lucky you! Colleena's school is in Pushkar! Kristine, from FatChance, spent a few months over there a couple years ago, and came away with a great experience.

I hope you have a fabulous time!

Hey everyone, thanks for replying. What Carrie said about humour being your greatest friend in India, and never to take yourself seriously was the main reason I wanted to travel to India (not in an airconditioned sterilised environment) but by backpacking - to get over myself.

Example, I nearly had a hissy fit (self cherising) yesterday when my brandnew backpack (attachment to things) didn't sit properly (attachment to outcomes), causing me to to continually bump my head against the top of the hard part of my pack. Poor Susie! Oh, get over it!!! BTW, re-packing the back pack stopped the head bumping problem.


Nervously smiling, Susan

Well, it was pretty good really. Backpacking with my husband and a friend of mine (we celebrated her 74th birthday in Udaipur!).

When I first returned to Australia, I was still recovering from food poisoning in Malaysia, having suffered lots of frustration in Delhi during the Mumbai bombings and the Bangkok airport closure. Our trip at the end was really stuffed up, BUT I did get to swim with baby elephants in Malaysia!

While we did a circuit over about 3 weeks, we really did only skim the surface. My husband and friend not being dancers were not really interested in my setting out to find dancers and classes. I thought I would see that everywhere, especially when we were in Pushkar towards the end of the Camel Fair.

In Jaisalmer we took a camel "trek" - overnighting on the sand dunes in the Thar Desert - by then we were getting towards the end of our trip so I asked our hosts in Jaisalmer if we could have musicians and dancers somewhere in our camel trek. Well, two men (the musicians) and two women (teenagers) walked from a village near by where we stayed, and they danced and sang for a about an hour and a half. I was in heaven - in the Thar Desert at night with singing and music around the fire. - not very easy to take pictures in the night and the hard part was joining in the dancing in big trekking boots on loose sand. I really did have a hoot. One thing I found hard was to not pay the musicians and dancers. I was told the protocol was to pay the camel driver, who fed the dancers and musicians, and I don't know how much of the money they received. I understand, now, but did not then, how baksheesh works.

Next trip to India I will be a little wiser and, after having read Shantaram, I can't wait to get back there.

Hope you have a great trip.

Susan