I have only been here four days and i am aleady completley overwhelmed by India, but at the same time i can’t wait to see more. It is such an amazing country and the people are so friendly and determined to build a better India despite all the huge problems they encounter in their day to day lives. I could go on and on about these problems such as the coprruption of the government, lack of proper infrastructure, conflict with various other countries and lack of adequate education and healthcare, but i won’t yet, because i have so much to say about what we’ve done here.

Today was brilliant, we got on the train to Jaipur at four in the morning, having been at an Indian wedding he night before , so everyone was completley knackered (no one here understands me when i say that, it’s so funny!). Our alarm didn’t go off for some reason, so we had five minutes to get out of the hotel which ws interesting! But we managed, and before i knew it i was sitting on an indian train having lugged my bags for what seemed like miles. I sat down and stared out of the window, i wanted to sleep, but there is just so much to see. just outside the city there are so many slums, it is so sad to see children on the sides of the railway picking up litter and everything that could possibly be edible. Thats the thing with India, its amazing, such a beautiful country, but the poverty can get to much at times, and the fact that we are so helpless to make any difference is hard to come to terms with.

We then checked into the hotel and ate traditional Indian meal, tali. Then we learned about India in great detail from an amazing woman who was so intelligent and really progressive and modern in her thinking, she had such brilinat ideas on the future of India. I learnt so much and she could answer all our questions. It seems that there is a growing educated class in india, which does bring hope for the future, but so many are lured into call centres and similar monotonous jobs. Apparently the middle class in India is now huge, but our definitions of middle class seem to be somewhat different!

Well i have to go because im off to the temple of Hanuman, but will write as soon as i can. I am so excited for the rest of the trip!!