metal grid seperating us from the great outdoors. I kil about 5 mosquitos, and think hey, it'll be ok, and go to bed. I get up at 5am, say goodbye to Mitseru, and head for the train station. Once on the train, i notice what looks like a rash on my shoulder.... I pull my shirt back and realise that this "rash" speads over most of my arms, shoulders, back, chest..... in fact all of the parts of my body that were outside my sleeping bag...... It really does look like I have the measles!!! But it doesn't itch, so I think nothing of it.....

About 6 hours later, some of the bites start to itch, then more, then even more, until I am a living itch, all my senses obscured by one overwhelming sensation of itchiness..... I have now had a look at myself in the mirror, and I have to say that it is morbidly fascinating! I tried to count them, but lost count at about 87..... No amount of Mopiko can combat a mozzie attack of this scale. I think a bath of calomine lotion might help for a while..... Anyway, on with the story....

So, My first train takes me to Kandwar, where I have to change. My helpful hotel manager has infomed me that I will be given a free retiring room there in which to spend the 7 hour wait before my connecting train to Jaipur, but when I arrive the station master just laughs at my request for a free bed and tells me it's 100 rupees or nothing! So by now i'm so tired i can barely keep my eyes open, but I'm determined not to spend 100 rupees for a few hours sleep, so i head off into Kandwar. Now this is the first time so far i've been in a place that is not mentioned in my Lonely planet guide, and I soon realise how much I rely on that wonderful book! No map, no suggestions of where to eat.... I end up in a roadside cafe sharing my table with a large group of flies who keep rudely trying to taste my coke.... I discuss cricket with the owner for a while, pretending to know what i am talking about with the few pieces of information I have picked up from Paul (cricket is turning out to be a very useful conversation starter!), and eventually it's no good, I simply have to close my eyes, so i head back to the station, pick my way between the 100's of bodies sprwled all over the platform, and try to find the least dirty piece of floor with the least globs on phlegm on which to lie....

Eventually i find a spot and lie down, much to the amusement of the locals, who gather round to stare at me. I am of course the only foreigner in the entire town, and I start to suspect that i may be the only foreigner EVER to have been to this town.... or village, or outpost or whatever you want to call it......

After a few hours, a man comes up and aks me why i'm lying on the floor outside instead of in the first class waiting room with the fans and the chairs and the clean floor. I don't have an answer for this, except to thank him shyly and find my way to the waiting room, which is completely empty! I sit in here a while and then get on my train....

On the train I have a very long and interesting talk with an 18 year old Indian student, who want's to find out how I feel about the "problem" of muslims trying to dominate other religions and cultures... he is a Hindu, and as well as vehemently hating the Pakistanis, he also hates the Indian Muslims in india. Or at least he thinks he does. After about an hour we both agree that the only way there is ever going to be a solution to these conflicts is through better understanding between cultures. He tells me that even though he is very proud to be a Hindu, he feels that the only way the world can really live together peacefully is if everyone becomes christian.... Why?? I ask..... because that's what England and America and Australia have, and they don't fight, he tells me! This I find quite hilarious! I try to explain to him that Britain is about as Christian as he is Muslim, and that if he really wants to use these western countries as role model, then he shouldn't be talking about christianity as a slution, but instead a kind of secular godlessness based on earning as much cash as possible and experimenting with psychotropic substances.... When i tell him that churches in england are empty bar a few OAP's he stares at me in disbelief. So anyway, all in all a pretty interesting discussion that i think we both learned from...another victory for peace!

So, 36 hours after leaving Jalgaon, i finally arrive in Jaipur, and here I am. I'm bloody hungry, and I've already been on here far too long, so I'm gonna sign off now.....until next time.... :)