Masai Mara Memories

We spent the next three weeks in Kenya in the same fashion as the first. As such, we spent our days working at the Children´s Garden, helping out in the school as well as in the home. We also helped the children prepare for their exams, and we marked the exams when they were finished writing them. During our second week, we said goodbye to Diane and Alicia, who headed back to Canada after spending almost four weeks in Kenya at Children´s Garden. We were sad to see them go, but we were happy that we still had a longer time to enjoy with the children. At the end of our third week, it was time to party. Amanda was celebrating her 24th birthday, so Jono decided to treat her to something special. The two of us, along with our friend Thomas, another volunteer, and 4 older students from the home, headed out on another wildlife safari. This time we were heading 4 hours south, towards the Tanzanian border, to the Masai Mara. The Masai Mara, which is home to the Serengeti plains, is one of Kenya´s biggest game parks and is often heralded as the best place to spot wildlife in their natural habitat. The seven of us left early on Friday morning to see what adventures lay ahead. After the long and tiring safari car ride (which broke down several times along the way) we arrived at the Masai Mara game park. We stopped for a brief lunch at the side of the road (another breakdown) and we were soon joined by a troop of 3 Masai Warriors (spears in hand) who were amused and bewildered as they saw us eat packaged foods and other picnic-type snacks. After failing to get the car going again, a “Good Samaritan” towed us to the place where we would be camping for the next few days. Then after a quick rest we were able to get the engine up and running and we were off for an adventure in the park and looking for animals. It wasn’t long before we found what we were looking for. Out of van windows, we could see; zebras, buffalos, gazelles and impalas and before we knew it, we found ourselves eye to eye with the ultimate king of the jungle. A beautiful male lion was right next to our safari car. It was amazing to see and we couldn’t believe how incredibly close it was. As the windows were quite open, it could have easily climbed its way into the vehicle. It was excitement and anxiety all twirled together at once. After seeing a few more exciting animals, we called it quits for the evening. We headed back to our campsite (yes, we were camping in the game park!! But don´t worry, we were “protected” by a 7 foot fence on 3 sides of the campground. The next morning we were up early and back in the game park hunting for animals. We were lucky to see a whole pride of lions, wildebeests, zebras, ostriches, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, a few herds of elephants, and we were even lucky enough to catch a rare glimpse of lions mating! The day was successful, and Amanda had one of her best birthdays yet! Our fourth and final week at Children´s Garden was spent with the children and enjoying our last moments together. Since the children were finished their exams and had free time, we, along with Thomas, helped them practice for their Christmas Nativity play (which was even written by Thomas himself). We had a great time doing it, and only wished that we could stay longer to see it all at the final production. The day that we were set to leave was a sad one, as we had come to know and love so many of these children. Before we headed out we had a goodbye party, where the children sang and danced for us, and made us promise to come back and see them (and we really hope to do so again soon!). We even had a goat for dinner, and we all ate it together as a farewell dinner as we gave out our final hugs and goodbyes. At nine pm, the director, Moses, drove us back to the same airport that he had picked us up from one month earlier. We said our goodbyes and we were once again back on the road, headed for new places and new experiences.

Krazyness in Kenya

We arrived in Kenya at five am after a short and easy plane ride from Cairo. We were greeted at the airport by Jono's Aunt Diane and Moses Ndungu, the director of Children's Garden, the home and school that we would be living and working at for the next four weeks. After hugs and hellos, we were in the car, heading to the Kawangware slums, just outside of Nairobi. As soon as we arrived, even though it was so early, we were greeted by smiling children and some of the workers at the center. We wasted no time in getting to know the children, the workers and the teachers at Childrens Garden. Our first week there was spent learning the ropes. We had it easy though, because Jono's Aunt and our friend Alicia Labelle, had already been at Childrens Garden for the past 2 weeks. They gave us insight to what we should be doing. We spent our time with the children in school, teaching them songs and guitar, working in the house, reading together, and just hanging out. Also, during our first week we were lucky enough to go on Safari to Lake Nakuru, about three hours away from Nairobi. We went with Aunt Diane, Alicia, and five of the students from the home. We left for our safari early in the morning, and by ten am we were in the park looking for animals. We were able to see many animals, including a rare white rhino, before lunch time. At lunch, while eating our sandwiches, we were attacked by baboons, who were set on taking our well prepared lunch and eating it. As the baboon attacked, the nine of us screamed and ran back to the van. However, our driver, who thought this was hilarious, just sat there and laughed. We urged him to go, but he wouldn't budge, at least not until the largest one was in front of us and threatening us to jump into our van through the roof! Finally, our driver sped away, and we were back to looking for animals. That day, we saw flamingos, baboons, hyenas, giraffes, monkeys, gazelles and impalas. On the whole, it was a great safari. That week we also took a small trip just outside of Nairobi, to see the Bomas of Kenya. The Bomas is a show put on to showcase different dances from the different tribes of Kenya. We went with Alicia, and two students from the home. We enjoyed the dances, even though the atmosphere wasn't the greatest. After the dances, we were able to walk around the compound, and see how the different tribes lived and what life was like for them. We had no trouble settling in to what would be our new home for the next couple of weeks and we found that it was a place that we were surrounded by smiles and greeted with warm hearts. Meet the faces of Children's Garden.

Entering Into Egypt

We arrived in Egypt after a late night ferry trip across the Red Sea. From the ferry port, we taxied it down to the beautiful beach destination of Dahab. We spent our day in Dahab laying around the beach, as well as snorkeling in the Red Sea. We were able to see some incredible things while snorkeling, including lion fish, clown fish, stunning corals and anemones. That night, instead of catching up on some much needed sleep, we chose to drive two hours out of Dahab to the Mount Sinai (the biblical mountain where moses met God, heard from the burning bush, and received the Ten Commandments). We arrived there at 2 am and we started to make our way up the mountain. It was a cold and long journey up, but after a few hours we were at the top and we were able to see one of the most beautiful sunrises ever, over the distant range of mountains. On our way down, we stopped at St. Catharine's Monastery, where we saw a large bush which is believed to be the same type of bush that Moses would have encountered on the mountain (but no, it wasn't burning). We arrived back in Dahab by noon, and spent the rest of the day in the same fashion as the day before. We enjoyed the beach, and snorkeled until we couldn't snorkel any more. That evening, we caught the late night bus out of Dahab, heading towards the Egyptian capital of Cairo. It was a long way (about 10 hours), but we were so exhausted from the previous few nights without any sleep, that we slept through the entire bus ride! We arrived in Cairo early the next morning, and dropped our bags off at the train station. We picked up our tickets for the night train to Aswan and than headed out to explore Cairo. Our first stop was at the Egyptian Museum, where we were able to see the worlds largest display of Egyptian artifacts. The museum housed some truly amazing pieces, including mummies of various pharaohs (and their animals), burial urns, statues, ancient artifacts, jewelry, and, what we found to be most impressive, King Tut's burial mask. We spent a few hours in the museum, but as our time was limited, we had to move on. We hopped on the subway to get to our next stop, which was an area called Giza, to see the Sphinx and the Pyramids. As soon as we arrived we were blown away by the sights that were before us. The Sphinx and the Pyramids, being thousands of years old, were right next to us and we could even touch them! We got our photos, and Jono and Mike even made their way inside one of the Pyramids (and even into the stone burial pit). We hung around at a local restaurant overlooking the Pyramids to watch the sound and light show that is put on every night. It was a bit cheesy (it was also in German which didn't help) but the Pyramids looked great all lit up! It was back on the road for us that night, as we boarded the night 12 hour night train headed for Aswan, which is in the south of Egypt. We arrived by noon the next morning and were thrilled to have a place to lay our heads and drop our bags. We spent the day riding up and down the Nile on a felucca, as well as taking in the sights and tastes of Aswan. We headed to sleep early that night, only to be woken earlier than ever desired. At 3 am our hotel gave us our wake up call, and half an hour later we were in a mini bus, in a convoy, headed for the site of Abu Simbel. About three hours later we arrived at our destination (along with a thousand other people who were a part of our convoy!). We had made it to the ancient sight of Abu Simbel, a breathtaking temple made by Ramses, which was not far from the border of Egypt and Sudan. The temples were spectacular on the outside, and just as great on the inside. The hieroglyphs were well preserved, and the only downfall was that we couldn't take any photos inside. From Abu Simbel, we traveled back to Aswan, and spent the rest of the day resting and enjoying ourselves. That night we jumped on the train again, this time only for three hours, and made our way north to the city of Luxor. Here we spent the night, and the rest of the following day. Although we were short on time and didn't get to see everything (Luxor is home to both the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, where the kings and queens of the past were buried), we decided to explore Luxor's Eastern Bank. However, we were able to check out the impressive Temple of Karnak as well as the Luxor Temple. We were even able to see the Luxor Temple lit up at night before we headed back on the road. That night we took the night bus back to Cairo, as we all had to catch our flights out of Egypt the following evening. We arrived in Cairo and were so exhausted from the weeks adventures, that we rented a hotel room for the afternoon and caught up on a few hours of sleep!!! After we felt rested enough, we went out for a final dinner together, and than it was off to the airport. We parted ways here, as Mike was flying back to Canada, and we were flying further into the heart of Africa.

http://jonoandamanda-main.local/slideshow-jnawa-027-egypt/

Joyriding in Jordan

After a successful train ride out of Varanasi, we passed just over a week in Southern India in the state of Goa. We had high hopes of enjoying some good times relaxing on the beach, but within the first days of arriving, Jono came down with a severe eye disease, and by the next day, had passed it on to Amanda. Needless to say, we both spent the entire week inside our hotel room (as it was highly contagious!) recovering. In fact, we only left the hotel to make the one hour taxi ride to the hospital to get it checked out. When our time in Goa came to an end, we headed over to Mumbai, where we passed a few more days (still recuperating) and then we were in the air once again. We landed in Amman, Jordan, and were excited to be spending the next leg of our journey in the middle east. Upon arriving we were blown away by the beauty of the desert that surrounded us on every side. It was truly breathtaking. When we arrived in the city, we found our hostel for the next few days, and started to figure out what to do. Our first stop was to Jebel al-Qal'a (Citadel Hill), that is comprised of ancient Roman ruins, such as Umayyad palace, and the Temple of Hercules. It also has the Jordan Archaeological Museum, which is home to several specimens of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The next day we made our way out into the city again, this time hitting up the Roman Theatre which was an impressive amphitheater, built between 169 AD and 177 AD by Markus Aurelius. We arrived back to the hostel early and spent some time hanging out with our new friends there. Around nine that night, we were greeted by Mike, Amanda's older brother, who flew into Amman that evening. He would be spending the next 2 weeks traveling through the middle east with us. Even with (or especially because of) all the excitement of having Mike around, we didn't slow down for a minute. The next day after his arrival, the three of us took the hour bus ride north to the ancient city of Jerash, one of the most dramatic and explorable Roman cities in the Middle East. We spent our time wandering around enjoying the ruins. We were also able to catch a reenactment of some of the Romans military tactics, as well as a few well choreographed gladiator fights and a real chariot race. Once we felt as though we had done all we could in Jerash, we hopped into a cab that took us to the ancient castle of Ajloun, which was built during the crusades in the year 1184. Again, we explored, and we found that we quite enjoyed the small castle. After that, we jumped back on the bus headed back to Amman, and were soon preparing ourselves for the next day. We woke early the next morning, and were soon on the bus again, this time heading for the city of Madaba. We arrived by noon, and an hour or so later we had set ourselves up with a taxi driver who would show us the three main sights around Madaba. The first of these was Bethany and the Jordan river, where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. We walked along the water, and even went into the river. We also had a great view of Israel (and Jericho in the distance), which was only a few feet away on the other side of the river. The second sight of the day was the Dead Sea. We spent an hour swimming... well, more like floting in the Dead Sea, which happens to be the lowest land area on earth, and the second saltiest water in the entire world!. It was so salty that you couldn't even swim, only float around! Our third and final sight of the day was Mont Nebo, the mountain where Moses looked over the holy land. We made it to the mountain, however, we were too late to enter the sanctuary that is on top of the mountain (there never seems to be enough time!!). The next morning we were on the road again (yes, we are always on the road!), this time heading down the King's highway towards Jordan's most spectacular attraction. Along the way we stopped at Wadi Mujib, (a.k.a. the Grand Canyon of Jordan). We then arrived at the crusader castle of Karak. From there we made it to the city of Wadi Musa (Moses Valley in Arabic), the closest city to the ancient ghost city of Petra, which we would be exploring over the next two days. The next morning we woke up extra early, so that we could get a full day in at the rose city of Petra. We began our day by journeying through the Siq, a narrow canyon walkway which lead to the most incredible and stunning structure in all of Petra, the Treasury. Listed as one of the new wonders of the world, the Treaury was designed to impress, and it has been doing so for more than 2000 years. The thing that makes this UNESCO site so unique is that most of the buildings and tombs in this Ancient Nabataean city were constructed, in fact, about ninety percent of them were carved out of the rock itself. We spent almost 12 hours wandering around, climbing and exploring Petra. We had seen two of the main sights, the Treasury and the Monastery, as well as many other smaller, but just as exciting places. Although our feet were tired from the day before, we got up early again and once again found ourselves surrounded by the beauty of Petra. Again we wandered, climbed and were in awe of this ancient masterpiece. We made it up to the High Place of Sacrifice (no, they didn't sacrifice Amanda!) and also got a great view of the Treasury from above. That night Jono and Mike made it back to see Petra at night, where the Siq to the Treasury were lit by over 1500 candles (beautiful!). Amanda however, didn't make it, due to poor shoes which gave her blisters after two days of climbing. Not to slow things down in any way, the next morning we were up with the sun, and on the 6:30 bus to Wadi Rum, (the stretch of desert made famous by Lawrence of Arabia. When we got to the desert, we jumped into a 4x4 jeep, which drove us across the desert, stopping at various interesting places, such as huge sand dunes, rock bridges, and desert canyons. We saw the most beautiful sunset in the desert, and after the sun went down, we made our way to the camp. As we finished dinner, we decided that instead of sleeping in the tents that were provided for us, we would sleep under the stars of the desert sky. It was a beautiful night, and we were thankful that no desert snakes or scorpions got to us. In the morning we were back in the 4x4 and heading out of the desert to the Red Sea-side city of Aqaba. Here we proceeded to get our ferry tickets for that evening, as we would be taking the late ferry out of Jordan and into Africa. To pass the day away, we relaxed and swam along the coast of the Red Sea. We didn't do any snorkeling (it is said to have the second best snorkeling and diving in the world after the Great Barrier) because we planned to do that first thing in Egypt. The day passed slowly, and finally, at midnight, we were on the ferry, leaving with fond memories of Jordan, and looking forward to what would lay ahead for us in Egypt!

From A to V (Agra to Varanasi).

We left Jaipur, and Rajasthan altogether, and we soon found ourselves in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Our first stop in this new state was at the magnificent fortified ghost city of Fatepur Sikri. This city was once the short-lived capital of the Mughal Empire between 1571 and 1585. Today it is famous for its large and beautiful mosque, known as the Dargah Mosque, and that was our reason for stopping. We toured around the mosque for about an hour, and were surprised by its sheer size and overall design. We entered through the Buland Darwaza (Victory Gate), the largest gate in all of Asia. We proceeded to walk around and explore. Soon after we were asked to leave (not us specifically, but everyone there) as a group of VIP's were coming to visit. We headed down and thought that we would be back on the road, but as it turns out, in India, if there are VIP's on the road, everyone else must wait with their cars pulled off to the side for the VIP's to pass. We ended up waiting for over an hour, but finally they came. We were thinking maybe they were important political figures, or even Bollywood stars, but they turned out to be delegates from the Commonwealth (nothing too exciting!) The VIP's left, and we were soon on the road, heading towards the city of Agra. We were thrilled to be heading here, as it is the city that is home to the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world! We quickly unpacked our bags and then headed out for some grub. We wanted to get some good food with a good view of the Taj. We found one restaurant and went in. As it turns out, they don't light the Taj at night, so it was dark, but we could still see it. It was beautiful!! We thought that we would eat and stare at the beautiful building, but we were forced to leave. Not by anyone, but rather through our own convictions. Our driver, Beer, had come along with us for the evening to enjoy our last full night together. However, the restaurant where we were planning on eating told him that he would have to go downstairs and wait for us. Because he was Indian he wasn't allowed to eat there. We wouldn't have any of that so we went to look for something else. As it turned out, all the restaurants we tried with a Taj view said the same thing. How unfair to our friend! We decided to go to a restaurant near the city centre, and it was great. We ate good food and had a lot of laughs, and that was worth more than a shadowy Taj view. The next morning we woke early, 5 am, with hopes of making it to the Taj for the Sunrise. When we looked out the window it was far too cloudy, so we decided to just rest in bed and go later in the day in time to catch the sunset. Around noon we began our day. We went first to the Agra Fort and palace, a beautiful massive red-sandstone structure built in 1565. We toured around and enjoyed the beautiful buildings. After that we stopped at Mickey D's, for the first time in India, and filled our bellies with a couple of yummy Maharajah Macs! Canada should look into getting some of these bad boys!! We were full and ready to go the the most remarkable sight in India, the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal has been described as the most magnificent building ever built for love. The Taj was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in 1631, as a memorial for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child. It is said that the Emperor was so heartbroken that his hair turned grey overnight! The Taj was then created and completed 2 years later, and stands today as a reminder of the love of an emperor. It is a fantastic building, and we were thrilled that we had been given the opportunity to see it. It was more beautiful in person than any picture could ever illustrate. It was massive and at first sight literally took our breath away. We stayed there until sunset, admiring its beauty and trying to get in as many photos as we possibly could! That night was a sad one, as it was time to leave our friend Beer and head out on our own for the remaining time we had left in India. After hugs and well wishes, we were on our overnight train, heading for what is said to be the holiest Hindu city in India called Varanasi. We arrived in Varanasi at 5 am, and were thankful that we had been set up with a train station pickup (we had no idea where we were, and since we always had Beer we weren't used to finding our way. We would soon get back in the habit though!) We were dropped off at the hotel an hour later and within a few minutes we were in bed catching up on some z's (you can never get a proper sleep on the train!). After some time we decided it best to head into the city and see what all the fuss about Varanasi was. We made it to the main area after a short auto rickshaw ride, and were not overly impressed. It was busy, noisy, crowded, just like any other Indian city. We made our way down to the Ganges River (also known as the Ganga) as proceeded to walk along the river bank. We passed by many Ghats (stairs that lead down to the river), where people bathe, wash cloths, swim, etc. in the river. There were even ghats designated as cremation areas where cremations were constantly taking place. We spent the afternoon walking up and down the river, although there wasn't really too much happening, and we still weren't blown away (as quite a few people we talked to described Varanasi as the highlight of their trip). We also weren't impressed with the water itself. We did some reading (Lonely Planet, as usual) and found that in in 100ml of bathing water, the acceptable amount of fecal coliform (poo) should be less than 500 (in Niagara Falls it is roughly 80). However, water coming out of the Ganga is so septic, that the numbers are in the neighborhood of 1.5 million!!! We were not going near that water for anything!! At least thats what we said. Not necessarily what we did. The next morning we made our way back down to the river and jumped in!! We were splashing all around and gargling the water in our mouths... GOTCHA! Actually, we hired a boat and road up and down the Ganges as the sun rose. It was an amazing time, as we saw people come down into the river to pray, bathe, brush their teeth, swim and wash their clothes in their holy water. It is said that all Hindus try to make it into the Ganga at least once in their lifetime, and it is an honour to die in Varanasi and to be cremated there. The experience of seeing the Ghats at dawn was a beautiful sight to see, and really made our time in Varanasi worthwhile. That night, with our time in Varanasi at and end, we were back on the train, and quite literally, heading for Bollywood!

The Route Through Rajasthan Continues...

We left Ranakpur early the next morning (as there was nothing more to see there), with our sights set on the small city of Udaipur. Before arriving we made a quick stop (ok, a few hours) at Shilpgram, a village that displays traditional Indian homes, dances, foods and crafts. We enjoyed seeing the traditional way of life, and picked up a few goodies for our own collection to remind us of India. We arrived in the city of Udiapur in the early afternoon, and spent most of our time walking around and exploring the downtown bazaar. Udaipur which was made famous by being featured in the 1970's James Bond movie “Octopussy”. The city is a cool (temperature wise) city, situated within a small mountain range. It was nice to get out of the heat for a change! The next morning we were up and on our own, our driver Beer was busy getting the car tuned up for the rest of the trip. We began our day by heading off to the city palace. We spent some time exploring the museum inside, which holds a collection of various items from past Maharajahs. After a few hours of looking we were ready to head back, disappointed that there wasn't more to see. However, on our way back to the hotel, we ran into a festival procession that made our time in India feel the way that we had imagined India to be. Thousands of people had gathered in the main street, around the main temple, and were partying in the street (and it was only 3:30 in the afternoon!). They were celebrating the last day of a ten day celebration for the birthday of the Hindu god Ganesh. It was one of the most wild things we had seen in India. People were singing, dancing, throwing pink and green powder, lighting fireworks, riding camels, and carrying statues of their god down to the river. At the river they dropped statues of Ganesh in, allowing the them to sink to the bottom in the hopes of bringing them good luck for the rest of the year. The festival lasted for several hours, and truly blew our minds! We were worn out after such a big display, and made our way to a rooftop restaurant to enjoy some good Indian food. We spent the evening watching “Octopussy”, and we noticed some of the locations where the film was shot (both in the city Palace where we were this morning, as well as in the streets were the festival took place). With the car tuned up, we were back on the road the next morning, heading for the small, holy city of Pushkar. We arrived after about 6 hours, and relaxed for a bit before heading out to explore the city. We were on our guard as we made our way down to the holy lake, as many men came up to us and offered us flowers and prayers. This may sound like somewhat of a nice gesture, but when your prayers are finished and you get your bill, you won't be so happy. We were thankful that we were warned about this before hand (you know we hate scams!) and had no problem turning them down. From there we met our friend Beer, and went together for a tasty buffet dinner to celebrate his birthday. The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn, getting ready for a gift that Beer had prepared for us (in India people celebrate their birthdays by giving parties and gifts to their friends!). We were greeted outside the hotel by two big camels, and two young camel guides. We jumped on top of the camels, and were off for a sunrise camel safari. We rode for about two hours, stopping to watch the sun rise, and to rest our tired bums (believe us, camel bums are not much fun!) After our camel safari we were back in the car and on our way to the capital of Rajasthan, the pink city of Jaipur. We arrived and made our way to our first destination, the Raj Mandir Cinema, which is the place to see a movie in India. We bought our tickets for the movie “Chak De India “ (Champions of India) as a treat for both ourselves and a birthday treat for Beer. After some yummy samosas and chatoris, we were in and watching the movie. Although the movie was in Hindi, and we didn't understand a word of it, the overall message of the movie was clear and we really enjoyed it. After that we headed to the restaurant Indiana, for a dinner to celebrate Beer's birthday. We ate decent food, but the entertainment really made it a night. Classical Ragasthani music and dances were performed all throughout the dinner, and of course, we were up on the dance floor showing off our Indian moves (as if we even have any!?) The next day was to be our last day in the state of Rajasthan. We made our way into the old pink city, towards the Amber fort. We passed on elephant rides up the walkway (we still had sore bums from the camels!) and walked up to the top. We walked around the old fort, enjoying the view of the pink city below, before deciding it was way to hot and it was time to head back. From here we hit up a few shops (carpet, jewelry and clothing) and decided that the prices in the bazaars were more in our budget. From there we went to the city palace, which turned out to be a huge waste of time and money because you couldn't even get into the palace (the maharajah still lives there, and I guess he doesn't want anyone to come in!). The only good thing was that we ran into our friend Rochelle, who we originally met in China, and we were able to catch up. With Jaipur seen and done, we had completed our Ragasthani route. We would be heading out the next day to a new state, with even greater sights to see!

Into Incredible !ndia

We boarded the bus from Kathmandu to Delhi, India, expecting the 36 hour ride to be slow and tedious. However, we were not prepared for what was in store for us. After about 2 hours, and only 5km later we found ourselves at a standstill on the side of a mountain somewhere in a line of backed up cars and trucks which seemed to go as far as the eye could see in both directions. We figured that this traffic jam would only last a little while, maybe an hour at the most, but it soon became clear that this was only wishful thinking. But after just 12 hours, the line, along with our bus, finally started to move. Apparently an electrical wire had fallen below, and a car drove over it, killing all those inside. The police were notified but no one showed up. This caused some of the locals to start a riot, burning tires and other materials on the road. It was quite unsettling for us and it also made our already long bus ride even more unbearable. We arrived after 48 hours in Delhi, the capital city of India. After finding some accommodation for the evening, we set out to plan our time in India. Not too long after heading out we had booked ourselves in with a driver, hotels, and train tickets for the next month. We were ready to go! Our first official full day was spent seeing the sites of Delhi. We went to the India Gate, the National Museum, Humayun's Tomb and the Sikh Temple. We had a great time, a got to know our driver, Beer Singh, who would be with us for the next 14 days of our journey. The next day it was time to head off and explore the state of Rajasthan. We made a few stops in Old Delhi before hitting the road. These included Jama Masjid (India's largest Mosque), the Red Fort, Raj Ghat (Ghandi's memorial) and Chandni Chowk (a famous bazaar). After these stops (we were tired out already!) we were on the road heading to our first stop, Mandawa. We arrived in Mandawa late in the evening, and settled in to our hotel. Here we ate (what has so far been our favourite meal in India) and then headed to sleep. In the morning we saw most of Mandawa in about 45 minutes (its only a small village!) Then we were back on the road. This time heading for Bikaner. We arrived in Bikaner, in the early afternoon, and quickly dropped our bags at the Sagar Palace, a hotel that looks like an old Maharaja's Palace (cool!!). We made our way towards Junagarh, a most impressive fort, constructed between 1588-1593. We spent our afternoon exploring the fort and all of its secret and interesting aspects. After the fort we drove about 50 km outside of the city to Karni Mata Temple, also known as the rat temple. We took our shoes off (a must-do in temples) and braved our way into the rat temple. Inside there were literally thousands of rats, scattered all over the temple. In every nook and crannie rats were piled in. Jono thought that this was one of the coolest sites to date (a real Indiana Jones moment), however, Amanda was utterly mortified of all of the rats. It was her most disgusting site so far! We were on the road once again early the next morning, heading towards the golden city of Jaisalmer, where all the buildings are made out of yellow sandstone, casting a golden sheen over the entire city (very Aladdin-esque!). We arrived late in the afternoon, and instead of stopping first in Jaisalmer city, we drove 50 km away towards the India-Pakistan border. Here we set ourselves up with a sunset camel safari in the Thar desert. We rode camels for about 3 hours, stopping on the sand dunes to watch as the sun set over the dunes. It was very romantic, and the camels were really cool to ride (although not the most comfortable as we would find out over the next few days)! When we made it back to the base camp, we were greeted with a huge buffet dinner, something any camel rider looks forward to! The next day was spent in Jaisalmer, enjoying the sites of the golden city. We first went to the Jaisalmer fort, the largest fort in all of Ragasthan. The fort was built in 1156, and inside it houses the Maharaja's palace. It also also houses hundreds of havelis (homes for the nobility). We made our way into a few of these and they were breathtaking! We wanted to spend more time wandering around the rest of the town, but it was just too darn hot. The temperature had reached an unbearable 43 degrees, the hottest we have experienced on our entire journey!! The next morning we were up and on the road again. This time our destination was Jodhpur, nicknamed “The Blue City”. Here, all of the old part of the city that is just outside of the Meherangarh, was painted blue. They say that there were a few reasons for this. First, the local maharajah had a fondness for blue. Also, blue is said to be cool and keep the buildings cooler, and also to repel insects (who'd have thought)! We started our day with a tour of Meherangarh (the city fort), which is still run by the current Maharajah. Later, we made our way into the heart of the blue city, to the clock tour and bazaar. Here we shopped for spices, handicrafts and other Indian goods! We ended our day with a sunset, rooftop dinner overlooking the blue city enjoying great meal to end a good day! The next stop on the itinerary was Ranakpur, a small village in the middle of a small range of mountains. Although it was more of a pit-stop on our journey, for us, Ranakpur was a pleasant surprise. This dot on the map was home to one of the most beautiful Jain temples in the world. It was constructed in 1499, and made entirely of milk white marble. There were exactly 1444 pillars within, and no two were alike! Outside we were also greeted by an interesting troop of monkeys who seemed so used to humans that it was like we weren't even there. So we said our goodbyes to Ranakpur and hopped back in our car and the 3 of us continued our journey across the “Sun State” of Rajahsthan.