Jaipur, Udaipur and plenty more purs to come

After an overnight train ride from Jaipur that tested even my cool nerves the group arrived in Udaipur.

But before a continue a word about Indian children and behaviour on public transport at 11:00pm at night

When a 4 year old boy is still shouting and throwing a bouncy ball around a train compartment (sleeper carriage) at eleven at night when other passengers are already in there bunks trying to get some sleep, shouldn't the parents step in and say, "hey son, cant you see people are trying to sleep, try to be quiet", or throw the ball back?

But enough of my senseless rants and onto the purs. Jaipur (where I've just been) was to put it simply, more of the same, but pushier! The city and its many pearls are hard to truly enjoy for a few reasons:

1. You have to continuously look down on the ground to avoid stepping in either-
A. Cow shit
B. Done poop
C. Camel dung
D. Insert animal here droppings
E. General rubbish and holes and the ground
F. Oops I almost forgot elephant crap (that's the really nasty stuff)

2. The footpaths are not really strickly for pedestrian use, they are shared by the animals listed above and the bike, rickshores, pigeons, and of course the hawkers

But besides from these Obstacle good fun can be had simply walking around the old city streets. I try to find the areas where the tourists don't go.

Today I stopped into a book binder and we made up a couple to leather journals to my specifications. He is a 6th generation book binder and his family have been operating in the same tiny shop for 350years. The machinery looks about as old as that too, as does most of the stock, dusty old books and the like.

People in the quiet side streets are happy to have a chat and show you there goods. Since arriving in India I now have a full education in the fine arts of Carpets, Spices, Teas, miniature Painting, Marble Carving...

At the moment I've had enough of the big sites, there are all quite similar and filled with all the same tourist stuff. So for now i'm rubbing shoulders with the locals (and taking dining suggestions from the lonely planet). Which reminds me the food has definitely been one of the highlights which is a first for me. Trying lost of different things, basically everything is vegetarian so all need to do is look out for nuts which isn't too hard to do.

Next stop Jodhpur, I think.