jhodper experience

hello everyone,
emily here. wanted to say hello and give you a catch up. we have spend the last few days in jhodper celebrating diwali. the family of the guest house let us join in with their religious ceromony that worshipes the three main hindu gods. diwali overall is about wealth and prosperity, love and family. we recieved presents from the family in the form of a red cotton wrist band (red being the colour of strength and power) 10 rupees which is for luck with money( the longer we keep it the more money will come to us). the main guy we dealt with also told us the story of his grandmother. she passed away last year in a holy way. when a person has fufilled all there duties in life, and she personally suffered from extreme athritus, they go to a priest and ask for the right to complete sati. which is basically extreme meditation. they do not eat or drink until they pass away. it can take a week or a year. she was accepted, which is so rare, as only one in million have the right to do this. when she passed away she excells to a god like position, always wathching over the family. it is a very lucky thing to do for the family.

diwali was amazing with fireworks going off all night long for two days.
unfortunatly i could not celebate much, as i have been suffering from extreme SQUITS!!!!!! i havent been ablbe too eat much either, i havent been sick, but im gewtting very nausous alot. i think it might be the heat and, or my malaria tablets. what im gonna try is taking them at night time, instead of the morning. that way i should sleep through my symptoms. (what do you think mum?)
we viseted the fort which we have the photos of, but also later on the evening we went to an amazing restuarant which stood on the top level of the fort walls. it was the size of about half a football pitch but had only 12 TABLES!!!!! special treatment the whole way, and we also had a taste of our very first indian wine. very very very nice. felt like an indian queen.

now we are in a place called bikaner, where we are organising a day and a half camel trek in the desert. we have met a very nice fella who works for the company and he is also taking his time to show us the best stalls and places to go. im sure he is taking a cut from all the owners but we have been looked after so well, we dont mind. he has also been very honest by telling us when he is. he has taken us to a textiles shop to buy material and have made a few tops and trousers. indian gucci!!!!

here are some pictures of the last few days, and we will let you know about the trek. next stop in a couple of days, a place called amritsar. XXXXXX