India - Delhi and Mandawa

We arrived in Delhi to the heaviest rains of the monsoon season which meant that the capital city was a mud bath and during our first explorations we slid around in the mire and god knows what ever else.

Having been on the road for 11 months we thought we were used to crazy cities, but Delhi really was just something else and as we picked our way through the tuk-tuks, cows, rickshaws and cars we were quite relieved that we would be leaving for Rajasthan the next day.

We were picked up the next morning by our driver for the next 2 weeks, Kanaram

and whisked (as much as any one can be whisked in the horrendous traffic of Delhi) out of the city. We passed hundreds of bare-foot, orange-clad pilgrims on their way to collect the holy water of the Ganges and soon passed into the state of Rajasthan. As we ate up the kilometres on our way to Mandawa we passed Camels pulling carts and women dressed in increasingly colourful clothes and Kanaram informed us that the culture changes every 36 kilometres here in India. 36, not 40 or 50 but exactly every 36!! We passed through several busy market towns and soon began to realise that we were as much of interest to the local people as they are to us, as they stared in fascination into the car.

We finally reached Mandawa and checked into our Haveli hotel.

Mandawa is famed for its Havelis, which are lavishly painted mansions both inside and out. We headed out to take a look at several more Havelis dotted around the small town, the fort and then sampled some of the delicious snacks available on the street. We were already getting used to the numerous young men that want to talk to you as you wander around, with the vast majority ending these conversations with the expected 'my family has a small shop just around the corner', but the most rewarding moments were those people who genuinely did just want to say hello and practice their English.

We ended our evening on the roof top of our hotel serenaded by peacocks, donkeys, dogs and the never ending honking horns.