The madness in India never stops

I don't know how my month in India has gone by so quickly, but here I am, about to go to Africa!  Continuing from where I last left off, our adventures proceeded through Rajastan stopping off at Jodphur (the "blue city"), Udaipur (the "romantic city"), and Jaipur (the "pink city"), before heading to other states within India. Following Jaisalmer, I was quite exhausted, so Jodphur was a nice rest stop, and ended up being a pleasant surprise!

After a solid morning nap, we ventured around the city, which was a little scary at times, but funny to look back on. Near our guesthouse, there was a clocktower,which had a market surrounding it, and it was busy from day to night, full of both locals and tourists. From there, we walked to the old city, to see if it was indeed a "blue city". The views were beautiful and most of the buildings were in fact blue! By mid-afternoon I wasn't functional and had to return to our guesthouse for a ciesta!

By the next morning we were on the road again, heading to Udaipur, about to stay at the same place for three whole nights, which was a first! We were able to be innovative and do all of our laundry in a tiny trash can in our room.

Udaipur was a nice, mellow city, and I can't say that I did much there but relax and consume incredible lassis and street food! We walked around, saw the main palace, and best of all, took an Indian cooking class! This was our third cooking class of the trip, and we made the most amazing food with our wonderful instructor! I can't wait to show off my skills back home!
                  

From Udaipur, we were off to Jaipur to celebrate one of India's most famous festivals, Holi. Holi is basically a holiday to welcome the spring by throwing bright powders at everyone in sight and dancing! The day before Holi was the Elephant Festival, which was a huge parade of dressed up elephants, music performers, and games! It was a blast and a perfect kickoff to this massive national celebration!

     
The next morning, I woke up, got on my Holi gear (a white t shirt and white pants), filled up my water gun, and gathered my green and pink Holi powders! Literally within seconds of stepping off the grounds of our hotel, we were ambushed by Jaipur's vicious street kids!

We frantically sprinted down the street to escape from them, which was quite a battle! We ended up going to a Holi celebration put on by the Indian government given that we had heard of the dangers of women being around drunk Indian men on Holi! The event was amazing, andit included free music, food, drinks, t- shirts, and holi powder. It was a blast! The ritual is for two people to smear powder on each other, as a way to be blessed.So, we were indeed blessed by dozens and dozens of people. My face and clothing probably had about 15 layers of Holi powder on it! After the celebration, it took me a few washes to get all of the color out!

       
       

On the afternoon of Holi, we had to catch a 17 hour train to Varanasi, so I was very relieved that I could rinse off before that train ride! We stayed at a guesthouse that was right near the burning ghat, which is where people basically go to die and be cremated. At the ghat, you literally just see at least five bodies lined up in beautiful decorations, waiting to be cremated, while you can see another five bodies already burning. While I thought I would be nauseated by seeing this, I surprisingly wasn't, as it is apparent that it is an honorable and beautiful ritual for Hindu's.

The following morning we did a sunrise boat tour of the Ganges River, which was nice and tranquil.  We passed by all of the ghats, seeing many people bathing in the holy ganges and witnessing the many traditions that take place at this site.  It was definitely worthwhile!

We ended up wasting most of our day figuring out how to get to our next destination, Khajaraho. We ended up leaving Varanasi a day earlier than planned to head to Khajaraho, grounds of the famous Kama Sutra temples and carvings. The carvings were the most intricate that I have ever seen at such an ancient temple and some of the carvings were indeed shocking, and quite amusing! A day in Khajaraho was plenty, as the vendors were very annoying and it only took a couple of hours to see all of the temples that we wanted to see.

Before heading back to New Dehli to catch our flight to Mumbai, we had two days to rest up in a nice little town called Orcha. It was very peaceful, and we managed to do a nice nature walk, although I can't say I did much of anything else here but watch tv and sleep!

Being back in New Dehli was interesting, given that it was our first stop in India two weeks prior. We were eager to leave New Dehli and head down south to Mumbai! While our original plan was to do three days in Mumbai and three days on the beaches of Goa, we scratched that plan and decided to spend all of our time in Mumbai.  I absolutely loved the city! With the spread out streets, rich cafe culture, beachside location, and all of its sights, Mumbai turned out to be my favorite city in India.  We definitely had quite a variety of experiences in Mumbai! Our first couple of days were spent sightseeing and walking around the beautiful city.  It was refreshing to be in a more modern city, which meant that people didn't stare at you as much as most places in India!

Then, on our third night, we were eager to appear in a Bollywood movie as extras! With a salary of 500 rupees (about $11), which is a fortune for an average days work in India, we were put into a bus with about 20 other backpackers and headed to Bollywood!  After getting our wardrobe, we had our hair and makeup done before heading to the set to do the scenes. It was an amazing experience! I loved seeing how movies are made and all of the tiny details that go into making a film! We didn't finish shooting until after midnight, but we were treated great and had tons of food waiting for us when we finished our scenes! It was definitely up there on my highlights of India list!

On one of our final days in Mumbai, we did a tour of Dharavi slum, which is the largest slum in Asia. It was very fascinating, considering that so much of Mumbai's exporting business occurs within the slums.  Our tour guide did a great job the functions of Dharavi slum .

After 5 nights of staying in an area of Mumbai called Colaba, which I loved, we headed up north near the airport to the ritzy part of Mumbai and splurged on a hotel at Juhu Beach. I can't say I took advantage of the beach much, as I was so content being in an air conditioned room, getting my final fix of tv before Africa!

So, I must say, India has been purely insane. There have definitely been both good and bad times here, but it is a place truly unlike anywhere else. It has pushed me to my limits, but, in the end, there is no doubt that I have come out of here a much stronger person.  It is truly impossible not to be impacted by this crazy country! I am definitely ready to leave India, but it has left me with so many memories!

As for now, I cannot wait to face my final continent on my 9 month journey: AFRICA! First stop, Masai Mara to meet up with my mom and then onwards on a safari and more crazy adventures!